NCJ Number
215824
Date Published
May 2004
Length
40 pages
Annotation
This paper presents an overview of the cultivation, production, and consumption of marijuana in British Columbia, as well as the rest of Canada and the issue of legalization versus prohibition or government revenue versus organized crime revenue.
Abstract
Marijuana is grown all over the world. In British Columbia, it is a significant crop that fuels organized crime. Marijuana production has been growing steadily for the last decade. There is widespread use in Canada and extensive production in British Columbia. The social question is raised as to whether or not society (individual citizens) approves or disapproves of its local production. Removing the prohibition on marijuana production would permit society to replace today’s gift of revenue to organized crime with, at the very least, an additional source of revenue for government capital. This paper raises several issues that have the cumulative effect of suggesting that in the long term, the prohibition of marijuana cannot be sustained with the present technology of production and enforcement. In Canada, specifically British Columbia, marijuana is too easily produced and exported to be controlled with the tools available to law enforcement in a free society. The paper develops a series of facts and characterizations of the marijuana industry in British Columbia that can be revisited, revised, and challenged to make a sensible policy debate possible. References, appendices