The Prime Minister addressed my question.

A week ago, Google had the Prime Minister post a video of the budget on YouTube and solicited visitors feedback on a set of followup questions.

In all fairness, I think Google did a fairly good job of choosing questions and while not “hard hitting” was reflective of the web presence of some of the issues.

The Prime Minister showed up, answered the questions with various levels of confidence and gave responses that while coherent, were often unsatisfactory. While I may not agree with his approach to governance, I do think at the very least this was a healthy precedent for Canada in opening up communication.

The interview was 40 about minutes long, and was mostly in english with a few questions asked and answered in french. My question came in at about 36 minutes of the interviews after various questions on daycare, education, the environment and Afghanistan and separation.

“A majority of Canadians when polled say they believe marijuana should be legal for adults and taxes [sic] like alcohol. Why don’t you end the war on drugs and focus on violent criminals.”

I knew the PM likes to talk about what Canadians want and so I started him with a poll, which he must be familiar with. This sort of got him off his edge from the start.

Before the interview, I had predicted that his response would be a disarming giggle followed by a child anecdote, and surely that was what it was. “Save the Children” was the initial start, even though the question was about adults making their own choices.

Should 11 and 14 years be drinking or smoking anything intoxicating? I’d go so far as to say that even coffee is pushing it. Anything chemistry altering in developmental stages (including Ridellen and even some sugars) should be very reluctantly prescribed.

His rational was limited. He said that marijuana could never be sold by respectable business individuals in respectable establishments, as if beer stores or pharmacies would not be a perfect fit for recreational or medical needs.

He drew a comparison to the drug wars in Mexico, which makes one ask why he would not disentangle the domestic market by introducing reasonable regulations with a local supply.

The real problem in the current law system, and maintaining a fair judicial system is the notion of relative harm, which the Prime Minister barely recognizes. He did admit that recreation use of marijuana cannot be compared to a crime that causes injury to another.

What he wouldn’t concede is that the relative harm is less than liquor to an individual and is small compared to the real harm don’t be diving society over a control on individual behavior.