POT - IT'S NOT JUST FOR BOHEMIANS ANY MORE

Marijuana Use Has Doubled Over The Past 10 Years, A Survey Says, And
It's Climbing The Social Ladder

Like maple syrup and strong beer, marijuana is on track to be the new
icon of the true north strong and free -- or at least a required
weekend staple for many a frazzled Canadian.

Pot use in Canada has doubled over the past decade, according to a new
survey, prompting a fresh round of calls from activists to remove the
illicit drug from the criminal-justice system.

The Canada Addiction Survey released yesterday shows that 14 per cent
of respondents used cannabis in the past year, up from 7.4 per cent in
1994. And nearly one half of those surveyed -- 45 per cent -- had used
pot at least once.

"I know a lot of these people, and they're leaders in society," said
Marc Emery, president of the British Columbia Marijuana Party.

"They're artists and journalists and classical musicians. They're
smoking pot. I've smoked with them. It's a huge chunk of the
population."

The new study, considered the most comprehensive addictions survey
yet, shows that other illicit drug use is increasing in Canada, as is
alcohol consumption.

Though marijuana activists used the study to bolster their arguments,
health-care workers and law enforcers called the results troubling.

Conservative justice critic Vic Toews blamed Liberal-government
policies that condone drug use -- from supervised injection sites to
the planned easing of marijuana laws -- for the rising drug-use rates.

"I am concerned that the government has not put forward a national
strategy to deal with the whole issue of addictions," Mr. Toews said.

The survey also indicates that pot is a drug of choice among the
middle-aged and better-educated. The study said marijuana use
increases with education, rising to 52 per cent for those with
postsecondary education from 35 per cent among high-school dropouts.

Marijuana activists said the survey shows pot use has morphed from a
taboo pursuit to mainstream. They added that it means Canadians have
rejected the law-and-order notion that users should be treated as criminals.

Jody Pressman, executive director of the National Organization for the
Reform of Marijuana Laws, hopes the survey will prompt Ottawa to make
good on its pledge to decriminalize possession of small amounts of the
drug. The group plans to release a survey of its own today in Ottawa.

"Millions of people [in Canada] have used pot, and they're not
criminals, and it's time politicians faced the fact that use is so
widespread," Mr. Pressman said. The organization wants marijuana
regulated the same way as alcohol and tobacco are.

Meanwhile, as Canadians grow more lax in their attitudes about pot,
Americans remain leery about liberalizing marijuana laws, according to
an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted for The Globe and Mail and CTV.

The pollsters, who interviewed 1,000 Canadians and 1,000 Americans,
asked respondents whether they agreed with Canada's plan to eliminate
criminal penalties for the possession of marijuana.

Among Canadians asked, 51 per cent said they agreed, with 33 per cent
opposed.

In the United States, by contrast, 36 per cent said the plan was a
sound idea while 39 per cent said it was a bad one.

The Ipsos-Reid poll was conducted from Nov. 10 to Nov. 22. The margin
of error in both countries is 3.1 percentage points.

University of British Columbia political scientist Michael Byers said
the poll reflects a widening chasm between Canadians and Americans on
social issues, a gap he predicted will increase with the recent
re-election of President George W. Bush, who is to visit Canada next
week.

"He was elected because of the mobilization of the American right,"
Prof. Byers said.

"The thinking is quite formidably different from the majority of
Canadians."

In Canada, the survey prompted alarm among health professionals, who
warned that pot is a mind-altering, potentially dangerous drug,
despite its new mainstream status.

"Cannabis in not harmless," said David Marsh, an addictions specialist
with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

"Many people seem to use cannabis a few times and stop. But among the
group who've used it in the last year, there's a group who are using
it quite frequently and having difficulties associated with that."

Dr. Marsh said one-third of the people who said they used pot in the
past year reported problems controlling it.

The addiction study says men were more likely than women to have used
the drug, and young people had a higher rate of use than older Canadians.

About 269,000 Canadians said they had used an injection drug in the
past year, up from 132,000 in 1994.

The study was sponsored by Health Canada, the Canadian Executive
Council on Addictions and the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.