POT OPTIONS OPEN: GRIT

No pressure to reject legalization as U.S. wants, justice minister says

By Tara Brautigam

TORONTO (CP)-- Federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says he's felt no
pressure to back off from possible decriminalization of marijuana despite
criticism from the United States.

Two committees from the House of Commons and the Senate are looking into
the decriminalization of the drug. Recommendations are expected in the fall.

"I will just like to wait for the recommendations from the two committees
and we'll see afterwards," Cauchon said yesterday.

"I've heard nothing from the United States. I'm working within Canada,
within my home government... we'll see what will be the recommendations of
the report, we'll see where is our society exactly."

But just moments before Cauchon spoke, a senior official in Washington
openly criticized Canada's possible foray into decriminalization.

"If you decriminalize the use of drugs, you are increasing the vector by
which the disease of addiction is spread," said John Walters, director of
the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. "I fear that even
in Canada, our own ignorance has also contributed to an attitude that
marijuana is not a dangerous, addictive substance that is particularly a
vice for children," he said.

"Again, the drug problem is not about 25-year-olds or 35-year-olds or
40-year-olds making maybe unwise decisions in the privacy of their own home
about what they use for entertainment or fun. The drug problem is about
children."

Walters added that if people stopped experimenting with drugs as teenagers,
addiction problems likely wouldn't surface later in life.

Back in Toronto, Cauchon also discussed possible reform of divorce laws,
same-sex marriages and legal aid.

The minister, who said on Monday the adversarial terms "custody" and
"access" will be eliminated from divorce legislation this fall because the
words create a "perception" of winners and losers, stressed the importance
of social services for couples in crisis and children in need of help.

"Sometimes I feel that there's not enough services in order to guide them,
in order to help them out," he said. "The human goal is to try to make sure
that families won't get to the divorce. We're talking about a prevention
mode." Cauchon declined to give his personal view on same-sex marriage,
saying it was inappropriate to do that as federal justice minister.

"I believe we're facing a different decision from one province to another,
from one court to another. We need to keep all our options open," he said.

Addressing possible legal aid reform, Cauchon said he was willing to look
at the models of other countries to improve access to the courts in Canada.

He made his remarks after announcing an $8.6 million infusion to fight
youth crime in Ontario. The money, which was allocated in the December 2001
federal budget, is intended to combat substance abuse, poverty, home
violence, lack of education, and hunger -- all underlying causes of youth
crime, Cauchon said.

"Where there are safe, healthy and happy children, there is invariably a
safe, healthy and happy community," he said. "Sadly, too many Canadian
children do not enjoy a healthy start to life."

The cash will go to 145 community organizations throughout the province,
such as Big Brothers and Sisters branches and the Canadian Tamil Youth
Development Centre in Toronto.

Neethan Shanmugarajah, program co-ordinator for the centre, said the funds
will help run projects similar to a recent one-year examination it
conducted of Tamil youth gang structure.

"It shed a lot of light into youth issues that the Tamil youth face," said
Shanmugarajah. -- Canadian Press