PUT JANEY CANUCK'S MARY JANE LAWS TO REST

VICTORIA - 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laws are outdated.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 favor of outright legalization. They can point to strong
public support.

In a recent poll by Reginald Bibby, a sociologist with the University of
Lethbridge, 46 per cent of the respondents favored legalization of
marijuana. Not surprisingly, in B.C. that number rose to 56 per cent.

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

Next comes the question of who should sell it. Liquor stores might be an
obvious choice, but would any government, provincial or federal, want to
wade into that minefield?

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.

And nobody has even been able to convince the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency that there is a difference between marijuana and crack cocaine,
when all they have to do is ask the former and current presidents to
explain it to them.

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. In the sixties it was not uncommon for people caught with one
marijuana cigarette to go to be sentenced to five years in prison. In
the States they still do.

It doesn't happen in Canada anymore, but still, 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 is encouraging that recently the House of Commons unanimously passed
a motion to create a committee to examine the use of non-medical drugs
in Canada. All five parties have indicated they will raise the marijuana
issue at those meetings.

Committee members would be well advised to consider how marijuana came
to be first demonized and then criminalized in Canada.

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." In 1929, these
women 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 favor
of decriminalizing marijuana.

And maybe if people are allowed to grow a few plants for personal use,
it will even make a dent in the criminal distribution of marijuana.