DRUG ISSUE CALLS FOR SLOW APPROACH

The Supreme Court of Canada's decision Monday to uphold federal law
prohibiting possession of marijuana was almost expected.

The law is straightforward. If it is to be changed, then it is up to
Parliament to do it. That is basically what the judges ruled.

Three marijuana activists had argued that pot penalties violate
constitutional guarantees of fundamental justice. The majority on the
bench ruled that the ban on possession of even a small amount of weed
does not violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

"We conclude that it is within Parliament's legislative jurisdiction
to criminalize the possession of marijuana, should it choose to do so.
Equally, it is open to Parliament to decriminalize or otherwise modify
any aspect of the marijuana laws that it no longer considers to be
good public policy," stated the judgment.

With those words, the justices of the Supreme Court gave Prime
Minister Paul Martin his first test as leader of the country - what to
do about the controversial issue of marijuana.

Martin said he will press ahead with legislation to eliminate criminal
penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana. The proposed
law was put forward under Jean Chretien and left to Martin's
government to dismiss or turn into reality.

It's a political hot potato, mostly because the administration of U.S.
President George W. Bush is unhappy with any move by the Canadian
government to decriminalize marijuana. Perhaps, Martin is trying to
appease those U.S. officials and Canadians opposed to any
decriminalization of the drug by fine-turning the legislation. He said
he would prefer a new definition of what constitutes a "small amount."
He suggested a parliamentary committee consider lowering the limit
from the original proposal of 15 grams.

There is work to be done on drug laws, but lowering the permitted
amount of pot doesn't accomplish anything significant. There is
nothing beneficial in asking police to spend time in court over small
amounts of possession or in tacking a criminal record on to young
people caught with the weed.

Martin has indicated he will support a bigger effort against the
grow-ops and drug traffickers. That, too, could be a waste of time and
money, but it may help ease the Bush administration's concerns that
the Canadian government is prepared to let drug traffickers rule the
roost in Canada.

There is no right answer for curbing problems created by drug sales
and use. All the black and white solutions are simplistic and have all
kinds of hidden problems. Martin is taking a small first step by
saying he will continue with the legislation proposed by Chretien.

He can be sure of one thing, moving slowly is the only way to handle
the difficult issue of drugs.