MARIJUANA DECRIMINALIZATION SUPPORTED

As the issue of decriminalizing marijuana makes its way into the
federal political arena, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin is the
latest politician to get in on the action.

Progressive Conservative Leader Joe Clark recently said that the time
has come to explore the idea of decriminalizing pot. A federal
multi-party committee has now been established to determine whether
decriminalizing marijuana is the way to go.

It's not the first time that Martin has expressed his view that people
should not face criminal charges for minor possession of marijuana, as
the Canadian Alliance (CA) MP has reintroduced a private member's bill
for its second run through the House of Commons.

Martin says that decriminalizing marijuana would be a great way of
taking the strain off a court system that is clogged up with more
cases than it can handle.

"It's long overdue, particularly in British Columbia where we have a
court system that is overwhelmed by serious criminals who are not
being prosecuted because the resources aren't there to make sure that
justice is done," he explains.

Martin's bill would see the criminal penalties for the possession of
marijuana removed, to be replaced with a system of fines.

Under Martin's private member's bill, a person found to be in
possession of marijuana could be fined $200 for the first offence,
while people found guilty of second and third offences would be fined
$500 and $1,000 respectively.

The money generated by the fines could then be put towards the funding
of drug prevention programs and drug treatment programs for addicts,
says Martin. The justice system should be used to deal with drug
dealers, he argues, including major players in organized crime.

He notes that the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs (CAPC) has
been supportive of the idea of decriminalizing marijuana since 1999.
The RCMP has also indicated that people caught with small amounts of
pot should not face criminal charges.

At the same time, the latter organization made it clear that it didn't
support the legalization of pot. Martin stresses that he doesn't
favour the outright legalization of marijuana either. He says that
legalizing pot "at this point in time" would be a bad move, as
attempts to do just that in some European countries has led to an
increase in organized crime activity.

A study released this week by the University of Lethbridge showed that
50 per cent of Canadians don't just support decriminalizing pot - they
support outright legalization.

Although CAPC supports decriminalization, the Canadian Police
Association (CPA) is opposed to such a move. It argues that loosening
up laws governing marijuana use would lead to an increase in crime and
place a greater strain on the health-care system.

Ken Lane, the Canadian Communities Against Substance Abuse delegate to
Drug Watch International, says other countries that have eased up on
their drug laws have experienced an increase in drug use.

"If you relax your attitude on drugs, you get more drugs," he
says.

When that happens, adds Lane, problems such as family violence and
incidents of people driving cars under the influence of drugs
increase. He adds that marijuana use - and not just the use of hard
drugs - can lead to such problems.

When Peter Cohen of Amsterdam University addressed a Senate committee
on marijuana Monday, he reportedly said that the decriminalization of
marijuana in the Netherlands has not resulted in more people smoking
pot, noting that only about 16 per cent of Dutch people have smoked
marijuana.

Some Liberal MPs support decriminalization and even many right-wing
members of the Canadian Alliance are saying it's time to decriminalize
pot. Martin points out that his private member's bill is getting a lot
of support from party members.