MAYOR OPPOSES PROPOSED POT LAW

Mayor Bill Smith says the war on drugs starts with Ottawa withdrawing its
legislation currently before the House of Commons to soften the laws on pot
possession.

"Certainly, my hope is that with the new prime minister coming through that
they won't decriminalize marijuana," Smith said yesterday.

The federal move comes after an exhaustive Senate study and subsequent
Commons committee found pot to be non-addictive and far less harmful than
alcohol or other drugs.

Smith has pledged to police Chief Bob Wasylyshen and the Edmonton Police
Commission to do "whatever it takes" to conduct a war on drugs after a rash
of gangland-style murders and other violent incidents in the city recently.

Police have attributed much of the violence to crystal meth usage and
addiction.

On Wednesday, federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said he believes
there's still time to pass his controversial bill before the House ends its
current session.

Cauchon acknowledged time is tight, but downplayed reports that Parliament
will end the session next week, which would leave the bill on the order
paper to die.

"People expect that the House will close next week. We don't know yet about
that so I'm working on a daily basis in order to make sure that we're going
to go as fast as we can."

The legislation would reduce the punishment for simple possession of pot to
a fine rather than a criminal record, while boosting penalties for growers.

While Alberta remains opposed to any decriminalization, Justice Minister
Dave Hancock has said the province could tolerate a small amount if it's
going to lose the battle anyway.

Cauchon's comments came as British lawmakers voted to downgrade marijuana's
status in their country. The reclassification places pot on par with
steroids, rather than hard drugs like heroin and meth.