KEEP MARIJUANA ILLEGAL, POLICE GROUP SAYS AS MP CALLS FOR
DECRIMINALIZATION

OTTAWA (CP) - The debate over decriminalizing marijuana heated up Monday
with the Canadian Police Association coming out strongly against the idea
and an Alliance MP saying it's the way to go.

MP Keith Martin, a medical doctor, introduced a private member's bill -
which has virtually no chance of becoming law - that would remove criminal
penalties for simple possession of grass and replace them with fines of up
to $1,000.

But the police association, representing some 30,000 officers across the
country, warned legalization would have disastrous social consequences.

"When illicit drugs are legalized, drug usage increases, the demand for
chemical drugs increases and crime increases," Dale Orban, the group's
spokesman, told a news conference.

"The costs of drug liberalization will be astronomical."

Experts balk at such claims, and even other police groups disagree.

In 1999, the Association of Canadian Police Chiefs recommended
decriminalization, and the RCMP has said the option is worth considering.

This month, the House of Commons voted to create a committee to examine
non-medical drugs, and several MPs said it will study decriminalization.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien said the issue has been debated for 30 years
and the fact Canadians are discussing it again is healthy.

"Should we go into decriminalization and so on? It's not part of the agenda
at this time but there is a public debate, it's all right," he said.

Decriminalization of pot in the Netherlands has not led to an increase in
drug use there, a Senate committee on marijuana was told Monday.

Peter Cohen of Amsterdam University said about 16 per cent of Dutch
residents have tried marijuana, a level much lower than in the United States.

Under the Dutch system, people can buy up to five grams of marijuana or
hash at coffee houses.

Cohen said the U.S. prohibitionist approach to drugs is based on moral
concepts rooted in the 19th Century, not on scientific evidence. He called
the United States "the Taleban of drug policy."

Creative responses to the drug problem are being suffocated by
international drug control treaties signed decades ago, Cohen added.

"I see them (the treaties) as a real destructive force to autonomy in
dealing with these problems."

Canada is a signatory to these treaties but could withdraw from certain
provisions, he suggested.

Cohen said police forces have a vested interest in current drug laws
because they can use their struggle against drugs to get increased funding,
staff positions and equipment.

The Dutch policies have come under a great deal of criticism and pressure
over the years, but other European states are moving in the same direction.

Switzerland is introducing legislation which would not only decriminalize
marijuana but set rules for its cultivation and transport, Cohen said.