DRUG LEGISLATION COULD BE MISUNDERSTOOD

Decriminalization of marijuana could be misunderstood by residents, making
more work for police and filling courts, warned Jasper's mayor.

The announcement by Justice Minister Martin Cauchon that he would push for
legislation to remove simple marijuana possession from criminal law within
the first three months of 2003, "is just fraught with the danger of being
misinterpreted," said Richard Ireland, Jasper's mayor and a local lawyer.

Ireland worries that Jasper police and court may get even busier in the
event the legislation goes through, unless government launches an effective
campaign to educate people about what decriminalization really means.

"I think what could easily happen, and I think it's already out there, is
that people assume decriminalization means essentially the same as
legalization," said Ireland. "People may think that they can light up where
they want, when they want, and if that's the attitude then I think there
will be a lot more work for the RCMP and a lot more work for the courts."

The confusion stems from legalization, meaning it's legal to carry the
drug, and decriminalization, which means it is still against the law but
carries no criminal record.

"If you're walking down the street and you had a joint and were smoking, we
could still give a person a summons, like a traffic ticket, for using an
illegal substance," said Corporal Dave Osbourne of the Jasper RCMP.
"Whatever value the legislators want to put on a ticket, that's up to them."

Under current law, anyone caught with less than 30 grams of marijuana can
be jailed for up to six months and face a fine of $1,000.

But judges who impose punishment at their discretion virtually never hand
down such heavy sentences.

Fines for possessing less than 30 grams of marijuana rarely exceed $150 in
Jasper and police no longer take fingerprints, mugshots or enter the
conviction into the national police databank.

"There's no certainty, in my view, that if they are going to change this to
be a non-criminal offense, that there won't be a statutory minimum fine of
$500," said Ireland.

"So people think they're getting a break in terms of not having a criminal
record following them around, but the fine may be significantly higher.
They could attach a minimum sentence that's a lot higher than what they're
prepared to give right now."