Let us begin our little excursion into the fun world of dope growers with some confession: I don't think smoking up is a big deal. It doesn't appear to be significantly more harmful than tobacco or booze, it never did me any harm as a kid, and I could care less if people grow their own and smoke it at home. People make wine and beer at home, this is no different.
Smoking and driving is no different than drinking and driving and should be discouraged. Possibly the present police-state Stasi style efforts are a bit excessive, but I'm open to discussion.
If someone wants to become a total pot head its no different than the alcoholics. My feeling is actions have consequences, rights come with responsibilities, they screw their lives up that's their problem. Anyone trying to make it my problem will find they have a bigger problem. Also, lets not be shy about cutting off their state welfare checks. Self inflicted wounds do not give someone a right to reach into my pocket. Suck it up and get over it or live on charity from people who give a shit. Probably reduce chemical dependencies 90% right there, but if not I don't care. Call me a hard ass, but personal responsibility is all that stands between us and barbarism.
Ok then, having said all that, the curent business of marijuana growing operations is a BAD THING and needs to be seen to. Failure to do so will have extremely dire consequences for our society. To wit:
The thing to remember about the dope trade is that there is big money in it, and that it is a criminal enterprise. As in an enterprise carried out by criminals.An 86-year-old Vancouver woman had the fright of her life when gunmen shot up her house by mistake.
"Something like that is definitely a trauma for her," said Larry Wales, who was securing the home of his mother, Florence, yesterday.
Seventeen shots were fired at the house in the 2600-block Charles Street. Five rounds tore through the back door and two more came through a window, hitting the kitchen cabinets.
"I was raised in this house basically from Day 1," said Wales. "When you come here and you're looking at bullet holes through the back door and window and into the cabinets and you think about your mother, vulnerable . . ."
The thing to remember about criminals is that they are not normal people. They are not as smart as your normal kid flipping burgers, their impulse control is poor, their grasp of action-and consequences is non-existent, their morals are convenient to the situation and subject to change. In short, they are the kind of people who would think it appropriate to shoot up a rival's house, dumb enough to pick the wrong house, and callous enough not to care much if they shoot an 86 year old lady by mistake. Making people afraid in their homes is probably considered a bonus.
These are not the kind of people you want having access to big money. Big money gives them the clout to cause damage that reaches much farther than these casual shootings. They can corrupt the police service, the justice system, the civil service, the Parliament. They can branch out into other criminal enterprises which damage society in different ways, like prostitution. Call me a prude, but I don't think the proliferation of cheap whores is going to be good for public health.
There are two ways of combating the grow-op problem. One way is to legalize marijuana! This makes it legal for farmers to grow square miles of it out in the open and sell it by the hay wagon full. Tons and tons and tons of it dropped on the open market will put these grow-op assholes out of business pretty much instantly. This has problems, one of which is the increased use of dope which I don't see being that big a deal. The other is smuggling to the USA, which will be a big problem and will screw up trade for a while. That could be negotiated, but again smuggling is a criminal enterprise and you don't want to give the bastards an inch.
Therefore we turn to the other, less effective method. Which is of course just enforcing existing law and jailing the grow-op wankers and dope salesmen. Not ideal, but not bad. Side benefit, 86 year old ladies don't get their houses shot up. Plus we don't have cops and officials on the take, and there's no drug money paying for election campaigns.
This can be accomplished, but the Liberals and NDPers refuse to do it. That leaves us with Harper winning the next election and doing it. Or we can just get used to gangs shooting up our previously peaceful neighbourhoods.
The Prudish Phantom Hard Ass.
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