O CANNABIS

It's Sunday morning and the joint is packed. A quick scan of the room
finds a group of four teens so committed to getting high they smoke
eight power-packed joints in just more than five minutes,
double-fisting spliffs in between bites of chicken sandwiches.

This is the most comfortable spot in Vancouver for these 19-year-olds
to get high without hassles.

Behind them, four battle-scarred loggers dump seven grams, or "a
quarter", of crystal-covered B.C. Bud on a foosball table. Each man
takes his turn dipping meaty, calloused hands into the pile of weed to
start rolling several morning cannons. They're talking about the
weather with a city stock broker whose wife won't let him toke at home
in front of his two children.

At this popular cafe in downtown Vancouver, there is no reason to hide
your stash. The cops just shrug anyway, resigned to let pot smokers
have their way. That's a good thing because there's too much smoke
being produced by the 50-odd customers to keep things undercover.

Within arm's reach, on some plush leather couches under a Jerry Garcia
image, a pack of college students from Seattle whittle away the brunch
hour, smoking pot and marvelling at what has become accepted practice
in Canada.

"We love the atmosphere here, it's just like Amsterdam, but in a way
it kind of makes me sad," said Jamie Lalli, 21, who chose Canada as a
vacation spot after reading about its acceptance of marijuana.

"Canada has all this freedom. It seems so progressive. And here we are
coming from the United States which was supposedly built on freedom
and progression but instead, in comparison now, it's like we're from a
very conservative, backward country."

It's a sign of Canada's high times.

What would have landed these people in handcuffs 10 years ago is now
common. It's a reflection of how this country's view of marijuana has
dramatically changed in 20 years, thanks to a wave of pot popularity
started on the West Coast more than a decade ago.

In recent interviews with The Toronto Sun, various drug cops and
police chiefs in the GTA have described the marijuana problem in
Ontario as "an epidemic", "out-of-control", "a crisis", "a disaster"
and "currently uncontainable."

The numbers they have are startling. Three years ago 200 grow
operations were searched in Ontario; last year there were 1,400. Three
years ago in Durham there were 27 grow operations busted; last year
150. In York Region there were 40 grow operation-based search warrants
executed. Last year: 170.

"It was like the growers were here overnight," said York Region
morality and vice Det. Mike Klimm, who said there are now about 1,500
grow operations in the region.

"All of a sudden they were everywhere."

The police say they are undermanned, working without enough resources
to track and catch an ever-increasingly intelligent and organized
collection of growers, smugglers and dealers. They claim it is mostly
organized crime syndicates who have stretched their tentacles from
B.C. into Ontario.

Police said the criminals are smuggling billions of dollars' worth of
Canadian pot into the U.S. each year. Those they do arrest are
consistently receiving conditional sentences. Jail time right now is
rare.

The most comprehensive study on arrests and convictions was completed
last year in British Columbia by researchers at the International
Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy. Of 8,010
cases involving people arrested for alleged marijuana cultivation, 25%
of those associated with a case were convicted and only 18% of those
convicted were sentenced to jail time, with an average length of 4.5
months.

"The penalties and the consequences from the courts are absolutely
insignificant. There seems to be no consequences and (the growers)
know that," Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino said in a recent interview.

"The way the courts have been dealing with this is telling criminals
they have little to be concerned about. My viewpoint is that Canadian
society has to make a choice now. If this is what society wants, then
the public and the policy-makers should say this is fine. They would
have to change the law because the way it is written now it's a very
serious offence."

Fantino understands what polls have been tracking for more than a
decade. The public seems to be craving change and an overwhelming
majority are losing their appetite for prohibition at a steady rate.

The Canadian Medical Association estimates that up to two million
Canadians smoke marijuana recreationally.

In the drug war for the hearts and minds of Canadians, the proverbial
worm seems to have turned solidly toward legalizing the leaf and the
government is preparing to respond.

Last fall, a Canadian Senate committee shook the foundations of the
debate when it recommended legalizing marijuana immediately after a
comprehensive study that dispelled many long-standing marijuana myths.
Among its conclusions:

- - Marijuana is "not a gateway" to harder drugs, such as cocaine and
heroin.

- - Fewer than 10% of users become addicted.

- - Policing and prosecuting dope smokers is costing Canadian taxpayers
$300-$500 million a year, with 70% of that used to deal with
possession charges.

The Senate committee found "scientific evidence overwhelmingly
indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and
should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public
health issue."

Under the report's guidelines, marijuana use would be restricted to
adults, and criminal law would still apply to those producing and selling it.

"It is time to recognize what is patently obvious; our policies have
been ineffective because they are poor policies," the committee concluded.

Now the federal government is poised to take its swing with new
legislation expected in June which would decriminalize marijuana
possession as part of a revamped National Drug Strategy.

Early indications were that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon would
decriminalize the possession of 30 grams of pot, making it subject to
fines. But now it seems more likely to be in the range of 10-20 grams.

The Senate report said an average of 20,000 Canadians a year are
charged with possession and currently 600,000 of us have a criminal
record for it.

When Marc-Boris St. Maurice spent 24 hours in jail in 1991 for smoking
pot, it changed his life forever. He vowed to be an activist for the
legalization of marijuana and he hasn't let himself down.

He created the Bloc Pot organization in 1997 and co-founded Canada's
Marijuana Party in 2000, a week before he was arrested as a volunteer
for the Club Compassion of Montreal.

You would think a man dedicated to marijuana freedom would be ecstatic
the government is moving forward with decriminalization plans. You
would be wrong.

