WHERE THERE'S SMOKE, THERE'S DISAGREEMENT

Advocates say the evils of criminalizing marijuana are worse than the weed
itself.

When justice minister Martin Cauchon readily admitted last month that he
smoked pot in his youth, he reignited the debate over whether it's time to
ease laws around marijuana possession.

Advocates of decriminalization say marijuana is no more dangerous than
alcohol or tobacco -- both legal substances -- and the time and money spent
on minor drug busts could be used to nab big-time traffickers or growers.

Vocal opponents, notably law enforcement officials, say decriminalization
will lead to more drug abuse. They say marijuana is increasingly more
potent, but people will think it is safe if it is decriminalized.

Three decades ago, the Le Dain commission studied various aspects of
cannabis and recommended that possession of small amounts not be a criminal
offence, unlike selling and distributing the drug. Those recommendations
were never implemented.

Conviction for possessing 30 grams or less of marijuana and 1 gram or less
of hashish, a derivative of marijuana, is a summary offence with a fine of
up to $1,000 and/or six months in jail.

An estimated 1.5 million Canadians are considered recreational pot smokers.
In 2000, nearly 25,000 people in Canada were charged with cannabis
possession, a 26 per cent jump from 1996.

Marijuana became an illegal substance in Canada in the 1920s. Today, there
appears to be a growing movement among some physicians, lawyers and even
politicians for change.

Most insist they are not seeking to legalize the drug but merely to lessen
the punishment, following the example of other countries, notably in
Western Europe and in some Australian states.

A private member's bill to change the laws was introduced this year by
Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin, a B.C. physician, but killed by the
Liberals. Tory Leader Joe Clark has spoken in favour of decriminalization,
saying young people should not be forced to carry lifelong criminal records
for smoking pot. Two parliamentary committees are studying the issue again
and are expected to make recommendations this fall.

Britain has just relaxed its rules around cannabis use. While possession is
a still a criminal offence, in most cases police will be instructed not to
charge people if it is for personal use. At the same time, the government
will focus on harder drugs. It raised the maximum penalty for dealing from
five years to 14 years.

The Canadian Medical Association has come out in favour of
decriminalization and, in an editorial in May, the Canadian Medical
Association Journal called Health Canada's decision to allow medicinal
marijuana "a step in the right direction," but urged bolder action.

"What we're saying to government is, if you're going to decriminalize it,
you're going to have to put resources into a comprehensive drug program --
in education, prevention and cessation," says CMA president Henry Haddad.

"Marijuana does have health hazards," he adds. "We would prefer that people
never smoke marijuana -- just like we would be very happy if people never
smoked tobacco."

Harold Kalant, professor emeritus of pharmacology at the University of
Toronto, warns that using marijuana comes with risks.

"It's not a safe, totally harmless drug," he says. "The acute effect of a
single joint is intoxication, similar to alcohol. The long-term effects are
addictive both physically and psychologically."

While there are no known fatalities from cannabis alone, overdoses can
occur when it is mixed with other drugs or alcohol.

The long-term effects of marijuana include cancer, lung disease and
impairment of the immune system. Kalant says cannabis users are three times
more likely to develop cancer of the upper airways than non-users and
people who smoke tobacco as well as dope are 30 times more likely to
develop cancer.

Kalant adds that the marijuana now available is far stronger than what
people smoked 30 years ago, when dope came into vogue.

"The stuff on the street then contained 1 per cent to 2 per cent of THC
(tetrahydrocannabinol)," he says. "It is not rare to see 10 per cent to 15
per cent THC in hydroponic marijuana today. Having 7.5 per cent to 10 per
cent THC is fairly common."

Speaking of 30 years ago, anyone who lived in Toronto then and associates
dope and the hippie era always brings up Rochdale.

Sometimes described as a monument to excess and a symbol of the flower
children movement, the 18-storey tower at Bloor and Huron Sts. -- which is
now a seniors' home -- was known as a haven for drugs.

Created as an experiment in learning and living, Rochdale was Canada's
counter-culture equivalent of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury. It opened in
1968 as a self-governing free university that attracted artists, hippies,
acidheads, draft dodgers and drug dealers. It was closed in 1975 after
years of notoriety.

Toronto police Deputy Chief Michael Boyd, who is adamantly opposed to any
decriminalization of marijuana, worries that today's youth are smoking dope
that can be 500 per cent stronger than that of the Rochdale years.

"If we were to decriminalize marijuana, it sends a confusing message to
people, especially young people," says Boyd, who chairs the drug abuse
committee of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police.

Health Canada data show teens used more hashish or marijuana during the 1990s.

Among 13-year-olds, 5 per cent of boys and 6 per cent of girls had used the
drug three times or more in 1990. By 1998, that figure jumped to 13 per
cent for boys and 8 per cent for girls.

Similarly, among 15-year-olds, 32 per cent of males had tried the drug more
than three times in 1998, up from 16 per cent in 1990, while the figure for
females was 29 per cent, up from 13 per cent.

"We are not looking to arrest more people," Boyd says. "We would like to
streamline people to get the right treatment and help....

"Contrary to some beliefs, we aren't going after the small-time users.
Police are so busy with increasing demands of new types of crime, we don't
have the time."

Most convictions for possession of marijuana come as the result of plea
bargains for other crimes, such as marijuana trafficking, or secondary to
charges such as robbery or assault, Boyd says.

The federal justice department estimates the cost of prosecuting simple
cannabis possessions amounts to $4.8 million a year, out of an annual
budget of $56 million to prosecute drug offences.

According to Statistics Canada, last year there were 92,000 drug offences
- -- with cannabis possession accounting for three-quarters of all
drug-related incidents. That is 3 per cent higher than in 2000 and 45 per
cent higher than in 1991.

Patrick Smith, vice-president of clinical programs at the Centre for
Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, is among those who say the money
used to prosecute or jail people for marijuana possession could be better
spent on treatment or prevention programs.

"Marijuana is not a benign drug," he says, but it's not as destructive as
some other substances.

"If there were a panel of experts and we discovered alcohol, tobacco and
marijuana and, based on everything we know about all three drugs, and we
could only criminalize one, it would not be marijuana."

Despite the talk about loosening drug laws, Alan Young, a long-time
champion of decriminalization, remains skeptical that the federal Liberals
will be make changes soon.

"If you look carefully at what the (justice) minister said, he was careful
to ensure that people understand that there will be a need for public
consultation," says Young, a law professor at Osgoode Hall Law School.

"Even though we have had so many committee reports, we have studied this
issue more than any aspect of health and welfare, we're going to have
another couple of years of consultations."

Note: Advocates say the evils of criminalizing marijuana are worse than the
weed itself.