ALLIANCE LEADER SAYS HE'D RATHER KIDS DRINK BOOZE THAN SMOKE POT

(CP) A Senate committee report that pushes legalizing marijuana shows the
need to reform the upper chamber, says Opposition leader Stephen Harper,
who would rather his kids drank alcohol than smoked pot.

While a re-examination of the country's drug laws is needed, Harper said
yesterday that recommendations in the "fairly radical" report border on
advocating pot use.

"It really quite distresses me," he said.

The father of a three-year-old girl and five-year-old boy said he doesn't
buy arguments that alcohol is more harmful than smoking marijuana.

"As a parent, I would be more concerned about pot use than alcohol use by
my children, even in moderation," said Harper, an asthmatic who has never
smoked.

In a series of sweeping recommendations, the committee said cannabis should
be legally available to anyone older than 16 and pressed for an amnesty to
as many as 600,000 Canadians who have criminal records for possession of
the drug.

The committee argued that system of prohibition doesn't work and said
marijuana was banned in 1923 amid "a moral panic" and without any national
debate.

Beyond the health concerns about legalized pot, Harper said a more
important issue raised by the report is the status of the Senate.

"This should once again raise concerns about the need to reform the Senate,
the need to have a legislative body that is elected and accountable and
acts that way," he said.

"If we would have had that, it would have tempered some of the
(committee's) recommendations."

Senate reform, which has become a largely dormant issue, was once one of
the most visible policies of the Alliance's precursor, the Western-based
Reform party.

Harper made his comments at a three-day caucus retreat in Barrie, Ont., 50
minutes north of Toronto and the birthplace of his leadership predecessor,
Stockwell Day.