MARIJUANA BILL ON HOLD UNTIL AFTER ELECTION

The Commons justice committee is unlikely to deal with the
government's controversial bill decriminalizing marijuana before the
federal election, the committee's chairman says.

Liberal MP John Maloney said yesterday he wants the committee to give
priority to another half-dozen criminal justice bills before tackling
Bill C-17, which will take possession of small amounts of cannabis
out of the Criminal Code and make it a minor ticketable offence.

"We all know there is an election pending. It could be this fall, it
could be next March," Mr. Maloney said. "I would rather try to
dispose of legislation as quickly and as much as we could before an
election, and hopefully get some of these bills into law."

The marijuana bill was once a pride of the Liberal government and
mentioned in two throne speeches.

But it has died on the order paper twice since first being introduced
by the former government of Jean Chretien. Justice Minister Irwin
Cotler, facing pressure from the families of four Alberta Mounties
murdered last March by a violent loner found with 283 marijuana
plants on an isolated farm, earlier this week said it was up to the
justice committee to determine the fate of the legislation.