FORMER SUPREME COURT JUDGE PROBED '60S, '70S DRUG USE

Former Supreme Court Justice Gerald Eric Le Dain, who also led a
landmark commission into drug use in Canada in the '60s and '70s, has died.

Le Dain, who died in Toronto last week, was 83.

Appointed to the Supreme Court in 1984 by Pierre Trudeau, the
Montreal-born Le Dain was a law professor and dean of the Osgoode
Hall law school.

But before being named to the country's top court, the Second World
War veteran steered a commission of inquiry into the non-medical use
of drugs, from 1969 to 1973.

The commission's report recommended marijuana be removed from the
Narcotic Control Act and that the provinces control possession and
cultivation, similar to government controls on the use of alcohol.

The LeDain commission also interviewed Beatle John Lennon and his
wife, Yoko Ono, for the report.

"The one thing that can be said about marijuana is it's non-violent,"
Lennon said. "If any government wanted to use it to calm people, they
have got the ultimate weapon."

Le Dain served on the Supreme Court for four years and retired in 1988.

His funeral will be held on Dec. 28 in Ottawa.