CHANGE ATTITUDE

Relaxing pot laws while stiffening pot laws. Is Ottawa sending mixed smoke
signals? Our federal Liberal government has made good on a promise to ease
the laws that previously made possession of small amounts of marijuana a
criminal offence.

Get convicted and an adventurous 17- or 18-year-old who was found with a
couple of joints had a criminal record that followed him around for life.
But that has changed, and we agree with the move. Possession will now
result in a simple fine. And that's fine with us.

But at the same time, Ottawa has announced it will stiffen the penalties
for those convicted of growing marijuana.

It's difficult to figure out who the government is trying to appease by
this second move. The police, who fear they will have less to do as pot
laws are eased? The U.S. government, that seems irritated with Ottawa as it
is and needs to be assured the new laws will not result in even more
illegal marijuana being produced in Canada and delivered to the States? Or
is it the Canadian public that is not as certain as the youths of the 1960s
who are now running things as ministers in Ottawa in 2003 that this less
restrictive pot possession law is a good idea.

By most accounts, the supply of pot is controlled by organized crime. In a
sense, keeping marijuana production illegal simply fosters the existence of
biker gangs and other criminal organizations, where members kill each other
and put the public at risk. In the meantime, the pot-growing operations,
which often sprout up in residential neighbourhoods and rely on the
surreptitious use of huge amounts of electricity to provide the light
necessary for growing, are dangerous.

Safe wiring is replaced with extension cords and booster cables. The public
has heard many accounts of indoor pot-growing operations across Toronto.
Just this past week two men died under mysterious circumstances in a North
York townhouse fire, where a marijuana growing operation was found in the
basement.

Are we simply ensuring these types of underground operations are pushed
further underground because of stiffer penalties, while at the same time
potentially widening the lucrative market for marijuana by loosening pot
possession laws?

While there has been much huffing and puffing over these new laws, we can't
help but wonder if we've taken one step forward and one back.

We would hope a day will come when our whole attitude to this substance,
which is not unlike alcohol, will change to the point where we will look to
strictly control it, produce it safely - heck, we could even tax it - so
that we can take charge of the pot situation in Canada, rather than see
this small legislative gain go up in smoke.