BRITAIN IS RIGHT TO EASE LAW ON POT POSSESSION

Marijuana: Anti-drug resources needed elsewhere "What smooth pot, James!"

"Yes sir. And it's available only in Britain."

"Only in Britain? Pity!"

Those old enough to remember the old Red Rose Tea commercials (with which
we have some fun above), may have the most mixed feelings about Britain's
move to essentially decriminalize marijuana possession.

It puts a question to more than a few Canadian parents who smoked pot in
their day (some of whom even inhaled): Do they want to see marijuana more
available to their children?

A considerable number of people who came of age in the '70s have been
facing real dilemmas as their children go through their own rites of passage.

We have argued before now that decriminalizing marijuana possession would
be the sensible and pragmatic thing to do. The Canadian Association of
Chiefs of Police have urged decriminalization, as has the Canadian Medical
Association Journal.

The police chiefs have advocated taking marijuana possession out of the
Criminal Code, saying the time and resources dedicated to investigating and
prosecuting it far outweigh any legal or societal benefit.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal joined the call, saying medical
evidence indicates marijuana "is really quite an innocuous drug ... the
harms of criminalizing marijuana use far outweigh the harms of smoking a
bit of marijuana."

We argued that while we did not support legalization, nor decriminalizing
of trafficking, possession for personal use could be downgraded to an
offence punishable by a fine.

But as Britain changes its laws in quite that spirit -- police will not
charge people, in most cases, who have marijuana for their own use -- some
qualms resurface. Does it send mixed messages to youngsters about which
drugs are OK and which are not? Does it weaken the case against so-called
hard drugs?

The fact is, youngsters get all sorts of mixed messages already and most
figure them out far better than we give them credit for.

Tobacco is the most poisonous and, in terms of numbers, most addictive and
lethal substance on the market. Alcohol kills abusers -- in traffic and
other ways -- every day. Both are entirely legal for adult consumption.

Ecstasy or, even worse, junk masquerading as ecstasy, kills kids but is
often seen as a part of the "rave scene" and not as a dangerous drug.

It would send the right message if we recognized that marijuana is
relatively benign when compared to other readily available drugs, both
legal and illegal. Kids know hypocrisy when they see it -- we saw it in the
'70s and our children are seeing it now.

Decriminalization would allow police to focus resources better. It would
add more credibility to our resolve against cocaine and heroin and all the
acronym-labelled chemical cocktails.

It is, in the end, the right thing to do.

- -- Robert Howard