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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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CN NK: Parliamentary Report Will Recommend That Pot Be
ccguide Thursday 28 Nov 2002 Pubdate: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 Source: Province, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2002 The Province Contact: Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/476 PARLIAMENTARY REPORT WILL RECOMMEND THAT POT BE DECRIMINALIZED SAINT JOHN, N.B. - A special parliamentary committee will recommend that growing pot for personal use should not be a crime, the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal reports. The newspaper reported yesterday that sources familiar with the work of the committee on the non-medical use of drugs say the move to decriminalize marijuana would still leave the possession of pot illegal, but the punishment would be a fine rather than a criminal record. "If you're going to decriminalize marijuana, where is a person supposed to get it?" said one well-placed source who confirmed that the committee is in favour of letting Canadians grow their own pot. Dominic LeBlanc, a rookie Liberal MP from New Brunswick, refused to discuss any of the more than two dozen committee recommendations to be released next month. But he admitted the closed-door debates "have not been easy". "I have found it interesting and very difficult to balance the many contradictory and compelling points of view," LeBlanc said yesterday. "What we're trying to do is come up with a report that reaches the maximum amount of consensus." LeBlanc has said previously that he supports decriminalizing marijuana, but said yesterday it would be "inappropriate" to discuss his opinions now that the committee is in the throes of finalizing its report. But last year, he said: "My instincts are that the possession of cannabis can be removed as a criminal offence while remaining a controlled substance - - with exemptions for medical use." Decriminalizing marijuana isn't the only recommendation likely to raise eyebrows, the newspaper reported. The committee is apparently also in favour of safe-injection sites and controversial heroin treatment that would involve prescribing the drug to addicts rather than having them buy it on the street. Canadian Alliance MP Randy White (Langley-Abbotsford), who initiated the committee and served as its vice-chair, also refused to discuss the report's contents. But he said LeBlanc, as the federal government's only Atlantic representative on the committee, will have a tough time selling a more liberalized view of drugs to the region. "The committee's going to be coming out with things in [the harm-reduction] area that we're going to have major concerns about," White said. "Harm reduction is a dangerous way to go." - - Canadian Press - --- MAP posted-by: Tom
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