MPs DRUG-CRAZED OVER TRAFFICKING BILL

OTTAWA - Where there's smoke, there's pot.

And sometimes a Liberal flip-flop, too.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson came out swinging against the Grits
Thursday for pulling their support of the government's proposed
drug-trafficking bill, S-10.

If passed, it would impose a minimum six-month prison sentence for
anyone caught growing between six and 200 marijuana plants.

Having supported an earlier identical bill that died when Parliament
was prorogued in December 2009, the Liberals now say the bill fails to
distinguish between young people who make a mistake and hardened
gangsters who should be locked up.

"We could have our prisons absolutely replete with young people who
have made mistakes, which they surely shouldn't have made, but
shouldn't be filling our prisons," Liberal public safety critic Mark
Holland said Thursday.

The Liberals want the minimum number of pot plants before the
mandatory minimum sentence applies raised to 20 from six, and also
want to know what it would cost to implement the bill, a figure the
government won't release.

But Nicholson insisted the bill only targets traffickers, and that the
six-plant threshold allows for young people who make a mistake.

(One well-grown pot plant can yield one pound of marijuana, according
to police.)

"I am very disappointed that the Liberals have changed their mind on
this," Nicholson said. "I know I'm never going to get the support of
the NDP on any of this stuff ... I understand that, and the Bloc is
the same way.

"I think he (Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff) has a lot of
explanations to do as to why he has flip-flopped on this ... if he
flip-flops on this, he'd flip-flop on anything."

The bill has passed the Senate, but still requires approval from the
House of Commons.