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Canada: Column: Marijuana Debate Could Add Spark To Commons

Chantal Hebert

Toronto Star (CN ON)

Friday 16 Mar 2001

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OTTAWA - ONE would never argue that Prime Minister Jean Chretien is an
activist. As he told his cabinet early in his tenure, in his book, the
best ministers are those who manage to keep legislation to a minimum.

If anything, over the years, Chretien's penchant for inertia has
increased. As a result, the notion of Parliament engaging the country
in a national discussion on any hot topic at his government's initiative
has become almost moot.

Now, the House of Commons is about to be once again confirmed in its
growing irrelevancy as the government gets set to bypass Parliament on
the road to making the country's marijuana law constitutional.

Last year, the Ontario Court of Appeal ordered the federal government to
rewrite its law on marijuana possession before next July 31 or see it
struck from the books. In particular, the court wants the legal status
of those who need marijuana for medical reasons clarified.

But rather than legalize marijuana possession or sale for therapeutic
purposes, sources say Chretien is about to go the regulation route.

The law, as written, would stand but exemptions would be built in so as
to allow those who smoke marijuana as a part of a medical treatment, as
well as groups such as "compassion clubs" that provide it to them, to
enjoy immunity from prosecution.

This back-door approach means the debate will be restricted to
bureaucrats and courts with Parliament kept out of the wider issue of
whether Canada's approach to marijuana is outdated.

And while sidestepping that debate is clearly the government's goal, it
is a missed opportunity in many more ways than one.

The opposition parties have all expressed interest in debating the
marijuana law with MPs of all persuasions introducing a variety of
private members' bills on the issue. Indeed, at the initiative of Tory
Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin, a senate committee has been set up to look
into legalizing marijuana use. But as instructive as the Senate
discussion might be, it will hardly have the high profile a government-
led Commons debate would have.

Among the issues begging exploration, the NDP, for instance, would
surely want to know whether the United States' vehement opposition to
any loosening of Canadian drug laws accounts for the government's
shyness about having the issue debated.

Down in Washington, any baby step on the part of Canada to remove
cannabis from the list of legally prohibited substances is bound to be
seen as sabotage of the American so-called war on drugs.

With their strong interest in law and order issues, the Canadian
Alliance and the Tories can only be concerned by the energy squandered
by both the police and the courts as they deal with thousands of
marijuana offenders every year - mostly by giving them a slap on the
wrist - all at the expense of tackling serious crimes.

The Canadian Association of Police Chiefs, for one, has long asked
federal legislators to consider writing out of the Criminal Code
marijuana possession for individual use.

As for the Bloc Quebecois, it makes a good case for finding ways to get
the marijuana cash cow out of the hands of organized crime groups who
squat on farmers' lands to grow cannabis and terrorize them in the
process. In Quebec, biker gangs have basically cornered the marijuana
market.

On a wider scale, access to and consumption of marijuana is an issue
that has increasing resonance in the life of Canadians.

As they grow older and sicker, baby boomers are bound to rediscover the
drug of choice of their youth. Already, a variety of seniors'
associations have taken up the cause of freer access to marijuana.

At the other end of the age scale, the current law is not stopping young
people from experimenting with cannabis but, as health activists point
out, it is preventing teenagers from being informed properly about where
to draw the line between recreational use and drug abuse.

Much as a previous generation was often advised to deal with the sexual
revolution by preaching abstinence to its children, today's parents are
expected to act as though a blanket condemnation of marijuana would keep
it out of their offspring's environment.

While Canada is unlikely to have cannabis on offer alongside tobacco and
alcohol anytime soon, if ever, a parliamentary debate could only lead to
a better-informed public and, eventually, a less hypocritical regimen.

Not to mention the golden opportunity for parliamentarians on all sides
of the issue to show a new generation of voters that the House of
Commons is not really just another of the national capital's many
museums.


 

 

 

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