LOCAL LAWYER ENDORSES PROPOSAL

Reform of marijuana laws is a waste of time if people convicted of simple
possession continue to be saddled with a criminal record, says a senior
Edmonton lawyer.

Reports that the federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon is considering
making simple possession a misdemeanor are encouraging, says Robbie
Davidson, one of the city's most respected criminal defence lawyers.

Davidson says he has seen many young lives damaged over the years by
convictions for possession of marijuana for personal use.

"When I began practising law, university students charged with simple
possession often went to jail for it," he says. "Today that doesn't happen,
but the criminal record prevents people from getting many good jobs,
eliminates them from certain scholarships and acceptance to some foreign
universities and can prevent them from travelling to the United States."

Many companies require prospective employees to fill out forms that ask
whether they have a criminal record and most visa applications also include
the question, Davidson says.

"If I sniff glue until I'm a zombie the worst the law can do is fine me
$75, but if I sit on the steps outside my office and smoke a joint I could
end up with a criminal record," he says. "It makes no sense."

It's true most people convicted of marijuana possession can obtain a pardon
if they apply, but very few know that, he says. Besides it's a complex
process that takes about five years from their conviction date to get a
pardon, Davidson adds.

Prominent Edmontonians have taken differing stances on the
decriminalization of marijuana possession during the debate in recent year.
Here are examples:

- "It makes absolutely no sense to me, or anybody else that I know in law
enforcement, that you would legalize something that for many, many years we
have proven is something that is not desirable for people to use."

Sgt. Jim Templeton of the Edmonton city police drug squad, 2001.

- "If we look at the toxicity and addiction potential for marijuana
relative to other drugs, like nicotine or alcohol or heroin or morphine,
marijuana is certainly a much more innocuous drug than any of these." Terry
Allen, University of Alberta Pharmacology Professor, 2001.

- "It's a mind-altering substance. It's not like when you have a drink or
two and you get a little giddy and you can still control your thoughts.
When you have a hit, you lose control. You're in a state of consciousness
where you can be taken advantage of, or you can go into a state of
paranoia." Jane Ash Poitras, artist, 2002.

- "Certainly I favour it (decriminalization) and I think the majority of
our members favour it being taken out of the Criminal Code, and that
essentially legalizes it." Terry Glancy, then-president of the Criminal
Trial Lawyers Association, 2001.

- "No. We've made a move on the question of using marijuana for health and
the minister of health has done it. Should we go into decriminalization and
so on? It's not part of the agenda at this time. But there's a public
debate. That's all right." Prime Minister Jean Chretien, May 28, 2001.

- "Recreational use, I don't know. I haven't got my head around it right
now. I don't like the stuff because it made me paranoid. And I've always
said, I don't need to be any more paranoid than I already am." Alberta
Premier Ralph Klein, 2001.