POT CHARGES ON THE RISE

Law professor wants to legalize cannabis use

Despite growing cries to decriminalize it, more young people continue to be
charged with marijuana offences.

More than seven out of every 10 drug offences in Canada were related to
marijuana in 1997 and two-thirds of them were for simple possession,
Statistics Canada said yesterday. Among those charged, 86 per cent were
under the age of 25.

After dropping dramatically in the 1980s, marijuana offences have risen
steadily through the '90s while cocaine offences have dropped by 11 per
cent and heroin has stayed at about 2 per cent of all charges.

The rate of charges for cultivating marijuana rose by almost a third in
1997, due to more sophisticated growing techniques that allow Canadian
traffickers to produce high-quality plants, the study says.

That is another argument for legalizing it, since organized crime no longer
controls marijuana in Canada and the violence associated with it has
disappeared, said Osgoode Hall law professor Alan Young, who has spent
years battling for its decriminalization in the courts.

``The good news is that it is now a domestic product,'' he said. ``Growing
it has become a cottage industry.''

The statistics fly in the face of police assertions that charging Canadians
with marijuana offences is a low priority, he said.

Part of the problem is that the smell is easy to detect.

Young is awaiting a Court of Appeal decision on whether the pungent aroma
of marijuana alone is sufficient grounds for police to conduct a search for
its source.

Over-all, 47,908 people were charged with marijuana offences in 1997, up
from 33,267 in 1991. Charges peaked in 1981 at 75,104, then dropped
dramatically through the '80s after the passage of the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms before rising again through the '90s.

British Columbia had the highest rate of drug offences at 426 per 100,000
people, almost twice the national average, although it charges fewer
people, especially for marijuana offences. Only 35 per cent of marijuana
incidents resulted in charges there, compared to 80 per cent in the other
provinces.

Ontario laid 20,927 drug charges in 1997, 15,550 of them for marijuana.
Four out of five were for possession.

The debate over whether having and smoking marijuana should be a criminal
offence heated up again last year when Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati
lost his Olympic gold medal after traces of marijuana were detected in a
drug test. After a public outcry, the medal was reinstated.

``The majority of voices are crying out from all parts of society to
decriminalize it, but I just don't see the political will to do it,'' Young
said.

He estimates that Canada spends $1 billion a year on drug enforcement and
between $600,000 and $700,000 is spent just on investigations and charges
related to marijuana possession.

``That doesn't include the human and social cost of criminalizing otherwise
law-abiding citizens,'' he said.

``Six hundred thousand Canadians have a criminal record for using marijuana
and are marginalized from society because of it.''