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Canada: MacKay’s pot assertion doused: Law professor: Minister should retract incorrect assertion that toking breaks law Paul McLeod Chronicle Herald Tuesday 27 Aug 2013 University of Ottawa law professor Amir Attaran has filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society, saying MacKay misled Canadians to attack Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau. Trudeau admitted to the Huffington Post recently that he took a drag of a friend’s joint after becoming an MP. MacKay later condemned Trudeau and said “it is currently against the law to smoke dope.”But that’s not true, says Attaran. While trafficking or possessing marijuana is illegal, Attaran says the courts have consistently ruled the act of smoking pot is not a crime. MacKay is still registered as a lawyer in Nova Scotia and Attaran says he broke the bar society’s code of conduct by misleading the public for partisan reasons. “That is not conduct that would be acceptable from a small-town lawyer, much less from the attorney general of Canada,” he said. “It’s really quite reprehensible to misrepresent Parliament’s laws when you have that office.” MacKay’s office, without mentioning actual smoking of marijuana, quoted the section of the Criminal Code that references possession of the drug. Bar society executive director Darrel Pink wouldn’t comment on the specific case but said the society looks into every complaint it receives. He downplayed the likelihood of a lawyer facing sanctions for saying smoking pot is illegal. “It’s hard to speculate. I think common sense would suggest it hardly is on the serious side of complaints that are filed against lawyers,” said Pink. “That’s not saying it’s not meritorious, but there are certainly many types of complaints that are far more serious.” Attaran said he is not a member of the Liberal party and has made donations to individual candidates of all three major parties. Police officers generally don’t charge people who are caught smoking a joint, said Halifax Regional Police spokesman Const. Pierre Bourdages. “There’s very often cases where the officer would basically just destroy what was there. It would be an educational experience,” he said. Trudeau has made headlines this summer, first by endorsing legalization of marijuana, then by admitting his own usage. His camp says they are trying to be open and transparent. Federal NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said in Halifax on Monday he would not be OK with a member of his caucus smoking pot. “Yes, I think that that would be a problem. I think that people who are elected can say that they’re going to change laws, but they’d be expected to obey the laws while they’re there,” he said. Mulcair is on a cross-Canada tour promoting Senate reform. http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1150065-mackay-s-pot-assertion-doused
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