LEGALIZE POT, SAYS LIBERAL

Mounties May Have Lived

OTTAWA - Four RCMP officers cut down while investigating a massive
marijuana grow operation might not have died if Canada had legalized
pot, a former Alberta Liberal leader said yesterday. Nick Taylor, a
former senator and onetime leader of the Liberals in the province
where the tragedy occurred, said the incident proves once again that
prohibition, whether for alcohol, tobacco or marijuana, doesn't work.

"The way we've done it now is marijuana has become the exclusive
prerogative of the criminal element because there's such fantastic
profit in it," Taylor said in an interview. "I'm not saying that the
four men would be alive if we had legalized marijuana, but I suspect
they might be."

Resolution

Taylor, in Ottawa for the national Liberal convention, said he's
"hoping one of the good things that will come out of" the tragedy is
that it will prompt Liberal delegates to support a resolution,
proposed by the Alberta wing of the federal party, to legalize pot.

The resolution, which would see pot legalized and taxed, is to be
debated tomorrow. It asserts that "legalizing marijuana would be a
serious blow to drug dealers and organized crime financially."

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan didn't wait for the debate to
rule out legalization.

"We are not in the business of legalizing marijuana. We are in the
business of putting in place a new penalty regime for small amounts of
marijuana," she said.

McLellan said she and Justice Minister Irwin Cotler will review
proposed legislation to decriminalize marijuana possession to
determine if it is tough enough on pot growers.

The legislation, reintroduced in November, would make possession of up
to 15 grams of marijuana punishable by a fine of $150 for adults and
$100 for minors.

It also proposes growers caught with more than three plants face up to
five years in jail, or 18 months plus a $25,000 fine. Anyone with more
than 25 plants could face 10 years in jail and growers of more than 50
plants would face a maximum sentence of 14 years.

McLellan dodged the question of whether minimum sentences are needed
to deter growers, but conceded police need more help to tackle the
"scourge" of grow ops.

Calling it an "unprecedented and unspeakable" loss, RCMP Commissioner
Giuliano Zaccardelli said yesterday's massacre must spark public
debate on Canada's drug strategy.