POT LAW JUST BLOWING SMOKE

The Headline Read: "Ottawa To Ease Marijuana Law".

The story began: "The government responded to the interim report of the
LeDain Drug Inquiry Commission yesterday by promising an end to jail terms
for the possession of marijuana.

"In a brief Commons statement, Health Minister John Munro announced the
legislation would be brought forward establishing a scale of graduated
fines for the offence. He said outside the House he hoped the legislation
would be ready before Christmas."

The date was June 20, 1970. The newspaper was the Globe and Mail, 15 cents
a copy.

The front page of that Saturday edition hangs near the back of Mort Goss'
shop, Sure Thing, behind posters of Bob Marley, John Lennon and Che Guevara.

Just like the Liberal's efforts then, Tuesday's government tabling of
legislation ending jail terms for possessing small amounts of pot is a
"sham," according Goss, a long-time marijuana activist.

"I don't think it's going to pass," he said, sitting in the back of his
shop as customers milled around, some eying water bongs and colourful glass
pipes.

On Tuesday, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon introduced a law making the
possession of 15 grams or less of pot - enough to roll about 15 or 20
joints - 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.

The bill takes a hard crack at cultivators, raising their maximum sentence
to 14 years in prison, up from seven.

Toronto criminal lawyer Irwin Isenstein, who sometimes defends cases in
Kenora, said he welcomed the move.

"I think the government is showing good sense," said Isenstein.

"In the past, people have been saddled with criminal records (for
possessing small amounts of pot) which have affected their employment and
ability to cross the border."

The new legislation, should it pass, won't be a green light for pot smokers
to light up with impunity, said OPP Acting Det. Sgt. Jim Graham, with the
Tri-Force drug unit out of Thunder Bay

"It won't be a blind-eye situation," said Graham. "It's still going to be
an offence and the person may be arrested, searched and ticketed like in a
liquor offence.

"Unfortunately the general public is getting the wrong idea," he said.

The Kenora police force would not comment on the issue, but Kenora Mayor
Dave Canfield, who sits on the police board, said he has mixed emotions
about the proposed pot law.

"We're definitely going down the wrong road if we tell people it's okay to
smoke marijuana," said Canfield.

"I wouldn't be surprised if it mushroomed and we saw more people paying fines."

Dr. Pete Sarsfield, Northwestern Health Unit's chief medical officer,
called the proposed law a "welcomed and overdue step."

"It's a health issue, not a legal issue," said Sarsfield.

"Tobacco is more dangerous a drug."

The government is sending the wrong message to young people by
decriminalizing pot, said Kenora Bible Church Rev. Steve Brown.

"I've seen the harm (marijuana) has on young people, how it can produce a
lack of motivation," said Brown. "As a society we have to send a message to
young people that drug abuse is harmful physically, spiritually and mentally."

Great-grandmother Mabel Makinen, 80, said there are more dangerous things
to worry about than marijuana.

"Liquor stores are making lots of money so people can kill with their
cars," said Makinen.

"I don't think you're going to do that if you smoke a little pot."

Chris McCallister, 18, believes the possible legislation could be a first
step to pot smoking freedom.

"It's just like anything else, if you give someone responsibility, you can
show it can be controlled," said McCallister.

"They should legalize it."

Based on a recent Superior Court ruling from Windsor, Ontario residents can
toke up all they want in public as long as they have under 30 grams on
their person.

The ruling, handed down May 16, "effectively erased the criminal
prohibition on marijuana possession from the books of Ontario," Brian
McAllister, the lawyer who challenged the law on behalf of his 17-year-old
client, said at the time.

The Ontario Court of Appeal can overturn the decision and federal officials
are planning to appeal.

A constitutional challenge over current marijuana law is before the Supreme
Court of Canada as well.

Goss doesn't believe the government will ever relax the rules on marijuana
on its own.

He predicts pot will go the way of abortion.

The Supreme Court will strike pot laws down as unconstitutional and the
government will leave it alone, he said.

A pipe-dream? Perhaps, but it's the only way the establishment will get
over its pot paranoia, said Goss.

"They fear the left way of soft thinking. The warm, fuzzy logic of hippie
culture," he said.