POT BILL A PUFF OF SMOKE

A Liberal government proposal to decriminalize the possession of small
amounts of marijuana while at the same time beefing up penalties for
grow-operators may be just a puff of smoke on Parliament Hill.

Fraser Valley MP Chuck Strahl says unless Prime Minister Jean Chretien wants
to make the new pot law part of his legislative legacy to Canadians, he
expects the decriminalization bill introduced in Ottawa this week will die.

He says the bill, which has only soft support among Liberal MPs, won't
likely make it through all the required legislative hoops before the current
parliamentary session ends.

But the unlikeliness of the bill's passage hasn't stopped the debate about
the wisdom of making possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana an offence
similar to a parking infraction.

Mayor Clint Hames says minor pot possession is already "effectively
decriminalized" because police and courts in the past have tended to dismiss
minor possession and cultivation cases.

But the ability of police officers to write up $150 fines for adults caught
with marijuana, plus the threat of a maximum 14-year prison sentence for
grow-operators instead of the previous seven year maximum "changes the
picture dramatically," he says.

The mayor also believes the ability to put grow-operators away for longer
periods will lead more municipalities to follow Chilliwack's pro-active
enforcement against grow-ops.

"We've made a decision as a community that the risks (of grow-ops) are too
great and we're going to be active in enforcement," he says.

Mr. Strahl says the Canadian Alliance supports the idea of decriminalizing
possession of one or two marijuana joints, but 15 grams is just too much.

Police officers would need to carry weigh scales around with them, he says,
to determine if the offender should then be fined or charged criminally for
being over the 15-gram limit.

There is also no mandatory minium sentence for marijuana growers in the
bill, he says, leaving judges free to impose lesser punishments.

"We need minimum sentences for grow-op owners - not discretionary
sentences by judges who often give the minimum sentence possible," he says.
"We need to tell those who grow pot to stop."

Mayor Hames agrees the absence of a mandatory minimum is a downside to the
decriminalization bill, but says he's being told that B.C. judges are
beginning to hand out the tougher sentences demanded by the public.

"We're beginning to see (in court) what the community has been asking for.
That's good news," he says.