TRUDEAU THOUGHT POT LAWS TOO 'HARSH'

OTTAWA -- Former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau thought
Canada's penalties for potheads were "rather harsh," according to
30-year-old cabinet documents. As the current Liberal government moves
to decriminalize marijuana, historic records from 1973 just released
by the National Archives suggest the former PM was pushing his cabinet
to relax the laws while facing stiff opposition from within his own
ranks.

"The prime minister commented that the penalties recommended for first
offenders for illicit possession seemed rather harsh," one document
reads.

"(Health Minister) Marc Lalonde reported that he had found caucus
members to be rather rigid in their views and to have considered his
proposals somewhat lenient."

Legislation in the U.S. and U.K. carried comparably stiffer penalties
at the time, according to the records.

The divisive nature of the raging pot debate remains three decades
later, as Prime Minister Paul Martin prepares to reintroduce a
decriminalization bill that would fine those caught with a small stash
of less than 15 grams.

While the current proposal cracks down on growers and sellers,
Trudeau's cabinet took a more sympathetic view of traffickers.

"The solicitor general stated his view that the penalties for
traffickers were much too high, since in most cases the traffickers
were only pawns in the hands of the international dealers in drugs,"
one cabinet document reads.

Records of the closed-door pot discussions are among scores of secret
documents that offer a glimpse into how Trudeau's minority Liberal
government stickhandled sensitive issues of the day.

With a war in Vietnam, a controversial bilingualism policy and a
crisis of soaring oil prices, Trudeau's cabinet recognized that
co-operation with the opposition parties was the key to survival.

"It was agreed that ministers other than the prime minister should try
to maintain contacts with the New Democratic Party and indicate that
some of its priorities could be met, but certainly not all of them,"
reads one cabinet meeting synopsis.