The Citizen, 2006-11-30, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2006. PAGE 5.
Other Views
This country is going to pot ...
When I was in my late 'teens I lived
for a time in a relatively seamy
section of Montreal.
My landlord, a wannabe jazz saxophonist,
used to get together with an overgrown flower
child who answered to the name Posey. They
would spend most afternoons sitting on a
balcony overlooking Rue Guy, puffing on
doobies the size of panatelas as they giggled at
the world going by.
They were the only two people I knew in the
world who smoked pot
Today, nearly half a century, legions of narc
squads, and several hundred million anti-drug
dollars later, pot is being sold by kids, to
kids in schoolyards from Pangnirtung to
P.E. I .
I smell its sweet, sharp scent pretty much
every time I walk past the park in the middle
of town.
So much for the War on Drugs.
We've always been a little nutsoid about this
backyard weed. The Americans can largely
blame J. Edgar Hoover, the cross-dressing
paranoiac who ran the FBI with an iron fist for
most of the 20th century. He's the guy who
made sure Americans were taught that
marijuana was as evil as heroin, serial axe
murderers and devil worship.
We Canucks can thank Emily Murphy.
Ms MUrphy was a pioneer of women's'
rights in Canada. She became the first woman
police magistrate in the British Empire back in
1916. She was instrumental in seeing that
women were regarded as 'people' under
Canadian law.
Then there was her other side.
She practised journalism and had a regular
Ontario has had a succession of
premiers who talked a good game of
standing up for human rights, but they
have been put to shame by an unlikely, far-
right Conservative prime minister.
Stephen Harper expressed his concern at
China's abuse of rights publicly before, during
and after his visit to the Asia-Pacific Economic
Co-operation summit in Vietnam, despite
objections this would hinder efforts to
promote trade.
There are questions about precisely what he
said to the Chinese president in their brief
private meeting and his motives, because
Harper has not been renowned as an advocate
of rights at home, particularly for aboriginals,
but there is no doubt he raised awareness of
abuse in that country.
This contrasts with the lack of enthusiasm
for speaking up against abuse Ontario
premiers of all three parties have shown on
visits to China.
Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, who
went last year, has said rights have to be
protected everywhere and his -current biggest
issue is rushing through an overhaul of
Ontario human rights law so critics say he is
refusing enough time to debate it.
When he went to China, MPPs were being
reminded of that country's abuses by daily
demonstrations outside its consulate near the
legislature and the United- Nations had
expressed new' concerns at its jailing of
minority leaders, labor activists and journalists
and huge rate of executions.
McGuinty did not mention such distasteful
issues to the Chinese vice-president he met,
but instead gave a vague lecture at a Beijing
law school on the theme that human rights and
the rule of law are linked, and Ontario could
- best contribute to promoting respect for rights
in China by promoting respect for the law,
which could offend no one. .
McGuinty was much more alarmed some
column in Macleans magazine which she
wrote under the pen name Janey Canuck. She
used her column as a bully pulpit to pitch her
personal war against drugs — specifically
marijuana — and more specifically against the
people who used it.
"Chinese, Assyrians, Negroes and Greeks"
she assured her readers, were responsible for
the presence of marijuana_ (she spelled it
marahuana) in Canada."
She crusaded against letting such foreigners
into the country. For those that were already
here, she argued for their 'compulsory
sterilization' — indeed, for all "lesser humans"
who she complained were polluting the gene
pool.
She worried, in print, that the white race was
faltering, while the more prolific "black and
yellow races may yet obtain the ascendancy"
and thus threatened to "wrest the leadership of
the world from the British".
When it came to the evils of pot, she really
let her hair down. In her Macleans column she
wrote: "Persons using this narcotic, smoke the
dried leaves of the plant, which has the effect
of driving them completely insane...Addicts
to this drug, while under its influence, are
immune to pain, and could be severely injured
without having any realization of their
unscrupulous Chinese wineries were making
icewine and labeling it "made in Canada" and
— showing a fine grasp of priorities. He was
committed to stop this fraud.
McGuinty said he was also convinced the
Chinese were moving toward democracy and
freedom, but when pressed, could not cite an
example. It was hardly a stirring call to
improve rights there.
Mike Harris, when Progressive Conservative
premier, visited China twice. Years earlier in
opposition he had set out his credo any
Ontario premier who went must protest
against its rights abuses.
New Democrat premier Bob Rae was
contemplating a trade mission there in 1994
and Harris said he would endorse it only if Rae
took- a clear stand on China's human rights
record.
Harris said trade could help liberalize China,
"but pursuing trade cannot be an excuse to
downplay human rights abuses."
He said an Ontario premier is significant
enough, his • comments are noticed
internationally, and human rights are
important, so Rae should send a clear message
Ontario is committed to demand them
overseas.
Final Thought
Reason often makes mistakes, but
conscience never does.
— Josh Billings
condition... They become raving maniacs and
are liable to kill or indulge in any form of
violence to other persons, using the most
savage methods without any sense of moral
responsibility."
