POT LAWS TABLED

Feds Look to Lighten Penalties for Pot Users, Get Tough on Growers

The Liberal government moved Tuesday to eliminate criminal penalties
for simple possession of marijuana, drawing praise from lawyers,
cautious support from doctors and brickbats from police, opposition
MPs and some of its own backbenchers.

Under legislation introduced by Justice Minister Martin Cauchon,
possession of up to 15 grams of pot - enough to roll about 15 or 20
joints - would be a minor offence that carries no criminal record.

Violators would be ticketed and ordered to pay fines ranging from $100
to $250 for youths and from $150 to $400 for adults.

People caught with between 15 and 30 grams could get the same
treatment if they're lucky. But they could also, at the discretion of
police, be charged in criminal court and face up to six months in jail.

While the bill would ease up on small-time users, there would be no
respite for illicit growers and dealers. The maximum sentence for grow
operations would be 14 years in prison, up from the current seven,
with the length of term increasing in proportion to the amount grown.

The penalty for trafficking would remain unchanged - a maximum life
sentence, although in practice the toughest terms handed out in recent
years have been about 20 years for major dealers.

Ottawa also plans to set aside an additional
$245 million over the next five years to beef up law enforcement
efforts and to fund education, information, research and treatment
programs aimed at curbing drug use.

Cauchon, who hopes to push his bill through Parliament by the end of
the year, acknowledged the government is sending a double-edged message.

Casual pot smokers will no longer face the threat of jail and young
people won't automatically be saddled with criminal records that haunt
them for life -- one of the government's chief reasons for moving
ahead with the changes. But toking up will still be against the law.

"I want to be clear from the beginning," said Cauchon. "We are not
legalizing marijuana and have no plans to do so. What we are changing
is the way we prosecute certain offences."

Health Minister Anne McLellan echoed that view as she outlined the
$245-million education and enforcement plan that accompanied the new
legislation.