FEW DRUG USERS GOING TO JAIL, STATSCAN FINDS

Surging cannabis possession is landing record numbers of Canadians in
court, although few illegal drug users are actually going to jail.

Statistics Canada revealed in a report Monday that the number of
drug-related offences is at a 20-year high, close to one-10th of
criminal trials deal with drug charges and half of these cases result
in a guilty verdict. But they also showed that, if convicted of
possession, these people have only a slight chance of ending up with a
prison sentence.

The report shows that adults convicted of drug possession had a
12-per-cent chance of ending up in prison. Young offenders had a
5-per-cent chance of being incarcerated. Traffickers were dealt with
more harshly, resulting in prison sentences for one-fifth of young
offenders and roughly twice that rate among adult convicts.

According to a Statscan, police forces reported 93,000 drug offences
in 2002, a 42-per-cent rise over the rate in 1992. Two-thirds of these
offences were classified as possession and slightly more than
one-fifth related to trafficking. The rest involved import or production.

Young adults aged 18 to 24 had the highest rates of drug offences,
followed by those aged 12 to 17.

Continuing a 25-year trend, the rate of drug offences was highest in
British Columbia. The 2002 rate in B.C. was nearly twice the national
average of 295 per 100,000 people. In second place - though the
prevalence was only two-thirds that of B.C. - was Saskatchewan. Close
behind Saskatchewan was New Brunswick.

All provinces showed an increase in drug offences during the decade.
New Brunswick reported the greatest increase (134 per cent), followed
by Saskatchewan (97 per cent) and Quebec (81 per cent).

Nearly three-quarters of all drug charges were related to marijuana.
While the number of cannabis-trafficking charges dropped between 1992
and 2002, the total number of cannabis-related offences, driven by
surging possession charges among youths and young adults, nearly
doubled over the same period.

Simple possession accounted for nearly three-quarters of all
cannabis-related charges. Overall, more than half of all drug charges
laid in 2002 were for possession of marijuana.

The numbers released by Statscan on Monday strengthen the argument
that chasing pot smokers is a drain on police resources.

Reformers who argue that marijuana is not harmful enough to be
proscribed say that the number of pot charges is a waste of money and
unnecessarily criminalizes people who are otherwise
law-abiding.

On Dec. 24, the Supreme Court rejected the argument that it is
unconstitutional to ban marijuana smoking while turning a blind eye to
the dangers of alcohol and tobacco use.

By a 6-3 majority, the court wiped out the strategy of using the
courts to kill marijuana laws and dropped the issue back in
Parliament.