CANADIANS 'AHEAD OF POLITICIANS' ON MARIJUANA

If Californians Vote to Legalize, Canada Unlikely to Follow Suit, Say
Two MPs

Canadians are ahead of their federal politicians on the issue of
liberalizing marijuana laws, according to two high-profile lawmakers
from B.C.

With Californians heading to the polls in November to decide whether
possession of a small amount of marijuana should be legal, a similar
law in Canada is not likely on the horizon, Liberal Keith Martin and
New Democrat Libby Davies told The Province.

Davies, who represents the voters of Vancouver East, favours
legalization of marijuana, while Martin, the MP for Esquimalt-Juan de
Fuca, has been calling for decriminalizing the controversial drug since 2001.

"I think the public is ahead of where the politicians are," said
Davies. "Prohibition has failed. It has created a lot more harm in
terms of violence."

Davies said prohibition brings organized crime into the
equation.

"For marijuana, it's much better to have a rules-based, evidence-based
approach that focuses on health and education."

Davies's position goes further than the federal NDP position, which
calls for decriminalization. "The first step should be legalization
for personal use," she added. "Beyond that, there's a lot of debate
that has to happen."

Martin has introduced a private member's bill to decriminalize
marijuana in every parliamentary session since 2001. Under his
proposal, "You would receive a fine and you wouldn't receive a
criminal record," he said. Martin added he doesn't support people
smoking marijuana "because it's harmful.

"But the harm [caused by] our current drug laws is greater than the
harm inflicted by [the law] because it's so punitive and destroys a
person's future.

"From a medical perspective, alcohol does far more damage and costs
more to Canadian society than marijuana does," said Martin, a medical
doctor who has worked in emergency wards.

"I had a lot of people who came to emergency who had been drinking and
had beaten each other up or drove their cars into other cars and
killed themselves or killed other people," he said.

"But I never had anybody who had smoked marijuana and committed those
horrible acts of violence."

Martin said he hopes to reintroduce his private member's bill in the
next month, but he doesn't expect it will pass.

"Parliament has become more smallc conservative than I've ever seen
it. It's moving in the opposite direction to the Canadian public on
these issues."

Earlier this week, a report issued by the B.C. Centre of Excellence in
HIV/AIDS argued that studies going back 20 years have shown that drug
crackdowns usually lead to increased violence.

Lead researcher Dr. Evan Wood, a University of B.C. medical professor,
argued that a better approach to law enforcement and longer prison
terms would be to change the legal status of illicit drugs and make
them available to adults under strict regulations to minimize their
use.