Pubdate: Thursday, April 22, 1999 Source: Edmonton Sun (Canada) Copyright: 1999, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/ Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html Authors: Bernard Pilon and Ian McDougal CHIEFS PUSH TICKET, NOT RECORD, AS POT PENALTY Canadian top cops want to save police and potheads paperwork and court time by writing the equivalent of a speeding ticket to smokers caught with marijuana and hash. Yesterday, Justice Minister Anne McLellan said she wants to see what the proposal from the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police is offering on the country's dope front. "We're going to take a look at this and we'll see where it leads us," McLellan said yesterday. "I think this is a significant move on the part of the chiefs and they are a very influential voice." Decriminalizing possession of small amounts will free up officers to take on growers and dealers, said Edmonton Chief John Lindsay, head of the association. Under the proposal anyone caught with marijuana and hash would get a ticket and fine but no criminal record. "Today it's not regarded as a serious offence,'' Lindsay said. "It's not dealt with by the courts as a serious issue.'' The head of the top cops' drug abuse committee, Barry King, noted that while Canadian cops don't want to loosen criminal offences tied to heroine and cocaine - as stated in a National Post article - courts already treat simple possession of pot and hash as worth a fine, not jail time. "This isn't legalization. It's decriminalization," said King, chief of police in Brockville, Ont. There is a line between "soft'' drugs like marijuana and "dangerous'' narcotics like coke and heroine, Lindsay said. King stressed top cops are just reflecting laws already on the books since 1996 that let street cops treat possession of small amounts much like traffic cops treat speeders. The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act hits folks nabbed with under 30 grams of pot or less than one gram of cannabis resin with fines normally ranging from $100 to $150 if they plead guilty to a summons similar to a traffic ticket. Decriminalization would merely free up cops and courts, King said. "The end result is no different," he said. "There is no war on drugs. What there is is a balanced approach (against drugs) taken on all levels. It's a health issue, a social issue, an education issue, an enforcement issue." Giving cops discretion to write tickets would also mean two-thirds of the 70,000 drug offenders nabbed yearly would no longer be photographed and fingerprinted. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake