This story of the toddler using cannabis for his epilepsy raises some interesting points about the nature of prohibition and the outrageously uneven way it is enforced.
Imagine if this family were not white people. Seriously: Do you think a non-white family would even consider going public with information like this? I don’t. In fact, I doubt most non-white people in Canada would even consider using medical marijuana because they know deep down that no permit or prescription would keep them from getting busted. Because most people of colour already know – or they should know – that laws in Canada are enforced along racial lines.
As I pointed out in previous posts, the Ottawa Police and RCMP are pretty fickle in the ways they enforce drug laws. They cherry-pick, and race is almost always a factor.
For example: Word around town is that OPS has an off-the-books Stop & Frisk policy, meaning the police routinely stop people who are less-than-white, and search them and bother them with zero provocation or probable cause. I have not seen this, but I have spoken to more than one person to whom it has happened. One friend of mine says he gets hassled quite often simply because he is black. Another friend who worked at the station in a civilian capacity told me that the Stacy Bonds case was not unusual because “…shit like that goes on every…. DAY in that place. And EVERYBODY knows about it. EV REE BUUUH DEEEEE……”. That is how he said it, too. Like; “Get it into your thick skull, man!”
The cops let teens smoke tobacco in public. They know it is illegal, and yet they do nothing. I know, because I asked them. They even let kids smoke tobacco on school property. It is illegal. They ignore it. If they caught a kid smoking a joint on school property, that kid might face charges. If that kid is afflicted with more melanin than, say… me… he will definitely face charges.
So… why should anyone have any respect for marijuana laws or the lazy fickle racist cowards who enforce them?
Anyone….?
Russell Barth's Blog 