TORIES WON'T ENTER POT DEBATE

The Tories may be smoking in the most recent opinion poll, but Premier John
Hamm and Justice Minister Michael Baker were staying upwind of Wednesday's
Senate committee recommendation to legalize pot.

The pair refused to be pinned down by reporters yesterday on where they and
the government stood on the contentious issue.

Baker said the matter falls entirely into federal jurisdiction.

"My personal opinion isn't relevant," he said following a cabinet meeting.

"This is not an issue where my personal view of whether marijuana should or
should not be legalized is the issue. The issue is what Nova Scotians want
and what Canadians want."

Baker said penalties imposed by the courts for marijuana possession are
generally minimal.

"What we're really talking about here is not a situation where the
penalties are significant; it's the criminal-record issue," he said.

The Senate committee recommended that pot smoking be legal for anyone older
than 16, arguing the current system of prohibition simply doesn't work and
should be replaced by a regulated system.

Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates cannabis is substantially less
harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue, but as
a social and public-health issue.

Hamm declined comment on the Senate report, but said cannabis should only
be legal as a medication.

"The issue of marijuana is one I'm only interested in in terms of the
medical use of marijuana," he said.

"I mean, we have a number of drugs that are used, for example, for the
control of pain that find their way onto the streets. We cannot use that as
a reason not to use a genuine therapeutic agent that this well may be."

Hamm said he's against the use of recreational drugs.