CANADIANS CONSIDER LEGALIZED MARIJUANA

Proposal Would Bring Pot To Store Shelves

TORONTO -- A Canadian Senate committee has proposed that Canada legalize
marijuana, allow it to be grown by licensed dealers and perhaps be sold in
corner stores to people 16 or older. Such a policy would make Canada one of
the world's most tolerant countries toward the drug.

In a report, the committee found that marijuana was less harmful than
alcohol and shouldn't be treated as a criminal problem, but as a public
health issue. The report called for amnesty for people convicted of
marijuana possession.

It wasn't clear whether the committee's proposal would become law. But it
nonetheless prompted a debate in Canada and the United States about whether
it would promote drug use here and increase drug trafficking to the United
States.

"If you make it more available, you'll get more marijuana use," said John
Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy. "More use leads to more addiction and more problems."

The Canadian Police Association denounced the committee's recommendations
as a "back-to-school gift for drug pushers," said David Griffin, executive
officer of the 28,000-member association.

Canada has long had a more tolerant approach to the drug than the United
States. Police here often turn a blind eye to possession. And last year,
Canada passed a law allowing people with serious illnesses to use marijuana
for medical purposes if they obtain a government exemption.

Several groups in Canada praised the report, saying that prohibition of
marijuana fuels crime.

"With prohibition, we are giving a gift to organized crime," said Eugene
Oscapella, a lawyer in Ottawa and a founding member of the Canadian
Foundation for Drug Policy, a research group. "The Senate evidence is quite
clear -- the law has little impact on the way people use drugs."

The proposal now goes to the Canadian Senate for debate and to various
ministries. Several ministry officials have said they will consider it, but
some analysts have expressed doubt the plan will become law.