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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom