Pubdate: Fri, 18 May 2001
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2001, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://forums.theglobeandmail.com/
Website: http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Mark MacKinnon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MPS SET TO DEBATE LEGALIZING MARIJUANA

Ottawa - MPs quietly launched a debate Thursday that could lead to 
the decriminalization of currently illegal drugs such as marijuana.

All five parties in the House of Commons unanimously backed a motion 
to create a committee with a broad-ranging mandate to study solutions 
to the use of banned narcotics.

Members from at least three parties said Thursday that they see the 
committee as a forum to discuss the once-taboo topic of legalizing 
marijuana.

Toronto-area Liberal MP Derek Lee said that it's time to disregard 
convention and seriously look at the issue of whether using 
"recreational" drugs should be a criminal act.

"It's clear that all members in the House want to tackle this issue," 
he said. "It's time to be bold."

He said other MPs in the Liberal caucus support the idea of debating 
the subject.

New Democratic Party MP Dick Proctor said his party will definitely 
raise the topic of legalizing marijuana - and potentially other 
"soft" drugs - at the committee.

"We intend to have a pretty wide-open discussion on how to proceed," 
he said. "Everything has to be on the table, including the 
possibility of decriminalizing recreational drugs like marijuana for 
personal use."

The Bloc Quebecois, in its election platform, also promotes 
legalization. A spokesman said Thursday that the party voted in 
favour of the motion because it plans to push the issue at the 
committee.

The committee was struck one day after the Canadian Medical 
Association published an editorial urging the government to modernize 
its Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and decriminalize marijuana.

The motion was proposed by Canadian Alliance MP Randy White, a rabid 
antidrug crusader who favours stricter, not softer, laws. The intent 
was to create a committee that would examine ways for Canada to fight 
organized drug rings.

On Thursday, newly appointed Alliance spokesman Dan Robertson said 
the broadly worded motion was being misinterpreted by those wishing 
to talk about legalizing marijuana. "We're a grassroots party, but 
not in that respect," he said.

The wording of the motion, however, calls for the committee to study 
"the factors underlying or relating to the non-medical use of drugs 
in Canada." MPs from all sides of the House agreed those words can be 
interpreted many ways.

The all-party special committee will have 18 months to study the 
issue before reporting back to the Commons.

Mr. Lee said Thursday that he expects 75 per cent of the committee's 
time and energy to be devoted to the question of how to crack down on 
the criminal drug trade. He said that he is concerned about the 
spread of drugs that are both addictive and controlled by organized 
crime. Marijuana doesn't fit that definition, he said.

"While I consider the marijuana trade to be run by organized crime, I 
don't consider it to be in the addictive category."

Marijuana advocates have long argued that it is not addictive and has 
no long-term health effects. In its editorial, the Canadian Medical 
Association said studies show "minimal negative health effects [with] 
moderate use" of the drug.

Two years ago, Health Canada decriminalized the use and possession of 
marijuana for medicinal purposes. Possession for non-medicinal 
purposes remains a crime that carries a possible five-year jail 
sentence with a conviction.

The CMA estimates that 1.5 million Canadians smoke marijuana 
recreationally. More than 30,000 people a year are charged with 
marijuana possession, accounting for about half of all drug arrests.

Mr. Lee and Mr. Proctor both said part of the debate should be over 
whether to legalize, or simply decriminalize, marijuana. 
Decriminalization would make marijuana possession a civil offence, 
like a traffic ticket, that would not result in a criminal record.

Progressive Conservative Senator Pierre-Claude Nolin has also started 
a push in the Red Chamber to decriminalize marijuana.

The House motion came one day after the single-issue Marijuana Party 
attracted a surprising 3.4 per cent of the vote, or 54,000 ballots, 
in the B.C. election.

"The only reason we ran was to get people to take notice of the 
issue," party president Marc Emery said. "It's very encouraging."
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MAP posted-by: Josh Sutcliffe