POT DECRIMINALIZATION OK - POLICE CHIEF

While Peterborough's police chief is in favour of relaxing Canada's
marijuana laws, he's sold on going the full legalization route.

Terry McLaren says decriminalization of marijuana possession, for
small amounts, would allow his officers to focus their attention on
more serious crimes. He says, as it stands now, the majority of drug
cases his front-line officers deal with are marijuana-related.

"As the government says, these are people who smoke or are occasional
users (of marijuana)...these are not hardcore criminals," says the
chief.

Canada's justice minister, Martin Cauchon, recently said Canadians can
expect to see the decriminalization of marijuana in the new year.

But decriminalization does not legalize the drug. Under Minister
Cauchon's proposed changes, a person caught with a small amount of
marijuana would most likely receive a ticket instead of being charged
with a criminal offence.

Chief McLaren says it takes roughly two hours for an officer to lay an
initial charge for possession of marijuana. Then there's the time
working with the Crown and on subsequent court appearances before the
case is finally resolved.

If decriminalization comes into effect, an officer would only have to
write a ticket. If the accused decides to fight that summons, only
then would the officer have to go to court.

Local Liberal MP Peter Adams says the intentions behind
decriminalization of marijuana are good but he has two concerns -- how
will police be able to check motorists driving under the influence of
marijuana and, two, if marijuana laws are relaxed, will there be an
increase in cancer among users?

He is buoyed by discussions on ways to solve the country's drug
problem but feels any major steps must be incremental. In the end, he
wants to see a reduction in people using not only illegal drugs but
also legal drugs, such as alcohol and cigarettes.

"The question is how do we do this," he says.

That question has been getting a closer look from Ottawa politicians
in recent years.

On Monday, a special parliamentary committee studying drug abuse
released a report on the non-medical use of drugs, and, among other
things, called for setting up safe injection sites for heroin users in
large cities. The committee, which has spent 18 months studying the
issue, was to release its findings on marijuana Thursday (after This
Week's deadline) and is expected to provide recommendations on
revamping the country's marijuana laws. This follows a Senate report
in September that called for legalization of marijuana with a minimum
age of consent set at 16 years. That is something Chief McLaren is
against.

"It's a drug," he says of why he would not favour complete
legalization, adding the proposed age of consent is ludicrous.

"You can't drink (alcohol) until you're 19 but you can smoke marijuana
when you're 16? I see a lot of ramifications from that."

The Senate report did state that 16 years would be the minimum and it
would be up to individual provinces to determine a proper age of consent.