POT PROPOSAL POSES PROBLEMS FOR AREA RESIDENTS AND MP

Legalizing the sale and use of marijuana has gotten a firm thumbs down from
the local Alliance MP, and provoked mixed reactions from Grande Prairians.

Peace River MP Charlie Penson said he's confident the report issued
Wednesday by the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, which
recommended legalizing the use and sale of marijuana to anyone 16 or older,
won't be received favourably in the Peace region.

"I'm not in favour of that, and I think that is the reflective of the view
of most people in my constituency," said Penson.

Marijuana is a "gateway" drug, he said, that paves the way into addiction
to so-called hard drugs - an argument discarded by the senate committee as
untrue.

"I'm of the view it would lead to an increase in use and graduation to
harder drugs," said Penson.

"I don't see any compelling push (for legalization), certainly not from my
constituents in the Peace River region. I would be surprised if people were
supportive of this initiative."

The senate report was the end result of a two-year investigation into the
use and abuse of pot in Canada. The final 600-page report was distilled
down to 11 recommendations, including legalizing producing, selling and use
of marijuana, amnesty for the approximately 600,000 Canadians saddled with
criminal records for past possession of marijuana charges, and an easing-up
on the current guidelines for the medical use of cannabis.

The committee also recommended amending the legal blood/alcohol limit of
.08 to .04 in cases where liquor has been combined with other mind-altering
drugs.

Grande Prairie resident Milli Johnson, 48, summed up her feelings of the
senate report succinctly: "Sounds like they must have been on marijuana
themselves to come up with that."

"I'm very much against it. I think the government wants to legalize it so
they can control it more... and reap the benefits," said Johnson, owner of
Cinnamons in the Prairie Mall.

Bobbie Riley, 25, a mother of two young children, said she's seen
first-hand the destructive effects of marijuana abuse, and opposes making
it easier for youth to access the drug.

"I spent my formative years doing it and seeing what it did to my friends
and I don't feel it should be readily accessible," said Riley. "They were
more concerned about getting high than going to school."

That sentiment is echoed by Spirit River-area rancher Ed Yuha, 44, who said
enough legal vices exist in Canada already, without adding another.

"I look at the booze and smoking that's all legal and I think it has a
negative impact on our society and I think that marijuana would too. To me
it's just a step in the wrong direction."

Eighteen-year-old Ashley Armbruster agreed with the Senate's stance that
marijuana use shouldn't carry criminal penalties, but said it shouldn't be
sold to kids as young as 16.

"It should be 18 at least, the same as cigarettes," she said. "I think
people shouldn't be penalized or go to jail for it, but I don't know about
the government taking it over and selling it in stores."

Legalizing the weed would make it easier for government to regulate its
use, said 51-year-old Darlene Wheeler, a nurse at QEII Hospital, but she
agreed 16 is too young for kids to be lighting up.

"I hate to see it available to 16-year-olds," she said.

Erin Malloy, an assistant nurse from Peace River, said the legalization of
pot is only a matter of time, and a matter of overcoming society's stigmas.

"I've never tried marijuana ever in my life, but I think it's no worse than
drinking. It wouldn't be a big deal if it wasn't so shunned in our society."

Barb Robbins, area supervisor at the Northern Addictions Centre in Grande
Prairie, said 40 per cent of her clients report using marijuana in
combination with other drugs, and up to 20 per cent say its their drug of
choice.

"We don't favour a change in the legal status of cannabis, primarily based
on clinical studies of the negative physical and social impacts heavy
cannabis users suffer."

Robbins said that heavy use can disrupt employment, family relations, and
stifle ambition. Although she agrees that marijuana hasn't been proven as a
gateway to other, harder drugs, she said pot on its own is dangerous enough.

"For those that use it in large quantities, frequently, or over a long
period of time there are negative impacts... It's not a harmless drug."

The Canadian Police Association - a sort of police officer's union -
immediately slammed the report as a "back to school gift for drug pushers."

The RCMP are so far declining to weigh-in on the debate, but promise a
response is forthcoming.

"We need time to fully digest the report and look at the recommendations,"
said Sgt. Paul Marsh, spokesperson for the RCMP's headquarters in Ottawa.
"We definitely will have an opinion... just not at this time."