COMMENTARY: CANADA REVISITING MARIJUANA

TORONTO, April 30 (UPI) -- It was a singular rather than a joint statement
Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien made, and he certainly has raised
hopes for the nation's estimated 2 million marijuana smokers.

Chretien, who will step down as leader of the Liberal party and prime
minister in February, told 1,000 party faithful at a fund-raising dinner in
Ottawa Tuesday he intends to leave a legacy of not being "afraid to take on
controversial issues."

That includes loosening marijuana laws before Parliament adjourns for the
summer.

"We will soon introduce legislation to decriminalize possession of small
amounts of marijuana," Chretien told the crowd. The applause was
thunderous, and Chretien leaned to the microphone and said: "Don't start to
smoke it right away -- we're not legalizing it, we're decriminalizing it!"

Reminiscent of his first year as prime minister in 1993, when he referred
to himself in a folksy way as "just a little guy from Shawinigan (Quebec),"
he recalled his youthful experimentation with tobacco.

"I smoked cigarettes when I was a kid when my father didn't want me to
smoke. When he gave me permission at 16, I stopped," he said, adding that
he has never tried marijuana.

Much of what Chretien hinted at is similar to a report issued by a Senate
special committee last September, which recommended possession of 30 grams
or less of marijuana be treated as a misdemeanor punishable by a fine
rather than a felony criminal charge. The report also recommended purging
criminal records of some 600,000 people charged with minor possession in
the past.

The issue is actually old for Chretien, who was first elected as a member
of parliament in 1973. That year, the Le Dain royal commission urged
relaxation of the marijuana statutes.

The most recent report estimates that 2 million Canadians smoke marijuana
recreationally, and that policing and prosecution bills run as high as $350
million (CAD$500 million) annually.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and the Canadian Police
Association have issued a joint statement expressing "conditional support"
for the idea. Toronto Deputy Chief Mike Boyd is the chair of the CACP Drug
Abuse committee. He told United Press International: "We support
alternative justice measures, but it's a conditional support for the
government implementing an appropriately funded, meaningful and graduated
consequences national strategy."

Boyd says under any new legislation police should have "some discretion or
consideration in how they deal with possession of cannabis," suggesting a
young first-time offender might only be ticketed, while someone with the
same amount on a school ground would be charged.

The Canadian Medical Association has a similar position. Its president, Dr.
Dana Hanson, told UPI the CMA has three criteria for endorsement:

"First, we agree with decriminalization of small amounts.

"Second, marijuana must never be completely legalized, and

"Third there must be a national strategy of prevention and addiction
treatment."

"A criminal record has a negative health impact," he said.

There is also the issue of what the neighbors think. The U.S. National Drug
Intelligence Center has said Canada is responsible for sending 800 tons of
marijuana into the United States each year. This could aggravate relations
between the two countries which are already strained over Canada's refusal
to participate militarily in the war in Iraq.

It's certain Chretien will get his wish of leaving a legacy when he steps
down next year. But it could well be one to give his successor nightmares.