UP IN SMOKE: IT'S HARD TO FIND ANYONE WHO'S GIDDY ABOUT PROPOSED POT LAW

Pot Proponents Say It Doesn't Go Far Enough; Others Say It's Too, Uh, Liberal

Late last month, after years of speculation, the federal government
introduced legislation that would fundamentally change the way marijuana is
regarded socially and in our courts. The proposed new law takes an unusual
approach to meet its goals of educating the public about the perils of
drugs and discouraging drug use: it decriminalizes possession of marijuana
in amounts between 15 and 30 grams and vows to step up convictions and
introduce stiffer penalties for those convicted of more serious
drug-related offences than mere possession (full details are available
online at: http://canada.justice.gc.ca/en/news/ ).

Folio asked several members of the campus community for their thoughts on
the controversial proposal:

Dr. David Cook, director, Division of Studies in Medical Education, Faculty
of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

"Both sides of this debate seem to ignore those facts that support the
opposite view. For example, the fact that marijuana is 'natural' is
entirely irrelevant - so is deadly nightshade, or an angry grizzly bear! No
drug is completely safe, and cannabis is no exception; inhaling the smoke
can produce lung damage, and the drug does impair learning, something that
is of great concern when used by teenagers, whose marijuana consumption may
impair their ability to develop effective thought processes at a time when
learning is natural and easy.

"The issue of cannabis and driving is much more complicated than either
side seems willing to admit. Dependence certainly can occur, but the
majority of users are not cannabis dependent. Whether it is a 'gateway
drug' is hotly debated in the scientific literature, but since the dealers
in cannabis can usually provide a source of other illicit drugs, the
possibility that legislation actually promotes its role as a gateway drug
cannot be ignored.

"The issue of the potency of marijuana is a further source of contention.
The content of THC has increased significantly, although not to the extent
often claimed. The impact of this on the incidence of cannabis dependence
is much less certain. It has even been claimed that, since cannabis users
smoke to their desired degree of intoxication, a more potent form will
involve smoking less of the drug and thus reduce the tar intake that is
responsible for lung damage.

"Overall, the question is not about the safety of the drug, but whether
making possession of cannabis a criminal offence is in the best interests
of society. Keeping it in the criminal code has not proved to be an
effective deterrent, has wasted the time and energy of the police and the
courts, and is hard to justify on the basis of medical harm. No, the drug
is not safe and people would be better not to use it, but decriminalization
is a rational approach. Parenthetically, decriminalizing the cultivation of
small amounts for personal use, would greatly reduce the profits of the
drug dealers, reduce the possibility of the marijuana being contaminated
with some more toxic agent, and make the users less likely to be exposed to
other drugs - all desirable outcomes."

Michael Cust, Philosophy and Political Science student (Cust served as
communication director for the BC Marijuana Party in the summer of 2002 and
is currently an advisor to the party. This summer he will be writing drug
policy at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC.)

"This proposed law will do nothing to curb the most pressing problems with
marijuana, namely basement grow-ops (illegal marijuana growing operations)
and the involvement of organized crime in the marijuana industry. In fact,
it will make the latter problems worse. Why? The only reason marijuana is
grown in basements and traded by organized crime syndicates is because it
is illegal. By increasing the maximum penalty on growing (marijuana) from
seven years to 14, and by maintaining the current penalty for trafficking
at life imprisonment, the government will further entrench criminal
elements by making the risks of growing and selling pot much greater and
therefore more appealing only to the most violent criminal elements. If pot
were legal, it would be grown in greenhouses by respectable businesses - a
much more economical set-up than houses. There is a reason Al-Qaeda doesn't
hold shares in Budweiser - they can't compete in a legal setting.

"This bill is also worse for pot smokers too. Right now if someone is
caught with a small amount of marijuana on campus, Campus 5-0 lets them go.
Under the new bill, they could face a fine somewhere in the range of
$100-$400. Although this bill is better for pot smokers in a de jure sense,
it is worse for them in a de facto sense."

