[HOOT]

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/...013/story.html

A report out Thursday calls on Canada to decriminalize personal use of all narcotics and regulate cannabis, saying current policies are failing to reduce drug use or make Canadians safer.

The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition says treating drug use as a health problem, rather than a criminal one, would meet many of the objectives prohibitions has historically failed to accomplish.

Pointing toward tobacco as an example, MacPherson said regulation could decrease cannabis use and do more to keep it out of the hands of young people.

A 2012 study done by researchers in B.C. estimated the value of the province’s recreational marijuana market at more than $350 million — a lucrative commodity the government could reap tax revenue from if it was regulated, MacPherson said.

Instead, the report said the federal government has set aside $528 million between 2012 and 2017 for its National Anti-Drug plan, with most of that money going toward law enforcement.

This.

The British researchers, who compared drug policies around the world, also said decriminalization isn’t a cure-all but it’s preferable to prohibition.

“What emerges is that the harms of criminalization far outweigh those of decriminalization,” they wrote.