MP WELCOMES SENATE REPORT ON CHANGES TO CANNABIS LAW

It's not surprising that Keith Martin, the Canadian Alliance MP for
Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, has something to say about the Senate's
just-released report recommending the legalization of marijuana.

After all, Martin has been quite vocal on his position that marijuana
should be decriminalized (whic means someone found in possession of
marijuana would receive a fine but no criminal record).

Martin says he welcomes the report, which came from a Senate special
committee chaired by Senator Pierre Claude Nolin.

However, Martin says he doesn't support the report's position that
marijuana possession should be subject to full legalization.

The Senate report argues legalizing marijuana would be a major blow to
organized crime as it would put the illegal large-scale marijuana trade -
so prevalent in B.C. - out of commission.

Criminal organizations that traffic marijuana would have their business
curtailed.

The report calls for the distribution of pot to be regulated for sale,
under licence, for legal use by anyone 16 years of age and older.

Martin argues legalizing marijuana would actually increase the level of
trafficking of pot from Canada to the U.S. The level of marijuana growing
operations would increase in Canada if pot was legal and more of it would
make it across the border, he says.

"Legalizing marijuana in Canada would make us a bigger haven for organized
crime," adds Martin.

Martin says organized crime would suffer a major blow if the U.S. ever
decided to legalize marijuana.

"If it was legalized in the U.S. you would have a situation that changes
everything," he says.

That said, Martin says he supports the special committee's view that Canada
should encourage the U.S. to ease off on its drug laws which are part of
the country's war on drugs.

Martin says he does strongly agree with the report's recommendation that
the federal government erase criminal records of all Canadians who have
been convicted of marijuana possession.

The report also recommends rules concerning access to marijuana for
medicinal purposes be loosened (the current rules governing access to
marijuana for medicinal purposes have received a lot of criticism from
activists arguing the rules make it too difficult for ill people to acquire
pot).

Martin, a trained physician, says he fully supports people having easier
access to marijuana for medicinal purposes. He points out marijuana is
considered by many as an effective method of dealing with painful symptoms
from illnesses such as AIDS.

"My personal view, as a physician, is if we can't relieve the suffering
they should be able to do whatever they can to relieve their suffering,"
says Martin about his belief people suffering from illnesses ought to be
able to access marijuana for medicinal purposes.

The report also argues against a position shared by many that marijuana use
leads to addiction to harder drugs like heroin. Martin couldn't agree more.

"There's not one iota of evidence that marijuana leads to heroin
addiction," he says adamantly.

Martin argues the position that marijuana itself somehow leads to someone
getting addicted to harder drugs like heroin is misguided. He says the
brain chemistry in some people is "hard-wired" in such a way they require
instant gratification which can be found in all kinds of substances ranging
from caffeine to heroin. Rather than blaming marijuana for causing people
to become addicted to hard drugs, the focus should be on the people
themselves who need to have their addictive tendencies treated, says Martin.

Martin unsuccessfully tried to have a Private Member's Bill, calling for
the decriminalization of marijuana, addressed in Parliament earlier this
year. The Liberals, at the order of the Prime Minister's Office, quashed
the bill in the House of Commons. Martin responded be grabbing the
ceremonial mace, and breaching parliamentary decorum in the process.

Under Martin's private members bill, a person found to be in possession of
marijuana for the first offence could be fined $200 while people guilty of
second and third offences would get fines of $500 and $1,000 respectively.
Martin's position was that decriminalizing pot would allow the government
to save money from no longer having to penalize people for marijuana
possession through the criminal justice system.

The money saved could be well spent in treating addiction and going after
organized crime.