|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Canada: Committee to recommend 30-gram pot limit
Canadian Press The Globe and Mail, Canada
Wednesday 11 Dec 2002 Ottawa - Possession of up to 30 grams of marijuana should not saddle someone with a criminal record, a Commons committee will recommend Thursday. But it will not support an amnesty for people with records for past possession convictions. The report from the Special Parliamentary Committee on the Non-Medicinal Use of Drugs won't propose that pot be legalized. Rather, it will recommend that small amounts be sanctioned with something other than the full weight of the criminal justice system - likely a fine. Committee member Randy White, a Canadian Alliance MP from British Columbia, said the report - which will also recommend a 30-gram ceiling for people who grow their own marijuana - goes too far. "You may as well start legalizing it," he complained in an interview. But New Democrat Libby Davies, another committee member, said the Liberal-dominated committee didn't go nearly far nearly and she'll be issuing a minority report. "It's still basically leaving the possession of cannabis as illegal," said Ms. Davies. "Any trafficking would still be illegal. So it's still leaving in place all of the harms from prohibition." Ms. Davies said the federal government should be considering "a non-criminal, regulatory approach that doesn't involve fines, for example. "They're not moving very far at all, even though [the report] says 30 grams." One source said the 30-gram limit would simply put into law current police practice of seldom pressing charges in cases where only small amounts of the drug are found. The amount corresponds to the old street measurement of about an ounce. Prime hydroponically grown bud sells for up to $15 a gram. Mr. White suggested that possession of amounts under five grams should be treated with a fine. But he said permitting home-grown "is just a stupid position" because it's impossible to enforce a limit. The Liberals on the committee, he said, were "obviously under directions from the Minister at that point." On Monday, federal Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said the government could bring in legislation early in the new year to decriminalize pot use. Liberal MP Paddy Torsney, the chairwoman of the committee which held hearings for 18 months, said the committee focused on a "health approach." "We need prevention and education across the use of all substances, legal and illegal," she said. In September, a Senate committee recommended that marijuana be legalized for use by anybody over the age of 16. The committee found that moderate use of the drug poses no serious long-term dangers for adults and could be sold under controlled circumstances like liquor or in drug stores.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!