Pubdate: Mon, 05 Jun 2000
Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership.
Contact:  333 King St. E., Toronto, Ontario M5A 3X5 Canada
Fax: (416) 947-3228
Website: http://www.canoe.ca/TorontoSun/
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Authors: Jason Tchir and Irene Papakonstatinou

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Ticket System Better Than Courts: Officials

A ticketing system for people caught using or possessing small amounts of
marijuana may be an alternative to current drug laws, Police Chief Julian
Fantino said yesterday.

"If someone was caught with cannabis, the arresting officer could seize the
product and issue a ticket," Fantino told The Toronto Sun. "It would still
be illegal -- we're not saying go out and smoke your head off."

He supports the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs' proposal calling for
decriminalization of simple possession of marijuana and its derivatives.

If lawmakers got on board, Fantino said, one alternative could be a
ticketing system requiring users to pay fines and enter education or
treatment programs, instead of going through the time- and money-consuming
judicial process.

"It's not a novel idea -- we do it with johns, too," he said, referring to
john school, where customers of prostitutes can choose to enroll in a class
instead of having a conviction on their record.

COPS' OPTION

But Fantino added that officers would still have the option of charging
offenders.

Police Services Board chairman Norm Gardner agreed that decriminalizing
simple possession of weed would be practical.

"It's dumb to put so many resources into charging people for simple
possession," Gardner said yesterday. "Still, I don't endorse marijuana use
and I'm not saying that it has no harmful effects on users -- studies
clearly show it's physically harmful."

Fantino also said searching ravers is a pointless exercise.

"It's pretty difficult to find minute particles of drugs on people and we're
not into strip-searching," he said, adding that he supports most of the
other key recommendations of the recent coroner's jury investigating the
Ecstasy-related death of university student Allen Ho.

Besides suggesting police search party-goers for drugs, the jury also called
for a ban on any suggestion of drug use in advertising and to require
permits for the properties that host the raves.

But Fantino said the battle against drugs will be won with prevention, not
frontline enforcement of minor offences.

"Treatment and education are important," he said, but he stressed that
anyone caught by police with illegal drugs will be prosecuted.

"The law is the law -- we're not a social-service agency."
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