TORIES NEED TO LIGHTEN UP ON THE MARIJUANA ISSUE

Decriminalization Was Moving Along Till New Sheriff Came to Town

OTTAWA - For moderate and mainstream Conservatives, it's still one
legislative toke over the line.

Sorry, potheads, no dope decriminalization for you under this
government.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have gone flexible on ethics and
federalism, but marijuana is still reefer madness to his immovable
mind.

The word came down this week from Justice Minister Vic Toews' office:
This government toughens laws, it doesn't repeal them. Grass is so
dangerous, merely possessing its seeds will remain a criminal act.

Two major studies in 2002 had convinced Jean Chretien to move ahead
with decriminalization as a legacy item and to heck with Americans
squawking at the spectre of high Canadians giggling and wolfing down
munchie-fighting snacks as they cruised the Interstates at 37 km/h in
the passing lane.

A Senate task force concluded cannabis was not addictive, did not
induce crime or violence, had little impairment effect on drivers and
negligible health consequences. Legalize it, grow it, sell it and tax
it, the sober second thinkers urged.

The follow-up parliamentary committee of MPs wasn't quite so bold, but
they still felt the legal consequences of being busted were
"disproportionate" to the harm it caused the user and urged simple
possession be deleted from the Criminal Code to become a ticketable
offence.

For a while there, sane minds prevailed and a decriminalization bill
started limping through the political process. Once passed, cannabis
possession would be subjected to a fine roughly equal to speeding,
which is something nobody would ever do on a drug that tends to slow
everything down.

But what Chretien started, Paul Martin couldn't finish before his
one-term wonder expired with his resignation. So the bill died on the
order paper, having only passed second reading, and the Conservatives
say they have no intention of backing its resurrection.

Which brings us to now, some 37 years after the LeDain Commission
first mused about relaxing marijuana laws in Canada.

This weekend, with spring break starting in Eastern Canada and
sun-seekers stampeding toward Florida, is the time of the year when
being one of the 600,000 Canadians in possession of a cannabis
conviction poses its greatest risk.

When approaching a border station under the Stars and Stripes, palms
go sweaty and the throat tightens. U.S. border guards, you see, do not
regard marijuana as a happy-go-lucky substance on par with undeclared
Molson product and have zero tolerance for anyone who shows up on
their record-searching computers with a bust in their past.

Admit the record and you're denied entry to the United States. Deny
the record and, if they find out you're lying, it's a US$5,000 fine. I
speak of border apprehension from some firsthand experience here,
thanks to a Grade 12 pal who left me holding the nickel bag when
undercover cops busted into our parked car at a high school dance. But
enough said about me.

My interest is only about sparing another generation of teenagers or
young adults the lunacy of being recorded as criminals simply for
ingesting a substance far less dangerous than alcohol. (That and
impressing my teenage daughters, who immediately declare their father
"cool" for taking such an enlightened position even if he hasn't
smoked the stuff in almost 30 years.)

One good reason for putting a nationwide stop to marijuana's
criminality is the uneven application of its illegality. An Ottawa
RCMP spokeswoman acknowledged enforcement is discretionary. One
officer might confiscate the stuff and let the offender off with a
verbal warning, while another will throw the book at an unfortunate
toker. Enforcement varies dramatically by province, too. Convictions
per 100,000 residents range from 78 in Newfoundland to 309 in British
Columbia.

But there's also the $5-million cost to convict and record the simple
possession of cannabis in Canada. Surely that money could be put to
much better use combating harder drugs or hydroponic grow-ops.

It's not often the Senate, a committee of MPs, police chiefs and a
majority of Canadians agree on something that a minority government
opposes.

But such is their disconnect on dope with Stephen Harper. And so, for
the five Canadians in the next hour who will be busted for possession
of cannabis, getting into the United States will never be the same
again.