Dr. Bryan Hogeveen, Criminology, Department of Sociology, University of Alberta

"In the last 10, 15, maybe even 20 years, the idea that marijuana should be
regulated has come under intense scrutiny from different groups, from
different individuals, from the media. For example, I'm thinking of the
(pro-marijuana) documentary Grass. So you've got these films and these
celebrities recommending perhaps we should not be regulating marijuana.

"What happens then? You get a very permissive atmosphere where marijuana is
constructed in a very similar way as alcohol and tobacco: it's a drug, but
is it less harmful for us?

"The way I look at it is the construction of the problem, the issue, and
more specifically what's happened in the last three-five years is that what
we've seen, and police officers will back me up on this, is that (law
enforcement) is less likely to spend a lot of time and money policing
marijuana legislation and laws. With the impending change in legislation,
from what I've heard, why would you bust somebody for a small quantity of
marijuana when they come before the judge who says, "Listen, there's going
to be a deregulation of this drug in the next little while anyway, why
should I put this individual in jail, why should I sentence this individual
to probation?'

"It then creates the perception that policing marijuana becomes a waste of
police resources. If we are not policing marijuana legislation it leads to
a questioning of the law around marijuana. If I say to you, 'Listen, if you
get caught with some marijuana, you're not going to get punished very
strictly anyway, so what's the big deal?' . the institution of law around
marijuana becomes profane."

Mark Cherrington, Youth Court Worker for the Youth Criminal Defense Office,
and producer of CJSR's Youth Menace, the world's only child welfare and
young offender radio show

"I think the (existing) laws need to be changed and there needs to be a
means of getting rid of the criminal aspect of marijuana. I think we've
criminalized a whole generation of young people and we've put up barriers
from allowing them to participate in certain programs, such as nursing or
educational programs, because of a criminal record. . Over the years we've
really done a disservice to many young people by burdening them with a
criminal record for something that I wouldn't say is fairly minor, but
something that isn't as significant as what a criminal record is supposed
to mean.

"The concern is that the government wants to please everybody and they've
just got themselves stuck in the middle. I think they should've gone
farther and legalized marijuana because the fact remains that we're going
to see an increased usage among youth because of the criminal aspect
disappearing.

"What I think we've inadvertently done is provided catalyst to expose a lot
more youth to a very dangerous criminal element. From that we might get
young people involved in very serious drug debts, buying on margin,
involved in subsidizing free pot for driving it around, thinking that it's
not illegal to carry quantities like that, and maybe getting a fine. Some
upper-middle-class kid in a nice neighbourhood gets a $200 fine, and
instead of letting his parents know is going to rat out the drug dealer.

"What you had in the past was a sort of set-up system where drug dealers
were exposed to a very low percentage of the youth population. And I think
when we decriminalize it, initially we're going to have a spiked increase
in the number of youth experimenting with marijuana, and I think their
contact with this organized criminal element is a recipe for disaster."

Bill Mowbray, Head of the University of Alberta Campus Security Service

"This is an issue that is borne out of necessity to help or assist our
struggling judicial system. Court cases in every province view minor
possession of marijuana in a minor way and fines reflect that - $100 fines
don't normally warrant criminal charges. I am sure that is the necessity
for our struggling courts. But we never should view marijuana possession in
those strict terms we must look at how it reacts in wider scope such as
impaired driving, driving under the influence of alcohol and marijuana and
how, if it is decriminalized, that might increase the possibility of people
using both.

In my 29 years with the Edmonton Police Service, and for four years as head
of the major crimes division, I came to realize that drugs are the root of
all evil when it comes to crime. If you look at a crime, from shoplifting
to breaking into people's homes to the gang murders, you can trace it back
to drugs.

"Maybe the answer is not decriminalization, but a revamping of the court
system to bring it into line with its day-to-day needs. Maybe what we are
doing instead is trying to fix our court problems by minimizing the
problems we face in society."