LOOSER POT LAWS IN NEW YEAR

Justice minister vows to introduce legislation early in 2003 to
decriminalize marijuana

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said Monday he intends to press ahead early
next year with legislation to decriminalize marijuana so that people caught
with small amounts won't face a criminal record.

"If we talk about the question of decriminalizing marijuana, we may move
ahead quickly as a government,"Cauchon said outside the House of Commons.

"I don't like to give you a date, but let's say the beginning of next year.
Give me the four first months of next year."

After contemplating the prospect for months, the comments Monday were the
first indication that Cauchon has made a final decision. However, the
minister stressed that, formally, he is still awaiting a final
recommendation from a House of Commons committee on drug use. The committee
will tell the minister on Thursday that possession of small amounts of
marijuana should be decriminalized.

"I don't think I've ever really hidden my position," said Cauchon, 40, who
has confessed to smoking pot in his youth.

"I think most Canadians know where I stand but I'm part of a Parliamentary
process that I must respect."

The committee will recommend that Canadians caught with less than 30 grams
of pot -- roughly the amount that fits in a small sandwich bag or enough to
roll about 40 cigarettes -- should be given a fine akin to a parking ticket
rather than be criminally charged, sources have told Global TV's news
program, Global National.

Currently, under the Criminal Code, a person caught with small amounts of
marijuana can be jailed for up to six months and receive a fine of $1,000.

The committee's recommendation is more conservative than one made in August
by a Senate committee, which said marijuana should be outright legalized.

Cauchon has rejected legalization, saying that society still believes that
the possession of the drug should carry some sort of penalty.

He has not revealed where he will draw the line between criminal and
non-criminal behaviour, but he has said that trafficking will remain a
serious criminal offence.

Solicitor General Wayne Easter says that he is taking no public position on
whether pot should be decriminalized. Rather, he will go along with whatever
Cauchon decides to do.

The Canadian Police Association is strongly opposed to taking possession off
the criminal record books and the organization wants Easter to take a more
aggressive stand.

In the past, the association has said that decriminalization would hamper
efforts to catch drug traffickers because police would not be able to use
the threat of a criminal record to extract information from people about
where they bought their pot.

"It sort of gives you the hammer," association president Grant Obst said in
July.

Cauchon has said that the current system, in which police in some provinces
lay charges while others do not, might not be working as it should.

Statistics Canada figures from the 1990s showed that there is already a de
facto drift toward decriminalization, with three times as many Canadians
avoiding the justice system for marijuana possession in 1999 than in 1989.

The statistics indicate a patchwork of police action across the country,
where charges for pot possession depend largely on where you live, with the
difference sometimes being a matter of a few kilometres.

In Canada, more than 250 people have clearance to smoke marijuana provided
by the federal government. Ottawa amended drug laws last year to allow such
clearance for patients with conditions such as HIV, cancer and multiple
sclerosis.

Proponents of decriminalization argue it would free police to deal with more
serious crimes.

But the prospect has been greeted with dismay in the U.S., where the head of
drug enforcement warned in July that a "lax policy" would hamper the
aggressive American war on drugs.

Asa Hutchinson, director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration,
predicted that more Canadian-grown pot would end up south of the border if
Cauchon decides to relax Canadian law.

"It would probably complicate things somewhat for the U.S.," Hutchinson said
in an interview.

"If you have lax marijuana policies right across the border, where
possession of marijuana is not considered criminal conduct, that invites
U.S. citizens into Canada for marijuana use and that will increase the
likelihood that both U.S. citizens and Canadian citizens will bring back the
Canadian marijuana across the border for distribution and sale."

Hutchinson also fears that any shift in policy in Canada or Britain, which
announced this past summer that it will relax marijuana laws, will
rejuvenate a debate on marijuana decriminalization in the U.S. at a time
when the administration is determined to keep the drug strictly illegal.

With files from Global National, The Journal