cannabisnews.com: What Has Martin Cauchon Been Smoking, Anyway?





What Has Martin Cauchon Been Smoking, Anyway?
Posted by CN Staff on August 16, 2002 at 15:10:40 PT
By Terry O'Neill
Source: Report Magazine 
Oh my, look at how progressive Canada has become! How forward-looking and uninhibited! Indeed, the country is fast being transformed into an amoral libertarian utopia of "Anything goes" and "Whatever gets you through the night." Yes, all those drug-laced dreams of free love and free dope are coming true right before our very eyes. The Sixties Generation is in power. The rebels are at the wheel, and anyone opposed to them had better get out of the way of their flower-festooned VW van.
In the driver's seat for the moment is federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, whose relative youth actually makes him more of a Gen-Xer than a baby boomer. Regardless, Mr. Cauchon has obviously learned much at the knee of older cabinet colleagues such as Allan Rock and Sheila Copps, for he now suggests it is the most natural thing in the world for him to have smoked marijuana when he was young."I'm 39 years old," the man responsible for upholding Canadian law said in mid-July, just a day after he announced he might soon introduce legislation to decriminalize marijuana use. He continued his explanation in the distinctive speaking style of his political boss. "I've been elected first when I was 31 years old," he said in official Chretienese parlance, "and, of course, I tried it [marijuana] before, obviously."Of course? Obviously? Hey, this is one cool, grass-smoking dude we have here for a justice minister. Just call him Canada's "Doobie Brother." The Minister for Marijuana did not say how much he smoked or when exactly he stopped inhaling, so we do not know whether he ever actually qualified as a certified, bongo-playing, windshield-washing, living-the-lifestyle pothead. But we do know what his attitude toward the law was when he was younger (30, perhaps?): if the rules and regulations get in the way of personal pleasure, ignore them or break them.The Hells Angels, who control huge chunks of the marijuana production and distribution business in this country, must love this far-out dude. That is because Biker Buddy Number One's "decriminalization" idea would do nothing to break up any of the massive criminal enterprises that control the illicit drug business--a business that is worth untold billions of dollars a year in marijuana "grow-op" product alone.Instead, decriminalization will assuredly increase the demand. After all, aspiring young dopers will have nothing to fear if police catch them with some of the mind-altering weed, so they are more likely than ever to smoke it. Ultimately, that means those hog-riding, drug-dealing thugs in leather jackets will be laughing all the way to whatever Caribbean bank they use to launder their tax-free cash.Of course, Mr. Cauchon can answer that he is simply following in the footsteps of his cabinet cousin, the aforementioned Mr. Rock, who recently authorized the "medical" use of marijuana in this country. Mr. Rock and his fellow Pol Pots (sorry, make that "pot pols") promised that such authorization would not be the "thin edge of the wedge" leading to decriminalization. We now see what a crock that was.Get off the pot and face the facts But what is the problem with smoking marijuana, anyway? Doesn't marijuana have medicinal benefits? The short answer is: "No."Any credible medical authority will tell you that there is not a single disease or illness for which marijuana is the preferred treatment. On that point, a doctor might well be guilty of some form of malpractice if he ever prescribed marijuana, because study after study shows that, regardless of what ails you, there is always a better drug out there than weed.As well, more and more studies are finding that pot lovers suffer deleterious effects when inhaling the hot, noxious gas that is marijuana smoke. Furthermore, repeated studies clearly show that marijuana is a gateway drug, whose use leads to harder, more addictive and destructive drugs.But that likely does not bother our trusted politicians either. That is because all levels of government in Canada have shown in recent years they are not truly interested in fighting drug abuse and addiction. Instead, they are all too willing to accommodate the drug user's destructive habit. The philosophy that underlies this attitude is called "harm reduction," and it is coming soon to a neighbourhood near you.Administer this drug, or else! An example of the lunacy associated with harm reduction surfaced in B.C. a few months ago when an independent, Christian-based drug-treatment centre, run by the Wagner Hills Farm Society, lost a small provincial government grant because it refused to allow its clients to use methadone, a highly addictive heroin replacement. The abstinence-based society argued that the government-mandated methadone-maintenance program undermined everything it stood for, "namely, freedom from addictions, including legal substances such as alcohol and methadone."The $18,500 grant in question represents less than 5% of the society's budget, so Wagner Hills will stay open. But spokesman Helmut Boehm fears the government's continued embrace of harm reduction will have widespread disastrous consequences. "Pretty soon the addicts will be saying, 'It is our right not just to have free methadone, but free heroin. And it is our right to stay high!'"And who is to tell them anything to the contrary? Certainly not the federal and provincial governments, whose policies are to support harm reduction through needle exchanges, safe-injection sites and heroin-distribution programs. "I grieve for the situation," Mr. Boehm says. "And I grieve for 10,000 methadone addicts in B.C. who aren't being given any hope."Source: Report Magazine (CN AB)Author: Terry O'NeillPublished: August 12, 2002 IssueCopyright: 2002 Report MagazineContact: ar incentre.netWebsite: http://www.report.ca/Related Articles:Cauchon: 'No Pressure' to Tighten Drug Laws http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13738.shtmlJustice Minister Nixes Legalizing Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13735.shtml
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Comment #7 posted by John Tyler on August 17, 2002 at 07:58:55 PT
decrim... what?
