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July 21 (Bloomberg) -- Canadian marijuana and hashish use almost doubled from 1989 to 2002, and about a third of the population admits to trying cannabis at least once, the government said in its first major study of the drug's popularity since proposing to decriminalize possession.
Statistics Canada said 12 percent of the Canadians ages 15 and older it surveyed in 2002 said they had used cannabis at least once in the past year. That's an increase from 6.5 percent in 1989 and 7.4 percent in 1994 and more than triple the United Nations estimate of worldwide pot usage.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, who has said he may have eaten brownies laced with hashish when he was younger, told reporters in June that he plans to revive a bill making possession of small amounts of pot no more serious than a parking infraction. In doing so, he risks the ire of the U.S. government and may jeopardize some of the $1.5 billion a day in commerce between the two countries, the world's largest trading partners.
``If we become known as a haven for the production of marijuana, I think it's only reasonable to assume that there will be controls put in place to prevent that type of activity from crossing the border,'' Chris McNeil, deputy chief of police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and chairman of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police drug-abuse committee, said in a telephone interview Friday.
Border Delays
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci has said decriminalizing pot possession may lead to delays at the border as officials frisk travelers and search vehicles for drugs. In the U.S., possession charges may lead to a minimum fine of $1,000 and a year in prison.
Canada's high-strength pot poses ``a dangerous threat to our young people,'' John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in December 2002.
The U.S. and Canada share the world's longest undefended border at 5,527 miles (8,893 kilometers). Already, ``clogged and inefficient border crossings'' cost Ontario, the engine for more than 40 percent of Canada's economy, C$5.25 billion ($4 billion) a year, the province's chamber of commerce found in a June study.
So far, Canada remains a minor source of marijuana available in the U.S., according to U.S. Customs figures: U.S. agents seized 406,200 kilograms (895,500 pounds) of pot inbound from Mexico last year, about 26 times more than from Canada. The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that most of the cannabis available in the U.S. is domestically grown.
British Columbia Crop
Still, exporting marijuana ``has become a thriving industry across Canada,'' a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on the 2003 drug trade concluded. Traffickers use ``black market currency exchange'' and unscrupulous dealers to convert U.S. dollar receipts into Canadian dollars, the report said.
British Columbia, notorious for its hydroponic plantations known as ``grow-ops,'' produces C$7 billion a year of marijuana and exports C$2 billion of that, Simon Fraser University economics professor Stephen Easton estimated in a June report. That's equivalent to about 5 percent of the province's legal economic production.
Earlier this year, Ontario police busted a marijuana operation north of Toronto where more than 30,000 plants were being grown in a defunct brewery.
European Tolerance
In much of Europe, where the UN estimates 4.9 percent of the population aged 15 and older uses pot, marijuana is widely tolerated. Amsterdam is known for its hash bars and Canada's government has cited lax possession laws in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Jean Chretien, who retired as Canada's prime minister in December, first proposed decriminalization after a provincial court struck down possession penalties. The bill he introduced in Parliament, and which stalled last year, also proposed doubling the maximum penalty for growing more than 50 marijuana plants to 14 years in prison.
Chretien, 70, said at the time he might try marijuana if the law were changed. Canada has prohibited marijuana use since 1923, and a Parliamentary report in 2002 said the drug's long-term side effects include a greater risk of lung disease and a shortened attention span.
Marijuana and hashish are most popular with teenagers, StatsCan found, with 38 percent of Canadians ages 18 and 19 saying in 2002 that they used cannabis in the past year.
Parliamentary Obstacles
Passing the bill may prove harder now that Martin's Liberal Party lost its governing majority in Canada's June 28 federal election. With only 135 of 308 seats in the House of Commons, the Liberals need the support of opposition legislators to pass laws, and the Conservative Party, with 99 seats, wants marijuana to remain illegal.
Martin, 65, would have to rely on backing from members of the Bloc Quebecois, which advocates the separation of French-speaking Quebec from Canada, or the socialist New Democratic Party. Pot usage in Quebec is higher than the national average, at 14 percent, according to StatsCan.
Parliament is due to reconvene Oct. 4.
The Fraser Institute, a research organization that advocates free markets, has studied the argument that marijuana should be sold and taxed, like alcohol. Simon Fraser's Easton, in his June report for the institute, estimated that pot taxation would raise C$2 billion a year for the government.
``We are reliving the experience of alcohol prohibition of the early years of the last century,'' Easton wrote.
He estimated that a joint, or marijuana cigarette, costs C$1.50 to produce and sells for C$8.60.
