PARLIAMENTARY REPORT WILL RECOMMEND THAT POT BE DECRIMINALIZED

SAINT JOHN, N.B. - A special parliamentary committee will recommend that
growing pot for personal use should not be a crime, the New Brunswick
Telegraph-Journal reports.

The newspaper reported yesterday that sources familiar with the work of the
committee on the non-medical use of drugs say the move to decriminalize
marijuana would still leave the possession of pot illegal, but the
punishment would be a fine rather than a criminal record.

"If you're going to decriminalize marijuana, where is a person supposed to
get it?" said one well-placed source who confirmed that the committee is in
favour of letting Canadians grow their own pot.

Dominic LeBlanc, a rookie Liberal MP from New Brunswick, refused to discuss
any of the more than two dozen committee recommendations to be released
next month. But he admitted the closed-door debates "have not been easy".

"I have found it interesting and very difficult to balance the many
contradictory and compelling points of view," LeBlanc said yesterday. "What
we're trying to do is come up with a report that reaches the maximum amount
of consensus."

LeBlanc has said previously that he supports decriminalizing marijuana, but
said yesterday it would be "inappropriate" to discuss his opinions now that
the committee is in the throes of finalizing its report.

But last year, he said: "My instincts are that the possession of cannabis
can be removed as a criminal offence while remaining a controlled substance
- - with exemptions for medical use."

Decriminalizing marijuana isn't the only recommendation likely to raise
eyebrows, the newspaper reported.

The committee is apparently also in favour of safe-injection sites and
controversial heroin treatment that would involve prescribing the drug to
addicts rather than having them buy it on the street.

Canadian Alliance MP Randy White (Langley-Abbotsford), who initiated the
committee and served as its vice-chair, also refused to discuss the
report's contents. But he said LeBlanc, as the federal government's only
Atlantic representative on the committee, will have a tough time selling a
more liberalized view of drugs to the region.

"The committee's going to be coming out with things in [the harm-reduction]
area that we're going to have major concerns about," White said. "Harm
reduction is a dangerous way to go."

- - Canadian Press