MANY OTHER COUNTRIES TRY DECRIMINALIZATION

Easing marijuana laws would remove Canada from the "lonely corner" it now
shares with the few remaining Western countries that use criminal
convictions to punish users, experts say.

As an all-party committee of MPs prepares to release a report in Ottawa
tomorrow that could recommend decriminalizing marijuana, researchers say
too many people are unaware that such legal changes are already common
around the world.

"Pretty much all the countries are doing this," said Benedikt Fischer of
the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

Sweden and the United States are among the last countries to enforce strict
laws against possession. Small-scale possession can mean six months of jail
time in Sweden and up to four years of jail in the United States. About
half of all drug convictions in those countries are for cannabis possession.

Most others are moving to more liberal policies, despite international
treaties such the 1988 Vienna Convention that outlawed possession, purchase
and cultivation of drugs for personal consumption.

The International Narcotics Control Board declared in 1992 that none of the
conventions force governments to convict or punish people who use illegal
drugs.

That's the legal loophole that authorities in the Netherlands began using
in the 1970s. Dutch marijuana users can still technically spend a month in
jail for possession, but police have been told to ignore anyone with less
than 30 grams, and they tolerate "coffee shops" that sell the drug.

"Despite the overarching framework of prohibition, each country is trying
to extricate itself," said senior scientist Patricia Erickson, another
researcher at CAMH. "The overall trend is away from punitive measures."

The trend began with the Dutch, but many other governments have also eased
their laws. Australia, Austria, Greece, Ireland and the United Kingdom have
designed legal mechanisms to give marijuana smokers -- especially first
offenders -- warnings, tickets or treatment instead of punishment.

Some jurisdictions have claimed success with these non-criminal measures
because the drug users aren't saddled with criminal records, and burdens on
the court system are generally lighter.

But some decriminalized systems are actually more Draconian than the laws
they replaced, Mr. Fischer said, because police officers who might have
chosen to turn a blind eye in the past are now writing numerous, expensive
tickets.

"Sometimes these new forms of social control can be much more onerous," Mr.
Fischer said. "You can make the system much worse."

Other countries are more permissive, even though strict laws remain on the
books. Belgium, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland operate with de facto
decriminalization because prosecutors or police have wide discretion about
whether to pursue possession cases and usually don't consider them
important. Swiss authorities are even debating whether to allow marijuana
retailers.

Another group of countries, including Italy, Spain and Portugal, has passed
laws fully decriminalizing marijuana. In Portugal, for instance, drug users
are now exempt from criminal proceedings and are referred instead to health
authorities.

Canada's proximity to the United States shouldn't keep it from joining the
global trend, said Eric Single, a professor of public health at the
University of Toronto. Americans are unlikely to risk crossing the border
to buy marijuana if Canada liberalizes its laws, he said, because the drug
is already so readily available in the U.S. But like other experts, he said
it's still unclear how changes in Canada's laws will compare with those of
other countries.