If ever there was an example of beating a dead horse, it is the continuing prohibition of marijuana in the 21st century. The propaganda campaign failed so completely that most Canadians no longer believe marijuana is worth worrying about. Since the federal Conservatives are escalating the war on drugs, we have to wonder who they think they’re kidding.

Young people trying marijuana for the first time fail to understand what all the fuss is about. They laugh and wonder why marijuana is illegal. They begin to question authority and they learn very quickly that it is easier to get marijuana than it is alcohol and tobacco (probably for the best).

With their easy access to information, they might look into the history of marijuana and wonder where this bizarre prohibition came from. If so, they would probably learn about hemp and its many uses. They would conclude that marijuana legislation was misguided, politically motivated and quite possibly discriminatory. If nothing else, they would decide prohibition doesn’t make sense because people will continue to use it anyway. They probably wonder what our politicians are smoking.

Unfortunately, some might also wonder if all the other drugs aren’t that bad either. Once they discover the information they’ve been given about marijuana doesn’t add up, how do they decide where to draw the line with the other stuff? It’s hard to be sure.

Here are a few things we can be absolutely sure of. Marijuana will continue to be grown. It will continue to be distributed in Canada and around the world. And good people young and old will continue to get high at home or out and about. They will not be inclined to violence or theft. They will not get wasted and be rushed to the emergency room. They will not suffer hangovers. It will not even be possible to overdose. They will not become physically dependant, although some may develop a pretty bad habit. They are likely to be lazy, but these are hardly people worth policing. By and large, they will smoke from time to time and go about their lives with no noticeable effect whatsoever.

Despite this reality, marijuana will not be legalized anytime soon. We will not regulate it. We will not tax it. We will not have an honest education program discouraging its use and preventing people from driving under its influence. We will not take it out of the hands of the drug cartels and we will not deny those violent groups a major source of revenue. We don’t want those tax dollars and no one knows why.

Instead, we will saddle decent people with criminal records and divert police resources from important matters. Since we live in a world where human trafficking still exists, where children are abused, where people are killed out of greed, desperation and more, it is absurd to worry about a plant. The police face real crimes, everyday. They are crimes that will be hard to stop even with unlimited resources but they are real, and they are worth waging a war against. But instead of putting everything we have into the good fight, we waste time on people having a toke.

It’s time to admit that marijuana is essentially harmless, unless we care about the gangs killing each other for control of the market, a problem that has a very obvious solution. Unfortunately, under the leadership of Stephen Harper and the Conservative government, that solution (which would remedy some fiscal realities as well) is not even worth discussing. That’s reefer madness and it’s clear as day.

No doubt the Conservative government will never see it this way. But with each new administration the smoke clears just a bit, and we get that much closer to the generation that will finally bring common sense to Canada’s destructive drug policy.

Michael Ashby is director of the National Pardon Centre.