DON'T FEAR THE REEFER, POT PROTESTORS URGE

Peaceful protest featuring Marc Emery, the Prince of Pot, held at
town hall raises issues with Bill C-15

Although the overwhelming majority of those protesting were youth,
the message at town hall on Saturday was the same - Bill C-15 will
impact everyone negatively, drug users or not, both young and old.

Bill C-15, proposed by the federal government, aims to establish
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences while implementing
longer minimum sentences on those convicted of possessing cannabis.

The Orangeville protest, organized by Andrew Donovan, a police
foundations student at Georgian College, was planned to draw
attention to the negative sides of the bill.

"This bill is going to affect every Canadian, whether you smoke pot,
whatever drug you do, and whatever drug you don't do," Donovan said.

As part of the protest, Donovan asked marijuana activist Marc Emery,
known to most as 'The Prince of Pot' to make Orangeville one of his
final stops before being extradited to the United States for selling
marijuana seeds over the Internet. Emery, called one of the Top 50
most wanted by the US Justice Department, will begin serving a
five-year prison term, beginning in either September or October.

"Bill C-15 will add an extra 1,500 to 2,000 people a year to our
jails. It will necessitate the building of two new jails every year,"
Emery said. "We have got 36,000 total in jail in Canada and that is a
very modest number, a very reasonable number. It is still probably
the eighth highest percentage in the world, but the United States has
the highest percentage of people in jail. . That is because they have
mandatory minimums there."

One of the problems politicians don't see in regards to the bill is
that it'll be counter-productive in stopping drugs from being dealt,
grown and manufactured, Emery believes. Bill C-15 and all prohibition
of marijuana will only manufacture more crime, he claimed.

"I learned more about drugs and how to make drugs in prison than
anywhere else," Emery, who has been arrested 23 times, all for minor
drug offences, claimed. "The best place for gangs to recruit is young
vulnerable people who just arrived in jail. . You go in as a small
time drug dealer and come out as a full-fledged member of a gang."

Emery envisions a taxed and regulated system where marijuana would be
sold in stores like Starbucks for $20 an ounce retail and $10 wholesale.

"That is $160 a pound. It would still be the most expensive
agricultural product in Canada," Emery said.

Ard Van Leeuwen, federal Green Party candidate for Dufferin-Caledon,
pointed to the Canadian 'Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs,
2002,' report which recommends the decriminalization of marijuana.

"The Green Party agrees with the Senate of Canada and Bill C-15
actually takes a step in the opposite direction," Van Leeuwen said.
"It does cost about $100,000 a year to incarcerate somebody. That is
a lot of money that could instead be spent on trying to keep young
offenders from offending in the first place. We would rather build
community centres than build more jails."

The Green Party estimates regulating and taxing cannabis could bring
in "about one and half billion dollars to Canada's government
revenues," Van Leenwen said, plus allow police to focus on "crimes
more hurtful to society."

"Canada has a very poor reputation on prosecuting white-collar
crime," he said. "Be tougher on white-collar crime, not young offenders."

Bill C-15 would impose mandatory minimum sentences on smaller-scale
drug traffickers, distributors and producers, meaning anyone
producing between one and 200 plants may face up to six months in
prison. Anyone convicted of possession of cannabis for the purpose of
trafficking may be subject to one-year imprisonment.

"If we keep making these sentences, we're going to have to hire more
police officers, we're going to have to open up more courts, open up
more jails, we're going to need more judges, more lawyers," Donovan said.

The police foundations student was inspired to organize the protest
due to several factors including the success resulting from
Portugal's decision to decriminalize all drugs in 2001. He also took
a cue from an organization called LEAP (Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition), comprised of retired and current police officers in the
United States who advocate for the end of all drug prohibitions.

"This isn't just a druggy thing, this isn't just a hippie thing.
People who are doing our community policing, people who are keeping
us safe, are the same ones advocating to end prohibition," Donovan,
who claims not be a cannabis user, said.

"I don't propose we just decriminalize it tomorrow. We need steps, we
need progressions, and society needs progressions. . And Canadians
need to know each step in that progression towards decriminalization."