MARIJUANA: WE SMOKE MORE AND WANT IT TO BE LEGAL

OTTAWA -- Canadians are smoking pot more than ever before and the
majority want police and government to leave people to indulge in peace.

A new poll for the advocacy group NORML Canada shows for the first
time that more than half of Canadians effectively support
legalization, with 57 per cent reporting that people should be "left
alone" if they are caught with small amounts of marijuana for personal
use.

A advance copy of the survey was given to CanWest News Service on
Wednesday, the same day the federal government released a study of
13,000 Canadians showing that marijuana use has doubled in the last
decade.

Fourteen per cent of those surveyed for the federal study said they
smoked pot in the last year, up from 7.4 in 1994. The study also
revealed that almost 30 per cent of 15- to 17-year-olds and 47 per
cent of 18- and 19-year-olds had used marijuana in the last year.

"This is really a rude awakening for the government," said Jody
Pressman, executive director of NORML (National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws) Canada.

"Government is going in the wrong direction if it thinks
decriminalization is a step forward," said Pressman, whose
pro-marijuana group commissioned the poll.

The survey also reveals that only eight per cent support criminalizing
marijuana if it leads to jail time. Another 32 per cent believe pot
possession should be punished by fines rather than criminal records, a
middle ground currently proposed in a federal bill winding its way
through Parliament.

NORML wants the federal government to scrap its controversial
decriminalization bill and end to prohibition and begin regulating the
industry.

"It's easier to get marijuana on a schoolground today than it is to
get alcohol or cigarettes because we don't apply the same regulatory
measures to marijuana to keep it away from young people," said Pressman.

The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was conducted by SES Research of
Ottawa from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. The results are considered accurate
within 3.1 per cent, 19 times in 20.

The support for legalization appears to have spiked since last fall,
when a Decima Research poll of 2,015 Canadians showed that only 40 per
cent opposed a state ban on pot smoking.

SES president Nikita Nanos attributed the hike to the government
"normalizing" marijuana use through its policy of allowing people to
smoke for medicinal purposes.

While the latest poll reveals that only eight per cent support
criminalization if it means going to jail, it did not gauge opinion on
the far more likely scenario of people receiving a criminal record but
escaping jail time.

The federal marijuana bill, which was revived last month after two
earlier attempts failed, proposes to eliminate criminal records,
replacing them with fines of $100 or more for people caught with less
than 15 grams, the equivalent of about 15 cigarettes.

The survey also found that just over half of Canadians support
government regulation of the pot industry and 37 per cent are against
it, while 27 per cent were uncertain.

A Senate report two years ago also called on the government to end its
marijuana prohibition and implement a system to regulate its
production, distribution and consumption.

Legalizing and regulating the industry would bring in more than $2
billion a year in extra government tax revenue, the Fraser Institute,
a Vancouver-based economic think-tank, estimated in a recent report.

The survey shows that Canadians are softening on marijuana laws as
police, the business community and the U.S. step up opposition.

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GETTING HIGHER, BY THE NUMBERS:

A poll of Canadian adults found a rise in marijuana, alcohol and
injectable drug use over the past decade.

Smoked pot in the past year:

1994: 7.4%

2004: 14%

Used an injectable drug in past year:

1994: 132,000

2004: 269,000

Have used injectable drugs at least once:

1994: 1.7 million

2004: 4.1 million

Describe self as a drinker:

1994: 72.3%

2004: 79.3%

Frequent heavy drinker:

1994: 5.4%

2004: 7.0%

2004 result based on telephone survey of 1,000 adults conducted by SES
Research of Ottawa from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. The results are considered
accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times in 20.

Source - Canada Addiction Survey, Vancouver Sun