LIBERALS TO SPEED BILL EASING POT LAWS

Cauchon Hopes For Legislation To Pass By Christmas

Amendments Still Possible, Minister Says

OTTAWA -- A day after the Ontario appeal court restored the criminal law
banning marijuana possession, except for medical purposes, the federal
government moved quickly to push through its controversial bill to ease
criminal sanctions for pot smokers.

Today, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon will employ a little-used
legislative tool to refer the pot bill, not to the standing justice
committee, but directly to a specially reconstituted committee, led by
Liberal MP Paddy Torsney.

That Commons committee was one of two parliamentary committees examining
pot laws last year and it recommended easing criminal penalties. A Senate
committee went further, recommending legalization.

Cauchon said yesterday Torsney's committee already has "expertise" on the
issue, and would "accelerate" passage of the bill, he hoped, before Christmas.

He called the pot bill one of several priorities this session. "That bill
has the full support of cabinet colleagues around the table."

Cauchon refused to say whether he doubted prime-minister-in-waiting Paul
Martin's commitment to the bill.

He called it high time the government changed Canada's pot law because the
issue has been studied for 30 years.

"When we look at the situation in Canada, there are more and more young
people using cannabis.

"So that says that, as a society, we are not sending a clear enough
message. And we want a clearer message."

Since it was tabled in May, the government bill has had no real study in
Parliament.

It would decriminalize possession of 15 grams (as many as 30 marijuana
joints) by proposing fines, instead of a criminal conviction and a record,
for offenders.

Committee study of the bill is to get under way after just three hours of
debate, before it passes second reading in the Commons.

House leader Don Boudria said referring it before second reading "permits
amendments beyond the scope of the bill."

Cauchon has said he is open to amendments but would not specify in what areas.

Last week, several provincial justice ministers pressed for changes that
would deal more harshly with repeat offenders.

Canadian Alliance justice critic Vic Toews said he does not see how the
committee can examine all the issues raised by softer penalties before
Christmas.

Toews wants the committee to examine whether looser drug laws will lead to:
more drug use among young people; more cannabis-impaired drivers, whose
level of impairment cannot be accurately measured in roadside tests; and
tougher border controls that might hurt trade with the United States.

The Alliance last year warned against decriminalizing amounts that would
appear to legalize use and trafficking. It said a more reasonable threshold
for decriminalization would be 5 grams, or about 5 or 6 joints.

The government bill also toughens penalties for large-scale marijuana
growers and traffickers and provides $245 million for more drug enforcement
and education programs.

It does not address medical marijuana use.

It also doesn't address the regulations the Ontario appeal court deemed
unconstitutional because they force sick people buy the drug on the black
market.

Medical use comes under the portfolio of Health Minister Anne McLellan.

McLellan said Tuesday she was "heartened" that the appeal court "upheld our
medicinal marijuana access regulations" but needed to study the decision
further.

The judges indicated a handful of provisions were unconstitutional, she
said, "but they upheld the overall regime in light of our interim July
policy around licit supply of seed and/or product."

Health officials will look at the court's finding that a requirement, in
some cases, for a second specialist's approval is unconstitutional, she said.

Alliance health critic Rob Merrifield said the courts and the government
have made a "mistake" on medical marijuana, and have gone too far in easing
access for users.

"It was a disaster from day one ... they have no scientific evidence that
it's the drug that should be prescribed."

Another Alliance MP, Dr. Keith Martin, a physician who advocates
decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana, said sick people should have
access to the drug "but it has to be controlled. You can't criminalize sick
people for wanting to pursue relief through marijuana."

Martin does not believe the government should distribute pot. He said it
should set up a proper regulatory system under which horticulturalists grow
marijuana, with a prescribed THC level, and distribute it through
physicians, licensed to prescribe it.