"It still equates to prohibition," St. Maurice said. "It's an
illusion, smoke and mirrors. It could set the movement back and steal
our thunder because if it does go through, then where does that leave
the pro-marijuana movement? The prohibitionists will be able to say,
'We already have decriminalization, what more do you want?' "

The Canadian marijuana movement has never been stronger. They have
established a powerful network bankrolled with millions of dollars,
tied together via the Internet.

"The movement across this country is vibrant," St. Maurice said. "I
remember when there was nothing happening in Ontario just a few years
ago and now its Million Marijuana March is the biggest in Canada.

"Don't mess with the potheads. I think we have benefitted from being
underestimated for so long."

Doctors who are fighting to keep marijuana banned say the information
emanating from lobby groups like Canada's Marijuana Party is dangerous.

"People don't perceive marijuana as harmful anymore and I think that's
happened largely because of a powerful propaganda machine which has
led to a general ignorance," said Dr. Raju Hajela, a past president of
the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine.

Hajela is at the forefront of the medical movement against marijuana,
even for medicinal purposes. He was one of the first to claim publicly
that one joint is as dangerous as 10 cigarettes.

"There is a real discrepancy between what scientific evidence has
proven and what the public perception is," Hajela said.

"There is an allure that it is natural. People try it and they think
there is nothing wrong with it. Even for people trying it for the
first time, there are devastating consequences."

Hajela said the public, and even the media, have been seduced by the
pro-marijuana marketing campaign.

"The media is not interested in the facts anymore," Hajela said.
"There are a lot of marijuana smokers amongst the media. They don't
like to look at something that would make themselves look in the mirror."

He said marijuana is of great concern because of 420-odd chemicals in
the plant resulting in more than 2,000 substances unleashed upon
lighting, many of which are toxic and carcinogenic, and made worse by
the fact tokers generally inhale marijuana smoke deeper than tobacco.

According to scientific evidence Hajela cites, regular marijuana use
can induce mental illnesses such as anxiety and panic disorders,
dysthymia, major depressive, bipolar and delusional disorders and
paranoid schizophrenia.

But these illnesses aren't even part of the debate, rarely even in the
medical world, Hajela acknowledged.

"Yes, tobacco is bad and yes, alcohol is dangerous but just because
these things are legal doesn't mean marijuana should be legal. But the
public isn't understanding that a lot of the time.

On the public front, it doesn't look very optimistic that things will
change and people will understand the dangers," Hajela said. "We are
in an age of marketing and the pro-marijuana lobby has a lot of money
devoted to this."

Police Chief Fantino, unabashedly frustrated by the way governments
and courts are treating marijuana, is determined to change public
opinion. Once in favour of decriminalization, he is now having second
thoughts.

"I have to tell you I was in favour provided there are very small
amounts involved but having said that, I don't think we can be doing
this without addressing the business end of marijuana -- the organized
crime -- which is the real problem around the drug," Fantino said.

Police organizations maintain that 75% of the marijuana in Ontario is
being grown by organized crime networks, most notably the Hells Angels
and Vietnamese groups first rooted in B.C. in the late 1980s.

"The violence associated with these grow operations -- the murders,
the rip-offs, the electricity thefts -- that's what's going on here,"
Fantino said. "If the government wants to blink and wink and turn its
backs on organized crime and endanger the lives of ... law-abiding
citizens, then they should just legalize it and get it over with and
the police will be done with it."

For all the concern about Canada-U.S. relations regarding marijuana,
consider this: The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center estimates
Canada produces 800 metric tons of pot annually while Mexico produces
10,000 metric tons.

U.S. officials said they were not overly concerned with a
decriminalization policy in Canada but vowed to bump up border patrols
if it happens.

"Canada is not talking about legalizing large indoor grows or stopping
the arrests of criminal enterprises," said DEA spokesman Will Glaspy.

"Essentially that's where the (border) problems are. People wanting to
smoke dope and get high is not a cross-border issue.

"But it (a decriminalization policy) is going to increase our security
along the border because marijuana is a Schedule 1 illicit drug. If
Canada changed its laws, it's not going to change things here in the
U.S. and you'd have a lot of people wanting to get high who would be
going to a border to have a look."

To add a wrinkle to the debate, the Canadian Supreme Court is
scheduled next week to hear a charter challenge case involving three
appellants that challenges the criminalization of marijuana possession.

Revered cannabis lawyer John Conroy will argue that his clients have a
right to smoke pot.

"If the court concludes there is no harm to others even based on this
challenge, then it could possibly strike down existing laws, there
could be a domino effect, even for laws against selling it," Conroy
said.

"We are trying to establish what our liberties are. In a free and
democratic society, if you want to smoke pot, why should I care? It
just wouldn't have an impact on others if it was taken off the black
market."

[sidebar]

CANNABIS COUNTRY

Where Canada ranks according to a United Nations report on the amount
of cannabis seized in 2000. Amounts are in kilograms:

Country Amount % of world seizures

1. Mexico 2,050,402 46%

2. South Africa 717,702 16

3. Malawi 312,472 6

4. United States 218,256 5

5. Brazil 159,073 4

6. India 100,056 2

7. Colombia 75,465 2

8. CANADA 70,222 2

9. Jamaica 55,859 1.5

10. Paraguay 51,081 1.5

- - United Nations Office On Drugs And Crime * Global Illicit Drug Trends 2002

BUSTED

Number of police-reported, marijuana-related incidents in
Canada.

- - Statistics Canada

BORDERS

Marijuana confiscated at borders between the U.S. and Canada:

1998 369 kg

- - U.S. Border Patrol