TIME TO WAVE GOOD BYE TO JANEY CANUCK

When Joe Clark, the Conservative leader, starts calling for the
decriminalization of marijuana, the time has definitely come.

Alan Rock, the justice minister, doesn't go quite as far but he, too, says
it's time for a frank discussion about whether Canada's marijuana laws are
outdated.

This sudden preoccupation with the question of whether the possession of
marijuana ought to be legalized or just decriminalized has a reason: Last
year, the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled that an outright ban on marijuana
is inconsistent with the principles of justice.

The court didn't strike down the law, but allowed for one year to appeal
its decision, rewrite it or scrap it altogether. Lack of response will
strike down the law.

Some argue in favour of outright legalization. They can point to strong
public support.

Yet, prudence may dictate a less drastic change. Legalization would
necessitate detailed preparations. Like with alcoholic beverages and
tobacco products, somebody would have to be given the green light to grow
the stuff.

Next comes the question of who should sell it.

And last but not least, Canadian politicians will undoubtedly keep an eye
on American reaction. Outright legalization would enrage the U.S.
government, which is determined to continue the war on drugs that was lost
a long time ago.

When all is said and done, the more rational choice for Canada is
decriminalization, which has been supported in other polls by close to 80
per cent of respondents.

There is also increasing evidence that marijuana use is far less harmful
than those pushing the buttons in the war on drugs would have had us believe.

It is estimated that more than 600,000 Canadians have received criminal
records for simple possession of marijuana, most of them in the past 20 years.

It is ludicrous at best and obscene at worst that people still get criminal
records for doing what 80 per cent of the Canadian public says should be
decriminalized.

It was in 1920 that an Edmonton woman, writing under the pen name Janey
Canuck, first warned Canadians about "marahuana." Seven years later, Canada
outlawed its use.

Janey was a prolific and sensationalist writer, not only on the evils of
marijuana, but on the dangers of non-white immigrants.

She wrote of "the lowest classes of yellow and black men," and "this
sallow, unsmiling Oriental." What a broad.

Canadians may know her better as Emily Murphy, the first woman judge in the
British Empire, and one of the "the famous five who in 1929 won a judgment
from the British Privy Council that declared women were indeed persons
under the British North America Act, and therefore entitled to sit in the
Senate."

Researchers for the LeDain Commission on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs
reported in 1973: "Her writings were extremely influential in shaping
Canadian drug laws," and many of her "original proposals are still
reflected in our narcotics legislation."

I say it's time to revisit the law that Janey Canuck inspired with her
mean-spirited and sensationalist writings.

With the majority of Canadians nodding approval, it shouldn't be too
difficult even for those politicians who always have one eye on re-election
to come out in favour of decriminalizing marijuana.