The powers that be bought into Murphy's
loopy argument. The laws of the country were
revamped so that marijuana joined the ranks of
heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.
A weed that grows freely in ditches and
barnyards became a criminal substance,
possession of which could put you in jail.
And it stuck. In 1961, nearly 30 years after
her death, any Canadian found with even a few
grams of marijuana in pocket or purse
could be sentenced to seven years in the
slammer.
Who knows how many thousands of
Canadians have been arrested, charged, and in
many cases thrown into jail as a direct result of
Emily Murphy's delusional rantings?
Interestingly, marijuana is making a
comeback. Not so much as a recreational drug
(that's a constant) but as legitimate medicine.
Many chronic pain sufferers swear cannabis is
the only remedy that brings them relief.
And a recent study published in the science
journal Molecular Pharmaceutics claims that
smoking marijuana may help stop the onset of
Alzheimer's.
Alzheimer's is, of course, a disease
characterized by memory loss, poor decision-
making and loss of language skills.
Which is pretty much what happens to you
when you smoke a joint.
Emily Murphy wouldn't appreciate the
irony, but my old Montreal landlord would get
a giggle out of it.
Harris sneered Rae had to protest, because
he had been one of the world's most outspoken
champions of human rights. The Ontario NDP
has a long history of protesting against abuse
of rights abroad more than other parties.
Rae went on his visit to China with a party
that included Liberal prime minister Jean
Chretien and said Chretien raised the issue.
Rae said he had concluded China was too
big, complex and powerful to be forced on
rights and he had seen nothing that suggested
Ontario could influence it.
Harris went promoting trade in 1998 and
there was no evidence ,he raised the issue he
had called so important with Chinese
government officials or others he met.
Harris went again with Chretien in 2001,
when Chretien said publicly Canadians were
concerned at China's, banning freedom of
expression and imprisoning people for their
religious beliefs.
But Harris did not add any criticisms of his
own and his visit is remembered most because
at a state dinner he was accompanied by an
attractive girlfriend in a skirt slit slightly
higher than the raised eyebrows of goggling
Asian dignitaries — the premier may not have
had political battles on his mind.
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concise.
Seeing the lights
/t may not yet be the first of December but
everywhere you turn it's beginnipg to look
a lot like Christmas, •
In the holiday season of my youth, decking
the halls for the early birds may have happened
a week or so before Christmas Day. Now, it's
pretty much any time after Halloween.
On some levels it makes sense. A perfectly
warm fall day in November is a much more
blissful time to install outdoor lights than a.
deadline day in December that's cold enough
to turn fingers to icicles.
Also, people are getting into decorating in a
much bigger way than in decades past. It's a
lot of work for only a couple of weeks
enjoyment.
People may argue that the stage is being set
far too early for the traditional-Christmas story.
But really the holly and lights have little to do
with Christ's birth. And as far as having the
nativity grace a room, shouldn't it be the
longer the better?
It's a beautiful season, from its religious
significance to the warmth and light it brings
to long nights. I think_ it's wonderful that
people get into the spirit of it so whole-
heartedly.
Especially since doing so can be an
exhausting exercise. With so many turning
their homes into festive showplaces, there's a
bit of pressure on decorating. I know that my
life is already crammed full of stuff that needs
to be done, yet I suddenly find myself trying to
squeeze in some decorating for the holidays,
and hoping that the completed effort will be up '
to snuff.
But a recent story I heard has struck a chord.
The outside strings of lights at a friend's home
are apparently worth a chuckle or two. The
homes of her neighbours are perfect in their
glitter and greenery, while along her eaves is
more string than illumination.
Her little grandson was quite impressed by
the decorations of the neighbourhood, and yes,
even those of his grandparents. He didn't miss
what wasn't there, but was instead, delighted
by what was.
There is a Christmas song that pops into my
head at various times of the year, any time that
I look into The Eyes of A,Child.
"In the eyes of a child, there is joy, there is
laughter
There is hope, there is trust, a chance to
shape the future
For • the lessons of life, there is no better
teacher
Than the look in the eyes of a child."
When, I wondered, do we lose that ability to
be awed by the less than awesome? And why?
We come into this world with an open mind
and innocent view. It's sad that through time
most will lose both of those. _
So, as I grab too few hours to complete the
holiday preparations, as I try to meet the high
expectations that only I place on myself, I'm
going to remember what makes all of this fun.
It's not how many lights glow on the tree or if
they are placed to perfection. It's that the tree
is there and is as perfect as it can be this year.
The garlands and bows will be just fine the ,
way I've placed them. I will not fuss myself
silly over this anymore.
After all, as nice as the beautiful holiday
faces are that we're putting on our homes,
what perfection is there in it if we find the
preparations overwhelming us? Instead I am
going to try to look at things from a child's
eyes. What I see will be `wonder'-ful,
imperfections and all. I will have done what I
can and what I'll have done will be enough.
Premiers shamed by an unlikely source