WEEDING OUT CRIMINALS

Smoking marijuana is a vice, no doubt, but simple possession of this drug
should not lead to a criminal record. That's why we support Justice
Minister Martin Cauchon's proposed changes to Canada's drug laws.

Cauchon is openly musing about decriminalizing marijuana possession, making
it an offence punishable with a fine, rather than a criminal record. A
sizable penalty could still be a deterrent to use, but without the legal
overkill.

According to the Canadian Medical Association Journal, at least 1.5 million
Canadians smoke marijuana. All are potential criminals under existing law.

Those who have been convicted face barriers to travelling abroad, applying
for jobs in certain fields, or even signing up to be parent drivers on
school field trips. Decriminalizing would expunge the criminal records of
tens of thousands of Canadians and give them back these freedoms.

Cauchon said the laws are not being consistently enforced across the
country. That may be because many law enforcers are unwilling to impose a
criminal record on a person simply for indulging a vice.

However, law enforcement resources are still being needlessly squandered on
this relatively minor offence.

In British Columbia, the province widely regarded as having the most lax
enforcement, of 9,520 drug charges in 2000, 61 per cent were for cannabis.
Of the 5,840 cannabis charges, 35 per cent were for simple possession. If
trafficking, cultivating and importing are the source of most drug-related
street violence, and if heroin, cocaine and other drugs have a more
detrimental effect on users, these are the areas that should dominate the
charges.

Reclassifying marijuana would signal to enforcement agencies that it's time
to change priorities.

Cauchon's approach would more effectively address the criminal element
associated with the drug trade, but would stop short of normalizing drug
use. That seems fair. Canadians may be ready to take a more lenient view of
what a person should be permitted to do in the privacy of his home, but
they are probably not ready to go much further.