POT LAWS ARE THE CRIME

Canadians like their marijuana, according to the United
Nations.

The people of Papua New Guinea like to partake of marijuana more than
Canadians do. So too do residents in Micronesia, Zambia and Ghana.

After that, though, there is hardly any country on the globe that even
comes close to matching the Great White North's fondness for having a
toke, which Canucks apparently do more than citizens in any other
industrialized nation.

According to a United Nations survey, we smoke pot at more than four
times the global rate. That's nothing to be proud of. There are no
medals or ribbons for this achievement, if it can be called an
achievement.

There are, however, loads of criminal records to be handed out, more
such records than make any sense.

Under a previous Liberal government, Parliament was considering a
motion to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana
for personal use.

During that time, Canadian police departments quite sensibly backed
off on the pursuit and prosecution of those nominal criminals who use
the drug recreationally.

The Niagara Regional Police Service was among them. In 2005 while the
debate went on, the NRP laid only 46 charges while responding to
nearly 200 cannabis possession calls.

In 2006 when the Conservative government of Stephen Harper dumped the
decriminalization plan, the number of charges in Niagara jumped to
124. That trend has continued in 2007 with 47 possession charges laid
as of July 9.

The problem for police, said NRP Deputy Chief Gary Beaulieu, is
officers had no idea if charges would stick in court. Why add to
courtroom backlogs and take up officers' time with charges that soon
would no longer be criminal offences.

Since the decriminalization plan went up in smoke, arrests for
possession of marijuana have risen by as much as 50 per cent in cities
across Canada, according to a survey by the Canadian Press.

Diligence has increased by police, as it should. After all, it is the
police's job to enforce the law, however senseless that law may be.

Does the country seem any safer or better off today than it was before
the Conservatives dropped the bill? We suspect many haven't noticed a
difference.

Except, however, for those thousands of people whose lives have been
made worse or even ruined by being stuck with criminal records for
offences only a few social dinosaurs still consider worth
prosecuting.

According to those UN statistics, thousands more Canadians will endure
the same fate until a federal government comes on the scene with the
courage to bring some sense to Canada's drug laws.