Pubdate: Wed, 16 Dec 2015
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Cindy E. Harnett
Page: A3

EXPUNGE RECORDS FOR POSSESSION OF POT, MP URGES

Rankin says Ottawa needs to take more steps toward marijuana
legalization

The federal Liberal government needs to start taking steps toward
fulfilling its promise to legalize marijuana, such as by expunging
criminal records for possession, says Victoria NDP MP Murray Rankin.

Rankin said in the House of Commons on Friday that if the government
is serious about not criminalizing Canadians for simple possession of
marijuana, it could take steps now.

"The current government could have taken immediate action, but has
not," said Rankin, the NDP justice critic.

"There are no details, no timeline for decriminalizing marijuana
possession, no commitment to expunge the records of hundreds of
thousands of Canadians convicted for simple possession, and thousands
are still unfairly facing possible arrest, tying up the police and our
justice system."

Rankin said hundreds of thousands of Canadians are walking around with
criminal records - limiting them in many areas of their life - for
possession of small personal amounts of marijuana.

Former Toronto police chief Bill Blair, parliamentary secretary to the
justice minister and attorney general, said the government remains
committed to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana.

Blair said the government is pursuing changing Canada's laws on
marijuana "to protect our kids from the ravages of marijuana, to make
our communities safer, and to reduce the social and health harm
associated to its use."

However, to execute that, Blair said the government must set up a
federal-provincial-territorial task force to design a strict sales and
distribution system with appropriate health safeguards.

Victoria lawyer Robert Mulligan said expunging the criminal records of
people found guilty of possessing personal amounts of marijuana is an
important, albeit challenging, piece of a bigger change that will have
to be approached coherently.

"There's a lot to this; it's a challenge, and to expect the government
to do it all so quickly is probably not realistic," Mulligan said.

Expunging the criminal records for simple possession, for example,
would be tricky on many fronts, he said.

There is no one national database that stores drug-possession records.
There are repositories for this information at all three levels of
government and policing and beyond, Mulligan said. Expunging all of
those records would be an administrative challenge, Mulligan said.

And if Canada pardons a criminal record for possession, it doesn't
mean it would be recognized by other countries, he said.

As well, not all marijuana-possession convictions are specified under
"marijuana;" some might instead be lumped in as "possession of a
narcotic," which could include a long list of drugs, Mulligan said.
Also, trafficking charges for marijuana might have been reduced to
possession convictions.

"I see [expunging criminal records for possession] as being an
important piece, but I see it as being a piece of the whole
initiative," Mulligan said.

The approach has to be coherent and some pieces could be quicker and
easier to execute than others, he said.

"If we are even entertaining the notion of not having any more
criminal records for possession of marijuana, we certainly shouldn't
be creating any more new convictions," Mulligan said.

"The idea of giving direction to the prosecutorial authorities - which
will work its way down to the police - about not starting legal
proceedings which could result in new convictions would seem to be
something that could be done properly.

"The rest of it is a big administrative challenge in addition to a
legal and principled and philosophical one," he said.
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