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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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Canada: Looser Pot Laws in New Year
ccguide Wednesday 11 Dec 2002 Pubdate: Tue, 10 Dec 2002 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2002 The Edmonton Journal Contact: Website: http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 Author: Janice Tibbetts Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) LOOSER POT LAWS IN NEW YEAR Justice minister vows to introduce legislation early in 2003 to decriminalize marijuana Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said Monday he intends to press ahead early next year with legislation to decriminalize marijuana so that people caught with small amounts won't face a criminal record. "If we talk about the question of decriminalizing marijuana, we may move ahead quickly as a government,"Cauchon said outside the House of Commons. "I don't like to give you a date, but let's say the beginning of next year. Give me the four first months of next year." After contemplating the prospect for months, the comments Monday were the first indication that Cauchon has made a final decision. However, the minister stressed that, formally, he is still awaiting a final recommendation from a House of Commons committee on drug use. The committee will tell the minister on Thursday that possession of small amounts of marijuana should be decriminalized. "I don't think I've ever really hidden my position," said Cauchon, 40, who has confessed to smoking pot in his youth. "I think most Canadians know where I stand but I'm part of a Parliamentary process that I must respect." The committee will recommend that Canadians caught with less than 30 grams of pot -- roughly the amount that fits in a small sandwich bag or enough to roll about 40 cigarettes -- should be given a fine akin to a parking ticket rather than be criminally charged, sources have told Global TV's news program, Global National. Currently, under the Criminal Code, a person caught with small amounts of marijuana can be jailed for up to six months and receive a fine of $1,000. The committee's recommendation is more conservative than one made in August by a Senate committee, which said marijuana should be outright legalized. Cauchon has rejected legalization, saying that society still believes that the possession of the drug should carry some sort of penalty. He has not revealed where he will draw the line between criminal and non-criminal behaviour, but he has said that trafficking will remain a serious criminal offence. Solicitor General Wayne Easter says that he is taking no public position on whether pot should be decriminalized. Rather, he will go along with whatever Cauchon decides to do. The Canadian Police Association is strongly opposed to taking possession off the criminal record books and the organization wants Easter to take a more aggressive stand. In the past, the association has said that decriminalization would hamper efforts to catch drug traffickers because police would not be able to use the threat of a criminal record to extract information from people about where they bought their pot. "It sort of gives you the hammer," association president Grant Obst said in July. Cauchon has said that the current system, in which police in some provinces lay charges while others do not, might not be working as it should. Statistics Canada figures from the 1990s showed that there is already a de facto drift toward decriminalization, with three times as many Canadians avoiding the justice system for marijuana possession in 1999 than in 1989. The statistics indicate a patchwork of police action across the country, where charges for pot possession depend largely on where you live, with the difference sometimes being a matter of a few kilometres. In Canada, more than 250 people have clearance to smoke marijuana provided by the federal government. Ottawa amended drug laws last year to allow such clearance for patients with conditions such as HIV, cancer and multiple sclerosis. Proponents of decriminalization argue it would free police to deal with more serious crimes. But the prospect has been greeted with dismay in the U.S., where the head of drug enforcement warned in July that a "lax policy" would hamper the aggressive American war on drugs. Asa Hutchinson, director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, predicted that more Canadian-grown pot would end up south of the border if Cauchon decides to relax Canadian law. "It would probably complicate things somewhat for the U.S.," Hutchinson said in an interview. "If you have lax marijuana policies right across the border, where possession of marijuana is not considered criminal conduct, that invites U.S. citizens into Canada for marijuana use and that will increase the likelihood that both U.S. citizens and Canadian citizens will bring back the Canadian marijuana across the border for distribution and sale." Hutchinson also fears that any shift in policy in Canada or Britain, which announced this past summer that it will relax marijuana laws, will rejuvenate a debate on marijuana decriminalization in the U.S. at a time when the administration is determined to keep the drug strictly illegal. With files from Global National, The Journal - --- MAP posted-by: Josh
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