CAMPAIGN SHOULD PASS ON POT

If the federal government is serious about starting a massive
anti-drug campaign aimed at youth, it had best ensure the message
makes sense. At this point, it doesn't.

Federal Health Minister Tony Clement promised the campaign at the
annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association, saying the aim
would be to tell kids there are no safe amounts or safe drugs.

He made special mention of marijuana, reminding the doctors in
attendance that pot today is more potent from any they might have
smoked in their youth.

That's where Clement's message is troubling. Lumping in pot use with
harder drugs is a tenuous link at best, and to build a campaign
around it risks sinking the whole message.

A 2004 study found that 70 per cent of Canadians between the ages of
18 and 24 had used marijuana. Another survey, done this year, shows
pot use in Canada is the highest in the industrialized world -- four
times the global rate and double that of the Netherlands, where it is
legal to buy and sell the drug for personal use.

We're not advocating the use of marijuana, but there are an awful lot
of people smoking it out there, and they are presumably among the
target group for Clement's campaign. How much credibility are they
going to give the government's message when they have already tried
one of the drugs and found it didn't cause a crippling addiction or
lead to a life of crime? (Apart from buying it, that is.)

Crystal meth, heroin, crack cocaine -- all are brutally addictive,
all are deadly and we would applaud Ottawa if it would focus on these
hard drugs that are a scourge of cities across the country.

It's been almost 20 years since Canada had a serious, effective drug
campaign, and it's long overdue.

Pot is a different story.

When the Conservatives came to power, they dropped a Liberal bill
that would have decriminalized the possession of small amounts of
marijuana. That bill would have freed up a massive amount of police
and court time that is currently wasted on small-time users who
otherwise would have no criminal record at all.

If Clement is advocating a return to a tougher stance against pot as
well as harder drugs, it's a discouraging sign. We urge the
government to rethink this plan before it risks alienating the very
group it hopes to educate.