With decrim the wealthy get a walk, everything else remains the same.
The only way is to re legalize.
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Comment #6 posted by R-Earing on August 17, 2002 at 07:29:49 PT:
Mr.Cauchon as a Hip Dude?
I'm a canuck so I know whereof I speak.Martin Cauchon is about as hip and dangerous as John Tesh or Regis Philbin.This would seriously be like an American magazine blasting Bob Dole for being a Viagra poppin' candy raver!If you've ever watched senior politicians trying to "shake their booty" for the benefit of the tv cameras you get the drift.This cat is lame.(period) Think golf clothes,Dan Quayle haircuts,and brown fortrel double knit suits.The reason Marty has a lame sounding plan is because decrim is a half measure that satisfies nobody on either side of the debate.The cops will still have the power to Rodney King anybody unfortunate enough to have "off white" skin or lacking enough money to have a good lawyer on retainer.Rich kids will be given a warning and a ride home a la Noelle Bush ,while troublesome "inner city" kids will be given a police dog bite to the genitals.Add the fact that keeping supply illegal means that ONLY big time traffickers who can afford good lawyers will be in charge of providing bud ,you can virtually guarentee an increase in (truly) organized crime.Is this the plan? Let the cat out of the bag,let the mob take over distribution,then pitch a hissy fit about how "big criminals" are threatening our children,the let the pendulum swing back more in line with Americas' policies.I think the whole decrim idea blows for this very reason.I think this is a shabby little campaign being run right out of the American drug czars' office. 
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Comment #5 posted by karkulus on August 16, 2002 at 17:34:17 PT
play those bongos!
      This guy is such a Psycho that he probably masturbates while spewing those lies.
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Comment #4 posted by mayan on August 16, 2002 at 16:30:07 PT
stoopid
The Hells Angels, who control huge chunks of the marijuana production and distribution business in this country, must love this far-out dude. That is because Biker Buddy Number One's "decriminalization" idea would do nothing to break up any of the massive criminal enterprises that control the illicit drug business--a business that is worth untold billions of dollars a year in marijuana "grow-op" product alone.Why is cannabis worth it's weight in gold? Because of prohibition!!! Terry O'Neill is obviously a sandwich or two short of a picnic. How dumb can you get?unrelated - Free Republic shills bash Phil Donahue ... which means he is likely onto something:
DONOHUE SENSES SOMETHING SINISTER "911"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/733947/postsDonahue BREAKS 9-11 CONSPIRACY STORY!!! Please send this on & act now! http://www.rumormillnews.net/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=22083Donahue transcript with Michael Moore,Jean Charles Brissard & 9/11 widow: 
http://www.msnbc.com/news/794011.asp?cp1=1
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Comment #3 posted by canaman on August 16, 2002 at 16:18:47 PT
The Pope smoke Dope
Who are these people? I know their are alot of conservitive types in the Canadian prairies but these people sound like southern Baptists.
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Comment #2 posted by Industrial Strength on August 16, 2002 at 16:09:13 PT
Good God!
He just compared people who have smoked marijuana to the Cambodian dictator????
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Comment #1 posted by canaman on August 16, 2002 at 16:05:29 PT
Yikes!!!!!!!
So this is what the screaming right-wing Canadain prohibitionist reads. Looking at their website it looks to me like they are trying to scare the Christians. I'll have too read more...only 1/3 the traffic than comes around here according to there counter.
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