DECRIMINALIZING MARIJUANA COULD BE 'FIRST STEP,' SAYS JUSTICE MINISTER

OTTAWA (CP) - Decriminalizing marijuana might be a "first step" in
reforming drug laws which seem out of date, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon
said Thursday.

The marijuana law needs to be changed, he said, and decriminalization -
which would let people possess and use small quantities of cannabis without
facing a criminal record - is a logical option. "It probably would be
feasible as a first step," he said outside a cabinet meeting. "I feel that
there is a strong support. I feel the that the population is there.

"To keep it the way it is now doesn't make any sense to me in the year
2002. . . . The legislation in place is sort of disconnected with Canadian
reality."

Cauchon said he'll have a new policy ready early next year, but first he
wants to see the report of a Commons committee which has been studying the
issue of illicit drugs. That report is expected in November.

A special Senate committee recommended Wednesday that cannabis be
legalized, but Cauchon said that may be going too far.

Legalizing pot - which would allow for the open sale of the drug - might
promote an international ruckus, he said, because Canada has signed a
number of international treaties outlawing various drugs.

"At this point in time, the notion of legalizing marijuana is just not
possible from an international point of view," he said. "We have to proceed
on a step-by-step basis."

Canadian Alliance MP Randy White, vice-chair of the Commons committee on
drugs, said his colleagues don't support the Senate idea of legalization.

"The general consensus is that legalization is not the route to follow," he
said.

The United States disagrees with the Senate report's findings that cannabis
is less harmful than alcohol and causes few, if any, long-term problems.

John Walters, director of the U.S. national drug control policy, disrupted
those findings in a statement Wednesday: "We know that marijuana is a
harmful drug, particularly for young people."

Cauchon said he hasn't had any reaction from Washington on the issue and
said he wouldn't be swayed by American policies.

"I'll do what's good for Canadian society."

The Senate report was welcomed by marijuana activists, but condemned by the
Canadian Police Association, which said pot is a dangerous drug.