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MARIJUANA 'DECRIM' BILL COMES STAMPED - 'MADE IN THE USA' SAYS NORML CANADA
Source: www.norml.ca, 10-22-04

OTTAWA - Paul Martin's marijuana legislation will move Canada one step closer to harsher American-style laws against marijuana users, NORML Canada warned today.

The warning comes as John Ashcroft U.S. Attorney General meets in Ottawa with Justice Minister Irwin Cotler and Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan only weeks before the Liberal minority government is expected to re-introduce its marijuana law reform bill. This bill is expected to provide alternate penalties for small amounts of possession, but also doubles the penalty for those who grow marijuana.

While many Canadians believe this law will reduce waste of police resources on simple possession offences so it can focus on more serious crime, NORML Canada says government documents reveal that this bill will do the opposite.

A document published on the Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada website (URL below) reveals the bill's chief aim is to provide police more tools and powers to catch people for simple possession: "The Bill would allow for higher rates of enforcement of cannabis possession offences." Statistics Canada said of all drug charges in 2002, 75% were marijuana related, and the majority of those were for simple possession offences.

"The government doesn't have its priorities straight," said Jody Pressman, Executive Director of NORML Canada "With real and tangible security threats in North America, marijuana should be the lowest law enforcement priority, and here is the government planning to re-introduce a bill that will place a new, higher priority on marijuana offences and will mean higher rates of enforcement. Going from a warning to a ticket is not progress."

Cotler's predecessor, Martin Cauchon, was blasted by opposition parties last spring after briefing American officials about the original marijuana reform legislation before presenting it to Parliament. "As neighbours, Canada and the U.S. can and must work together on common issues such as security, but Canada's marijuana policy should be made in Ottawa not in Washington," said Pressman. "American's do not appreciate it when foreign countries are seen to be meddling in its domestic policy; Canadians feel the same way."

Pressman said, "If more jails, harsher penalties, and more enforcement were the silver bullet that Mr. Ashcroft holds them up to be, America would be drug free today. Instead they are facing the same problems with illegal marijuana that Canadians face. They put more of their citizens in jail, that's not the Canadian way."