ALLIANCE HAZY ON ITS WEED STANCE

Party MPs Split On Decriminalizing Marijuana

The Canadian Alliance's drug policy could go up in smoke as party MPs fight
over whether marijuana should be decriminalized.

Alliance justice critic Randy White, who represents the B.C. riding of
Langley-Abbotsford, is drafting his party's drug policy and hopes it will
recommend no jail time for those caught with less than 30 grams of pot.

Vancouver-area MP Chuck Cadman said he'd support decriminalization of
possession of small amounts of marijuana. But MP Peter Goldring, of
Edmonton Centre East, firmly opposes the idea.

"Marijuana is a mind-altering drug with extreme variations in potency,"
Goldring said. "People tripping on pot or drifting on a marijuana hangover
are workplace and highway hazards.

"Marijuana impairs in the same deadly way as alcohol but without the ease
of roadside detection or the consistency of regulated strengths." Alliance
Leader Stockwell Day, who has said he smoked pot in his youth, said he
won't use his clout as Opposition leader to initiate a debate on drug
legalization.

"The Canadian Alliance position is clearly to allow for that legalization
related to the alleviation of pain and for medicinal purposes only," Day said.

He also said he would neither initiate nor support a proposal to legalize
drugs such as heroin and cocaine as a way of cutting off profits and power
from organized crime.

Day acknowledged that prohibition of alcohol in the early 20th century
didn't stop people from drinking and served only to greatly empower
organized crime.

"But when you think about what that would mean in terms of cocaine, crack
cocaine, heroin - the effects of which are devastating - I just can't see a
government being in a place to advocate or condone something so
destructive," he said.

Keith Martin, the only B.C. Alliance MP who is a medical doctor, said
people who smoke pot should be fined, not jailed. Edmonton Strathcona MP
Rahim Jaffer says the time has come to decriminalize marijuana.

"Obviously, there is mixed feelings on this subject within my party, but
personally, I would be in favour of the decriminalization of possession of
small amounts of marijuana, and the possibility of moving towards
legalization in the near future," Jaffer said.

Former justice critic John Reynolds (West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast) said
surveys of his constituents have found strong support for decriminalization
of pot for personal use, and legalization for medicinal use. He said he'd
support their wishes in a free vote.

Reynolds was less supportive of legalization of heroin and other illicit
drugs, but noted heroin is already used in some instances in palliative care.

Goldring said any decriminalization of pot should be opposed.