SENATE SURPRISES US ON LEGAL POT

Whoa! Talk about an unlikely advocate. Pot smokers must have choked when
they heard a Senate committee -- normally regarded as conservative and
somewhat elderly -- is the latest to recommend legalizing marijuana. This
leaves little doubt that Canadians indeed must be ready to agree it less
harmful than alcohol or tobacco. The committee relied on scientific
evidence and went to great length (600 pages) to back up its reasoning.

In fact, when used medicinally, marijuana can be a good thing, according to
some doctors. They must be thrilled, if not shocked, to hear that the Upper
Chamber is on side.

We also find it refreshing to hear this particular group say our laws are
outdated. Marijuana has been prohibited in Canada since 1923, after all.
Surely our morals have changed since then, when "panic" over the drug
dictated a law. Now, it's time for the politicians who like to joke about
whether they've ever inhaled to take a stand. As committee chairman Senator
Pierre Claude Nolin, said: "In many ways, prohibition is a cop-out ... I
would like to say to the government, "The ball is now in your court."'

What concerns the senators is the same issue that concerns us. The police
are spending too much time trying to enforce this law when they should be
focusing on other, more serious crimes. They estimate it costs up to $1.5
billion per year to prosecute drug charges.

We agree the police are out of step with ordinary Nova Scotians' concerns.
Who really worries if someone inhales? It is rare to hear about brutal
crimes committed by people smoking a little weed.

The Senate would like to wipe out the criminal records of 600,000 people
who have been convicted of possession. No less than 25,000 people are
charged every year in Canada with this innocuous crime.

Closer to home, we think the police have gone way beyond the call of duty
by getting the power to go into people's homes without a warrant to track
down a pot plant, as was revealed in this newspaper yesterday. A provincial
judge ordered a Cape Breton man give the police a key to his house as a
condition of his sentence for growing marijuana.

No, that's going way too far.

Let's hope this is the exception and doesn't become a new tool of enforcing
a law that really has become irrelevant.