DECRIMINALIZATION LAW WOULD FACE BACKLASH

Agitators Would Challenge All Tickets To Clog Courts

Canada's marijuana proponents are vowing to sabotage federal plans to
decriminalize the drug if Parliament decides to soften the law against
small-scale users.

Angry that the Liberal government wants to decriminalize, but not
legalize, marijuana, cannabis supporters across the country are
threatening to make any decriminalization law unworkable by burying
police in paperwork and tying up the courts in red tape.

Getting small-time marijuana growers and smokers out of court and away
from the criminal justice system is one of the main purposes of Bill
C-10, the revised marijuana legislation being considered by the House
of Commons.

People caught possessing or growing small amounts of marijuana are now
subject to criminal arrest and prosecution. The proposed bill says
anyone caught with up to 15 grams of marijuana, or caught growing up
to three marijuana plants should receive only a simple ticket, with
fines of between $100 and $500, but no criminal record.

The legislation isn't popular with marijuana users and activists, most
of whom want the government to legalize the stuff. Vancouver's Marc
Emery -- the self-proclaimed "Prince of Pot" who is Canada's most
high-profile legalization agitator -- says if Bill C-10 becomes law
and police start issuing tickets to marijuana users, he will rally the
country's marijuana smokers to dispute their fines in court as part of
a deliberate campaign to cripple the system.

Mr. Emery predicts if police are forced to come to court to justify
their tickets -- to prove through lab tests and paperwork that the
weeds or joints they seize are indeed marijuana -- and judges are
forced to adjudicate hours worth of ticketing hearings, then the
courts and police will eventually throw up their hands in
frustration.

"We'll rally everybody," says Mr. Emery, who publishes Cannabis
Culture Magazine and also owns the popular, Internet-based program
Pot-TV. "We'll end that whole fine scheme within three months."

In Montreal, Marc-Boris St-Maurice, leader of the Canada Marijuana
Party, says if decriminalization takes effect, his party will launch a
contest with prizes for marijuana smokers who rack up the most
tickets. "Whoever gets the most tickets wins an ounce of pot, or maybe
50 joints," says Mr. St-Maurice.

The RCMP's senior drug officer says he believes that under a
decriminalized law, "people probably aren't going to pay tickets" for
minor marijuana offences. Chief Supt. Raf Souccar, director general of
the Mounties' drugs and organized crime section, says one problem with
the proposed legislation is that it lacks the teeth to punish
offenders who refuse to pay their fines.

He also worries about the amount of time and paperwork that would be
required of police if marijuana smokers worked en masse to disrupt a
ticketing system.

Marijuana in Canada

Number of marijuana users: 2.3 million

Annual marijuana consumption: 770,000 kilograms

Annual marijuana production: 2.6 million kilograms

Amount of domestic production consumed in Canada: 30 per cent

Number of grow operations: 215,000

Number of people employed in marijuana growing: 500,000

Price of an ounce (29 grams) of top-grade, AAA marijuana, the
equivalent of 20-50 joints: $250

Annual number of reported arrests for offences covering all illegal
drugs: 90,000

Number of reported marijuana offences in 1999: 35,000

Number of reported marijuana offences in 2001: 71,600 (70 per cent
possession, 16 per cent trafficking, 13 per cent cultivation, one per
cent importation)

Percentage of population (ages 12-64) that has used marijuana at least
once: 30

Number of youths aged 12-17 who use it daily: 225,000

Average age of introduction to marijuana: 15

Percentage of regular marijuana users at risk of developing
dependency: Five to 10 per cent

Substance abuse costs associated with all illegal drugs: $1.4 billion.
Of alcohol: $7.5 billion. Of tobacco: $9.6 billion.

Annual cost of enforcing the marijuana laws for courts and police:
$500 million

Sources: 2002 Report of the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs;
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse; Marijuana Party of Canada; Marc Emery,
Vancouver.