LEAVE POT LAWS TO PROVINCES GOV'T TOLD

OTTAWA- The federal government should take marijuana out of the
Criminal Code and allow the provinces to regulate its use according
to local cultural demands, a Senate committee heard Monday.

A leading psychologist from Simon Fraser University who has devoted
three decades to studying drug addiction said it's time Canada
developed it's own drug polices, independent of the war on drugs in
the United States.

"Canadian policy (on drugs) has simply followed the American policy,
lock step, from the beginning," Prof. Bruce Alexander told a special
committee that has launched a two year inquiry into drug policy in
Canada.

Another professor, who was a member of the LeDain Commission into
drugs, went further, telling the committee Canada should legalize all
drugs and leave regulations in place to control only the price of
drugs, their quality and the age of the purchasers.

Marie-Andree Bertrand, now a professor emeritus of criminology at the
University of Montreal, said millions of Canadians use marijuana or
cannabis and if the law against its possession was rigorously
enforced, the justice system would collapse.

" What would they do with five million Canadians, if you brought them
before the courts tomorrow morning?" asked Bertrand.

She argued all drugs must be legalized to avoid an increase in
organized crime involvement with harder drugs such as cocaine and
heroin.

Alexander said research has proved cannabis is no more addictive than
many other vices in life, including gambling, alcohol and even sex.

While he said the overall problem of addiction is soaring and has
become a national problem, it is caused by a growing felling of
alienation rather than the addictive nature of the activities
themselves.

Using Holland as an example, where small cannabis cafes are regulated
by the government, Alexander argued the Canadian government could
decentralize cannabis regulation to the provinces.

"It is there that the regulations that would be appropriate for each
region (or city) would come into play," said Alexander.

He said Vancouver briefly experimented informally with a liberalized
attitude towards cannabis consumption, but was forced to drop the
scheme two years ago under intense international pressure. Alexander
said UN conventions have effectively prevented Canada from developing
its own drug policy, while the United States is objecting to a clause
on drugs in the proposed free trade area of the Americas. The U.S.
wants to keep its right to decide whether other countries are
maintaining acceptable drug interdiction practices.

Bertrand cited recent statistics that suggest the "drug problem" in
Canada has been overstated.

During the last 20 years, drug offenses have represented from two per
cent to four per cent of all crimes recorded in the country each
year, the figures from the Canadian Center for Justice Statistics
show. In 1998, they represented just over 2.5 per cent of all
Criminal Code offenses.

Cannabis-related offenses totaled 50,000 in 1974 and, following a 14
year period of fluctuation, stood at 50,000 in 1998 despite the
overall population growth.

Two senators expressed reservations about liberalizing drug laws.
Liberal Shirley Maheau said she was concerned about the increased
likelihood of young people graduating from tobacco to marijuana and
than stronger drugs, while Eileen Rossiter questioned whether drug
use was simply a "cop-out" for weak individuals with no work ethic.