IT'S A CRIME

THE people of Papua New Guinea smoke more marijuana than Canadians
do. So do the residents of Micronesia, Zambia and Ghana. After that,
hardly anyone even comes close to matching this country's fondness
for having a toot, which Canadians do more than the citizens of any
other industrialized nation. In fact, we toke at more than four times
the global rate, according to a United Nations survey.

This is nothing to be proud of. There are no medals or ribbons for
this achievement, if it can be called an achievement. There are,
however, plenty of criminal records to be handed out -- more criminal
records, in fact, than make any sense.

There was under a previous Liberal government a motion before
Parliament to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of
marijuana for personal use. During that time, Canadian police
departments apparently -- and sensibly -- eased off on the pursuit
and prosecution of the nominal criminals who use the drug
recreationally. Why clog up court rooms with charges that soon would
not be criminal offences, the thinking seemed to be.

Unfortunately, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen
Harper has abandoned that bill, perhaps playing to the socially
conservative sensibilities that form the hard core of its support.
Since then, the police have been more diligent, as they should be --
it is their job to enforce the law, however senseless it might be.
Since then, arrests for possession of marijuana have risen by as much
as 50 per cent in cities across Canada, according to a survey done by
the Canadian Press.

Curiously, despite this due diligence on the part of the police, the
country seems no safer or better off today than it was before the
Conservatives abandoned the bill. Thousands of young lives, however,
have been made worse forever by being saddled with criminal records
for offences that only a few social dinosaurs still consider worth
prosecuting. According to the UN statistics, thousands more Canadians
each year will face the same fate until a Canadian government finds
the courage to bring some sense to this country's drug laws.