SMOKING POT SHOULDN'T LEAD TO CRIMINAL RECORD

Recent Statistics Indicate How Miserably Prohibition Has Failed

Probably about half the people I hang out with socially are criminals,
as am I. We haven't been charged, tried or convicted of anything, but
that's only been a matter of luck. About 600,000 other Canadians
haven't been so fortunate and carry a criminal record for possessing
marijuana.

It truly is reefer madness.

How else can you characterize Canada branding almost two per cent of
its entire population as criminals for transgressions as minimal as
smoking a joint? Honest, hard-working citizens wind up facing hurdles
in gaining employment, or crossing the U.S. border, among other
difficulties that come with having a record.

And their number is rising.

According to a Canadian Press story published yesterday, the number of
people arrested for smoking marijuana spiked in several cities -
including Halifax - after Stephen Harper's Conservatives took power
last year and killed a Liberal bill that would have decriminalized
possessing less than 15 grams of marijuana.

Halifax Regional Police laid 171 charges for the simple possession of
marijuana in 2006, up 47 per cent from the 116 charges laid in 2005.
Most of those were "secondary charges," where the suspect was arrested
for another crime and found to be in possession of pot.

"Contrary to the notion of the benign drug that marijuana is, maybe
it's not so benign when you start to see the rise in associated
disorder and other crimes," Deputy Chief Chris McNeil said yesterday.
"What you're seeing is that people charged with other offences are
also being charged with possession of marijuana."

But is marijuana causing people to commit robberies, house breaks,
assaults, mischief and other crimes, or are the people being
apprehended for those crimes simply recreational tokers?

"I leave that to social scientists to figure out," McNeil
said.

Health Canada reported yesterday that 38 per cent of Canadians aged 15
and older have smoked marijuana or hashish. Nova Scotians were the
third most likely to have inhaled at 41 per cent, behind only British
Columbians and Albertans.

Doing the math, that's 9.8 million Canadians - including 313,000 Nova
Scotians - who have broken the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances
Act. Under that law, someone possessing more than 30 grams of
marijuana, or one gram of hash, can be jailed for up to five years
less a day. For smaller quantities, the maximum punishment is a $1,000
fine and six months behind bars.

McNeil said he doesn't know of Haligonians being busted for smoking a
single joint, but he can't say it never happens. And as the Canadian
Press story pointed out, the law is enforced unevenly and
arbitrarily.

As an infrequent cannabis user since my early 20s, I've shared spliffs
with other journalists, people in the arts and entertainment industry,
government employees, office workers, business professionals and
blue-collar stiffs. I've seen teachers, lawyers and members of the
Armed Forces smoke pot. I'd be very surprised if there weren't even
occasional tokers among our politicians, doctors, police officers and
judges.

Criminals, all of them, according to Canadian law.

The sheer prevalence of marijuana use as reported by Health Canada
shows the folly in our drug laws. The pot prohibition Canada has been
enforcing since 1923 - like all other prohibitions - has failed miserably.

The result is that valuable resources are spent on criminalizing
otherwise law-abiding Canadians. It's been estimated that the federal
and provincial governments spend between $300 million and $500 million
a year enforcing the law against simple possession of cannabis. That's
money that could be better spent on anti-drug education and addiction
treatment programs.

The other result of prohibition is the fostering of organized crime to
feed the demand. Marijuana production is thought to be a $10 billion
industry in Canada - three times the value of the nation's biggest
legal cash crop, wheat. Much of it is co-ordinated by criminal
organizations also involved in hard drugs, prostitution and murder.

Parliament could cripple those organizations by turning that
production over to licensed farmers. But that's a pipe dream that goes
beyond mere decriminalization.

"This whole debate, quite frankly, is clouded by the misguided
romantic view of 'the joint I smoked in college,'" McNeil said. "It,
in fact, is a much different drug than it was 35 years ago."

True. Plant-breeding and hydroponics have produced marijuana with
levels of THC - the main psychoactive compound in cannabis - much
higher than the bud they smoked at Woodstock. But the fact remains
that a significant portion of the Canadian population still chooses to
partake in it with no significant damage to society or their own
health. Moreover, on a philosophical level, what business does
government have telling you what you can, or can't, ingest?

McNeil says the "earlier and earlier onset" of marijuana use in young
people is his biggest concern in the marijuana debate. I agree.

But it's obvious that criminalizing marijuana hasn't kept it away from
kids. Instead, it's put the supply in the hands of criminals. It's
made it much easier for a 12-year-old to buy pot than beer.

Daily News Editor's Note - David Rodenhiser expects to
receive a call today from his mother. Don't worry, Mrs. Rodenhiser,
he's not a pot-head.