Pubdate: Thu, 12 Jul 2007
Source: Winnipeg Free Press (CN MB)
Copyright: 2007 Winnipeg Free Press
Contact:  http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/502
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

IT'S A CRIME

THE people of Papua New Guinea smoke more marijuana than Canadians 
do. So do the residents of Micronesia, Zambia and Ghana. After that, 
hardly anyone even comes close to matching this country's fondness 
for having a toot, which Canadians do more than the citizens of any 
other industrialized nation. In fact, we toke at more than four times 
the global rate, according to a United Nations survey.

This is nothing to be proud of. There are no medals or ribbons for 
this achievement, if it can be called an achievement. There are, 
however, plenty of criminal records to be handed out -- more criminal 
records, in fact, than make any sense.

There was under a previous Liberal government a motion before 
Parliament to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of 
marijuana for personal use. During that time, Canadian police 
departments apparently -- and sensibly -- eased off on the pursuit 
and prosecution of the nominal criminals who use the drug 
recreationally. Why clog up court rooms with charges that soon would 
not be criminal offences, the thinking seemed to be.

Unfortunately, the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen 
Harper has abandoned that bill, perhaps playing to the socially 
conservative sensibilities that form the hard core of its support. 
Since then, the police have been more diligent, as they should be -- 
it is their job to enforce the law, however senseless it might be. 
Since then, arrests for possession of marijuana have risen by as much 
as 50 per cent in cities across Canada, according to a survey done by 
the Canadian Press.

Curiously, despite this due diligence on the part of the police, the 
country seems no safer or better off today than it was before the 
Conservatives abandoned the bill. Thousands of young lives, however, 
have been made worse forever by being saddled with criminal records 
for offences that only a few social dinosaurs still consider worth 
prosecuting. According to the UN statistics, thousands more Canadians 
each year will face the same fate until a Canadian government finds 
the courage to bring some sense to this country's drug laws.
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