DECRIMINALIZE MARIJUANA USE: MEDICAL JOURNAL

1.5 Million Smoke Up: 'Legal And Social Fallout' Worse Than Health
Risks: Editorial

Possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use should
merit the equivalent of a traffic ticket, not a criminal record, says
Canada's leading medical journal.

Calling for the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use, the
Canadian Medical Association Journal argues in an editorial published
today that the current law that makes possession of small amounts of
marijuana illegal can make an aspiring medical career "go up in a
puff of smoke."

The CMAJ says the 1.5 million Canadians who smoke marijuana can
attest to the drug's "minimal negative" health risks when used in
moderation.

Half of all drug arrests in Canada are for possession of small
amounts of marijuana, the journal notes, often leading to fines or
jail terms "and that indelible social tattoo: a criminal record.

"This means that for anyone who's ever been caught with a stash in
his or her pocket, the question 'Have you ever had a criminal
conviction?' during a job application or medical school interview can
force higher aspirations to go up in a puff of smoke."

Last month, the federal government released proposed new regulations
for the medicinal use of marijuana that would create three categories
of patients, with different rules for each. The new regulations
should be in place by July 31.

"We decided that the solution is perhaps not so much to devise
elaborate recommendations for medicinal use but decriminalize
[possession]," Dr. John Hoey, editor of the CMAJ, said in an
interview yesterday.

"That would allow more patients to use it as they saw fit. That would
also relieve major problems for a lot of Canadians who are using
small amounts of marijuana for recreational use."

Of the drugs people use for their "psychoactive" effects, Dr. Hoey
says, marijuana appears to be among the least harmful. The journal
notes there have been no reports of fatal marijuana overdoses and
that the risk of lung cancer or the "very weak [and perhaps
non-existent] risk of addiction are mostly irrelevant" to people who
smoke marijuana to relieve the symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple
sclerosis and other illnesses.

While there is some concern smoking marijuana can lead people to
other drugs, "there's not a lot of evidence that using marijuana for
recreational purposes is terribly harmful," Dr. Hoey said.

"There is some harm from inhaling the smoke. But I don't think people
are smoking a pack of marijuana cigarettes a day, or there are very
few people consuming that kind of amounts that cause various diseases
related to smoking."

The greater damage, the journal says, comes from the "legal and
social fallout" from the current law prohibiting possession.

An estimated 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for marijuana
possession. In 1998 alone, 19,200 adults and youths were charged for
having marijuana.

Even though the court system rarely imprisons those caught using the
drug, people can end up in jail, Dr. Hoey said.

"That experience itself, in addition to not being pleasant, can put
you in contact with a lot of other people who are there for more
serious offences and probably has a detrimental effect beyond just
spending time in jail."

The journal stressed that decriminalizing marijuana for personal use
"does not mean making marijuana 'legal' or letting it be sold in
every school yard."

But if possession of small amounts of marijuana was decriminalized,
"presumably someone could write a law that made some sense and
relieved police officers from having to prosecute someone every time
they smell marijuana," Dr. Hoey said.

The journal is the latest group to call for decriminalization of the
drug; the Canadian Medical Association has for years advocated a more
liberal approach to medicinal use of marijuana. A special Senate
committee has started a two-year inquiry into Canada's drug policy.