EDITORIAL: Marijuana should remain illegal

It is not yet time for Canada to decriminalize or legalize marijuana.
Londoner Chris Clay was convicted for possession, trafficking, and
possession for trafficking of marijuana, according to the laws as they
exist. He decided to use his arrest as a way to challenge Canada's current
laws governing marijuana.

The judge upheld the law, as he should. But the larger issue of whether
such test cases should prompt a change in the law remains.

Those laws are still supported by society at large, although there is a
minority, including Clay and his followers, who don't support them.

What has changed, and may one day lead to a legal change on this issue, is
the research into addictiveness and effects of marijuana compared with
other substances, such as tobacco and alcohol, that are legal to own, buy,
sell and use, with some regulations.

As the judge reviewing Clay's submissions concluded, marijuana's harmful
effects are mild in comparison to other illegal narcotics, and could be
considered comparable to those attached to alcohol, for instance.

Alcohol, however, is legal, with restrictions on who, how, and where it is
sold, as well as laws against driving after drinking. Its use is ingrained
in our customs and our society.

Marijuana use, in this society, is not ingrained. The cutoff point of what
is considered a legal drug whether that be caffeine or cocaine must
balance medical evidence about issues such as harm to self and others and
addictiveness with public acceptance.

Politicians, and the voters who elect them, need also to consider whether
the policing and court costs of enforcing prohibitions on marijuana use
outweigh the benefits of maintaining the current laws.

This is one law Parliament should review on a periodic basis, based on
changing evidence and changing public support.

But, in 1997, the law should stay put.

SIDEBAR:

CHRIS CLAY

* Found guilty of possession of marijuana,trafficking of marijuana and
possession for the purposes of trafficking

* Charged in 1995 after selling a cannabis seedling to an undercover police
officer

* Clay argued that the Narcotic Control Act, which makes possession
illegal, interfered with his constitutional right to bodily autonomy,
without sufficient evidence of harm to justify the interference