So, here is a letter I sent to the National Post. I don’t know what’s up with my letter kick lately, I wanted to blog about something else (and I am SOOOO behind on shit!), but Brian Hutchinson’s article just boggles my mind.
The only difference between this one and the one I sent: I talk briefly about my own struggle with painkillers. I am open about it (duh, I am posting it on the Internet), but didn’t think it was relevant to the NP argument I raised. Here we go…
Regarding Brian Hutchinson’s article (fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/06/brian-hutchinson-four-mayors-join-the-addled-march-to-legalized-pot/) on the 6th, obviously I am late to the party in adding my view to those who have already expressed theirs. The pieces you chose to reprint however (http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/12/08/our-readers-hold-strong-views-on-legalized-marijuana/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter) motivated me to add to the fray.
I have no issue with his opinion; rather, I am confused by the logic behind it. While freely agreeing with the four former Vancouver mayors that “prohibition (is) a failed policy, which is fair,” he moves begins his criticizes them for not talking about “physical and mental health, which would seem paramount, in their letter, they gave it barely a mention.” His further (correct) assertion that “Cannabis products are laden with harmful chemicals; marijuana smoke contains carcinogens and damages respiratory systems” is also mentioned in the same paragraph.
Regarding the first point, perhaps they didn’t discuss it because an increasing number of physicians are understanding that in many (key word) patients, pot helps people suffering with some of these disorders, especially in the area of pain management. This hardly seems worth defending; it seems that weekly, a new report comes out where a group of physicians defends the use of pot for these purposes. But perhaps Mr. Hutchinson prefers other means of pain management, like for instance oxycodone, which the government licenses to various drug companies to produce, and which generate billions in revenue. Most common amongst these wonderful “sides” are, Constipation, dizziness, headaches, drowsiness, nausea, sleeplessness, vomiting, and weakness. But many users also complain of various allergic reactions (rash, hives, itching, difficulty breathing, and tightness in the chest, swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue), confusion, difficulty urinating, fast or slow heartbeat, seizures, severe dizziness, light-headedness, or fainting, slowed or difficult breathing, tremor, and vision changes.[1] For the sake of brevity, we won’t get into the fact that oxycodone addiction is one of the fastest growing forms of addiction in North America, or that sales—both legal and especially illegal—are growing exponentially, nor the increasing number of deaths related to its abuse. There is a reason why it’s called “hillbilly heroin.”
This latter point is hits especially close to home with me. I have had to overcome painkiller addiction three times in my life; the first, when I was still in my late teens, and kept breaking my hands and other body parts (largely through fighting), and was given some by a “friend.” The second lasted much longer and was by far the more dangerous, coming during the period of my divorce when my drug and alcohol consumption were off the charts, and I became (literally) deathly ill because of it. And the last, quite by accident, when the wonderful doctors from a former province I resided in kept forgetting to schedule me for the removal of an abscessed tooth, and instead, just kept re-prescribing more magic pills—for a month. This last one was rather mild in comparison to the others, and not self-inflicted; nonetheless, the usual accompaniment of several days of puking, sweating and other fun body functions going wrong reminded me of how far I need to stay from these powerful opioids. In contrast, and much to the chagrin of everyone who thinks those who are against drug prohibition, I have never been much of a pot-head at all; I can likely count the number of times I have smoked weed on the fingers of my hand and have a few spare ones left.
The “laden with harmful chemicals; marijuana smoke contains carcinogens and damages respiratory systems” argument is possibly even more head-scratching. As opposed to what, Mr. Hutchinson? Tobacco? Of course, being an over $11.0 billion a year business for the government, (minus of course, the healthcare costs associated with the various disease tobacco brings with it), one would deprive the government of serious revenue by removing these products which also seem to possess those woeful “damaging” toxins—albeit in greater concentration.
Regarding the criminal element that would still be involved if weed were legalized, again, Mr. Hutchinson tells just enough truth to sound credible. He hypothesizes that the underground pot market would be comparable to the underground marijuana market that would exist. And so it might. As noted above, the Canadian Government alone—not the tobacco companies themselves—profited some $11.- billion from tobacco sales. Does anyone honestly think that the cigarette smugglers took in this much? If so, we would see greater violence in the black market cigarette trade than we would in the marijuana one we currently have. The irony is that in accusing all the mayors of being ignorant of facts, Mr. Hutchinson is instead ignorant of the most obvious and irrefutable: prohibition has historically been a total failure on every issue it has taken on.
Unfortunately, human impulse trumps human fear of retribution hands down.
And that’s where his most pressing point comes into focus: community safety. Mr. Hutchinson says that no explanation is given for the mayor’s assertion about increased community health and safety; perhaps because this is shockingly easy to defend. In Portugal, the decriminalization of drugs has led to a precipitous decline in both drug use and drug violence; it is not unreasonable to expect a similar result here. However, if Mr. Hutchinson’s real goal is to make our communities safer, if the health of its members is his underlying purpose, he need only consider the following statistic in order to focus his wrath: estimated annual deaths due to tobacco use in Canada—37 000. For alcohol, the figures are more difficult to pinpoint, but in 2007, MADD Canada estimated over 1200 from vehicle accidents alone. Conversely, in 2005, the FDA released a report in which it listed the number of deaths caused primarily by marijuana use. The number: 0.
For those keeping score, it makes you wonder what Mr. Hutchinson has been smoking.
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