REGINA – The Conservatives remain staunch in their stance against marijuana, the NDP are talking about decriminalizing it, while the Liberals are all for legalizing pot and taxing it.
Stephen Harper has been trying to use the issue to drive a wedge between voters, but according to local experts, that might not be the best idea.
“It’s not that pressing an issue for Canadians. It’s not the top of their political agenda,” said Tom McIntosh. “They’re more concerned about the economy, jobs, healthcare, about a whole host of other issues.”
As the head of the University of Regina’s Politics and International Studies departments, McIntosh does not believe Canadians would change their vote based on marijuana policies.
According to a new poll by Ipsos, 65 per cent of Canadians would support a move to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.
A local head shop employee wants to see it go a step further.
“I think we should legalize it for sure. I think the times have changed and people understand it isn’t this evil thing,” said Scott Neuman.
He says his vote will go towards the Liberals or the NDP for their support of changes to current marijuana laws.
“I think this should totally be a voting issue,” said Neuman. “My parents were opposed to it when I was younger. Then I explained that it helped me and there were benefits. Their stigma around it has changed.”
Associate economics professor Jason Childs said the system we have is not working.
“We’ve gone through a period of time where marijuana has been a prohibitive substance, and had these extreme bans and it has not been effective,” said Childs.
He can envision a day when marijuana and alcohol sit on the same shelves.
“There’s no reason why the same infrastructure couldn’t be used for marijuana if it were legalized. So you’d be going to your liquor store and instead of buying just alcohol, now you’d be buying marijuana too, if you chose.”
There could also be a financial benefit to legalizing marijuana. Taxation could take money out of the black market, and into things that could benefit Canadians.
“We’re putting billions of dollars into provincial coffers through the sale of alcohol and the tax and markup of alcohol. There’s no reason to believe we wouldn’t be reaping the same, if not bigger, benefits from the sale of marijuana,” said Childs.
McIntosh said legalization could also help keep the drug out of the hands of children.
“Regulate who has access to it in the same way you do with alcohol and tobacco and the like,” he said. “We’d be more effective in making it harder for them to have access to it than buying it on a street corner in downtown Regina, downtown Saskatoon, or any street in small-town Saskatchewan.”
But the professors warn changes won’t come easy.
“There are some real problems around marijuana that will have to be dealt with and recognized if we’re going to go with legalization,” said Childs.
Comments