WEED OUT REAL CRIMINALS

One in 50 otherwise good citizens has a criminal record

Do you know that Statistics Canada reported this week more than 70 per cent
of all drug charges filed in Canada in 1997 were marijuana-related?

Do you know two-thirds of the 42,000 people charged with pot offences that
year were, in fact, chewing up great gobs of expensive cop and court time,
resources and budget for nothing more sinister than simply possessing a
recreational drug most of the rest of us have at least tried - and many of
us have even enjoyed from time to time - and that is clearly no more
harmful or addictive (and probably less so) than alcohol?

Do you know too, nearly 90 per cent of those who were charged for marijuana
possession in 1997 were younger than 25.? Do you know they are part of the
grand total of 600,000- roughly one in 50 - mostly otherwise upstanding,
law-abiding Canadians of all ages, sizes, shapes, political views, sexual
orientations, religions, ethnic groups, classes, and educations who carry
around the burden of a criminal record for the simple reason they once got
caught with a joint?

Do you know the rate of so-called "drug crime" in Canada is increasing
fastest in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba? Do you know that Alan
Young, an Osgoode Law School professor who has studied the effects of
prosecuting marijuana possession cases, estimates 60-70 per cent of the $1
billion spent in Canada on drug enforcement each year is actually spent on
investigating, charging, convicting, and sometimes jailing, people for
simply possessing marijuana?

Half say it's OK

Do you know in 1997 - the same year in which most of these other statistics
were compiled - a CTV/Angus Reid poll reported 51 per cent of Canadians
already believed smoking marijuana should not be a criminal offense?

Do you know that represents an increase of a full 12 per cent over the past
decade in the numbers of Canadians who want to see simple possession
decriminalized? And the number of Canadians who think so is increasing each
year...

Do you know why our government doesn't change the law?

Neither do I.