Feature Report - Part 1 Of 3

MARIJUANA USE IS A POLITICAL HOT POTATO

"Addicts to this drug while under its influence, become raving maniacs and
are liable to kill or indulge in any form of violence to other persons,
using the most savage methods of cruelty without any sense of moral
responsibility."

- -- Emily Ferguson Murphy, The Black Candle, published in 1922.

You might wonder after reading Emily Murphy's fevered admonitions whether
Canada's first female magistrate was a clairvoyant who foresaw the coming
scourge -- crack cocaine.

But no. Judge Murphy's wildly inaccurate descriptions were meant to scare
the wits out of her 'Roaring '20s' contemporaries, whom she passionately,
and some would hasten to add, hysterically, warned against the demon weed
- -- marijuana.

Murphy's books and articles, some of which appeared in Maclean's magazine
under the pen name "Janey Canuck," were widely read and taken dead
seriously. A year after The Black Candle appeared in print in 1922, Canada
moved to outlaw marijuana under the Opium and Narcotic Drug Act.

Ever since, dissenters have argued that the penalties for simple possession
of marijuana, for which nearly 50,000 Canadians were charged last year, are
too harsh.

Marijuana is without question a psycho-active substance and therefore not
entirely benign. Yet there is no doubt that much of what is written and
said about the drug is based on rhetoric, myth and bad science.

The Canadian Medical Association estimates that 1.5 million Canadians smoke
marijuana recreationally. It guesses that another 400,000 citizens use
cannabis for medical reasons. Last year, its medical journal began calling
for the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of the drug for
personal purposes, arguing that marijuana is relatively harmless and that
"the real harm is legal and social fallout."

Ontario's Court of Appeal ruled in August of 2000 that prohibiting
marijuana for medical purposes violated an epileptic man's right to "life,
liberty and security of the person" under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms. The following year, Canada became the first country
to adopt a system regulating the medicinal use of cannabis for the
chronically and terminally ill to relieve their pain and other symptoms.

Even Canada's Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says the government is giving
serious thought to eliminating criminal penalties for simple possession of
marijuana.

Still, Canada lags behind a number of European countries, including
Portugal, England, the Netherlands and Belgium, which have liberalized laws
for citizens who smoke pot.

Many say it's because Canada fears the wrath of U.S. anti-drug warriors who
have spent hundreds of billions of dollars over several decades fighting
illegal drugs.

Dr. Keith Martin is the Canadian Alliance MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca
whose private member's bill to decriminalize marijuana was killed by the
Liberals this spring after second reading in the House of Commons.

But Martin believes nonetheless that the political will to bring about
marijuana reform does exist in Ottawa. And that a majority of politicians
will go with the tide, knowing the polls show that 75 per cent of Canadians
favour either decriminalization or legalization.

"We can negotiate with the United States and I hope our government would
have the courage and the leadership to engage the Americans in a true war
against drugs. Not by getting tough with users, but by developing new
treatment programs and prevention programs for users, while throwing the
book at organized crime gangs."

Martin said the Liberals defeated his bill because the government wanted to
be seen as "leading and not following on the issue" of decriminalization.

Martin said saddling people who smoke pot with a criminal record is
"punitive, unfair and unjust," particularly to young people. "A conviction
for marijuana possession is like a ball and chain around their necks."

In 1973, Canada's Le Dain commission studied the marijuana issue and
recommended that simple possession no longer be treated as a criminal
offence. People caught with small amounts would not be jailed but merely
subjected to a fine. Those recommendations were never implemented.

The debate still rages.

Two federal committees are studying what, if any, changes should be made to
Canada's marijuana laws. A House of Commons committee will report later
this year on the recreational use of marijuana and on crime linked to the
drug trade. And a special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs, which has been
gathering feedback from Canadians since spring, recommended yesterday that
possession of marijuana be decriminalized.

A discussion paper put out by the Senate earlier this year surprised pot
advocates and staunch prohibitionists alike. The committee found:

* The vast majority of pot smokers use cannabis only irregularly and just
10 per cent become regular users.

* Marijuana may have some negative effects on health, but considering the
irregular patterns of use, this problem is relatively benign.

* Each year more than 30,000 Canadians are charged with possession of
cannabis. (Statistics Canada reports, however, that 49,639 were charged in
2001, up from 45,407 in 2000.)

* Enforcement and prosecution of pot smokers represents a significant cost
to taxpayers. The most recent Auditor General's report says the annual cost
of fighting all illegal drugs was $500 million for federal agencies alone.

The discussion paper points to studies in Australia, England, France, the
Netherlands and the U.S. that suggest cannabis is not a "gateway" drug
because the "vast majority" of pot smokers never progress to harder drugs.

The Senate committee said marijuana, in and of itself, has very limited
effects on public safety insofar as crime is concerned. However, its
illegal status fuels organized criminals engaged in drug smuggling,
cultivating and trafficking. The Justice Minister said he feels no pressure
to back off the decriminalization of marijuana, despite not-so-veiled
threats from the U.S.

John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control
Policy, warned (Canadian Press, Aug. 14): "If you decriminalize the use of
drugs, you are increasing the vector by which the disease of addiction is
spread."

Cauchon responded, telling Canadian news reporters: "I will just like to
wait for the recommendations from the two committees and we'll see afterwards."

Wayne Phillips, a Hamilton artist, has been smoking marijuana since the
1960s. He says cannabis sparks his creative process and he recently began
incorporating the plant into his acrylic canvases.

Phillips, 53, argues that decriminalizing the possession of cannabis is a
poor substitute for regulation -- the way tobacco and alcohol are regulated
- -- because it does not address the crime and violence that stem from the
illegal drug trade. On the other hand, legalization and regulation would be
a tax bonanza for the government, he suggests. The tax windfall and
additional money saved on enforcement and prosecution could be used for
prevention and treatment of people addicted to harder drugs.

Phillips argues that there are no known deaths attributable to the toxic
effects of marijuana. "You can't say that about alcohol nor can you say it
about tobacco. Why would our government sanction two things that are known
killers and yet put people in jail for a third, which does not harm? To me,
it's a form of persecution."

The possession of marijuana and its use for medical conditions stepped into
the national spotlight yesterday with the Senate's recommendation that
possession be decriminalized. This three-day special report examines the
issue confronting the Canadian public, police and politicians.

Today: The politics of marijuana

Tomorrow: Medical marijuana

Saturday: Criminal grow operations