COPS, PUBLIC NOT ON SAME PAGE WHEN IT COMES TO POT

OTTAWA -- The federal government's plan to decriminalize pot possession
would free up millions of dollars and thousands of police hours, the latest
statistics suggest

Police laid a record number of drug-related charges in 2002, and most
offences involved marijuana, Statistics Canada reported Monday

Seventy-five per cent of 93,000 drug-related incidents in 2002
involved pot. Almost three-quarters of those were possession offences,
and more than half of those convicted were fined. "The police-reported
drugcrime rate has risen an estimated 42 per cent since the early
1990s and now stands at a 20-year high," the agency said

The numbers highlight a rift between police, who support tight
enforcement of pot laws, and more tolerant attitudes by the public,
politicians and the courts

The statistics were released as MPs on Parliament Hill began to debate
a bill to decriminalize possession of less than 15 grams of pot --
about 15 to 20 joints. Instead of a criminal record, the bill proposes
fines of $100 to $400

The bill maintains or increases penalties for large-scale growers and
traffickers. If passed, the bill would appear to free up police from
laying most possession charges. Critics have long argued that officers
could divert investigative hours and millions of dollars toward
fighting other crime if they eased up on such anti-drug efforts

Law professor Alan Young, who has crusaded for reformed marijuana
laws, says at least some police forces seem to be "upping the ante"
with vigilant anti-pot enforcement that swims against the political
tide

"The entire time that this government has been talking about
decriminalization . . . the police have not adjusted their priorities
in the least." If anything, police have logged numbers "that are good
for them to manipulate," he said in an interview from Toronto, where
he teaches at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School. The Canadian
Professional Police Association, representing 54,000 rank-and-file
members, declined to comment Monday. It has vigorously fought attempts
to decriminalize pot, saying police should have the discretion to do
more than issue tickets -- particularly in cases where sales are being
racked up in school yards, for example

Police groups and other critics have also attacked plans to relax pot
laws without a national drug strategy or reliable roadside tests to
snare stoned drivers

They also say 15 grams is too much to equate with casual use. Prime
Minister Paul Martin has said too many young people are being saddled
with criminal records for being caught with small amounts, but he has
also left open the door to changing the allowable limit and related
fines

The Statistics Canada report also found that, between 1992 and 2002,
about one in 10 homicides involved trafficking or the settling of
drug-related accounts. Sixty per cent of those killings involved
cocaine, 20 per cent were linked to pot, five per cent to heroin and
15 per cent to other unspecified drugs

The rate of drug-related incidents was highest in B.C., followed by
Saskatchewan and New Brunswick.