MPS SET TO DEBATE LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Ottawa - MPs quietly launched a debate Thursday that could lead to
the decriminalization of currently illegal drugs such as marijuana.

All five parties in the House of Commons unanimously backed a motion
to create a committee with a broad-ranging mandate to study solutions
to the use of banned narcotics.

Members from at least three parties said Thursday that they see the
committee as a forum to discuss the once-taboo topic of legalizing
marijuana.

Toronto-area Liberal MP Derek Lee said that it's time to disregard
convention and seriously look at the issue of whether using
"recreational" drugs should be a criminal act.

"It's clear that all members in the House want to tackle this issue,"
he said. "It's time to be bold."

He said other MPs in the Liberal caucus support the idea of debating
the subject.

New Democratic Party MP Dick Proctor said his party will definitely
raise the topic of legalizing marijuana - and potentially other
"soft" drugs - at the committee.

"We intend to have a pretty wide-open discussion on how to proceed,"
he said. "Everything has to be on the table, including the
possibility of decriminalizing recreational drugs like marijuana for
personal use."

The Bloc Quebecois, in its election platform, also promotes
legalization. A spokesman said Thursday that the party voted in
favour of the motion because it plans to push the issue at the
committee.

The committee was struck one day after the Canadian Medical
Association published an editorial urging the government to modernize
its Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and decriminalize marijuana.

The motion was proposed by Canadian Alliance MP Randy White, a rabid
antidrug crusader who favours stricter, not softer, laws. The intent
was to create a committee that would examine ways for Canada to fight
organized drug rings.

On Thursday, newly appointed Alliance spokesman Dan Robertson said
the broadly worded motion was being misinterpreted by those wishing
to talk about legalizing marijuana. "We're a grassroots party, but
not in that respect," he said.

The wording of the motion, however, calls for the committee to study
"the factors underlying or relating to the non-medical use of drugs
in Canada." MPs from all sides of the House agreed those words can be
interpreted many ways.

The all-party special committee will have 18 months to study the
issue before reporting back to the Commons.

Mr. Lee said Thursday that he expects 75 per cent of the committee's
time and energy to be devoted to the question of how to crack down on
the criminal drug trade. He said that he is concerned about the
spread of drugs that are both addictive and controlled by organized
crime. Marijuana doesn't fit that definition, he said.

"While I consider the marijuana trade to be run by organized crime, I
don't consider it to be in the addictive category."

Marijuana advocates have long argued that it is not addictive and has
no long-term health effects. In its editorial, the Canadian Medical
Association said studies show "minimal negative health effects [with]
moderate use" of the drug.

Two years ago, Health Canada decriminalized the use and possession of
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Possession for non-medicinal
purposes remains a crime that carries a possible five-year jail
sentence with a conviction.

The CMA estimates that 1.5 million Canadians smoke marijuana
recreationally. More than 30,000 people a year are charged with
marijuana possession, accounting for about half of all drug arrests.

Mr. Lee and Mr. Proctor both said part of the debate should be over
whether to legalize, or simply decriminalize, marijuana.
Decriminalization would make marijuana possession a civil offence,
like a traffic ticket, that would not result in a criminal record.

Progressive Conservative Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin has also started
a push in the Red Chamber to decriminalize marijuana.

The House motion came one day after the single-issue Marijuana Party
attracted a surprising 3.4 per cent of the vote, or 54,000 ballots,
in the B.C. election.

"The only reason we ran was to get people to take notice of the
issue," party president Marc Emery said. "It's very encouraging."