Pubdate: Wed, 24 Dec 2003
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A5
Copyright: 2003, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Authors: Ingrid Peritz, And Daniel Leblanc
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

DREAMS GO UP IN SMOKE FOR MARIJUANA ACTIVISTS

Ruling Brings Canada Closer To U.S. Than Europe, Leader Of Pot Party Says

MONTREAL and OTTAWA -- They had hoped the Supreme Court would help turn 
Canada into a slice of Amsterdam in North America.

Instead, Canadian marijuana activists watched their hopes for legalization 
vanish yesterday after the Supreme Court ruling upholding laws against pot 
possession.

"This brings Canada one step closer to the United States, while we had been 
on the way to being more like Europe," Marc-Boris St.-Maurice, leader of 
the federal Marijuana Party of Canada, said as he puffed on what he had 
hoped would be a legal joint at Montreal's new marijuana cafe.

"I was hoping the Constitution would protect my right to get stoned as much 
as it protects what movie I watch or what book I can read," he said. "But 
I'm still a criminal. Ten years of hard work is all down the tubes."

The decision leaves Parliament to face the new year at the centre of a 
heated debate on marijuana laws as a result of the ruling that it is up to 
the federal government to deal with the issue through legislation.

There had been fears in Ottawa that the Supreme Court, which has been 
accused of meddling in the affairs of Parliament, could force the 
government to quickly liberalize its laws on pot possession.

As a result of the court decision, the House of Commons will be allowed to 
respond to the call of Prime Minister Paul Martin for a debate on the issue 
of the decriminalization of small quantities of marijuana.

"What I like about the Supreme Court decision is that it makes it clear 
that this is a matter of public policy for elected officials, not judges. 
The court properly declined to interfere with Parliament's responsibility 
to determine this issue," Canadian Alliance MP Vic Toews said.

Montreal's bring-your-own-marijuana cafe, Chez Marijane, opened just over 
three weeks ago across the street from a police station, a small gesture of 
defiance in what patrons had hoped were the last gasps of Canada's drug laws.

Instead, David Malmo-Levine, one of the three defendants whose appeals of 
their marijuana convictions led to yesterday's ruling, said he fears police 
will use the court decision to crack down on pot users.

"The judges have given the cops carte blanche to come in here and 
obliterate us," he said from the headquarters of the B.C. Marijuana Party 
in Vancouver.

He said Canada had been at a crossroads, about to choose between the more 
lenient Dutch approach to soft drug use, and the hard-line "Singapore model."

"The courts have sent Canada further down the road of the Singapore model," 
he said.

"Everyone had their fingers crossed, and this is a major setback," he said.

But federal officials in the Prime Minister's Office, the Department of 
Justice and the Department of Public Safety praised the ruling.

"We're pleased that the Supreme Court has recognized that it's up to 
Parliament to decide whether marijuana possession should be treated as a 
criminal offence," said Farah Mohamed, a spokeswoman for Deputy Prime 
Minister Anne McLellan.

New Democrat MP Libby Davies said that the ruling is disappointing, and 
that she hopes that politicians will respond to the Supreme Court's challenge.

"I agree that Parliament's got to act," she said.

Yesterday, the Ontario government urged Ottawa to introduce legislation 
removing the criminal sanction against possession of small amounts of 
marijuana.

Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said there is a growing consensus in Canada 
that while a marijuana industry should not be encouraged, those caught in 
possession of the drug should not face criminal prosecution.

He said Ontario would welcome initiatives promised by Mr. Martin to wipe 
out criminal penalties -- including possible jail time and criminal records 
- -- for those caught with small amounts of marijuana.

"I think the appropriate course is to decriminalize possession and to have 
all the other offences stay where they are," the Finance Minister said 
yesterday.

Mr. Sorbara also served notice that the government plans to move 
aggressively against the expanding homegrown-marijuana industry. The 
Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police said in a report last week that the 
number of grow operations in Ontario has doubled in the past two years to 
as many as 15,000. The association said most of these operations were 
located in suburban homes in small and medium-sized cities.

The report said these enterprises generated as much as $12.7-billion in the 
past three years and stole about $260-million of electricity from the 
provincial grid at the expense of other customers.

Separate fights

Recent challenges to Canada's marijuana laws have been made in two fields:

Recreational use: The Supreme Court of Canada's ruling upheld the law 
making possession of even small amounts a criminal offence. The law had 
been upheld by lower courts.

The federal government introduced legislation that would wipe out criminal 
penalties for people caught with small amounts of marijuana, but the bill died.

Medical use: The federal Justice Department announced this month that it 
intends to stay about 4,000 charges of possession as a result of legal 
battles over medicinal marijuana.

An Ontario court ruling in 2000 found medicinal-marijuana users had the 
right to possess less than 30 grams of the drug.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom