MUIR CALLS FOR LEGAL WEED CONTROLS

Health Minister Concerned About Increased Toking, Smoking-driving

Health Minister Jamie Muir isn't exactly high on Ottawas plans to
decriminalize marijuana early next year.

Whatever they do, I hope there are some reasonable controls put out there
so it doesn't turn into a problem, Muir said yesterday.

I would be concerned about anything that clouds a persons judgment and
their ability to function.

On Monday, federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said he'll move
quickly to decriminalize marijuana if that's what a House of Commons
committee on illegal drugs recommends in a report due tomorrow.

The committee is expected to recommend that growing pot for personal use,
and possessing small amounts of the drug, should not be a crime. Those
caught with the drug would pay a fine, much like a parking ticket.

While the 39-year-old Cauchon also admitted he has tried pot, Muir, 61,
says he's never lit a joint.

I'm one of those strange people in my age group who has never used
marijuana. I don't get around with people that use marijuana, and if you
were to ask me who uses marijuana, I really couldn't tell you, Muir told
reporters.

I'm told its a recreational drug, and it's fairly widespread.

While he said he hasn't studied the issue, Muir said decriminalization
would probably encourage Nova Scotians to use the drug more often, whether
recreationally or to control pain.

He said restrictions on its use might mirror those on alcohol.

If you shouldn't drink and drive, you probably shouldn't smoke and drive.

In Toronto yesterday, Ontario Health Minister Tony Clement jokingly
suggested those on Parliament Hill behind the move might be getting
surreptitiously stoned.

Well check where that stash of medical marijuana went, Clement quipped.

As health minister, I'm against people polluting their bodies in whatever
form that takes.

Ontario Premier Ernie Eves, who has admitted to smoking pot in his salad
days, suggested the feds were floating a trial balloon, but joked it was
an interesting revenue-producing measure.

Alberta Justice Minister David Hancock said decriminalizing marijuana would
be feeding organized crime and the criminals who make a profit from it.

Some people say legalizing it or decriminalizing it will take that away, he
said. We don't see any evidence of that.

John Cook of Harrietsfield smokes up to four grams of pot per day to combat
the pain caused by two industrial accidents in the 1980s. He also sells it
to others with a doctors note, through Cooks Compassion Club.

He said prescription medications he tried before marijuana left him drowsy
all the time, unable to interact with his two young daughters.

I couldn't even carry on a sentence. It was terrible.

While he says decriminalizing personal possession of marijuana would be a
good first step, he isn't optimistic Ottawa will decriminalize the drug.

Its not a big vote-getting thing.

Multiple Sclerosis patient Debbie Stultz-Giffin said shes worried the
Commons committee is ignoring the needs of those who use medical marijuana.

Stultz-Giffin, who grows her own pot at her Bridgetown, Annapolis Co.,
home, said shes growing weaker, and worries she wont be able to tend the
plants, leaving no one legally able to do it for her.

There has to be some means of support for people who are trying to provide
sick people with their medicine, Stultz-Giffin said.