Yes, you heard me, and I stand by my controversial beliefs when I state - on the hill that I will die on - that it is high time we legalize drugs and prostitution. Our government and society's efforts to tackle these issues, as old as time itself, have failed. No matter how many times we arrest drug users, drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, drug lords, and members of criminal enterprises engaged in these activities, we still fail. And why do we fail? Because, like us, the people involved in such activities are just as human as we are. They continue to find new ways to circumvent the law, bringing illicit substances and sexual services to a drug-addicted and sexually driven public.

We often like to think that those who engage in drug use and prostitution are easily identifiable, but the truth is, they can be anyone, and we wouldn't even know it. They could be the construction worker who goes to a dealer in a dark alley to obtain opioids to treat searing work-related pain from decades of double shifts spent building the skyscrapers that dominate our skylines. Or the lawyer, drowning in the stress of their profession, who seeks relief with a prostitute in a seedy motel, snorting cocaine to keep going before a big case. Even doctors - overworked, exhausted, and burdened by the trauma of saving lives - turn to drugs and sex work to numb their pain and stress. Ironically, the very medical system they work in was influenced by Dr. William Stewart Halsted, who engineered residency training while battling addictions to cocaine and morphine.

Yet, despite this, we convince ourselves that drugs like cocaine must remain illegal to prevent their spread, even when it is obvious that government efforts have done little to curb their availability. Just today, I witnessed two homeless individuals openly using drugs near a mall, in front of young children, and I found myself wondering: Why do we even bother making drugs illegal?

The same can be said for prostitution, which continues to thrive despite law enforcement's attempts to eliminate it - efforts that have only caused more harm, particularly to vulnerable women who choose to sell their bodies of their own free will. Even though prostitution is illegal, female prostitutes are disproportionately targeted, while male and non-female sex workers largely escape scrutiny. This enrages me, especially given Canada's prostitution laws, which have placed female sex workers in even greater danger. Under the leadership of Stephen Harper, the Conservative Party recklessly endangered the lives of sex workers with a draconian law - Bill C-36. This disgraceful piece of legislation criminalizes clients who seek sexual services, preventing prostitutes from screening them for potential dangers. Worse, it bans sex workers from advertising their services legally, forcing them to use coded language and work further underground, where they become more vulnerable to criminal exploitation.

Let's not forget that our governments have a long history of enabling the rise of criminal organizations through their failed policies. Consider Prohibition in the early 1900s, when some misguided politician thought banning alcohol was a great idea. That policy lasted just over a decade because people demanded their booze. More importantly, it fueled organized crime, leading to violent shootouts and massacres, such as the infamous St. Valentine's Day Massacre. And who was behind that disastrous idea? Bible-thumping moralists who, ironically, also played a key role in the criminalization of drugs. White supremacist eugenicists convinced the public that drugs would make minority men lust after white women - when in reality, drug laws were nothing more than an excuse for racist policing and oppression.

But there is hope. The State of Colorado was the first major sign that the so-called war on drugs and prostitution was coming to an end when it legalized marijuana, a substance that had been banned for nearly a century. Since then, other U.S. states and countries around the world have followed suit, loosening the stranglehold of repressive drug laws and paving the way for full legalization. Additionally, movements and court battles in Canada are challenging the nation's absurd laws against prostitution, fighting for the rights of individuals to sell their bodies on their own terms.

But the fight is far from over. Write to your politicians. Demand the right to purchase sexual services from a prostitute. Demand the legalization of drugs. Do so to dismantle criminal organizations that profit from the prohibition of these services. Do so to prevent wrongful arrests. Do so to tear down a racist and sexist system. Most importantly, do so to secure the freedom to engage in these activities without fear of legal reprisal!