Bloomberg
July 21
©2004 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved.
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
Statistics Canada said 12 percent of the Canadians ages 15 and older it surveyed in 2002 said they had used cannabis at least once in the past year. That's an increase from 6.5 percent in 1989 and 7.4 percent in 1994 and more than triple the United Nations estimate of worldwide pot usage.
Prime Minister Paul Martin, who has said he may have eaten brownies laced with hashish when he was younger, told reporters in June that he plans to revive a bill making possession of small amounts of pot no more serious than a parking infraction. In doing so, he risks the ire of the U.S. government and may jeopardize some of the $1.5 billion a day in commerce between the two countries, the world's largest trading partners.
``If we become known as a haven for the production of marijuana, I think it's only reasonable to assume that there will be controls put in place to prevent that type of activity from crossing the border,'' Chris McNeil, deputy chief of police in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and chairman of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police drug-abuse committee, said in a telephone interview Friday.
Border Delays
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Paul Cellucci has said decriminalizing pot possession may lead to delays at the border as officials frisk travelers and search vehicles for drugs. In the U.S., possession charges may lead to a minimum fine of $1,000 and a year in prison.
Canada's high-strength pot poses ``a dangerous threat to our young people,'' John Walters, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in December 2002.
The U.S. and Canada share the world's longest undefended border at 5,527 miles (8,893 kilometers). Already, ``clogged and inefficient border crossings'' cost Ontario, the engine for more than 40 percent of Canada's economy, C$5.25 billion ($4 billion) a year, the province's chamber of commerce found in a June study.
So far, Canada remains a minor source of marijuana available in the U.S., according to U.S. Customs figures: U.S. agents seized 406,200 kilograms (895,500 pounds) of pot inbound from Mexico last year, about 26 times more than from Canada. The U.S. National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that most of the cannabis available in the U.S. is domestically grown.
British Columbia Crop
Still, exporting marijuana ``has become a thriving industry across Canada,'' a Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on the 2003 drug trade concluded. Traffickers use ``black market currency exchange'' and unscrupulous dealers to convert U.S. dollar receipts into Canadian dollars, the report said.
British Columbia, notorious for its hydroponic plantations known as ``grow-ops,'' produces C$7 billion a year of marijuana and exports C$2 billion of that, Simon Fraser University economics professor Stephen Easton estimated in a June report. That's equivalent to about 5 percent of the province's legal economic production.
Earlier this year, Ontario police busted a marijuana operation north of Toronto where more than 30,000 plants were being grown in a defunct brewery.
European Tolerance
In much of Europe, where the UN estimates 4.9 percent of the population aged 15 and older uses pot, marijuana is widely tolerated. Amsterdam is known for its hash bars and Canada's government has cited lax possession laws in Spain, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Jean Chretien, who retired as Canada's prime minister in December, first proposed decriminalization after a provincial court struck down possession penalties. The bill he introduced in Parliament, and which stalled last year, also proposed doubling the maximum penalty for growing more than 50 marijuana plants to 14 years in prison.
Chretien, 70, said at the time he might try marijuana if the law were changed. Canada has prohibited marijuana use since 1923, and a Parliamentary report in 2002 said the drug's long-term side effects include a greater risk of lung disease and a shortened attention span.
Marijuana and hashish are most popular with teenagers, StatsCan found, with 38 percent of Canadians ages 18 and 19 saying in 2002 that they used cannabis in the past year.
Parliamentary Obstacles
Passing the bill may prove harder now that Martin's Liberal Party lost its governing majority in Canada's June 28 federal election. With only 135 of 308 seats in the House of Commons, the Liberals need the support of opposition legislators to pass laws, and the Conservative Party, with 99 seats, wants marijuana to remain illegal.
Martin, 65, would have to rely on backing from members of the Bloc Quebecois, which advocates the separation of French-speaking Quebec from Canada, or the socialist New Democratic Party. Pot usage in Quebec is higher than the national average, at 14 percent, according to StatsCan.
Parliament is due to reconvene Oct. 4.
The Fraser Institute, a research organization that advocates free markets, has studied the argument that marijuana should be sold and taxed, like alcohol. Simon Fraser's Easton, in his June report for the institute, estimated that pot taxation would raise C$2 billion a year for the government.
``We are reliving the experience of alcohol prohibition of the early years of the last century,'' Easton wrote.
He estimated that a joint, or marijuana cigarette, costs C$1.50 to produce and sells for C$8.60.
Bloomberg
July 21
©2004 Bloomberg L.P. All rights reserved.
Bloomberg - Are you a robot?
