The RCMP, too, is open to the idea, provided the move is in concert with educational and preventive programs. The Canadian Medical Association takes a similar stance. That view is rooted in the recognition that cannabis, smoked by an estimated 1.5 million Canadians, is an unwanted but unalterable fact of modern life. We are awash in marijuana, we export countless tonnes of it to the United States each year, and the laws against simple possession don't work. That is why looser laws have to be accompanied by intelligent, credible drug-education programs emphasizing that while cannabis will not kill you, it may make you seriously stupid.
Most teenagers yearn to be cool and to be in charge of their lives.
That too holds a grain of truth. Virtually all users of heroin or cocaine begin by smoking a marijuana joint, or a pipeful of hashish. But that doesn't mean most joint-smokers are necessarily vulnerable to the allure of hard drugs. Data from the Netherlands, where drugs of all kinds have long been available, show that while cannabis use among young people is roughly the same as in other European countries, heroin use is extremely rare. For Canada, as for the Dutch, outright legalization of marijuana is not currently an option.