CANADIAN HOUSE DRUGS COMMITTEE CALLS FOR CANNABIS DECRIM, SAFE INJECTION SITES, HEROIN MAINTENANCE

The Canadian House of Commons Special Committee on the Non-Medical Use of
Drugs recommended this week that Canada decriminalize the possession and
cultivation of up to 30 grams of cannabis, that safe injection sites for
intravenous drug users be allowed to open, and that heroin be made
available by prescription. Combined with a September report from a Canadian
Senate special committee that called for legalization of cannabis and
recent pronouncements from Justice Minister Martin Cauchon, the House
committee report provides the latest and clearest indication yet that
Canada is on the verge of decriminalizing cannabis possession and
cultivation - at least on a small scale.

Although the committee found that "smoking any amount of marijuana is
unhealthy, because of its high concentration of tar and benzopyrene," it
also noted that "the consequences of conviction for possession of a small
amount of cannabis for personal use are disproportionate to the potential
harm associated with that behavior." Thus the committee recommended that
"the possession of cannabis continue to be illegal and that trafficking in
any amount of cannabis remain a crime," but also that "the Minister of
Justice and the Minister of Health establish a comprehensive strategy for
decriminalizing the possession and cultivation of not more than 30 grams of
cannabis for personal use." The committee added that such a scheme should
also include prevention and education programs emphasizing the risks of
cannabis use, especially for young people, and development of a means of
enforcing laws against driving while impaired by a drug.

Under current Canadian law, small-time cannabis possessors face up to six
months in prison. Under a proposal studied by the committee, that would be
replaced by a ticket and escalating fines, with no criminal record.

The committee report on cannabis was not without dissent. The rightist
Canadian Alliance, whose British Columbia Member of Parliament Randy White
sat on the committee, denounced the 30 gram limit as too high, arguing that
it would facilitate drug trafficking. A five gram limit would be more
appropriate, White told reporters. At the same time, New Democrat MP Libby
Davies said the recommendations did not go far enough. "It's still
basically leaving the possession of cannabis as illegal," Davies told the
Winnipeg Free Press. "Any trafficking would still be illegal, so it's still
leaving in place all the harms from prohibition."

Eugene Oscapella of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy
(http://www.cfdp.ca) also felt the committee didn't go far enough. "With
the proposed decriminalization, it is not clear if the police will still be
able to kick your door down, throw you up against the wall, arrest you, and
then write you a traffic ticket," he told DRCNet. "Also, the 30 gram limit
for cultivation seems unworkable, especially when the police weigh the
entire plant. It's pretty hard to find a mature marijuana plant weighing
less than 30 grams," he said.

"The recommendations on cannabis are better than nothing," Oscapella
conceded. "It would absolve people from getting criminal records, but it
may also widen the net. And it still doesn't address the fundamental issues
of the role of prohibition in creating a black market, with all of its
associated problems."

The House of Commons committee issued its report in two stages this week,
citing fears that the recommendations on cannabis would detract attention
from its recommendations on other drug issues. (The eruption of stories
about decrim in the Canadian press this week certainly proved the committee
right.) The committee delayed the cannabis recommendations until Thursday,
while on Monday it released the sections of its report dealing with harder
drugs. The committee was equally controversial on that subject. It called
for the establishment of safe injection sites where intravenous drug users
could shoot-up in a healthy, supervised environment. "People are using
drugs," explained committee chair Paddy Torsney, MP of the ruling Liberal
Party. "Let's deal with the health problem. They're somebody's brother or
sister, and they're deserving of our care," she told Reuters.

Based on the principles of harm reduction, the proposal would allow drug
users to bring their own drugs to a room where they can inject without fear
of police persecution under the supervision of medical personnel. The
committee found that such sites reduce the rates of hepatitis C and
HIV/AIDS and overdose deaths. The Ministry of Health has already moved to
create guidelines for pilot safe injection site programs, and indications
are that Vancouver will have a government-approved site in place within a
few months.

If the Canadian Alliance's Randy White didn't like decrim, he was even more
appalled at safe injection sites. White told Reuters (and anyone else who
would listen) that the sites constituted not harm reduction, but "harm
extension." The Canadian Police Association also weighed in against the
sites. "Our concern is we're sliding down a slippery slope to the point
where it won't be long that we'll be hearing calls for dispensing drugs in
those sites as well," association spokesman David Griffin complained to
Reuters.

Maybe sooner than he fears. The committee also recommended that proposed
clinical trials "in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal to test the
effectiveness of heroin-assisted treatment for drug-dependent individuals
resistant to other forms of treatment be implemented and that these trials
incorporate protocols for rigorous scientific assessment and evaluation."

With the House of Commons committee report, Canada appears that much closer
to enacting substantive harm reduction programs for hard drugs and
decriminalization of marijuana. Now both houses of parliament have spoken
clearly and eloquently for reform of the drug laws, and the governing
Liberal Party appears ready to act.

This article touched on only a handful of the committee's 41
recommendations. To view the report online, visit

http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/37/2/SNUD/Studies/Reports/snudrp02/08-toc-e.htm

Appendix A has the complete list of committee recommendations.

Mainstream media reports:

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
http://cbc.ca/stories/2002/12/12/potlaws021212/"

CBC interviews with US officials John Walters and Robert Maginnis
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/12/12/drugreax021212/