DECRIMINALIZATION IDEA HAS LITTLE HOPE OF SUCCESS

It Looks As If We're Facing Another Boondoggle, Thanks To The Federal
Justice Ministry.

First we had the national gun registration policy that will leave
law-abiding gun owners with criminal records for not registering their
weapons. Now we have Justice Minister Martin Cauchon saying last week the
government will be able to move quickly to bring a bill to decriminalize
marijuana for personal use, perhaps by next year.

So, people who were once in legal possession of guns will be penalized, and
people who broke the law by using a banned substance will be exonerated.
What gives? Is the justice minister serious?

St. Catharines MP Walt Lastewka thinks he is. But we don't think so. Some
cynics suggest Cauchon is using the notion of decriminalizing the
possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana in order to divert public
attention from the $1-billion gun-registry disaster. They predict the
government will float the idea, discuss it and maybe even spend millions
more to study marijuana use, and then in the end drop the proposal. That's
possible, given Prime Minister Jean Chretien's non-committal comments that
such a decision would be made "one day."

But in our view, such an ill-considered idea as decriminalization has
little chance of seeing the light of day. There is much opposition from
police chiefs and concerned citizens across the country.

Even so, their voices are not going to be the ones that matter. The
deciding vote will come not from Canadian politicians, but from the Americans.

That's because decriminalization won't result in more people growing their
own pot; most will still buy it from dealers working with criminal gangs.
And those gangs make the vast majority of their profit from smuggling
marijuana to the U.S. The only reason they do it from Canada is that our
penalties are far less stringent than in America if they are caught. So if
U.S. politicians think decriminalization in Canada is going to increase in
any way the amount of marijuana crossing over the U.S. border from cities
like Vancouver, Windsor and Niagara Falls, they'll make good on their
threats to shut down the border.

They'll do that because the war against drugs is taken much more seriously
in the U.S. Many American inner cities are wracked with drug and crime
problems, and fighting against importation of marijuana will be a popular
stand for politicians to take.

Given America's post-9/11 feeling since that they are besieged and that
Canada is the source of terrorist infiltrators and smugglers of illegal
aliens and drugs, there'll be little protest in the U.S. if they clamp down
on people and goods entering their country.

When that happens, business in this country will quickly put pressure on
the Liberals to ditch the idea and make amends with the U.S.

We notice that Paul Martin is staying quiet on the matter. It would be easy
for him to say some months from now as prime minister that he never agreed
to any such notion. So could Chretien, for that matter.

That's how the game is played. But our politicians are playing with fire in
this case. America is deadly serious about its drug war, and Canadians
shouldn't kid themselves about how far the U.S will take it.