CANADIANS LEAN TOWARD EASING MARIJUANA LAWS

As the government puts the finishing touches on regulations that will make
Canada one of the first countries to license marijuana growers, deepening
public tolerance for the drug is clearing the path to legal reforms that
could make Canada much more permissive of marijuana than the United States.

Health Canada officials say that by the end of July, marijuana growers will
be able to apply for licenses to produce small amounts of marijuana for
people with terminal illnesses or chronic diseases to ease their pain.

Over the last few years, more than 250 Canadians have received government
permission to smoke marijuana for medical purposes, and many more will
qualify for the exemptions when the new regulations take effect, but until
then they must either grow the marijuana or buy it illegally.

Health officials say that although there is no scientific proof that
marijuana has medicinal properties, testimony from people who have used it
to overcome the nausea associated with chemotherapy or to help with their
glaucoma and other diseases has been so convincing that the government has
decided to make it legal under certain circumstances.

What they had not counted on, however, is that by debating and then
authorizing this specialized use of marijuana, they would be seen by many
Canadians as legitimizing the use of the drug. A recent survey showed that
47 percent of Canadians agreed that marijuana should be legalized, a sharp
increase over the number five years ago.

"A new mood seems to be sweeping the country," said Reginald W. Bibby, a
professor at the University of Lethbridge who has studied Canadian
attitudes toward marijuana for a generation. For 20 years starting in 1975,
the percentage of Canadians who favored legalizing marijuana ranged from 24
to 31. But since 1995, Professor Bibby said, acceptance has broadened
substantially.

"Unquestionably, there is a link between government actions and the changes
in public attitudes," he said. "The moral entrepreneurs in the country are
working very hard to portray the harmful effects of marijuana but most
people are starting to see it as only something that can be positive."

An estimated 1.5 million Canadians smoke marijuana recreationally,
according to the Canadian Medical Association.

Dann M. Michols, an assistant deputy minister at Health Canada, said that
in drawing up the new regulations, health officials had not taken into
account the impact such actions could have on the social use of marijuana.
"I don't think that it was explicitly calculated," Mr. Michols said.

Health officials are under great pressure to have the new regulations ready
to take effect by the end of July. An Ontario court of appeals last year
gave the government until July 31 to revamp regulations for the medical use
of marijuana or have the entire section of the federal controlled substance
act be voided, which would have made any use of marijuana legal in Canada.

Until recently, approaches toward the medical use of marijuana were similar
in both the United States and Canada. But in May the United States Supreme
Court upheld a federal law banning the distribution of marijuana for
medical purposes, overriding laws in several states that legalized medical
marijuana.

The debate over marijuana in Canada has moved to Parliament. A committee
from all five political parties is preparing to undertake a comprehensive
study of Canada's drug policy and consider a range of reforms, including
the legalization of marijuana.

Health Minister Allan Rock and Justice Minister Anne McLellan have both
said they favor a thorough rethinking of Canada's drug laws, although they
have not indicated support for any particular changes.

Joe Clark, the former prime minister, who is a member of the current
Parliament and the leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, recently
called for lessening penalties for using marijuana. "I don't want to have a
young person carry forever the burden of a conviction for a criminal
offense," Mr. Clark said. The leaders of two other minority parties, the
New Democrats and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, also support the idea of
decriminalizing marijuana smoking so that an offense would be treated like
a traffic ticket, perhaps involving a fine but leaving no criminal record.

The Canadian Police Association told a Senate committee on May 28 that it
opposed decriminalization because easing the punishment could lead to
increased use of hard drugs.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien has also withheld support for
decriminalization. "The health minister has proposed permitting marijuana
use for medical ends," Mr. Chretien said recently. "Should we go into
decriminalization and so on? It's not part of the agenda at this time."