POT CHARGES HIGHER THAN EVER, EVEN POLICE CALL FOR SOFTER LAW

OTTAWA -- Marijuana is the leading cause of drug-related criminal charges
in the 1990s, despite growing ambivalence about whether the weed should be
illegal.

Marijuana's resurgence as the drug of choice for Canadians, and increasing
availability of home-grown pot has been accompanied by a big jump in
pot-related charges over the past decade compared with other drugs.

Statistics Canada data released yesterday indicates the overall number of
offences hasn't changed much since 1983. But marijuana-related charges
accounted for 72 per cent of the total in 1997, compared with 58 per cent
in 1991.

Half of drug crimes reported by Canadian police in 1997 stemmed from
cannabis possession. Charges related to heroin and cocaine dropped between
1991 and The Canadian Centre for Justice Statistics, which produced the
figures, says it doesn't know why the number of marijuana offences has
grown while others have fallen.

But Neil Boyd, a Simon Fraser University criminologist, says the growing
popularity of marijuana might partly account for the trend.

Others say the growing availability of made-in-Canada marijuana might
explain it.

Either way, the trend is disturbing for those who support legalization of
cannabis.

"I don't see how in this day and age anybody can seriously argue that
prosecuting people for simple possession of marijuana does one iota of good
for society," said Eugene Oscapella, a member of the Canadian Foundation
for Drug Policy, an Ottawa drug policy think-tank.

"It's an unnecessary waste of dollars, (it's) diversion of police resources
and the diminution of civil liberties."

He charged that it's easier to go after marijuana users than hard drug
traffickers.

"It's an easy statistic for the cops. It's easy to bust people, easy to
detect. Police want statistics to prove what they're doing is working."

The Canadian Police Association says forces don't have enough resources to
fight drug crime at the source.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is against legalization but
wants Ottawa to look at decriminalization in some circumstances.

Barry King, police chief in Brockville, said officers are getting fired for
using discretion when it comes to drugs and Ottawa has to take the lead on
giving police the option of letting minor drug offences go.

"That's what they're saying to them, do something legitimate, codify it,
give our people the authority and the protection," he said.

"We're looking for discretion as much as anybody else."