The first major small government gesture of 2012 is coming not from the Conservatives, but from the Liberal Party. I’m talking marijuana.

The Liberal Party convention happening this weekend is guaranteed to be mostly same old.

‘Yesterday’s politicians’ such as Sheila Copps and Senator David Smith will dominate party renewal talks despite being the very people the Liberals need to jettison if they hope to have any 21st century relevance.

Likewise their numerous ‘national strategies’ planned are just the same big government plans they’ve always overindulged in. In this respect, the Liberals are in a race to the bottom with the NDP.

Then there’s the proposal to legalize and regulate marijuana. The convention discussion policy reads “the failed prohibition of marijuana has exhausted countless billions of dollars spent on ineffective or incomplete enforcement and has resulted in unnecessarily dangerous and expensive congestion in our judicial system”.

At first glance this is a niche issue. While millions of Canadians have smoked marijuana, only a small contingent care enough to consider themselves activists.

However the financial costs alone should be enough to make taxpayers balk. A 2002 Senate committee investigation found the costs of Cannabis enforcement to be $1 - 1.5 billion a year.

That price will only go up with the proposed omnibus crime bill. Soon, anyone found to be growing more than five marijuana plants on their private property will face a prison sentence of no less than six months. No negotiations. That’s what mandatory minimum means.

So ask yourself this: do you really want to restrict someone’s liberties and slap yourself with a multi-billion dollar bill because the government doesn’t like the plants in a person’s garden? This is big government gone bananas.

The NDP wants to regulate marijuana because they want to control people’s lives. You only need to look out west to see this being played out at supervised injection sites. The streets of Vancouver have turned into a scene from The Matrix. They want anyone who has ever smelled a bit of alcohol to be placed inside government incubators for the rest of their lives. The only difference is they’re replacing the maintenance bots with CUPE workers.

This debate shouldn’t be about that. It should be about letting people do whatever they damn well please so long as they’re not harming anyone else.

This is why so many conservatives are opposed to the criminalization of marijuana. Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has never smoked a joint in his life, but supports these rights. Former New Mexico Governor and wealthy businessman Gary Johnson wants more marijuana rights. An Iron Man athlete, Johnson was severely injured in 2005 and took medicinal marijuana. His views were supported by William F. Buckley. In Canada, Conservative Senator Pierre Claude Nolin has spoken out against the omnibus crime bill.

These are real conservatives who have asked serious questions about the role government should play in our lives.

Most people who think they are opposed to marijuana rights are actually just opposed to other, related issues. They don’t like the idea of people ruining their lives as potheads, or driving while stoned. But the fact that a few people can’t handle their pot doesn’t justify making the rest of us criminals. Costly alcohol prohibition once existed for the same wrongheadaed reasons. Society smartened up and replaced the nanny state with personal responsibility.

Some oppose the crime that arises out of the drug trade. But once marijuana is legal, not only will driving around with a handgun shooting people still be illegal, but cases of it might actually decrease.

The Conservatives have a reputation for stealing the Liberals’ thunder whenever they have a good idea. Hopefully this one is on Harper’s radar.

Puff, puff pass the legislation.

anthony.furey@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @anthonyfurey