POT BILL LIKELY TO SAVE MILLIONS, STATS SUGGEST

2002 Figures Show Record Number Of Drug Charges

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
yesterday.

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 drug-crime 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
between $100 and $400. The bill maintains or increases penalties for
large-scale growers and traffickers.

If passed, the bill would appear to free 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,
said at least some police forces seem to be "upping the ante" with vigilant
anti-pot enforcement.

"The entire time that this government has been talking about
decriminalization... the police have not adjusted their priorities in the
least," said Young, of Toronto's Osgoode Hall Law School.

Police groups and other critics have 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.