SPIKE IN POT ARRESTS LINKED TO BILL'S DEMISE

OTTAWA -- 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
possession of 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 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 percentage points from the previous year.

As a result, thousands of people were charged with a criminal offence
that only recently was within a whisker of extinction. Every party in
the House of Commons 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 directly linked to that
proposed legislation, which died as a result of the 2006 federal election.

Terry McLaren, president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of
Police, said many forces simply stopped laying charges after the
Liberals first introduced a decriminalization bill in 2003.

"Everybody was waiting for what was going to happen. ... There'd be
no use clogging up the court system with that decriminalization bill
there," he said.

"When that was defeated, I'd say it was business as usual."

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

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

So even if marijuana consumption still remains illegal in Canada - it
has been since 1923 - police say some people are smoking marijuana
more boldly than ever.

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 Detective 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 bill would have made possession under 15 grams a non-criminal
offence punishable by fines starting at $150.