REPORT NOTING 166M WORLDWIDE SMOKE MARIJUANA RENEWS LEGALIZATION CALL

The number of marijuana smokers in the world has grown to more than
160 million people, a report released yesterday shows, which has
Canadian advocates renewing calls for legalization of the drug.

An Australian study, citing United Nations data from 2006 and
published in the journal Lancet, found that about 166 million people
aged 15-64 -- or an estimated one in 25 in that age range -- reported
using cannabis. That's up from about 159 million people in 2005.

"It's not going away. So should one in 25 people be criminalized for
smoking pot?" asked Eugene Oscapella, an Ottawa professor and
spokesman for the Canadian Foundation For Drug Policy. It is urging
Ottawa to allow people to grow their own and tax sales.