REPORT WEEDS OUT LEGALIZATION

The controversy about making marijuana a legal drug has heated up as
the Fraser Institute sent out a release supporting legalization
Wednesday, only to deny the advocacy hours later.

"Marijuana should be decriminalized, treated like any legal product,
and the revenue taxed," the release stated. "Using conservative
assumptions about Canadian consumption, this could translate into
potential revenues for the government of over $2 billion."

The release was based on a study written by the institute's senior
fellow, Stephen Easton, an economics professor at Simon Fraser University.

But Easton said the press release was wrong.

"The text does not call for anything specific," he said. "The issue of
legalization is discussed in the paper, but there's no advocacy in the
paper."

The professor estimates that there are about 17,500 marijuana grow-ops
in B.C. and that B.C.'s annual marijuana crop could yield $7 billion
if valued at street prices and sold by the cigarette.

More than 23 per cent of Canadians admitted to having experimented
with the drug, according to his findings.

One of Easton's options for dealing with this is to legalize it and
invest the money now spent on law enforcement in other projects.

The study comes after a year of heated debate on the drug's status in
Canada.

In 2003, the federal government introduced a bill that would remove
criminal penalties for people possessing up to 15 grams of marijuana,
replacing the punishments with fines.

But since Paul Martin became Prime Minister, the bill has died on the
order paper. Now MP candidates in the Cariboo-Prince George riding are
once again shoving the issue into the political limelight.

"We feel that Canadians have already spoken about this bad law
(against marijuana)," said the Green party's Doug Gook at Quesnel
Secondary School last week. "Bad laws stay on the books until enough
people defy them."

"I've named the possibilities: Toque, toke, tourism," added Gook.

Bev Collins of the Canadian Action party agreed that pot should be
legalized in order for the government to cash in on the $7-billion
market.

NDP candidate Rick Smith agrees with legalization, but says the drug
should be regulated, with part of the revenue allocated to substance
abuse education.

Only Dick Harris of the Conservative party argued that pot should
remain illegal, and said he won't consider supporting
decriminalization until there are laws to address driving while under
the influence.

Staff Sgt. Keith Hildebrand of the Quesnel RCMP agrees that
legalization would increase the risk of other drug-related crimes.

"It's a dangerous drug," said Hildebrand. "I would certainly not be in
favour (of legalization.)"