PM TO MOVE ON DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA

Reluctance Denied: 'The Government Is Determined To Addresses This Issue'

After appearing hesitant before Christmas, Jean Chretien is now ready to
move quickly to decriminalize possession of marijuana.

"The PM is strong on this," said a spokesman from the Prime Minister's
Office. "The government is determined to address this issue."

The spokesman, who did not want to be named, denied that Mr. Chretien has
changed his mind since he said in an interview with Global TV last month
that there would have to be a full debate on the issue and that the
government would make a decision "one day."

"I don't think he has ever had a change of heart," said the spokesman. "I
just think that he really wanted to make sure that before legislation is
introduced, that caucus and Cabinet and everybody who is involved in this
have their opinions expressed before moving ahead."

In the Christmas interview, Mr. Chretien went out of his way to say that he
has never tried marijuana and that he does not even know what it smells like.

In an offensive move to show that Mr. Chretien and Martin Cauchon, the
Minister of Justice, are in sync, the Prime Minister's Office supplied
transcripts yesterday of a justice committee hearing in 1980, when Mr.
Chretien, who was then justice minister, said that he supported
decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana so that young people "will
not have a stigma for the rest of their lives."

But he stressed at the time that he did not think the government should
legalize marijuana, so that people caught with pot would receive no penalty
at all.

Despite his stated intentions, marijuana possession has remained a criminal
offence. Decades of failed government promises has sparked criticism from
marijuana enthusiasts who say they are skeptical that the law will ever change.

Yesterday a second Ontario Court judge ruled that there is currently no law
prohibiting the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

Justice John Moore threw out marijuana possession charges against Martin
Barnes, a 40-year-old Toronto man who was arrested last summer by police
with the equivalent of one joint, or about $5 worth of marijuana, in his
coat pocket.

"Mr. Barnes was charged with an offence not known to law," Judge Moore said
as he quashed the charges.

The judge said he arrived at the decision by following a "common sense"
path in the wake of a number of recent court rulings.

"The marijuana laws as they pertain to possession have completely fallen
apart," said Mr. Barnes's lawyer, Aaron Harnett. "Anyone charged with
simple possession of marijuana should be on the phone to their lawyer
immediately to launch a similar application" he added.

Police allegedly found a gram of marijuana in Mr. Barnes's possession after
he was charged with dangerous driving while stuck in gridlock on a downtown
Toronto street one day after work last July.

Mr. Harnett said his client is a "working guy," a computer technician with
no criminal record who should not have been charged with a drug offence.
"How much more money are they going to waste?" said Mr. Harnett about
police and prosecutors who use up valuable resources prosecuting people for
possession of small amounts of marijuana.

In Windsor last week, Ontario Court Justice Douglas Phillips ruled there
was no law prohibiting the possession of less than 30 grams of marijuana as
a result of a July, 2000, ruling by the Ontario Court of Appeal.

The province's high court found that the blanket prohibition against
marijuana possession was unconstitutional. It gave the federal government
one year to bring in a new law that did not violate the Charter of Rights,
or the ban on possession of small amounts of marijuana would be invalid.

Instead, the federal Cabinet enacted the marijuana medical access
regulations, which set out the guidelines to apply for a medical exemption
to possess or grow marijuana.

The judge in Windsor found that this did not satisfy the Court of Appeal
requirement to bring in new legislation.

Mr. Cauchon, 40, has made no secret of his belief that people caught with
less than 30 grams -- about 25 or 30 cigarettes -- should be fined rather
than criminally charged.