| Cannabis Culture |
While Canada moves toward stricter sentencing with the mandatory minimums included with Bill C-10, many states in the U.S. are shifting in the opposite direction, toward control and regulation of the marijuana trade, according to Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP).
A high-profile group of current and former law enforcement officials allied under the LEAP banner points to the 16 U.S. states and the District of Columbia that have already passed laws allowing the medicinal use of cannabis, the 14 states that have taken steps to decriminalize marijuana possession.
In a letter addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Canadian senators, the law-enforcement officials point out the failure of the War On Drugs in the U.S., and that the country now seems to be moving in another direction even as Canada is poised to tighten the screws.
LEAP officials also pointed to the initiatives to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana that will appear on statewide ballots this November in Washington state, Colorado and possibly California.
“We assume this news will not make you consider closing the borders with the United States,” the law enforcement officials wrote in their letter, released by LEAP on Wednesday.
For a copy of the LEAP letter [PDF], you can visit http://www.leap.cc/.
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) represents police, prosecutors, judges, prison wardens, federal agents and others who want to legalize and regulate marijuana and other drugs after fighting on the front lines of the War On Drugs and learning firsthand that prohibition only serves to worsen addiction and violence.
For more info on LEAP, visit www.CopsSayLegalizeDrugs.com.