JOINT ACTION NEEDED ON DRUGS

It's ridiculous, Prime Minister Paul Martin said this month, for young
Canadians to get criminal records for possessing small amounts of marijuana.

Now Martin will be challenged to translate that belief into action,
following a decision by the Supreme Court of Canada last week. The high
court, in a 6-3 decision, rejected the arguments of three appellants who
argued that they had a constitutional right to smoke dope.

The court majority said there are demonstrable health and social risks
associated with smoking marijuana and the government has the legal right to
proscribe its use. If there are legitimate reasons for changing existing
marijuana laws, it's up to Parliament, not the courts, to change them, the
judges ruled.

Well Said.

Canada's marijuana laws are a mess. They criminalize behaviour that should
be treated as a misdemeanour. They are unevenly applied, with the result
that some people in tough-minded jurisdictions end up with criminal records
for sharing a joint, while others in larger centres get off with
conditional discharges and no time served.

An estimated 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for smoking dope. The
cost of pursuing and prosecuting these infractions clogs the courts and
runs into the millions of dollars a year.

For young people especially, the consequences of getting caught with a
small amount are marijuana are excessive. A criminal record can prevent
them from entering the United States or other nations. In today's
integrated global economy, that can have debilitating life-long career
consequences.

For other people who are deathly ill with a variety of diseases, marijuana
offers relief that modern day medications cannot match.

Many are upstanding, elderly citizens who have never run afoul of the law
all their lives. It's cruel to impose the stress of criminal misconduct on
their already stressed lives, to buy illicit marijuana from a drug dealer,
or to go through the hoops of securing small quantities of Canada's
expensive, low-quality medical marijuana.

Martin has a chance to set the laws right.

He also has a template, left behind by his predecessor Jean Chretien.
Before retiring, Chretien introduced a bill in Parliament to remove
criminal sanctions for possessing small amounts of marijuana. That bill
died when Parliament was prorogued.

It's not perfect, but provides a solid starting point for Martin to
improve. People caught with small amounts of marijuana would be
fined. The government would not be saying it's legal or OK to smoke
marijuana; it would bring penalties for possession in line with the
seriousness of the offence.

Running a yellow light or driving 40 km/h in a playground zone are not
legal. They foolish and illegal acts. But you don't go to jail or get a
criminal record for those offences. You get a fine.

A similar standard should apply to simple possession of small amounts of
marijuana.

Driving a vehicle while under the influence of marijuana is an entirely
different matter. That's extremely dangerous and must continue to be
treated with the same seriousness and Criminal Code sanctions as driving
while under the influence of alcohol.

So too, is growing and selling commercial quantities of marijuana.

At the highest levels, control of the dope trade is in th hands of
high-powered criminal organizations, including biker gangs. They will stop
at nothing, including murder, to protect their lucrative illicit enterprises.

Tracking down and taking out commercial grow operations is expensive and
dangerous for Canadian police forces.

But this is where current government thinking about marijuana breaks
down. Decriminalizing simple possession of marijuana will increase
usage. But if government refuses to to legalize its sale - as it does for
things like cigarettes and liquor - in the absence of other initiatives, it
will simply enrich the criminal gangs while obligingpolice forces to ramp
up their expenses and efforts to catch them.

The solution is simple: allow sick people with certified medical conditions
to grow one or two marijuana plants at home for their own use. For others,
treat possession of a single plant as a misdemeanour.

If Martin does that, he takes control of the supply out of the hands of the
thugs.