Cannabis is initially the staple income (look at the value of the cannabis trade in Canada, $6,000,000,000 – yes that is 9 zeros) for organized crime due to its illegality and vast popularity. If there is no means for obtaining cannabis legally, decriminalization will do little to nothing to mitigate the violence and profits associated with the illicit drug trade. In actuality, decriminalization of cannabis could possibly promote the growth of organized crime. The reduced risk resulting from decriminalization would almost definitely make Canada look dreadfully attractive to criminal organizations which are a much greater threat to society than any type of drug use. The Netherlands recognized this and compensated for this side effect by allowing “coffee shops” to legally provide the herb. In my opinion, and I very well could be wrong, the possible side effects of decriminalization and prohibition should be a huge factor when deciding whether cannabis should be regulated, decriminalized, or completely prohibited.

Please don’t get me wrong; absolutely nobody should be made a criminal just because they use this relatively harmless plant. I am just saying that regulation addresses this problem as well as effectively removing an enormous amount of money from the hands of organized crime.

Apparently, 46.8% of Canadians have the right idea. If the other 53.2% value their personal liberties and don’t want to live in a police state like us here in the US, they should re-examine their positions on this issue. Here in the US, it is becoming far too common to read about a completely innocent citizen losing their life due to a SWAT team raiding the wrong residence. Prohibition has proven over and over again that it creates many more problems than it fixes. Even though it is completely obvious that the US drug policies are wreaking considerable harm on society, the US government continues to flex their economic muscles to force more and more countries to adopt this colossal failure called the “Drug War.” My advice is to be extremely intolerant of propaganda, evaluate the facts rationally, don’t allow yourselves to become another casualty of the “Drug War,” but, most of all, don’t allow your options to disappear, as so many other countries have, due to a dependency on US funding. If the US government obtains control over your pocketbook, they can easily control your decisions by threatening to deny the funds. For your own sake, do what is best for Canada and leave the US government out of the equation.