A FEW QUESTIONS ABOUT MARIJUANA FOR MR. ROCK

Watching Health Minister Allan Rock announce that the government may, after
a suitable period of testing, waiting and delay, allow marijuana to be used
as a medicinal drug, I was left perplexed. One might even say flummoxed.
There are so many unanswered questions.

Please don't misunderstand. I think it's wonderful that emaciated AIDS
patients using a minor drug to stave off death may, just may, no longer be
handcuffed, charged and convicted like criminal scum. That the government
is at long last considering making this change at some time in the distant
future shows how generous of spirit it really is. But after airing this
pale ray of enlightenment, Mr. Rock quickly added that the government would
not even think of generally legalizing marijuana. He was adamant. Smoke a
joint and you are criminal scum. And that's the way it will stay.

This left my head abuzz, as it were, with questions: Has Allan Rock ever
smoked pot? How about Justice Minister Anne McLellan? What about the rest
of the cabinet? I suspect, judging from his performance, that the prime
minister has a puff or two before Question Period. And drug-induced
euphoria is the only explanation for Lloyd Axworthy's policy on Cuba. As
for Herb Gray, well he's a Rolling Stones fan. Who's he fooling?

In fact, one in four Canadians has used marijuana. Simple math proves the
Cabinet is almost certainly rife with criminal scum. Does the RCMP know
about this?

Unlikely as it seems, it might be discovered on investigation that no
minister has ever had the munchies. But that would still leave me troubled
by a few other unanswered questions.

Here's one: Do the ministers know how marijuana came to be banned in the
first place? In the 1920's, racist Americans claimed Negroes were gettin'
hopped up on weed and rapin' white women. At the time, marijuana was almost
unknown in Canada but it was banned anyway because you can't be too careful
with them darkies. The policy remains, though the government doesn't fret
too much about Negroes anymore.

Here's another question: Do the ministers know that all the claims about
marijuana's effects that got it banned have been proven false? The British
medical journal, The Lancet has even stated that "The smoking of cannabis,
even long-term, is not harmful to health." That's not something The Lancet
will ever write about alcohol or tobacco, perhaps not even about caffeine.
As for posing a threat to society by causing bad behaviour in users,
marijuana can't hold a candle to booze. Well, marijuana has led to the
demise of many a potato chip, and the giggling can annoy innocent
bystanders, but that's about it.

I want to know if Allan Rock and Anne McLellan have ever chatted about all
this after work one day, perhaps over a nice single malt scotch?

I also want to know if the ministers are aware of the latest drug crime
data from StatsCan. Of the roughly 66,000 drug offences in 1997, about
48,000, or 72 per cent, were related to marijuana. That's up from 58 per
cent in 1991. And of all the marijuana-related crimes, about two-thirds
were for simple possession, which, by definition, means the person charged
had only a small amount of marijuana.

All these numbers come down to a single, stunning fact: Almost half of all
drug charges in Canada were for possessing a little bit of a drug The
Lancet says is relatively harmless.

Maybe the ministers know this, but they think the courts wink at marijuana
charges. It's no big deal, right? Actually, 600,000 Canadians have
criminal records for using marijuana, their lives and careers forever
burdened by legal restrictions and social humiliation. Just try to become,
say, a cabinet minister with a criminal record.

Jail sentences for possession are still a real possibility, especially for
repeat "offenders" or those with other criminal records. As for
small-scale growers who sell to their friends and neighbours, they're
"dealers" who risk years in prison. One woman who contacted me lost her
husband and house this way, so Children's Aid Society took her kids as
well. A family smashed. Lives wasted. And for what?

These are the questions Allan Rock's announcement left me with. Which
ministers have smoked what? Do they know the origins of the ban on
marijuana, or the damage it is inflicting on ordinary lives right now? Do
they give a damn?

Or, to boil all my questions down to a final one: Are Allan Rock and his
colleagues hypocritical, ignorant, or just unspeakably callous?