MAKE UP YOUR MIND ON MARIJUANA, FEDS URGED

QUEBEC (CP) - Police rarely charge anyone with marijuana possession because
Canadians have an increasingly laissez-faire attitude to pot smoking, says
a Vancouver police officer.

Tom Stamatakis, president of the Vancouver police union, said, "People can
still be charged with possession but it happens only a fraction of how
often it used to. It's almost non-existent."

"You could walk in Vancouver and just smell the marijuana in any
neighbourhood," said Stamatakis, interviewed Thursday at a meeting of the
National Association of Professional Police.

Some other participants at the convention agreed it's time for the
government to make up its mind on marijuana: either decriminalize it, or
give police the funding they need to enforce the law.

"We're not getting a clear message and that's frustrating," said one police
officer.

Stamatakis said Vancouver has about 7,000 marijuana-growing operations and
there's little political will to shut them down.

The idea of decriminalizing marijuana possession has entered the mainstream
recently, with proponents like Tory Leader Joe Clark and the Canadian
Association of Chiefs of Police.

The federal government has already endorsed the medical use of marijuana.

Some convention delegates said Ottawa may be preparing the public for
decriminalization, which would remove the penalties linked to pot possession.

"We remember what happened with video lottery terminals. They were in on a
trial basis, but we've got them for good," said one Quebec officer. "I get
the feeling that's what's happening here."

Conservative Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, an outspoken supporter of
decriminalization, said many police officers feel privately the war on
drugs has been a failure and a waste of money.

But they won't express that view openly, he said. "How many investigators
tell us the same thing in private, only to continue the war on drugs the
following day and - above all - defend it in public?"

Millions of dollars are wasted each year on laws which are almost ignored
in some areas, said Nolin, chair of a Senate committee on illegal drugs.

For example, people convicted of simple marijuana possession in Toronto are
10 times less likely to serve jail time than others in the rest of Ontario,
Nolin said.

The Senate committee, which began hearings last October, is scheduled to
submit an initial set of recommendations next August.

Nolin said that even if he favours looser marijuana laws, the committee
won't necessarily recommend decriminalization.

He said it may be impossible for Canada to act alone on decriminalization
because of its shared border with the United States.

"Changing our laws without the Americans doing it? It's just about
impossible. It can't be done," Nolin told reporters. "Maybe we'll convince
them to come along with us."