Tories Stay Firm On Marijuana Stance

[Urdedpal]

For the moderated and mainstreamed Conservatives, it's still one legislative toke over the line.

Sorry potheads, no dope decriminalization for you under this government.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper may have gone flexible on ethics and federalism, but marijuana is still reefer madness to his unmovable mind.

The word came down this week from Justice Minister Vic Toews' office: This government toughens laws, it doesn't repeal them. Grass is so dangerous, merely possessing its seeds will remain a criminal act.

Two major studies in 2002 had convinced Jean Chretien to move ahead with decriminalization as a legacy item and to heck with Americans squawking at the spectre of high Canadians giggling and wolfing down munchie-fighting snacks as they cruised the interstates at 37 km/h in the passing lane.

The Senate task force concluded cannabis was not addictive, did not induce crime or violence, had little impairment effect on drivers and negligible health consequences. Legalize it, grow it, sell it and tax it, the sober second thinkers urged.

The follow-up parliamentary committee of MPs wasn't quite so bold. But, they still thought the legal consequences of being busted were "disproportionate" to the harm it caused the user and urged simple possession be deleted from the Criminal Code to become a ticketable offence.

For a while there, sane minds prevailed and a decriminalization bill started limping through the political process. Once the bill passed, cannabis possession would be subjected to a fine roughly equal to doing 30 km/h over the speed limit, which is something nobody would ever do stoned on a drug that tends to slow everything down.

But, what Chretien started, Paul Martin couldn't finish before his one-term wonder expired with his resignation. So, the bill died on the order paper, having only passed second reading, and the Conservatives say they have no intention of backing its resurrection.

Which brings us to now, 37 years after the LeDain Commission first mused about relaxing marijuana laws in Canada.

This weekend, with spring break starting in Eastern Canada and sun-seekers stampeding toward Florida, is the time of the year when being one of the 600,000 Canadians in possession of a cannabis conviction poses its greatest risk.

When approaching a border station under the Stars and Stripes, palms go sweaty and the throat tightens. U.S. border guards, you see, do not regard marijuana as a happy-go-lucky substance on par with undeclared Molson product and have zero tolerance for anyone who shows up on their record-searching computers with a bust in their past.

Admit the record and you're denied entry to the United States. Deny the record and, if they find out you're lying, it's a $5,000 US fine. I speak of border apprehension from some first-hand experience here, thanks to a Grade 12 pal who left me holding the nickel bag when undercover cops busted into our parked car at a high school dance. But enough said about me.

My interest is only about sparing another generation of teenagers or young adults the lunacy of being recorded as criminals simply for ingesting a substance far less dangerous than alcohol. ( That and impressing my teenage daughters, who immediately declare their father 'cool' for taking such an enlightened position even if he hasn't smoked the stuff for almost 30 years. )

One good reason for putting a nationwide stop to marijuana's criminality is the uneven application of its illegality.

An Ottawa RCMP spokeswoman told me enforcement is discretionary.

One officer might confiscate the stuff and let the offender off with a verbal warning while another will throw the book at an unfortunate toker. Enforcement varies dramatically by province, too. Convictions per 100,000 residents range from 78 in Newfoundland to 309 in British Columbia.

But there's also the $5-million cost to convict and record the simple possession of cannabis in Canada. Surely that money could be put to much better use combating harder drugs or hydroponic grow-ops.

It's not often the Senate, a committee of MPs, police chiefs and a majority of Canadians agree on something that a minority government opposes.

But, such is their disconnect on dope with Stephen Harper. And so, for the five Canadians in the next hour who will be busted for possession of cannabis, getting into the United States will never be the same again.

Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2006 Times Colonist
Contact: letters@tc.canwest.com
Website: Victoria Times-Colonist