This was how the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr
Stephen Harper, responded when asked by a journalist whether or not he had ever smoked pot. The
question came up because a number of other high-profile Canadian politicos have
been confessing all over the place to having tried the weed.
Politicians who admit involvement with pot come in all
shapes, sizes and genders, so the Prime Minister’s looks are not a reliable
guide as to whether he indulges or not. In any case, the admission of
pot-smoking by anyone seeking or occupying high office is, commonly, a
well-crafted PR event, with the respondent being careful to say only that they merely
“try” the substance. I suppose the use of the verb “to try” takes the edge off
the perceived misdemeanour somewhat: Pot light, so to speak. Very few actually
say they smoke it, implying that
their engagement is that of a dilettante who wishes merely to investigate the substance’s
possibilities. The hearer is left to flounder in a sea of ambiguity as to what
is meant by “trying”; whether it means merely taking a puff (without inhaling),
or inhaling (perhaps only shallowly), or going all the way and taking a
reckless, deep, no-holds-barred drag that allows full exchange of the weed’s
vaporous ingredients with the blood
circulating within the lungs.
Using or trying or smoking, according to the degree of
ambiguity in the confession, can be casual, occasional, regular or even “all
the time,” as the city of Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford admitted on camera recently.
Of course, in today’s Canada, the
debate really is not whether a Prime Minister or wannabe Prime Minister or a colourful
city mayor smokes a joint. The more serious issue is whether laws prohibiting smoking
and/or possession for personal use should be repealed. Repeal would undoubtedly
relieve the law-enforcement authorities of policing these relatively minor
infractions and could perhaps, ultimately, render traffickers obsolete.
For many, however, legalizing pot could
be a step too far, the beginning of the slide toward legalization of “harder”
drugs. On the other hand, fall-out from legalizing the hard drugs might be much
more benign than doomsters suppose, considering that a major consequence of
the legal prohibition of hard drugs, as well as of marijuana, is fostering the creation
and maintenance of criminal cartels that cause more harm to individual lives
and to society than the drugs themselves.
Troublesome and complex, no doubt,
but these are issues that need thorough debate if we are to achieve best solutions.
Tell Fren Tru
PS:
As I finish writing this post, I hear that police in Toronto have been busy raiding
a grow-op planted within innocent-looking corn-rows in a farmer’s field in the
northern suburbs. The street value of the 600 plants confiscated was an estimated $2m. Meanwhile, the state of Washington in America is writing rules
regulating the location of outlets out of which pot can be legally sold in the state.
