THE REAL HIGH CRIMES

The recent arrest of teenagers on marijuana related charges in the St.
John's area should give many individuals cause for concern. Regardless of
whether you agree with the decriminalization or legalization debate - I'll
state now that I fully support legalization - the resources spent on
"Operation Ruler" most certainly could have been spent elsewhere.

As many pundits will agree, the war on drugs is a Sisyphean struggle -
there are simply too many producers for the police to catch them all. So,
in an attempt to appear that they are doing something, the RNC seem to have
focused on an easy mark: high school students.

Now, I do not fault the RNC for doing their duty. After all, possession of
marijuana is still an offence, and the RNC shouldn't have the power to
decide which laws ought to be ignored, and which ought to be enforced.
However, one must question the necessity of Operation Ruler given recent
events regarding marijuana legislation.

As recently as May 16, 2003, the Ontario Supreme Court upheld an earlier
Ontario court ruling stating that there is no law in Canada banning
possession of cannabis. The ruling resulted from the case of a teenager who
was hauled before the courts on marijuana charges, only to have a judge
decide that there is no longer any marijuana law to break, thanks to a
bugle by federal lawmakers. And as of Tuesday, the federal government
announced its plans to decriminalize possession of less than 15 grams of pot.

The events of late are why the RNC ought to be faulted. They knew partial
decriminalization was in the works, yet they chose to continue with an
eleven week investigation cumulating in 32 arrests.

The cops knew that an Ontario court ruling could be applicable across the
country. The high-school arrests are even more questionable since there is
no guarantee that the students will fall under a grandfather clause, if one
is included in the bill. In other words, it is unclear whether arrests made
prior to the changes to the pot law will continue to be prosecuted.

Had there been no changes to marijuana legislation in the foreseeable
future, my criticism of the RNC would have been more muted, though I still
would have disagreed with targeting students. But given that it's likely
that three months from now, small amounts of marijuana will only solicit a
fine, all members of society should seriously question the necessity and
timeliness of Operation Ruler.