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I have friends who when they travel overseas, they wear Canadian Flag pins on their shirts, blouses so people won't know they are Americans. The world, it seems, likes the Canadians...they are laid back, don't stir the pot...uh..they smoke the pot instead.

There are reasons why Canadians are laid back...it's because - 

"Nearly half of Canadians have committed the crime spelled out in Section 4 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. It sets out a maximum six-month prison sentence and a $1,000 fine for anyone caught with 30 grams of marijuana or less."

1. Almost half of the Canadaian population smokes pot!

One Montreal cop said some officers can spend an entire career without ever arresting any of the people they catch smoking a joint.

There's no use clogging up court system.

One report says pot is less addictive than either alcohol or cigarettes.

4. Gee....it's not 

A criminology professor and drug-policy expert say alcohol consumption and cigarette-smoking rates have plummeted since the 1970s, while pot use has risen.

5. Less health problems and nobody cares if they do have them. 

"It (laws against smoking pot) doesn't work, hasn't worked, never has worked, there's no prospect that it ever will work. Yet we continue to do it."

6. Canadians are gonna smoke pot, they always have, they can't be stopped, so don't try to prevent them.

An addiction researcher at the University of Victoria, says marijuana is more of a buffer than a gateway.

7. Smoking pot is enough to keep someone from wanting to do the harders stuff...for now. 

Marijuana is a lesser evil that helps reduce the use of hard drugs, cuts into drinking and therefore prevents alcohol-related injuries.

8. Canadians aren't bad...they are just a little bad. 

Many potheads believe the drug keeps them out of worse trouble.

9. Get in trouble? Who me? Whoa? Dude, I'm just chilling here.

"People don't view it as a gateway drug. They view it as an exit drug."

10. Cannabis is used to stay away from more dangerous substances.

"Prohibition has been an utter and total failure," says another researcher.

11. It (prohibiting pot) has actually made the problem (I am not sure which problemb) worse. Instead of just keeping us static and wasting money, it actually moves us backwards (were the potheads moving in the firstplace?). And wastes money. And destroys lives. And finances terrorism, and insurgent groups around the world."

Gee....and I thought BUYING drugs was bad. It turns out that prohibiting them is even worse.

To be sure, I would never wear a Canadian pin when overseas.

How about you?