Pubdate: Fri, 26 Jul 2013
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2013 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Authors: Daniel LeBlanc and Sunny Dhillon

TRUDEAU EMBRACES LEGAL POT AS LIBERALS, NDP LOOK TO 2015

Justin Trudeau's enthusiastic embrace of the legalization of marijuana
has fired up the debate over Canadian drug laws and exposed stark
differences among major political parties on the way to treat the
country's numerous pot smokers.

The Liberal Leader, who had expressed reservations about loosening up
Canada's marijuana regime in the past, said his position has
"evolved," placing him in the camp of those who would see cannabis
regulated and taxed by the government, and sold legally.

The stand places the Liberal Party on a collision course on the road
to the 2015 elections with the Conservative government, which is
solidly in favour of the status quo, and the NDP, which would only go
as far as decriminalizing the possession of small quantities of marijuana.

Mr. Trudeau is the first leader of a major Canadian political party to
advocate for legal pot - and he takes that position as his party and
the NDP fight to capture the progressive side of the political
spectrum in the next two years. At the end of a tour of British
Columbia, where illegal pot crops abound and the pro-marijuana culture
has flourished, Mr. Trudeau said he does not advocate drug use. Still,
he added that regulating and taxing marijuana would keep it out of the
hands of young people and allow for the development of the medical
marijuana industry.

He argued the current approach to drugs is not working and that Canada
would do well to follow the lead of Washington State and Colorado,
which voted in favour of marijuana legalization last year.

"Listen, marijuana is not a health food supplement, it's not great for
you," he told reporters Thursday.

Still, he said studies have shown it's not worse for people than
cigarettes or alcohol, and that he is now willing to go further than
decriminalization, which entails smaller penalties, such as a fine,
for drug possession.

"I have evolved in my own thinking," Mr. Trudeau said. "I was more
hesitant to even decriminalize not so much as five years ago. But I
did a lot of listening, a lot of reading, and a lot of paying
attention to the very serious studies that have come out and I realize
that going the road of legalization is actually a responsible thing to
look at and to do."

The Conservative government stated that it will remain opposed to any
loosening of Canada's drug laws, which it has toughened since coming
to office in 2006.

"These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effect they have on
users and on society, including violent crime. Our government has no
interest in seeing any of these drugs legalized or made more easily
available to youth," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

Employment and Social Development Minister Jason Kenney said on
Twitter that Mr. Trudeau's position was "irresponsible," and the
Conservative Party released a series of statements from police
officials and health experts against the legalization of marijuana.

The NDP blasted current and previous governments for failing to modify
Canada's drug laws despite the findings of the Le Dain Commission,
which called for the decriminalization of marijuana possession in 1972.

NDP MP Rosane Dore Lefebvre said the current war on drugs "is not
working" and her party would not send anyone to jail for having a
small quantity of marijuana.

"We are in favour of prevention instead of the Conservative Party's
punitive approach," she said in an interview.

"Something has to change because the status quo is
unacceptable."

Mr. Trudeau fuelled the debate this week as he attended a public event
in Kelowna, B.C., where he noticed someone holding a sign that called
for the decriminalization of cannabis.

"I'll take that as a question," said Mr. Trudeau, on a video that was
posted on YouTube.

"I'm actually not in favour of decriminalizing cannabis, I'm in favour
of legalizing it, tax and regulate," he said to applause. "It's one of
the only ways to keep it out of the hands of our kids, because the
current war on drugs, the current model, is not working."

Mr. Trudeau was a lot more hesitant as he discussed the issue at the
Liberal convention in 2012, expressing doubts even with
decriminalization.

"One of the things that pot does is disconnects you a little bit from
the world, and it's not great for health," Mr. Trudeau said in an
interview with the Red Dot Project.

In another comment, this time to Maclean's in 2010, Mr. Trudeau said
the strength of today's cannabis was a potential problem.

"It's not your mother's pot," Mr. Trudeau was quoted as saying. "I
lived in Whistler for years and have seen the effects. We need all our
brain cells to deal with our problems."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt