POT BILL LETS YOUTH, DRIVERS GET OFF EASIER

Strategy To Combat Drug Use Also Planned

OTTAWA and WASHINGTON -- Minors will pay less than adults if police catch
them with small amounts of marijuana, and the cost of "drug driving" would
be a maximum $400 fine under the federal government's proposed new law to
decriminalize possession.

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon and Health Minister Anne McLellan hailed
the proposed legislation tabled in Parliament yesterday as modern "drug
reform laws," vowing to fight the illegal narcotics trade with stiffer
fines and jail terms for growers.

Under the proposed Cannabis Reform Bill, people under 18 caught with 15
grams or less of cannabis marijuana would be fined $100, while adults would
be fined $150. Possession of one gram or less of cannabis resin or hashish
oil would result in fines of $200 for youths and $300 for adults.
Aggravating factors, such as possession while driving a vehicle, or while
committing an indictable offence, or possession in or near schools, would
mean fines of $400 for adults and $250 for youths.

Possession of marijuana now carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail
and a fine of up to $1,000.

The federal government wants to decriminalize possession of small amounts
of marijuana by switching over to a ticketing system that would take the
smaller cases out of Canadian courts and result in fewer criminal records
for people convicted of smoking the drug. Proponents argue that the law now
is unevenly applied across the country, and police widely use their
discretion not to lay charges in cases involving small amounts.

"We are not legalizing marijuana and have no plans to do so," Mr. Cauchon
told a news conference in Ottawa. "The decision to reform the law was not
taken lightly. The time has come for us to reform this law."

In Washington, John Walters, the White House director of drug-control
policy, warned that the new legislation could lead to increased exports of
marijuana from Canada into the United States and to a tightening of the
world's longest undefended border.

We have to "shut down the movement across the border," he told CTV News in
Washington.

Mr. Walters said the new Canadian law would reduce marijuana possession to
"something like a ticket for jaywalking" and "remove the seriousness in
people's minds" about its use. He also said most of the marijuana grown in
Canada "is being shipped to the United States" and warned that Washington
won't tolerate an increased flood of Canadian-grown varieties.

"We have a sovereign right to make our own laws," Solicitor-General Wayne
Easter said in Ottawa. "The current laws aren't working."

The government also announced plans yesterday to spend $245-million on a
new national drug strategy. Nearly half of the money, to be phased in over
five years, will go to the Health Department for programs and a mass media
plan warning against pot use.

Police officials and opposition critics quickly denounced the new bill and
drug strategy.

"I'm not sure what kind of message they want to send, but youth discounts
shouldn't be one of them," said Canadian Alliance MP Randy. "If they think
this is going through the House fast, they're kidding themselves."