SENATE POT IDEAS WORTH ADOPTING

It looks as if Pierre Claude Nolin's Senate committee aimed high with its
recommendations to change fundamentally Canada's policy on marijuana,
knowing that it would give their Commons colleagues elbow room to develop
some long overdue and politically saleable reforms.

The Senate committee's report, developed after two years of research and
input from 234 witnesses, boldly calls for Canada to take the world lead in
legalizing marijuana for use by anyone 16 or older, instead of settling for
decriminalizing its recreational use.

However, those who are tempted to brush off the report as mischief-making by
the senators or, as Canadian Police Association executive David Griffen
called it, a "back-to-school gift for drug pushers," should take the time to
study the 600-page report that makes good sense, even if its conclusions
seem radical.

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

Although Griffen and other critics claim the committee ignored reports of
harmful health effects, the senators cite authoritative studies showing that
pot isn't addictive, has no long-term impact and isn't a gateway to harder
drugs such as cocaine.

The senators are certainly right in suggesting that Canada can better use
the hundreds of millions of dollars spent annually in efforts to stamp out
marijuana use. There are as many as 40,000 pot charges in some years,
accounting for about one-third of all drug charges. Also sensible is their
call to wipe out the criminal records of an estimated 600,000 Canadians who
have been busted for possession.

Surely, the recommendations are the best way to deal with Griffen's concerns
about the addictiveness of today's high-THC illegal marijuana and police
concerns about drug pushers. Legalizing pot, with its production and sale
supervised by the state, can only drive out the pushers. Limiting THC in
recreational pot to 13 per cent addresses the chemical quality concerns.

However, as with the call to make pot legally available to anyone over 16
and make it available for sale under the kind of rules that now govern the
sale of tobacco and alcohol, the senators' unelected status obviously
provides them far greater latitude to make their case unsullied by political
realities.

While it's true that two-thirds of the public favours decriminalizing
marijuana and almost half wouldn't object to its legalization, parents
aren't about to make it legal for their 16-year-olds to buy federally
sanctioned pot, even if studies show pot doesn't harm development at that
age; not when those under 18 are prohibited from buying tobacco in some
provinces and the drinking age is 19 in others.

No wonder that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is cautious in his response,
suggesting only that decriminalizing "probably would be feasible as a first
step." He's waiting until a Commons committee, also taking a long drag on
the burning marijuana issue, reports in November before deciding.

Although the Senate committee makes a compelling case why legalizing pot
serves Canada's best interests in terms of social, economic and justice
policy, Cauchon faces a challenge not just with opposition MPs but his own
colleagues.

Health Minister Anne McLellan has been foot-dragging over medical cannabis,
even though it's already approved. Alliance Leader Stephen Harper's stance
that what needs reforming it not pot laws but a Senate that bothers him with
scientific facts on marijuana puts the political illogic in some
perspective.

Predictably, the alarm also has rung out from the White House, where U.S.
drug czar John Walters immediately issued forth with a stern lecture on the
harm to youth from pot.

Rather than overly worry about Walters, who soon will have enough on his
plate with Nevadans weighing the merits of essentially legalizing pot and
San Francisco bent on growing it to distribute for medical use, Cauchon
should do what's best for Canadians.

Decriminalizing is only a good first step toward legalization. As it did
with medical pot use in 2000, Canada shouldn't be afraid to lead the world
again on the issue.