OTTAWA GOVERNMENT MAY INTRODUCE POT BILL EARLY 2003

OTTAWA (AP) -- The federal government may introduce legislation early in
the new year to decriminalize the use of marijuana, says Justice Minister
Martin Cauchon.

"If we're talking about that question of decriminalizing marijuana, we may
move ahead quickly as a government," he said Monday outside the House of
Commons.

"I don't like to give you a date or a time frame, but let's say the
beginning of next year, the four first months of next year."

Cauchon said the long-awaited bill would depend partly on the views of a
special Commons committee which studied the use of non-medical drugs.

The committee released the first of two reports Monday, recommending that
heroin addicts in major cities should have safe-injection sites and
needle-exchange programs. It also said two prisons should be converted into
treatment centers for inmates.

A second report is due Thursday. That report is expected to recommend that
growing pot for personal use should not be a crime.

Sources familiar with the work of the committee said the move to
decriminalize marijuana would still make the possession of pot illegal, but
the punishment would be a fine rather than a criminal record.