LIBERALIZE LAWS ON POT: CAUCHON

Justice Minister Interested in Decriminalization

OTTAWA -- Canada's pot laws make no sense and should be liberalized,
says Justice Minister Martin Cauchon.

And Cauchon suggested yesterday he wants to decriminalize marijuana
use next year, although he dismissed a Senate committee recommendation
that marijuana be made legally available like alcohol. "The
legislation ... actually is a sort of disconnect with Canadian
reality," he said before a meeting.

"To keep it the way it is now doesn't make any sense to me in the year
2002."

Cauchon expressed interest in the lesser step of decriminalization,
making possession of small amounts of cannabis a ticketing offence
rather than a crime punishable in jail.

"It probably would be feasible as a first step," he said of
decriminalization. "I feel that there is strong support."

Cauchon told reporters that first he wants to see the November report
of a special Commons committee on the non-medical use of drugs. After
that, he will move ahead quickly with a new policy, probably at the
beginning of next year.

Liberal MP Paddy Torsney, chair of the 15-member Commons committee,
said there is no possibility it will recommend legalization of pot.
But the committee, which has heard pro and con arguments from the
public, police and others, has yet to decide whether to favour
decriminalization.

Cauchon said outright legalization of pot -- which would allow for the
open sale of the drug -- is not feasible because Canada has signed a
number of international treaties outlawing various drugs. "The notion
of legalizing marijuana is just not possible from an international
point of view," he said.

Cauchon said the U.S. has not tried to contact him to influence
Canada's position. Asked if he would be swayed by the U.S.'s
anti-marijuana stance, he said, "I'll do what's good for Canadian society."

On Wednesday, a committee of eight senators recommended legal reforms
that would allow anyone over 16 to smoke marijuana. The committee said
recreational use of pot is less harmful than alcohol or tobacco and
should not be subjected to criminal sanction.

Canadian Alliance Leader Stephen Harper says he'd be more worried
about his kids abusing marijuana than alcohol, The Star's Richard
Brennan reports. Harper, a father of two, who is attending a three-day
caucus retreat in Barrie, said the committee has gone too far in its
recommendations.

"The Senate report really quite distresses me. It's not simply that I
think the recommendations are fairly radical, but I think they almost
get to the point or border on almost advocating the use of marijuana,"
he said. "As a parent, I simply don't share the view that alcohol is
more harmful than marijuana ... I would be a lot more concerned about
my kids abusing pot than abusing alcohol," said Harper, whose
children are 3 and 5.

But Dr. Patrick Smith, vice-president of clinical programs at the
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and head of the addiction
psychiatry program at the University if Toronto, countered that there
is "nothing to suggest that alcohol is less harmful than marijuana."