Tory Senators fed alternative facts in U.S. cannabis field trip

The Liberal government’s Cannabis Act recently survived the unanimous opposition of 29 current and former Conservative Senators and is now in committee. This appears to have prompted three Conservative Senators to travel south to meet with United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Trump administration officials, and the anti-cannabis organization Smart Approaches to Marijuana. The stated purpose of this visit was to receive “clear answers” to questions they say have been “insufficiently answered” by the Liberals about Bill C-45, on track to become law this summer. Unsurprisingly, the answers the Senators received from this select group of informants raised many “concerns” about Canada’s impending legalization and stoked fears of runaway crime rates, skyrocketing emergency room visits, burgeoning cartel activity, roads filled with stoned drivers, and beefed up security at the U.S. border. The Senators’ concerns are bolstered by claims that the experience of U.S. jurisdictions that have legalized cannabis—Washington state, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, D.C., and Alaska—has been nothing short of a public health and public safety disaster. Those claims are, however, best described as “alternative facts.” They have consistently been debunked by Canadian and international experts, many of whom have informed the Drug Policy Alliance’s comprehensive progress report on legalization in the U.S., published earlier this year. Work by the U.S. think-tank Rand raises many similar doubts about the accuracy of claims made by the lobby group Smart Approaches to Marijuana. Let’s start with the consequences of legalization. In 2016, 44,301 Canadians were arrested for cannabis possession. Although cannabis is used across all demographic segments and about 45 per cent of Canadians report using cannabis at some point in their lives, it is overwhelmingly poor, Black, Indigenous, and young Canadians who are caught in the web of our criminal justice system. Possession, cultivation, and distribution arrests have plummeted in all legal cannabis states, and in Washington, D.C., since legalization in those jurisdictions. Additionally, increased government revenues from a regulated cannabis market have funded investment in communities, including economic development, job training, and community-based programs serving at-risk youth. From a public health and public safety perspective, legalization has also been a success. First, the limited data available indicate that legalization has not led to a widespread increase in use by youth. It’s still too early to tell whether youth rates in those states that have very recently legalized cannabis will change for better or worse, but the numbers in Washington, Colorado, and Alaska clearly show that youth cannabis use there corresponds with national rates and they are either stable or are going down. Similarly, post-regulation data indicate that calls to poison control centres and emergency room visits for cannabis-related incidents remain very low. While Colorado did report a small increase in ER visits immediately after legalization, that number could be reasonably attributed to some less-than-careful experimentation by novice users and the fact that people were more willing to admit cannabis use on admission, no longer fearing the consequences of such a statement. Both Colorado and Washington have recorded decreases in the number of arrests for driving under the influence of either alcohol or cannabis since 2011—a downward trend that has continued since legalization in 2015. Further, no data have indicated that legalization has led to increased crashes or fatalities. While not completely eliminating the black market, early reports from states that have legalized are quite clear in demonstrating that government control has significantly reduced illegal participation in the cannabis market. Why are these Senators seeking to sabotage a multi-billion-dollar industry that will create thousands of jobs, provide millions in tax revenues, and increase the possible range of applications for medical use of cannabis? Cannabis has the potential to become a vital part of growing the Canadian economy—a windfall currently benefiting only those in the untaxed and unregulated black market. The Senators are, by default, simply supporting the illicit trade. The Liberals’ proposed regulatory scheme isn’t perfect. It continues to rely on a heavy-handed approach of criminalization for those operating outside of the legal system. This new system will need to gain the trust of cannabis consumers to shift from the black market and participate in this new paradigm. We must adapt and improve this new regime, based on rigorous evaluation and data, not politics and misplaced morality. Unquestionably, though, it is an improvement over a system of absolute prohibition that has done nothing to protect youth, fuels a thriving black market, and criminalizes tens of thousands of Canadians for an activity that most of us don’t regard as deserving criminalization. Conservative Senators’ opposition to legalization is not only politically motivated, but is also contrary to the expressed wishes of the majority of Canadians who voted for a legally regulated market in cannabis. It’s simple posturing: these obstructionist Conservatives are cozying up to the Trump administration for the sake of a few media hits. It would be much more useful if they would work across party lines in their own country to support much-needed reforms. Scott Bernstein is a senior policy analyst with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition at Simon Fraser University. Neil Boyd is a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University. The Hill Times