TREATIES LOCK CANADA INTO OUTDATED POT LAWS

OTTAWA - Little-known international treaties have effectively locked
Canada into outdated policies on marijuana, witnesses told a Senate
committee yesterday.

Bruce Alexander, a psychologist at Simon Fraser University, said
Canada is under heavy international pressure to maintain a criminal
ban on use and possession of cannabis in compliance with treaties
written many years ago.

The proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas would include a clause on
the topic, and the United States wants to protect its right to
unilaterally determine which countries are co-operating with its war
on drugs, he said.

"To have an independent drug policy is almost a dream," Alexander
added in an interview.

He told the committee that regulation of marijuana should be devolved
to municipalities which could act in accordance with local standards.

He says marijuana is not an addictive drug.

Marie-Andree Bertrand, a University of Montreal criminologist, said
many studies around the world have recommended decriminalization, from
Canada's LeDain commission in 1972 to the recent Roque report in
France. She said that new approaches seem to be blocked by
international treaties like 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs
and the 1988 Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs.

"Why have legislatures refused to consider the opinions they have
sought? How can we understand the astounding growth of international
criminal legislation on the drug issue?

"The answer to these questions lies to a large extent in the
international undertakings that ... most countries have signed.
Therein lies the explanation of the rejection of all coherent and
liberal proposals."

Bertrand said many police officers don't bother enforcing laws on
marijuana possession and enforcement varies widely, with rates of
prosecution much higher in Quebec than Ontario or British Columbia.

Simple possession of marijuana still accounts for 50 per cent of the
60,000 to 70,000 drug offences recorded in Canada annually, she said.

"In the meantime, members of national parliaments have been deaf and
blind to what is actually happening in society ... being more
concerned with their image as guardians of the peace and with winning
another term than with the general interests of their countries."

The Senate committee plans to hear from about 60 groups or
individuals, and to present its report in August 2002. Its chairman,
Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, favours the legalization of cannabis.