POT CRACKDOWN MAY LOOM

Tories Reject Decriminalization Bid; 'It's Dead - For The Time Being.
This Issue Goes In Cycles,' Marijuana Activist Muses

Potheads beware: Possession arrests can be expected to rise in some
regions as the Conservative government has made it clear it has no
plans to relax Canada's marijuana laws.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Vic Toews was brusk when asked
whether the Tories might revive Liberal efforts to decriminalize
simple possession.

"It is a very short answer and the answer is No," said Mike
Storeshaw. "We have no plans to bring any bill forward."

Public toking became more common in some parts of Canada as the
former government moved to loosen pot laws.

On Wellington St. in Ottawa yesterday, three young men openly passed
a joint among them as they strolled in the shadow of Parliament's Peace Tower.

But police in some parts of the country are again cracking down.

"I think we're in a dark period right now," said Alan Young, a
marijuana activist and professor at Osgoode Hall Law School in
Toronto. "They're going after growers and seed dealers, and more
people are being charged with simple possession."

The Liberals moved to treat possession of less than 15 grams of pot -
roughly 20 joints - as a minor offence punishable by fines of $100 to
$400, much like traffic tickets.

But the latest decriminalization bill died when the federal election
was called in November.

Before that, the Liberals had been harshly rebuked by officials and
legislators in the United States. Former U.S. ambassador Paul
Cellucci hinted of border tie-ups if Canadian marijuana laws were eased.

Those complaints continued despite the fact several U.S. states have
already decriminalized pot in much the same way.

Young says pot activists fighting to keep the cause alive are out of
luck, but not forever. "It's dead - for the time being," he said.
"This issue goes in cycles."

Young predicts Ottawa can't indefinitely ignore a growing number of
pot users. "We're a drug-consuming culture and we've got to start
regulating it."

Pot is the most popular illicit drug in the country, says the
Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. A national survey of drug use,
released in 2004, found that about 15 per cent of the adult
population had used cannibis in the past year, up from seven per cent in 1994.

The centre warned of side effects ranging from impaired concentration
to respiratory damage, depression, paranoia and possible aggravation
of pre-existing psychiatric symptoms.

While in opposition, Toews assailed the Liberals for moving to
increase pot demand while at the same time cracking down on suppliers
with tougher trafficking penalties.

Critics stressed the fact that police still have no reliable roadside
test to snag stoned drivers. Also missing is a national drug strategy
to discourage use.

Still, pot advocates say marijuana on the whole is a lesser social
hazard than alcohol.

"It's much less harmful to our society than other legal activities
and substances," says Kirk Tousaw, general counsel to the B.C. Marijuana Party.

"Unfortunately, (Prime Minister Stephen) Harper ran on a
get-tough-on-crime, lock-'em-up platform that isn't going to do
anyone in Canada any good - except for perhaps those in the
prison-building industry."

Tousaw, a criminal defence lawyer, says prohibiting pot flies in the
face of bedrock conservative principles. "It's the antithesis of
individual liberty. It is an economic program that's just dumping
good money after bad: the courts, the jails, the police time."

Moreover, pot laws are inconsistently applied across Canada, Tousaw says.

"I'm a white, middle-class father of two. If I'm using marijuana in
my own home, I run virtually no risk of being arrested."

The homeless who smoke up in parks, he says, are much more likely to
be charged.

Toews barely stopped yesterday when asked about such inconsistencies.

"We have a law on the books, don't we?" he said before brushing past reporters.