CHIEFS PUSH TICKET, NOT RECORD, AS POT PENALTY

Canadian top cops want to save police and potheads paperwork and court
time by writing the equivalent of a speeding ticket to smokers caught
with marijuana and hash.

Yesterday, Justice Minister Anne McLellan said she wants to see what
the proposal from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is
offering on the country's dope front.

"We're going to take a look at this and we'll see where it leads us,"
McLellan said yesterday. "I think this is a significant move on the
part of the chiefs and they are a very influential voice."

Decriminalizing possession of small amounts will free up officers to
take on growers and dealers, said Edmonton Chief John Lindsay, head of
the association.

Under the proposal anyone caught with marijuana and hash would get a
ticket and fine but no criminal record.

"Today it's not regarded as a serious offence,'' Lindsay said. "It's
not dealt with by the courts as a serious issue.''

The head of the top cops' drug abuse committee, Barry King, noted that
while Canadian cops don't want to loosen criminal offences tied to
heroine and cocaine - as stated in a National Post article - courts
already treat simple possession of pot and hash as worth a fine, not
jail time.

"This isn't legalization. It's decriminalization," said King, chief of
police in Brockville, Ont.

There is a line between "soft'' drugs like marijuana and "dangerous''
narcotics like coke and heroine, Lindsay said.

King stressed top cops are just reflecting laws already on the books
since 1996 that let street cops treat possession of small amounts much
like traffic cops treat speeders.

The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act hits folks nabbed with under
30 grams of pot or less than one gram of cannabis resin with fines
normally ranging from $100 to $150 if they plead guilty to a summons
similar to a traffic ticket.

Decriminalization would merely free up cops and courts, King
said.

"The end result is no different," he said. "There is no war on drugs.
What there is is a balanced approach (against drugs) taken on all
levels. It's a health issue, a social issue, an education issue, an
enforcement issue."

Giving cops discretion to write tickets would also mean two-thirds of
the 70,000 drug offenders nabbed yearly would no longer be
photographed and fingerprinted.