NEW POT LAWS WON'T CHANGE MUCH

The federal government's plan to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana
won't seriously impact the number of people charged for pot possession or
even relieve any backlog of court cases, says one local lawyer.

Under decriminalization, marijuana won't be legal; but it won't be criminal
either.

Those caught with up to 15 grams of pot would no longer face a criminal
record, instead youths would be hit with fines of up to $250 while adults
would have to cough up $400.

"I don't think things have changed a heck of a lot," says Vermilion lawyer
Duncan Crerar. "They (judges) weren't giving criminal records for
possession anyway."

Crerar says those caught with pot, and charged by police, would often
receive discharges, meaning that after a probation period, or similar
punishment, the charge would be stricken from the person's record. But the
conviction can still be brought up in court if the person is charged with
any subsequent crimes. That's assuming the judge doesn't throw out the case
completely.

Also, a possession charge currently carries a prohibition against traveling
to the U.S. That will change if marijuana is decriminalized, at least for
some people.

"They haven't gone so far in this legislation as to automatically pardon
everyone (who has possession charges before decriminalization), the
applicant has to make an application for a pardon," says Crerar. "And they
will probably get it, but that doesn't change the fact that they have had
this record, and the U.S. probably won't change (their policies) anyway."

Crerar also believes that the amount of cases taken by over worked crown
prosecutors won't be lessened either. "There's so few (cases) that it
doesn't matter."

However, Alliance MP Keith Martin has said that $150 million in court costs
would be saved if decriminalization went ahead. Justice Canada estimates
that 600,000 Canadians have criminal records for being busted with pot.

The question remains: if marijuana is no longer criminal, will more people
smoke it? If so, that could raise another issue.

"One of the aspects you have to consider here is if there are going to be a
lot more people driving while under the influence of it, they really don't
have tests for it," says Crerar. "There's no requirement to take a blood
test under the Criminal Code, they should probably change that."

There's no machine, like a breathalyzer, that reveals if a person is
driving while stoned. Unless the person admits it, police have a difficult
time gaining enough evidence for a pot-related DUI conviction.

"You would have to have a whole bunch of indicators, but that doesn't prove
very much."

Margaret Wheat, of Wheat Law Office in Vermilion, says she has no strong
opinion on the pending pot law.

"Certain employment is precluded if you have a criminal record, and that
may have nothing to do with a minor involvement with marijuana," she says.
"I can think of a couple situations where it probably wasn't appropriate
where a criminal record was a result, and sometimes it probably was
appropriate, it depends."

The maximum sentence for illegal pot growers is set to increase from seven
years in prison to 14 years if the decriminalization bill passes. The feds
will also be committing $245 million over five years for drug law
enforcement, research and education programs.