POT POSSESSION ARRESTS ON THE RISE

Since Demise of Decriminalization Bill, Police Are Laying More
Charges

The number of people arrested for smoking pot rose dramatically in
several Canadian cities last year after the Conservatives took office
and killed a bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

The spike in arrests for simple possession of cannabis appears in data
compiled by The Canadian Press from municipal police forces through
interviews and Access to Information Act requests.

National statistics will only be released next week but preliminary
figures suggest the number of arrests jumped by more than one-third in
several Canadian cities.

Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax all reported increases of
between 20 and 50 per cent in 2006, while Montreal and Calgary saw
their number of arrests dip a few points from the previous year.

As a result, thousands of people were charged with a criminal offence
that just recently was within a whisker of extinction.

Every party in except the Conservatives supported a bill to
decriminalize small amounts of marijuana, but the Liberal government
that sponsored it never brought it to a final vote.

Several police officials say the trend is linked directly to that
legislation, which died as a result of the federal election on Jan.
23, 2006.

The head of one police association said many forces stopped laying
charges after the Liberals first introduced a decriminalization bill
under Jean Chretien in 2003.

"There were several police jurisdictions not laying the simple ...
possession charges," said Terry McLaren of the Ontario Association of
Chiefs of Police. "Everybody was waiting for what was going to happen.
. There'd be no use clogging up the court system with that
decriminalization bill there."

The number of people charged plunged from 26,882 in 2002 and remained
relatively steady, below 19,000, for the three years that
decriminalization was being debated in Parliament.

But police say many pot-smokers -- especially younger ones -- appear
unaware that the bill never actually passed.

So even if marijuana consumption remains as illegal in Canada as it
has been since 1923, police say some people are toking more boldly
than they've ever toked before.

Which makes it far easier to arrest them.

"You'd have a youth smoking a joint out on the street without any fear
of being caught," said Toronto police Det. Doug McCutcheon.

"You go to any high school and do a quiz. Find out how many kids
realize that it takes three readings (in the House of Commons), plus
Senate approval, before something happens."

The stillborn bill by the previous Liberal government would have made
possession under 15 grams a non-criminal offence punishable by fines
starting at $150.

Nearly half of Canadians have committed the crime spelled out in
Section 4 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. It sets out a
maximum six-month prison sentence and a $1,000 fine for anyone caught
with under 30 grams.