CANADIAN PANEL BACKS LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

TORONTO, Sept. 5 -- A Canadian Senate committee has proposed that Canada
legalize marijuana, allow it to be grown by licensed dealers and perhaps be
sold in corner stores to people 16 or older. Such a policy would make
Canada one of the world's most tolerant countries toward the drug.

In a report, the committee found that marijuana was less harmful than
alcohol and should not be treated as a criminal problem, but as a public
health issue. The report called for amnesty for people convicted of
marijuana possession.

"Whether or not an individual uses marijuana should be a personal choice
that is not subject to criminal penalties," Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin,
chairman of the committee, said at a news conference. "But we have come to
the conclusion that, as a drug, it should be regulated by the state much as
we do for wine and beer."

It was not clear whether the committee's proposal would become law. But it
nonetheless prompted a debate in Canada and the United States about whether
it would promote drug use here and increase drug trafficking to the United
States.

"Canada is a sovereign nation, of course," John Walters, director of the
White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in a statement.
"All I can talk about is our experience here in the United States with
marijuana and the painful knowledge we've gained about its effects."

"We know that marijuana is a harmful drug, particularly for young people,"
he said. "We also know that if you make it more available, you'll get more
marijuana use. More use leads to more addiction and more problems."

The Canadian Police Association denounced the committee's recommendations.
"We've described this report as a back-to-school gift for drug pushers,"
said David Griffin, executive officer of the association, which represents
28,000 police officers.

Griffin said that Canada surpassed Mexico as a supplier of marijuana to the
United States. "The more liberalized our drug laws, the more that industry
will grow in producing drugs for the United States," he said.

He cited an international narcotics control board report that found that
Canada produces 800 tons of the drug annually, of which more than 60
percent enters the illegal market in the United States.

Canada has long had a more tolerant approach to the drug than the United
States. Police here often turn a blind eye to possession. And last year,
Canada passed a law allowing people with serious illnesses to use marijuana
for medical purposes if they obtained a government exemption.

Several groups in Canada praised the report, saying that prohibition of
marijuana fuels crime. "With prohibition, we are giving a gift to organized
crime," said Eugene Oscapella, a lawyer in Ottawa and a founding member of
the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, a research group. "The Senate
evidence is quite clear -- the law has little impact on the way people use
drugs."

"The Senate report is intelligent, rational and well-researched," he said.
"It shows some politicians with spine."

The proposal now goes to the Canadian Senate for debate and to various
ministries. Several ministry officials have said they will consider it, but
some analysts have expressed doubt the plan will become law.