MP PRAISES POT PROPOSAL

Local Canadian Alliance Party MP Keith Martin sounds nothing like an
opposition member in his praise for the governing Liberal Party's
promise last week to decriminalize Canada's marijuana laws.

In an telephone interview from Ottawa Thursday, Martin said the
proposal covers just what he had sought in a private member's bill
last year.

When the Liberals used a procedural maneuver to sidetrack that bill to
parliamentary committee on drug use, Martin breached protocal by
grabbing the Mace, an act he later had to apologize for.

Last week, though, Martin sounded like someone whose efforts had been
vindicated.

"It was virtually all of what I asked for, their proposal when I went
in front of the committee (on illicit drug use) as a witness," Martin
said of the proposals to decriminalize Canada's marijuana law.

Nevertheless, he sees this as stage one in a lengthy process for
dealing more effectively with substance abuse.

"My objective in putting the fill(sic) forward was actually to open up
the debate on substance abuse and how we can employ a plan to
will(sic) reduce drug use, reduce harm and reduce crime."

A medical doctor by profession, the MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca
makes it clear he is not an advocate for marijuana use, or any drug
use for that matter.

"I'll make it very clear. I'm against the use of marijuana. It's
cancer causing; it damages people's brains," Martin said.

The problem is that marijuana prohibition hasn't controlled its use
and has had the opposite effect. That's because resources spent on
the war on drugs haven't gone to educational and treatment programs.
Instead, it has created an environment for organized crime to operate;
and those criminals have ratcheted up the price of the product.

The proposal calls for decriminalization of possession and cultivation
of up to 30 grams of marijuana, enough to roll 40 pinners or 25
fatties. Instead of being convicted of a criminal offence for
possession, those caught with such small amounts of pot would be
issued the equivalent of a traffic ticket.

Martin estimates that such decriminalization will save the Canadian
government $100 million a year, money that would then be available for
cracking down on organized crime.

Martin admitted that police in B.C. rarely pursue cases of simple
possession at present, but such isn't the case in other parts of the
country.

"I've seen it up close and personal for 14 years. Any professional,
most professionals will tell you that what we are doing now doesn't
work," Martin said.

He cautions, though, that any further move in the direction of
legalization will require getting the United States to liberalize
its marijuana laws. Otherwise Canada will become a haven for organized
crime to have ready access to that huge U.S. market.

"The liberalization in Canada in isolation to the Americans will only
make matters worse," Martin said.

Consequently, he said, step 2 is "go to the Americans and say, 'Your
War on Drugs has been, always is, and always will be a failure.' It
has increased the use, the hard-time use of drugs."

Indeed, Martin sees the only downside to the proposed
decriminalization initiative is that the Americans will make a fuss
and the Liberals might not stand up to them.

Martin points to more liberal drug laws in Europe, where drug use and
crime rates are lower, as evidence that a more liberal approach works
better.

Eventually, he foresees the day when marijuana will be treated in a
similar legal context to alcohol and tobacco, two drugs he says are
seen more harmful.

Maintaining the status quo, however, is precisely what criminals and
terrorists want because they can profit from the increased prices a
black market gives drugs, he said.

Martin said he has the governments of 17 countries in the Americas
willing to endorse his five-point plan. They include a leader of
Colombia, a country where 30,000 murders a year are attributed to the
drug trade, he said.