THE CANADABIS CATCH

Marijuana activists have been using the courts for close to a decade in an
effort to have the laws against grass changed. Instead of lobbying the
Canadian government in the traditional manner, a small group of lawyers and
marijuana users have successfully argued the medicinal qualities of
marijuana and have challenged the constitutionality of the marijuana laws.

Recent court victories have forced the federal government to introduce
legislation that will be better for the casual pot smoker caught possessing
weed. But those growing and trafficking in the herb should be warned that
the penalties for doing so are going to be much harsher than the current
ones. And more police resources will be used to target large scale operations.

There's a dramatic difference between legal and decriminalized weed. The
police, sensing a revenue generating system, could become overly zealous in
fining those caught carrying a small amount (under 15 grams) of marijuana.

Decriminalization in Australia has resulted in more pot smokers getting
ticketed than arrested under their old law. Failure to pay the fine results
in a criminal conviction that could leave potheads with a criminal record.

Already, activists such as Marc Emery, (publisher of Cannabis Culture,
financial backer of the Marijuana Party, and Canada's largest seller of
marijuana seeds), are encouraging those ticketed to defend themselves
without the aid of a lawyer in court.

The goal is to once again tie up the court's and police's time. This
strategy, used so effectively in British Columbia, has BC police giving up
on arresting people for simple possession. But under the new legislation
police might go after simple possessors more frequently because it will be
as easy as writing a ticket.

The only staunch opposition to Prime Minister Jean Chretien's plan to
decriminalize marijuana has come from our southern neighbours who have a
zero tolerance attitude towards any drugs, with the exception of booze and
tobacco.

American drug czar John Walters, Director of the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy, warned that the United States "will have to
do more restrictive things at the border," if Canada decriminalizes marijuana.

Walters isn't talking about pulling over more people crossing the border on
a Friday night to search them for marijuana. His statement is a veiled
threat that the Bush administration would slow down the flow of trade goods
between our two nations.

Allan Young, an Osgoode Hall law professor and marijuana activist,
explains; "When U.S. government officials talk about increasing border
patrols, what they're really saying is, 'We're going to fuck with your
trucking industry if you continue to go in this direction.'"

Bruce Mirken of the U.S.-based Marijuana Policy Project concurs with
Young's assessment of the situation. "This (U.S.) administration uses
veiled threats all the time when dealing with foreign policy contrary to
their beliefs."

Canada's largest trading partner should be reminded that they've signed the
North American Free Trade Agreement that outlines how quickly goods must
travel at the border.

The treaty also hinders the Bush administration in applying trade sanctions
should the Liberals create a law that contravenes U.S. opinion.

They would have to hire thousands of additional border guards to inspect
every one of the approximately 8,000 trucks that cross the Ontario border
daily to keep in accordance with NAFTA. Then there are the undefended
regions between Canada and the U.S. Would the Bush administration go so far
as to employ the military to keep marijuana out, such as they do at the
U.S. / Mexico border?

Contrary to popular belief, our efforts to decriminalize marijuana are not
that revolutionary. Twelve states in the union have decriminalized laws on
their books.

Medicinal marijuana co-ops in California serve the needs of 15,000 ill people.

That's more people than all of Canada's medicinal marijuana pharmacies
combined.

California residents voted in favour of a progressive medicinal marijuana
law that saw compassion clubs flourish, but when the Bush administration
came to power they stomped all over the state law by trying compassion club
organizers in federal court.

Federal judges have goose-stepped in line with the administration by
refusing to allow a medicinal marijuana defense.

They've gone so far as to refuse the admission of medicinal marijuana
evidence by defense lawyers.

Drug czar Walters has been exporting their extremist prohibitionist view by
touring Canada on several occasions to admonish our pro-pot attitude.

The decision is ours to make Walters says, but there are consequences
should Canada adopt a marijuana policy that flies in the face of U.S. policy.

"We have to be concerned about American citizens," Walters told reporters.
"When you make the penalties minimal, you get more drug use, you get more
drug addiction, you get more drug production, you get more drug crime."

By Walters' reasoning, the U.S., with their zero tolerance policy, should
have the least amount of drug use and in Holland, where marijuana has been
decriminalized for decades, there would be a higher rate of marijuana
consumption. Not so -- reports from the Centre for Drug Research at the
University of Amsterdam show that lifetime cannabis use in Holland is at
15.6 per cent, whereas use in the U.S. is closer to 33 per cent.

The American appetite for what some consider to be the best weed in the
world has Canadian drug producers exporting approximately eight hundred
tons of "BC Bud," "Quebec Gold," and "Winnipeg Wheelchair" a year. Canada's
hydroponically grown weed has surpassed Mexico's and Columbia's in terms of
potency but represents only about two per cent of the amount consumed
Stateside per year. Demand for Canadian weed has created a market where
dealers are getting up to $5,000 U.S. (over $6700 Canadian) a pound,
compared to the $3,000 Canadian a pound they get domestically.