CANADIAN PANEL BACKS LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

TORONTO -- A Canadian Senate committee has proposed that Canada legalize
marijuana, allow it to be grown by licensed dealers and perhaps be sold to
people 16 or older. The 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 should not be treated as a criminal problem, but as a public
health issue. The report called for amnesty for people convicted of
marijuana possession.

"Whether or not an individual uses marijuana should be a personal choice
that is not subject to criminal penalties," Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin,
chairman of the committee, said at a news conference. "But we have come to
the conclusion that, as a drug, it should be regulated by the state much as
we do for wine and beer."

It was not clear whether the committee's proposal would become
law. -Washington Post