IS POT GOING LEGAL?

Cops Call For Decriminalization

How safe is it to puff pot in Toronto? That's the one issue left
unaddressed during debate over a recent motion by the Canadian Chiefs
of Police to decriminalize marijuana.

The chiefs urged the feds to make pot smoking a ticketable offence, a
proposal some people assume has little relevance for Toronto. Hasn't
the Big Smoke, much like Vancouver, "de facto" decriminalized already,
turning a blind eye towards minor pot crimes so cops can focus on
crack, rape and violent crime?

"Nonsense," says Osgoode Hall professor and pot activist Alan Young,
who routinely defends low-level marijuana miscreants.

"We don't ignore anything," says Det. Carl Noll of the police's
Special Investigative Services, major drugs section. "We're enforcing
[the law] as aggressively as we can."

Standing amongst racks of grow guides, cannabis books and cabinets
filled with bongs and smoking accessories, Robin Ellins, the
co-proprietor of Toronto's first hemp store, the Friendly Stranger,
has a different take.

Ellins feels that pot has been decriminalized, although only "in a
sense." He says, "It really depends how old you are and how stupid. If
you're smoking in a public park or being boisterous on the street,
you're going to get busted."

Yet Ellins has no friends or acquaintances who've been arrested for
simple possession in Toronto, much less jailed. Which makes sense -
Toronto's arrest rate for possession is half that of the rest of the
province. More charges are laid annually for crack dealing than
marijuana trafficking, despite the latter's position as the city's
favorite illegal drug.

Still, Prof. Young not only denies Toronto police are ignoring minor
marijuana offences, he says such a policy would be bad news.

"De facto decriminalization is not an effective way to deal with the
issue," says Young. "It's a smoke screen to block serious law reform."

WAR AGAINST SOME DRUGS

Speaking in front of a small crowd of public health experts and
reporters, Joyce Bernstein maintains a grim face as she recites drug
stats and overdose anecdotes.

Bernstein, an epidemiologist with Toronto Public Health, is co-author of
the ninth annual "Drug Use in Toronto" report, which surveys the city's
substance use habits. At the document's April 21 launch, Bernstein notes
the high prevalence of pot use in Toronto: "19 per cent of student and 13
per cent of adults" reported past-year reefer use in the 1999 Drug Use survey.

Crack, which remains the most demonized drug in North America, barely
registers on the survey. Under 1 per cent of adults and 2 per cent of
students report using in 1998.

Enforcement patterns for the two drugs are very similar when it comes
to possession charges, however. According to Metro Police's Central
Drug Information Unit, city cops laid 2,127 charges for simple
marijuana possession and 116 charges for trafficking in 1998. Slim
pickings for a city in which one in 10 adults tokes up.

A recent study by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA),
Toronto's marijuana possession offence rate is 41 per 100,000 people -
far less than the rest of the province, where the rate is 92 per 100,000.

By way of comparison, crack, which less than one in 100 Toronto adults
use, resulted in 1,287 possession charges and 527 trafficking charges
in 1998.

"Drug enforcement is fueled by police intelligence and public input,"
explains Det. Curt Booth, who heads the Central Drug Information Unit.

Citizens tend to be more alarmed by crack dealers on the street than
patio pot tokers, in other words. Budget restraints also mean that
police "work on drugs that present the greatest threat to the
community," Det. Booth continues. "No one who knows drugs would argue
that [pot] is more destructive than crack."

Public attitudes have a lot to do with this: recent surveys peg
support for decriminalization at over 50 per cent of Canadians, with
eight in 10 backing legal pot for medical use.

While medical marijuana's been much in the news lately, even
non-medicinal imbibers have been getting a break lately in Toronto.
Last May, Operation Springboard, an outfit which intervenes on behalf
of criminal offenders, launched a cannabis diversion program at old
City Hall. Thanks to changes in federal sentencing laws which allow
for greater pre-trial diversion of minor cases, Crown Attorneys at old
City Hall can now refer first-time, non-violent pot offenders to
Springboard. In exchange for community service or counseling,
possession charges are dropped and the offender doesn't get a record.

From its inception to March 31, 1999, some 430 people entered the
diversion program with a 93 per cent completion rate, says Margaret
Stanowski, Springboard's executive director.

Diversion's cheaper than incarceration and tougher than traditional
forms of justice, she adds. Pot possession cases tend to result in
fines and discharges, a fact cited by the Chiefs of Police as one of
their reasons for supporting decrim.

Stanowski hesitates, however, to frame the diversion program as a step
towards overhauling Canada's cannabis laws. "We're not speculating on
the decriminalizaton of marijuana," she states. Her view echoes that
of Deputy Chief Steve Reesor, whose told eye last year that he opposes
decrim but supports alternative sentencing for some drug offences.

Deputy Chief Reesor probably wasn't thinking about de facto decrim as
an alternative, something Vancouver police are experimenting with. A
few years ago, cops there generally stopped charging people for pot
possession because of an overwhelming problem with needle drug use.
Still, the threat of arrest remains, something that infuriates drug
activists.

Pot law enforcement, says Prof. Young, "should not be contingent on
the personality of the police officers."

Ellins agrees. Back in 1993, Ellins was arrested and tried in
Brockville for possessing five grams of marijuana. For a drug offence
in a small town, Ellins got off relatively easily - no fine, no jail
time and an order not to disturb the peace.

Except now he's got a criminal record - a legal burden official
decriminalization would eliminate - and can't enter the United States.

Smoking pot in Toronto's far less risky than in a place like
Brockville, but that doesn't make it a penalty-free activity.