DEVILLERS SPEARHEADS OTTAWA'S DRUG STRATEGY

The federal Liberals are crafting a new year's resolution to relax Canada's
pot laws, while clamping down on dealers of the widely available drug.

Education on the risks associated with its use will also be a strong
priority, said Simcoe North MP Paul DeVillers, chair of the committee
studying decriminalization.

"You have to look at it as a whole package," DeVillers told Orillia Today.
"It is part of a whole drug strategy that says we are after more
interventions with young people who have a small amount and are
experimenting with it."

A bill introduced in Parliament earlier in the month recommends fines
rather than criminal records for those caught with small quantities of
marijuana, while promising stiffer sentences for large-scale producers of
the forbidden weed.

However popular this side of the 49th parallel, Canada's plans to soften
pot laws have been met by unfriendly rumblings from some U.S. politicians,
who warn the move could lead to strained relations and slowdowns at border
crossings.

DeVillers, however, remains unfazed by such threats.

"I am one who is growing a little weary of always setting our foreign
policy, our criminal law, our border security based on what the U.S.
thinks," he said. "We have to make our own decisions. The U.S. are going to
do business with us when it is good business for the U.S."

A separate but related bill proposes mandatory roadside testing for those
suspected of driving under the influence of marijuana.

Police currently have no authority to order drug testing, though the
proposed legislation would empower officers to demand physical tests and
fluid samples from a suspect.

Allowing marijuana testing should allay the fears of critics who warn that
decriminalization will lead to a rise in pot smoking and, as a result, make
our highways a more dangerous place to be, he said.

DeVillers noted that the Supreme Court of Canada has already upheld
challenges to a similar law allowing breath testing when police suspect a
driver is drunk.

"I think the same should apply in the case of marijuana," he said.

The legislation also promises tougher sanctions for growers and traffickers
of the drug, including a maximum jail sentence of 14 years for the most
serious offenders.

Users nabbed with small amounts will pay a fine, not unlike a traffic ticket.

"Rather than plunking them into the criminal law system and giving them a
criminal record for the rest of their lives," DeVillers said.

"That, quite frankly, has not worked everywhere else it has been tried."

Hearings on decriminalization won't likely begin "until the new year,"
DeVillers said, while stressing the drug would remain illegal.

In the four weeks remaining before the holiday break, the committee will
also consider legislation dealing with child pornography and a DNA databank.