Gordon Campbell needs to listen to his friend Arnold from California when it comes to the topic of marijuana legalization and taxation. After all, if Arnie is good enough to carry the Olympic torch through Stanley Park on the last day of Canada’s Olympic torch relay, why shouldn’t we listen to what he has to say on the topic of cannabis and government budget shortfalls.

You see, last year Arnold Schwarzenegger clearly stated that he felt it was time for debate on the topic of legalizing marijuana. He felt that it could be the answer to the huge holes in his states budget. In response to the Governor’s musings the California legislative Counsel passed with large support Bill 390 (a bill that would treat marijuana pretty much the same as alcohol, including a 50 dollar an ounce fee that would generate nearly 1 Billion dollars a year in revenues). All the money generated through taxation would be money diverted from gangsters and into the pockets of government to support social programs. The passing of Bill 390 sets the stage for a full Assembly vote on the matter later in 2010.

Well Gordo, we also have a huge budget shortfall here in BC and we all know that we have a huge marijuana industry, an industry that our economy is reliant on. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to stop ignoring the obvious - it’s time to legalize and tax this so called “drug"! Marijuana is far safer than alcohol or tobacco, and using it is far less harmful to our social fabric than the use of booze is. And you can use Vancouver as an example - having both booze and marijuana legal won’t cause us more issues than just booze alone. Its essentially legal here in Vancouver and the pot smokers do not cause any issues for police. In fact the cops ignore the stores that let people smoke pot in public. If that doesn’t show you that we have nothing to fear from legal pot I don’t know what does.

The responsible use of marijuana by adults does not warrant the harsh criminal penalties we currently associate with it. Right now the only people making money from pot are gangsters that flood our streets with guns purchased from the money earned through marijuana sales. The coke and heroin on our streets is originally financed through the sale of BC Bud. All of this ugliness could be eliminated through the government taking the marijuana industry out of organized crimes hands and into the hands of government regulated growers and distributors. And at the same time we would earn enough money from taxing it that we might not have to lay off teachers, police, fire fighters, close parks, reduce garbage pickup times, charge more for accessing our provincial parks, etc, etc. In other words, turn what is currently a total negative for our province (not enough tax dollars to support our needs) into a total positive through the legalization of an industry we have no hope of shutting down through criminal sanctions.

Basically, lets stop being stupid and legalize pot. It’s way beyond time to do so, we’re now at the point where we can’t afford NOT to legalize it.