SENATOR SAYS WAR ON DRUGS SHOULD END

Marijuana prohibition is a costly failure and the federal government
shouldn 't throw good money after bad by increasing law enforcement
budgets, says the chairman of a Senate committee that is recommending the
drug be legalized.

Sen. Pierre-Claude Nolin said the only way to stem drug use in Canada is to
approach substance abuse as a public health problem, not a legal one.

"We spend $1.5 billion a year in the war on drugs. If it's said resources
are insufficient for policing, how much further do we want to go ... some
might say it's immoral to give children psychoactive substances. It's also
immoral to encourage organized crime by making those substances illegal,"
said Nolin, who yesterday addressed a plenary session of World Forum 2002,
a conference on drugs and dependencies taking place at the Palais des Congres.