COOL ON CANADABIS

Canada's Parliamentary Committee on the Non-Medicinal use of Drugs has come
to this conclusion: Decriminalize Marijuana. Of the estimated two to four
million Canadians who (as Willie Nelson would say) "smoke marijuana
responsibly" the report doesn't go nearly far enough.

The report suggests a parking ticket-style system of fines for those
"caught" in possession of up to 30 grams. Police officers (formerly
reluctant to bust street users with a criminal offense) with the
fast=ADtracked handing out of $200-$1000 fines are awaiting a cash cow
perhaps enviable by our southern neighbours. Without the assistance of a
lawyer, cannabis smoking Canadians could simply pay their fines and get on
with their lives free of a criminal record provided the police pot scale
doesn't tip past the 30 gram mark and leave them with the previous
Bush-style prohibition laws.

Those opposed to "open-ended" decriminalization include Alliance MP Randy
White who claims five grams is plenty for personal use. The Alliance,
sounding more aligned with American Drug Policy than the Liberals or NDP,
say no amount of marijuana should be allowable for home cultivation. This,
of course, leaves many wondering, "Where does the Alliance think pot comes
from?" Most notably opposed, John Walters, director of the US Office of
National Drug Control Policy, better known as the Drug Czar (a rather
ironic title) claims that "high-potency" B.C. pot has turned America's sons
and daughters into pot addicts thanks to a $5 billion industry which ships
95 per cent of the pot into the States.

British Columbia may grow the best pot but America still cultivates the
best marijuana mythology.

Think you're sober? Try this: The UK approach to roadside marijuana
impairment testing begins with an eye pupil examination. It progresses to
walking a straight line while counting out each steps taken and then, the
impossible part -- standing on one foot, tilting your head back, closing
your eyes, stretching out your arms and touching your nose with each hand,
all with out losing your balance.

Good luck.

On the proposed decriminalization issue:

"Three in 10 people [currently] engage in criminal activity [pot smoking]."

- -- Paddy Torsney

Chair of the House of Commons' Special Committee on non-medical use of drugs

"I'm saying if I ever were to run federally, I'd probably put in my plank
that we should not only decriminalize it, we should legalize it."

- -- Roger Grimes, Newfoundland Premier

Possession or growing of up to 30 grams would not be a criminal offense
under the proposed legislation. Instead a fine would be paid. On these fines:

"The maximum fine under the South Australian system is only $150, while the
ticketing system being proposed in Canada by Keith Martin would carry a
$200 fine for a first pot-possession offense, escalating to $500 the second
time, and to $1000 for the third offense. With the fine payment set so
high, there would likely be an even higher rate of default under this system."

- -- Dana Larsen

Editor, Cannabis Culture magazine

Trafficking in any amount remains a crime: "You heard the American drug
Czar talking about the hothouses in B.C. and other parts of this country
that are causing great concern to us domestically, and to them. We think
that our recommendation to include cultivation of small amounts [of
cannabis] will help address that problem."

- -- Paddy Torsney

On new drug driving laws:

"When a level of THC is found in somebody's blood, it's impossible to know
when it got there. The same level could be the result of very heavy use
days or even weeks ago or a small amount taken recently, the methods we
have now just aren't precise enough to show impairment."

- -- Dr. Barry Beyerstein

Psychopharmacologist, Simon Fraser University

"We need to develop tools to test for impairment, it is already illegal to
drive while impaired whether from sleep or alcohol or drugs and we want
there to be a better test for marijuana impairment."

- --Paddy Torsney

CTV asked if decriminalization would be a source of tension with the United
States. On the American war-on-drugs backlash: "I'm not concerned. It'll
ultimately become a source of discussion. Some people in the U.S. have said
it will raise problems at the border, so we'll see if that's true, I
honestly don't believe in the end that it's true, because I think we'll do
it in a way which reduces the tensions..."

- -- Bill Graham, Foreign Affairs Minister

Responding to a visit from American drug Czar John Walters, where he
painstakingly gave a speech at a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon amidst
heckling from a table held by eight members of the B.C. Marijuana Party:
"Somehow I just haven't been able to come to grips with marijuana being
that devastating a drug. We don't see that here. I don't know why we don't
see that here and they see it so clearly there."

- -- Larry Campbell, Vancouver Mayor-Elect

"They've got an armed camp going on in the United States and if we don't
want Canada to be like that armed camp we have to take a separate path."

- -- Marc Emery, BC Marijuana Party

"They arrested and charged 40 thousand people in New York City for
marijuana offenses. A lot of them went to a drug court, and the drug court
says, `We can try and save you from a record. We won't put you in jail but
we'll put you into treatment.' So they're into treatment, so therefore
[John Walters] is extrapolating from that, the fact that the marijuana
users are the ones that are in treatment. Well they're in treatment because
of the structure."

- -- Philip Owen, Vancouver Mayor