FEARS OF MORE POT USE APPEAR GROUNDLESS

Little Hard Evidence That Decriminalization Leads to More Use

EDMONTON - Health Minister Anne McLellan's concern that
decriminalization of marijuana will cause more people to smoke pot is
based on the Australian example, says her press aide.

Questioned about the minister's stand on the issue, Farah Mohamed
cited a 1997 study titled Marijuana in Australia that shows a rise in
marijuana use in two Australian states after decriminalization laws
were introduced.

However, the study does not say the legal change caused the rise. It
cautioned that "it is too soon to determine the impact of the changes
in legislation."

The study concluded that the rate of marijuana use is relatively
similar across Australia's states, despite the fact some states have
decriminalized marijuana possession and others haven't.

The federal government this week postponed introduction of its bill
decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has been strongly in favour of the
move, but McLellan said Wednesday she wants to be prepared for the
rise in marijuana use such a law will create.

U.S. government officials are unhappy with the proposed move, and told
Cauchon so this week in Washington.

A dozen U.S. states have decriminalized marijuana, but for
constitutional reasons the U.S. federal government can't do anything
about that.

The effect of decriminalization on marijuana use has been widely
studied, said a 2001 report from a committee of the U.S. National
Research Council.

It said most cross-state comparisons had found no significant
difference in marijuana use in decriminalized and non-decriminalized
states.

"Even in the few studies that found an effect on prevalence, it is a
weak one," the report said.

A 2000 report in the Journal of Public Health Policy said there was no
evidence that decriminalization of pot in South Australia caused an
increase in use.

Marijuana use did go up in South Australia, which decriminalized use
in 1987, but it also went up in Tasmania, which did not change its
law, the report said.

A Canadian Senate committee report on marijuana last fall concluded
that marijuana offences went up in South Australia partly because the
legal change made it easier for police to issue tickets.

A spokesman for the Marijuana Policy Project in Washington, D.C., a
lobby group for legalized marijuana, rejected the U.S. government's
accusation that if Canada decriminalizes pot this country may become a
big source of marijuana exports to the U.S.

"The blunt truth is that this is nonsense," Bruce Mirken said in an
interview. "They're lying to you."