POT LAWS: ONLY TWO POSSIBLE CHOICES

AS USUAL, the federal Liberals have it all wrong on
marijuana.

And Prime Minister Paul Martin's promise to revive their
decriminalization bill should the Grits win re-election is just
another dumb idea.

There are only two logical approaches to this issue:

Either enforce the marijuana laws we now have and put the organized
criminals behind the big grow operations behind bars -- which is our
view -- or legalize it, as advocated by economics professor Steve
Easton in a report released by the Fraser Institute last week.

But decriminalization is a no-man's land that will put the police in
an even more impossible position than they are now.

Either give police the resources and laws they need to deal with
marijuana, or free them from fighting a losing battle.

If society no longer believes the growing, consuming and trafficking
in marijuana is a crime, then legalize it and tax it, which Easton
estimates would pour $2 billion annually into government coffers from
the $7-billion-a-year industry in B.C. alone.

We take another view. Crack down on the organized criminals who are
heavily involved in growing and trafficking and allow prosecutorial
discretion for casual users, as is often the case now.

But let's stop pretending the big grow-ops are harmless fun. This is
big business with big profits. Remember the huge grow-op police
discovered in the old Molson brewery near Barrie last year?

Right now, marijuana laws aren't being enforced evenly across the
country.

Easton found that in B.C. only 13% of possession cases end in charges
- -- compared to 60% elsewhere in Canada. In Vancouver, 55% of those
convicted for running grow-ops did no jail time, while 13% were jailed
for only one to 31 days.

Imagine how much confusion there will be if the decriminalization bill
is revived, which would make simple possession the equivalent of a
parking fine and establish penalties ranging from fines to 14 years in
prison (don't hold your breath) for grow-ops, depending on their size.

The penalties for trafficking would remain the same, but clearly, if
marijuana is decriminalized, then sentencing will become even more lax
than it is now.

Some police support decriminalization while others oppose it. We want
effective laws that protect society, not politically correct half
measures like decriminalization that only muddy the water.

Either give our marijuana laws teeth or legalize pot, regulate it and
tax it.

And if it's the latter, come up with a realistic way to deal with
drivers who are impaired by marijuana and address the furious reaction
we'll get from the U.S. Finally, figure out a sane way to supply pot
to people entitled to use it for medical purposes, a relatively small
job the feds have already botched.