"LEGALISE, MAN!": SENATE

On Wednesday, a Canadian Senate committee issued a report recommending the
legalisation of marijuana. The Ubyssey supports this idea, and for many more
reasons than the ones you are probably sniggering over right now.

Decriminalisation just makes good sense. In fact, it makes such good sense
that even the Senate-arguably the least ambitious of Canada's political
organs-is taking notice.

The Senate document, over the course of a colossal 600 pages, winds its way
through scientific fact-marijuana is far less harmful than alcohol or
cigarettes-and into matters of policy, suggesting that cannabis use among
Canadians would be better treated as a public health issue, not a criminal
matter. Given the minimal health risks of marijuana use, the committee is
calling for the substance to be controlled by regulations similar to those
that govern alcohol.

"Prohibition is a cop-out," said Pierre Claude Nolan, the chair of the
nine-senator committee.

The report brings the findings of two years of research and 234 interviews
to bear on the issue, and concludes that the purchase and use of marijuana
should be made legal for those aged 16 and over.

After 79 years of marijuana prohibition in Canada, this is groundbreaking,
not in terms of its content-the Canadian Medical Association made similar
recommendations a year ago-but in terms of its source: the traditionally
conversative Senate.

The committee, drawn from a group whose thought patterns often seem to be in
a decades-old holding pattern, has added a great deal of weight to the
seemingly inevitable movement in Canada toward legalising marijuana. This
report is just the latest of many government voices speaking in favour of
liberalising marijuiana law; it joins a chorus that has been building since
1973, when a federal commission called on courts to stop pursuing charges
for marijuana possession. Even Joe Clark, of all people, has spoken in
favour of relaxing marijuana law.

Of course, not everybody agrees with our surprisingly progressive Senate.
The Canadian Police Association, for example, says that drug dealers would
be pleased if the Senate recommendations come into effect. More certainly,
the country's police forces would be embarrassed by the recommendation to
grant amnesty to the 600,000 Canadians who have a criminal record for of
marijuana possession.

25,000 new possession charges are laid in Canada every year. Multiply that
by the resources used by the police and courts toward the clearly impossible
goal of abolishing marijuana use, and you've got what we at the Ubyssey like
to call a tragic waste of resources. An estimated one billion dollars is
spent annually on enforcing marijuana prohibition in Canada, and we know
we're not alone in thinking that there just might me more worthwhile uses
for this money. Healthcare or education, anyone?

If the report's recommendations were followed, the government would actually
be able to make money from marijuana; commercial sales by licensed vendors
would be taxed in much the same way as alcohol and tobacco sales. Bringing
marijuana sales above-ground would take control of the substance's
distribution, and take it away from organised crime, allowing safety
standards to be enforced.

The Canadian Medical Association estimates that 1.5 million Canadians use
marijuana recreationally; if marijuana were decriminalised these millions of
people would no longer be criminals, as they (we) currently are, by legal
definition.

The day after the Senate report was released, Federal Justice Minister
Martin Cauchon described current marijuana legislation as "disconnected with
Canadian reality." He won't consider changing the law, though, until the
release of a House of Commons report on illicit drugs. Due to be released in
November, this report may be the next step toward marijuana legalisation.
The Senate doesn't show real leadership very often-we hope that the House is
listening.