Black Eye

There's an epidemic in Ontario. And it's not swine flu.

Illegal marijuana cultivation has reached epidemic proportions in Ontario and justice officials in the United States have branded their northern neighbour a "source country," the province's top police official said yesterday.

Marijuana is exported south and traded for crystal meth and crack cocaine, which are then brought back into Canada, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said.

"The going terminology is 'brown south, white north,' " he said, adding marijuana is also being exchanged for guns.

"It's a black eye on Canada when you have the United States ... refer to us as a source country of marijuana."

Investigating and shutting down marijuana grow-ops make up 60% of the workload of the force's drug enforcement unit, OPP Insp. Brian Martin said.

"60%" for a harmless weed. Well, that's not how the Commish sees it:

"(Marijuana) is the precursor, if you will, to so much of the violence and other activities ... that end up victimizing the most vulnerable communities," he said.

I wonder if anti-drug fanatics are conscious of channelling 1930s PSAs. Or that the arguments against cannabis are essentially the same as those that lead to the Volstead amendment. The difference, of course, is that middle class people find cannabis repugnant.