Pubdate: Mon, 23 Dec 2013
Source: Metro (Calgary, CN AB)
Copyright: 2013 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/Calgary
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4471
Author: Jeremy Nolais

POT REFORMS 'TOTAL AND COMPLETE MESS'

Survey Shows Rising Support for Recreational Use of Drug

Calgary's police chief is fired up over incoming medicinal marijuana 
reforms and says the federal government appears to be rushing 
"head-on" to fully legalize the drug with no rational reason for doing so.

Starting in April, Health Canada will mandate that marijuana no 
longer be grown in homes and instead transferred over to commercial 
operations. But city drug-unit cops say while they support the safety 
benefits of mould-free residences and fewer targets for home 
invaders, they see numerous other issues sprouting up as a result.

There are fears illegal dealers will undercut commercial offerings 
and that without a Health Canada disclosure of current legal grow-ops 
in Calgary there will be no way to track whether users have actually 
followed through and tossed their plants.

City Police Chief Rick Hanson said the reforms are "a total and complete mess."

"This whole issue - it has to be rationalized," he added. "There has 
to be some thought and structure put around this so that, heaven 
forbid, we actually make some good decisions as we go."

Hanson extended his concerns to include the general acceptance of 
marijuana use in everyday life.

But a new study from the University of Lethbridge's Citizen Society 
Research Lab indicates billowing support for recreational use. For 
the first time, a marginal majority of Albertans - 50.1 per cent of 
respondents - supported non prescription use of the drug, up from 
44.9 per cent last year and 36.5 per cent five years ago. In Calgary, 
support for recreational use was even stronger, at 52.3 per cent, and 
nearly four fifths of city residents surveyed approved of medicinal use.

Political scientist Faron Ellis, who heads up the annual "Traditional 
or Progressive" study, said there's potential for a swing in 
recreational marijuana support like that seen with same-sex marriage 
- - his team watched support for gays to wed shift from two-thirds 
against to two-thirds in favour in just a decade's time.

Regarding Hanson's comments, Ellis said the chief "is certainly 
swimming upstream against the current tide of public opinion, but 
he's swimming upstream against a lot of the political tide as well."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom