The Union: The Business Behind Getting High Page #4

I'm a weed smoker.

I'm not, like, crazy or,

you know,

I'm not

stabbing you right now.

Most of the violent crime

that's committed,

or most of crime,

period, that's committed

or having to do with drugs

is people who are on drugs

committing violent crimes.

If you make it legal,

if you make it cheaper,

you make it more available,

you're gonna have more

violence, more--

Tom, that is not true,

stop lying to us.

Oh, now come on.

Stop lying to us.

That is not true.

You know--

don't tell me that.

I've smoked pot, Tom.

I've admitted it,

I've done it.

I've done all

of the big three.

I've done tobacco,

I've done alcohol,

and I've done marijuana,

Tom-- guess what ?

Marijuana's the least

of the three, pal.

You guys prove me wrong,

or whatever,

I want to hear someone

that has smoked too much weed

and went home and beat

his wife

and beat his

children, or whatever,

like you see on booze.

( Stephen )

The only big issue around

alcohol is drunken driving

and binge drinking among

college students.

Otherwise, you can drink

to your heart's content.

There are far more

crimes committed

under the influence of

unadulterated,

if you will, emotions.

Anger, rage, jealousy.

A lot of our understanding is

driven by what's in the paper

and on the television

and the radio these days.

And we get extremes,

and the black-and-white

thinking is reinforced,

I think, by that.

If only there is something

to compare it to,

something that was prohibited at

one time but is now regulated,

so we could see what

the difference might be.

Hmm, what could that be...

what could that be ?

( Jack )

Under Prohibition of alcohol,

everythinggot worse.

Everything.

( Kirk )

Alcohol Prohibition really

birthed and gave rise

to massive organized

criminal groups

within the United States...

It led to a general

disregard for the law

and a general disregard

for police activity

because it was a law

that most people didn't obey.

Would you have supported

the Prohibition of alcohol

Well, I'm glad you brought up

the alcohol example.

I mean, as a governor,

you must have known firsthand

the cost of alcohol.

I hear this argument a lot

of times, like alcohol--

That isn't what

I asked you, Tom.

I asked you a specific question,

don't give me spin.

I said, would you have supported

the Prohibition of alcohol

I don't think I would have.

Why ?

Because alcohol,

for better or worse,

and a lot of times for worse--

it's a close call--

is long-entrenched

and ingrained

part of our

culture and our society.

I mean, you go back

thousands of years,

the first writing is about

alcohol, the Bible,

everything else.

Really-- well, Tom,

wait a minute.

Let me inject something then--

if you believe that God--

God also made

the marijuana plant.

I'm talking about society.

I'm talking about our culture

and our society.

Wait, you just

said "the Bible."

( Jack )

Alcohol poisoning went up

by 600% during Prohibition.

There were more speakeasies in

large cities like New York City,

under Prohibition,

than there are taverns

and liquor stores today.

( John )

Sure, one can point to alcohol

as being a continuing

social problem,

but we don't have

people shooting each other

over alcohol.

( man )

When alcohol was prohibited,

people lived at that time

to know the difference between

Prohibition

and non-Prohibition.

They could see that the

Prohibition of alcohol

caused the emergence of

gangsters and the underworld

that took control of these

substances.

Alcohol then was

no longer in their control.

Could this be the same

for marijuana ?

It strengthens organized crime,

without a doubt,

because you have to

be a criminal to sell it.

It's that simple.

This brings crime into it.

That's why-- the benefits

and the ability to make money

is so huge in it.

Weapons were used

to intimidate people,

and we seized approximately

sawed-off shotguns,

and most of them are loaded.

Where's all this competition

we've heard so much about ?

You call these prices low ?

Marijuana is just a weed.

And marijuana is worth more,

ounce for ounce, than gold.

You don't find legal

commodities, you know,

at $200 an ounce.

You don't even find them

at $200 a pound.

Heck, most things

are $200 aton,

for corn

and grain and barley.

( Neil )

That's why when you walk

ten pounds of marijuana

across the border into

the United States,

it becomes worth 20 pounds.

You create an artificially

inflated value for that drug

that is so huge that

people decide

it's worth murdering people

in order to control

this market.

( Kirk )

I think the Fraser Institute

called cannabis Prohibition

"a gift of revenue to

organized crime."

But what do growers and dealers

think of this ?

Would you like to see

the government in the future

legalize marijuana here

in BC ?

No, it's

stealing money from us.

I know I wouldn't like

to see it legalized.

The government would control

and regulate the product,

and that could potentially hurt

a lot of people in the industry.

( man )

How can you compete

with factories

of perfectly

rolled-out doobies ?

They'd perfect it, and we'd

all be out of money.

It makes for

strange bedfellows.

You've got the police and the

high-level drug dealers

both agreeing that we should

maintain this Prohibition.

Well, when you got

high-level drug dealers

saying Prohibition is good,

you might wanna scratch your

head a little and think,

"Well, shoot, why would they

want to continue Prohibition ?"

I can't imagine why a grower

who's making $150,000

or $300,000 a year

would ever wanna see

marijuana legalized.

I mean, the last thing a grower

wants is sensible policy.

The madness continues,

and they continue to get rich.

You know, Betty,

I'm going to bring this up at

the business meeting tomorrow.

You make the penalties

stiffer ?

You know what-- good.

For those people who are not

getting caught, price goes up.

( Jack )

See, so not only do

we allow them to tell us

how much drugs are gonna

be supplied,

or the potency of those drugs,

who they're gonna sell it to,

where they're gonna

sell them,

just to make sure

they get it all right,

we let them keep all

of the profits.

( John )

So you've got

essentially a Wild West.

You've got an unregulated market

in which anything can happen.

It certainly may work for things

that people generally accept,

but if you try to prohibit

something that's in demand

that the people want,

then it's pure folly.

And without control,

it's hard to regulate

areas of concern,

like keeping it out of

the hands of our children.

There have been some studies

that suggest

heavy, sustained long-term use

from adolescence to adulthood

has the potential

to exasperate symptoms

of those with a genetic

predisposition

for schizophrenia.

And although there is strong

evidence that refutes this,

it does lead one to question:

Could there be a better way of

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