POT POSSESSION CHARGES STUPID

Some politicians can be so gutless. Thankfully, Alberta's justice
minister is not one of those types.

Dave Hancock floated a progressive idea this week that, had it come to
fruition, would have benefited scores of people in this city and
throughout the nation.

His notion was to look at decriminalizing the possession of marijuana
and have police simply hand out tickets to those caught with cannabis.
Hancock reckoned such an approach might free up cops and other
officials for more serious matters.

However, the mere mention of such a possibility was quickly shot down
by an Edmonton member of Parliament, federal Justice Minister Anne
McLellan, who is, in my opinion, one of those gutless
politicians.

Her paid mouthpiece, Stephen Bindman, said McLellan "has no immediate
plans to decriminalize marijuana, even a small amount, because there
is division in the police community and in the society at large over
this."

Since marijuana laws fall under federal jurisdiction, Alberta could
study decriminalization all it wants, but nothing will change without
federal permission.

It's absolutely ludicrous in this day and age that Canadians should
still get tagged with a criminal record for something so minor as
possessing pot.

Yet, thousands of Canadians get busted each year.

In 1992, 17,422 people were charged with possession. In 1996, that
rose to By 1997, about half of Canada's 66,521 drug-related offences
involved cannabis possession.

Most disturbing of all is that each year 2,000 Canadians are actually
JAILED for the offence.

Clearly, public attitudes about cannabis in this city and the rest of
the country have changed, but the laws have remained in the Dark Ages.

McLellan's mouthpiece can claim there's a "division" in society about
decriminalization but that's a bogus argument, because in a democratic
society there are always divisions of opinion.

The one number which counts in this case is that since 1998 -
according to a national poll - a slim majority of Canadians agree that
smoking marijuana should not be a criminal offence.

But gutless politicians don't like simple majorities. While I suspect
even McLellan may see the folly of turning otherwise law-abiding pot
smokers into criminals, she won't risk losing a few votes from people
who don't want laws liberalized.

That's a terrible shame given that millions of good Canadians from all
walks of life actually smoke pot or have lit up a joint in the past.

Teachers, lawyers, cops, journalists, politicians, musicians, doctors,
athletes, truck drivers ... there are endless numbers of people in our
society who've smoked pot, including high-profile types such as
Premier Ralph Klein and Canadian Alliance leadership candidate
Stockwell Day.

Most haven't been caught for their past guilty pleasures, but had they
been, they'd all have criminal records.

Yep, people whose other greatest crime might well have been nothing
more than a simple parking infraction wind up being labelled criminals
for life because of our stupid drug laws.

The ultimate irony is the fact that many of the people sworn to uphold
the laws of the country - particularly cops and politicians - have
freely admitted to breaking the Criminal Code by smoking pot at some
time in their lives.

People should try hard to not get sidetracked on this whole thing. The
issue is not whether cannabis is a good or bad substance. That's open
for debate.

The issue is whether it's right that we tag people with a lifelong
criminal record for the minor indiscretion of smoking pot and getting
caught.

Canadians' attitudes have changed radically since the 1920s when most
folks believed pot caused insanity.

But, unfortunately one thing hasn't changed - we still have gutless
politicians.