POT POSSESSION DOESN'T WARRANT JAIL TIME: DAY

After weeks of promoting a judicial system that is tougher on hard-core
criminals, Stockwell Day, a candidate for the leadership of the Canadian
Alliance, indicated yesterday that Canadians charged with simple possession
of marijuana should face fines instead of prison sentences.

"If you're talking about simple possession, no, that should not be jail,"
Mr. Day responded to a question during a radio call-in show in Vancouver.
"You could look at a fine, you could look at something else, but don't fill
up the jails with those [people]."

In 1998 alone, 19,200 adults and youths were charged for having pot. And in
1997, about 2,000 Canadians went to jail on simple possession charges.

Mr. Day, a former Alberta treasurer who admitted in April that he had in the
past smoked marijuana, appeared yesterday on the Rafe Mair show, a
province-wide program hosted by the former Social Credit cabinet minister.