YOUTH POT USE ON RISE; LAX PENALTIES NOT FAR OFF

As the federal government moves towards decriminalizing marijuana, a new
report released this past Thursday by the Special Committee on Non-Medical
Use of Drugs says substance abuse, including marijuana use, is rising at an
alarming rate.

The number of Grade 10 students who reported using marijuana three or more
times in 1998 was 42 per cent, up from 25 per cent in 1990. As well,
cocaine use nearly doubled amongst Grade 10 students, up from three per
cent in 1994 to five-and-a-half per cent in 1998. Each year in Canada,
substance abuse costs more than $18 billion. The report is not just geared
towards youth, however. The head of the committee, Paddy Torsney, said in
her 190-page report that decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of
cannabis for personal use would not affect the penalties or consequences
for trafficking, or for the possession of any other controlled substance.

The committee also concluded that the use of marijuana does not lead to use
of harder drugs, but accounts for more than 75 per cent of all drug-related
offences in 2001.

"All the people we talked to said they started with cigarettes, and from
there the use of other substances, including alcohol, increased," said Torsney.

Bill C-344 proposes to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to
make the offences of possession, possession for the purpose of trafficking
and trafficking in small amounts of cannabis "ticketable" offences. Today,
trafficking of anything less than three kilograms of cannabis resin or
marijuana is exclusively indictable and carries a maximum sentence of five
years less a day in prison. More than 21,000 people were charged with
simple possession of cannabis in 1999.

Charging rates range across the country and among police forces, from a low
of 25 people per 100,000 in Vancouver to a high of 215 per 100,000 in
Thunder Bay.

Under the new scheme, prosecution of the new regulatory offences could be
initiated by the issuance of a ticket and fines could be paid without a
court appearance. Enforcement would not result in a criminal conviction.

Lakeland MP Leon Benoit said he's still undecided on whether or not
marijuana should be decriminalized.

"If someone gets caught with a few joints of marijuana, they still only get
a slap on the wrist, and in British Columbia they don't even take it to
court," said Benoit. "The judges just throw out the cases, they don't even
give fines."

According to Benoit, the drug is still harmful enough that it should not be
completely legal. Decriminalizing it still keeps it as an illegal
substance, but reduces the penalties to just tickets. It will save court
costs, police time and resources, while still making the drug clearly illegal.

"If we have a series of very strict fines, where the first fine is, say,
$500 and then the second is $1,000 and it goes on from there, I believe it
will deter users," said Benoit. "I'll be talking to a lot of people over
the Christmas break and hearing what they have to say before I make up my
mind on the issue."

In fact, according to Torsney's report, fines will start at $200 for a
first offence and escalate to $500 for a second offence. Three convictions
would result in a $1,000 fine.