So who has Harper been listening to?
(in part)
THE Global Commission on Drug Policy says it’s "very weird" that Canada is taking a tougher line on marijuana when governments across the globe are reconsidering the war on drugs.
In an open letter Wednesday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Brazil-based commission calls on Canada to stop pursuing the "destructive, expensive and ineffective" prohibition of pot.
Louise Arbour, a former Supreme Court of Canada judge, former Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso, former Swiss president Ruth Dreifuss and Virgin Group founder Richard Branson are among the signatories to the letter that warns Canada is repeating "the same grave mistakes as other countries."
"Building more prisons, tried for decades in the United States under its failed war on drugs, only deepens the drug problem and does not reduce cannabis supply or rates of use," says the letter. "Instead, North American youth now report easier access to cannabis than to alcohol or tobacco."
The commission includes an ideological cross-section of world leaders, among them George Shultz, former U.S. secretary of state in the Reagan Republican presidency, former Mexican president Ernesto Zedillo and Paul Volker, the former head of the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Their reservations are not theoretical, but are aimed directly at the Conservative government’s omnibus crime bill nearing passage in the Senate.
The letter states that "with the proposed implementation of mandatory prison sentences for minor cannabis-related offences under Bill C-10, Canada is at the threshold of continuing to repeat the same grave mistakes as other countries, moving further down a path that has proven im-mensely destructive and ineffective at meeting its objectives."
Global panel urges Canada to shift