DECRIMINALIZING POT WOULD SMASH 'LUCRATIVE' BLACK MARKET: LAWYER

OTTAWA - Cannabis should be made available like alcohol is today to
help defuse a "fantastically lucrative black market" for drugs, an
Ottawa lawyer says.

Eugene Oscapella, co-founder of the Canadian Foundation for Drug
Policy and a University of Ottawa criminology instructor, said it's
time the government realizes the war on drugs isn't working.

"An increasing number of Canadians understand the current approach of
using criminal law is seriously flawed," Oscapella said.

The problem, he says, is there aren't enough politicians who want to
have a "more rational dialogue" on drug policies.

"There isn't a powerful constituency for change, but there are many
powerful constituencies for keeping the law the way it is," Oscapella said.

An exclusive Leger Marketing poll commissioned by QMI Agency shows
that more than half of Canadians believe marijuana possession should
not be a crime.

Ottawa Police Chief Vern White agrees there should be a larger
discussion about marijuana, but he bemoans polls which collect quick
answers on the decriminalization issue.

"Your poll doesn't educate (respondents) before it surveys them," White said.

White argues that most people don't understand that today's pot isn't
the same grass they smoked 30 years ago. Levels of
tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive substance in pot, are about
four times higher today than what they were in the 1970s, White said.

"It's my frustration with these polls. The discussion is focused on
old information," he said. "You need to understand what marijuana has today."

White, who also teaches a criminology course at Ottawa U., said
society really hasn't had a serious discussion about the impact of marijuana.

"The lack of education is going to kill us," he said.

While Oscapella suggests relaxing marijuana laws could reduce police
budgets, White says decriminalizing pot would have no impact on the
Ottawa police bottom line.

"I have very little of my budget on marijuana smokers. It wouldn't
change my budget one dollar," White said, adding that decriminalizing
pot won't decrease the demand for the drug.

Oscapella believes strict drug laws do more harm than good. The
justice system incurs more costs, people get criminal records and
organized crime groups profit, Oscapella said.

Whether pot is decriminalized or not, some safety concerns will
remain unchanged, such as those related to impaired driving.

As MADD Ottawa president Tom Wainwright pointed out, "even if they
decriminalize, it's still going to be an impairment issue."