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Ex-Federal Justice Led Drug-Use Probe
Pubdate: Thu, 20 Dec 2007
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 CanWest News Service
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Le+Dain+Commission
EX-FEDERAL JUSTICE LED DRUG-USE PROBE
Le Dain Commission Head Was Also Osgoode Hall Law School Dean
Former Supreme Court of Canada justice Gerald Eric Le Dain, who also
led a landmark commission into drug use in Canada in the '60s and
'70s, has died.
Le Dain, who died in Toronto Tuesday, was 83.
Appointed to the Supreme Court in 1984 by Pierre Trudeau, the
Montreal-born Le Dain was a law professor and dean of the Osgoode
Hall law school.
But before being named to the country's top court, the Second World
War veteran steered a commission of inquiry into the non-medical use
of drugs, from 1969 to 1973.
The commission's report recommended marijuana be removed from the
Narcotic Control Act and that the provinces control possession and
cultivation, similar to government controls on the use of alcohol.
The Le Dain commission also interviewed John Lennon and his wife Yoko
Ono for the report.
"The one thing that can be said about marijuana is it's non-violent,"
Lennon said.
"If any government wanted to use it to calm people, they have got the
ultimate weapon."
Le Dain served on the Supreme Court for four years and retired in 1988.
His funeral will be held on Dec. 28 in Ottawa.
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