The End of Prohibition.

If it did happen?

For fifteen years now, we have tried to end or soften the prohibition of cannabis. We have marched, we have distributed information, we have campaigned, we have written letters to politicians and newspapers, had meetings, and even entered politics. (Ugh, and some people think smoking is disgusting. They should try politics. Sleazier scammers than dealers.)

Ending prohibition is a simple phrase, that would in reality be more complicated than it sounds.

If prohibition was ended, then the government would probably adopt a marketing model of some sort, similar to alcohol and tobacco, involving taxes, and possibly a marketing board, like the wheat board perhaps? If tobacconists were made the outlet, it would certainly increase their trade.

Under current laws you are not allowed to distil your own alcohol, (but you can ferment home brew beer?) nor are you allowed to grow your own tobacco. Even if they made cannabis an “acceptable” drug like alcohol or tobacco, we cannot just presume they would simply let us all grow our own. We could find ourselves in a new situation, where only “unauthorised” growing is illegal, and we’re paying through the nose for it at some government authorised outlet.

It occurs that the government coffers might then cream of all the money that used to come into the community, and that community might be suddenly much more impoverished. It could be economic suicide, and lead to a real rise in crime as genuine poverty bites in. That’s one economic picture.

You would be able to enjoy a joint in a smoking area, but some people might still object to the smell. We would only be elevated to a “smoker” status, and smoking tobacco grows less popular these days.

No, it doesn’t just end when you end prohibition, and if we are going to end prohibition, then we need to have a clear picture of how things would be managed afterwards. How do we want it to be?

We need a clear vision of what we want to replace it with, because if we don’t know what we want, they’ll replace it with something we still wont like. They will not just leave a void. Big business would pounce on it, and there would be no benefit to those who had campaigned.

There have been noises from Health Departments over the years, and they are mixed messages. If cannabis is viewed as a health problem rather than a legal problem what does that mean? Does it mean that we risk lung damage by smoking, or are we supposed to be mental health patients suffering delusions? It is difficult to trust a Health Department that puts out the sort of rubbish information the public are getting. If the government made cannabis a health issue rather than a legal issue, it might only change us from “criminals” to “loonies”.

The thing that irks me most about prohibition as it stands are the consequences of arrest. A criminal record has a serious effect on employment possibilities, and inflicts trauma on the person through the arrest/lockup/courtroom drama involved. Once you get a record though, your credibility is open to attack in any courtroom, and you are not considered a credible witness. That can be humiliating. Even more humiliating is if you get bashed, and the police wont do anything about it because “it wont stand up in court”. Even worse if they arrest you instead, because the other guy doesn’t have a record, and says you hit him. Get a conviction, and you are doubly punished. When you go looking for employment you discover how many avenues have closed, and how permanent that becomes. It only consolidates the path you are already on.

So the main thing that irks me about prohibition is all the third class citizen stuff that goes with it. You are just not a valid person in the eyes of the law.

If we do end prohibition, the other thing that is important to me is that we are allowed to grow our own, and smoke it, without fear or paperwork. That’s the dream anyway.