cannabisnews.com: Would Softer Pot Law Stir Wrath of U.S.?





Would Softer Pot Law Stir Wrath of U.S.?
Posted by CN Staff on July 13, 2002 at 07:33:33 PT
By Erin Anderssen
Source: Globe and Mail 
In the pot-perfumed haze of an Amsterdam coffee house, MP Randy White, crime critic for the Canadian Alliance, hauled out his business card and sat down to chat with two toking patrons.Chat, it should be pointed out, is all he did. Mr. White says he's never touched the stuff, and there, in the city famous for putting the finest varieties on government-sanctioned menus, he claims he wasn't even tempted. 
This was business; last month, Mr. White and the other members of the House of Commons committee studying Canada's drug policy -- whose report is due this winter -- took to the road, and naturally stopped off in Amsterdam. The first evening, Mr. White went exploring.Committee members like Mr. White have been taking a close look at the issue, talking to people who would be most affected by any change in legislation.The two customers in the Amsterdam cafe -- a local and his British friend who'd crossed the channel to "smoke himself silly" -- were more than willing to explore their pot habits, while hauling away on their joints. "We're going to smoke it forever," they told Mr. White. "It's no worse than someone on booze."Mr. White later recalled: "We had a great discussion, a few laughs. It was a nice place. It didn't even smell as much as I thought."Two weeks earlier, on Washington's Capitol Hill and in far less mellow conversation, the committee had heard a different view. The man sitting across the table on that June day was Republican Congressman Mark Souder, chairman of the U.S. equivalent of the Commons committee on drug policy, and the originator of a law that bans student loans for Americans convicted of pot possession. He knew all about Canada pondering the decriminalization of marijuana, and he wasn't happy about it.Sources told Canadian Press yesterday that Justice Minister Martin Cauchon may be considering relaxing Canada's marijuana laws to make possession punishable by a fine instead of a prison sentence, without going as far as legalizing the drug.Mr. Souder's message was clear, committee members say: Proceed and we'll crack down even more on your borders. B.C. bud, he pronounced, is as dangerous as cocaine."I thought, 'My God, what is this man talking about?'" said Vancouver MP Libby Davies, a New Democrat. "We can't be subservient to the ridiculous rhetoric coming out of the United States."In the debate over Canada's marijuana laws, however, the United States looms large, the consequence of an open border with the most rabid drug warrior in the world. Politicians can discuss the bad science of marijuana laws, and the poor cost-benefit ratio of busting people for simple pot possession. But they always manage to come back to our overbearing neighbours and how huffy they'd get if Canada even followed Britain's decision this week to make warnings the standard penalty for getting caught with a joint. It works, some observers suggest, as a convenient excuse for doing nothing. The question is: What would the ensuing temper tantrum cost us?Not all that much, suggests Ethan Nadelmann, executive director at the Drug Policy Alliance, a U.S. organization which favours decriminalization of drugs. He argues that trade with Canada is too important and a relatively minor move like decriminalization will generate little bluster from the White House."Not that some people in the United States won't yell," he said. "But there's going to be a lot of people who don't want to see the drug war screw about with multi-billion-dollar business interests."Other drug-policy observers are less certain. "This would be another nail in the coffin," predicts Clayton Mosher, a Canadian teaching at Washington State University, who sees decriminalization tightening the border beyond the level prompted by Sept. 11. "I don't see it as an idle threat. There would be quite a reaction. There's already a perception that B.C. is one big marijuana farm."The view of Canada as a pot-smoking, pot-supplying nation is pervasive in the U.S. news media. When Ottawa started handing out permission slips for medical marijuana, the newspapers reported it as a sign of a soft-drug stance. Great fuss is generated over the high quality of the renowned B.C. bud. Although the numbers aren't supported, the U.S. has suggested that as much as half of the pot grown in Canada goes south.At the same time, though, experts insist, our national drug policy continues to imitate the U.S. approach. Despite claims of a de facto decriminalization, in 1999 -- the most recent year for which statistics are available -- more than 21,000 people were arrested for marijuana possession in Canada. That number amounts to nearly half of all the drug charges laid in the country. A costly exercise, critics say, which ends up discharging 25 per cent and saddling the rest with criminal records.Canada was ahead of the United States in making pot illegal. Emily Murphy led the charge in 1923 with declarations that referred to marijuana users as "raving maniacs" liable to kill with "savage cruelty." In 1937, the year Canada recorded its first arrest, the United States passed its own law.The war on drugs, nonetheless, is a U.S. fight, and government officials have not been shy about applying pressure to keep Canada and other nations on track, says Ottawa lawyer Eugene Oscapella, one of the founders of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy. In 1999, the United States considered (and then retreated from) the idea of adding Canada to its illicit-drug blacklist for being too soft. In its drug literature, the U.S. State Department has criticized the Supreme Court of Canada for restricting undercover operations.Australian officials reported that in l996 the United States had suggested to Australia that if the country went ahead with plans to provide heroin as a last resort to addicts, it might put at risk UN permission for its opium poppy industry in Tasmania, where a healthy business is carried on supplying pharmaceutical companies. Australia eventually abandoned its heroin plans.The current U.S. drug czar, John Walters, says officially that Canada is a "sovereign" country, free to make its own laws. On a visit last month to Quebec city, he cited the U.S. government position that pot is addictive and leads to harder drugs -- a position many researchers say cannot be supported -- and made a forceful statement that this is the time to target pot, not decriminalize it."Ultimately, the big dilemma is not knowing what goes on behind closed doors," Mr. Oscapella said.If Canada moves toward decriminalization, Mr. Oscapella said, the main problem for the U.S. government may be stemming the support for a similar initiative from its own citizens.Note: The neighbours are likely to yell, but not everybody thinks that's the end of the world.Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)Author: Erin AnderssenPublished: Saturday, July 13, 2002 – Print Edition, Page A5Copyright: 2002 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.ca/Related Articles & Web Sites:Drug Policy Alliancehttp://www.drugpolicy.org/Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmCauchon Might Relax Canada's Marijuana Laws http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13397.shtmlIn Canada, Marijuana Possession is Still Illegal http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13376.shtmlPlease Smoke Pot Before You Read This Articlehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread13347.shtmlCanada: The Debate Over Decriminalization http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread12697.shtml
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Comment #8 posted by WolfgangWylde on July 14, 2002 at 11:53:32 PT
Don't know if you folks up North...
have noticed it yet, but the U.S. economy has gone right into the crapper, and it looks to stay their for awhile. The Bushlet wants to get re-elected, he's not going to do anything to screw with North American trade. Now is the time to have your way with marijuana laws.
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Comment #7 posted by Windminstrel on July 14, 2002 at 09:37:21 PT
We're counting on Canada and Great Britain
The Netherlands are far enough away, and different enough in language, that legalization there doesn't mean much. However, Canada and Great Britain are "normal" countries to the average American, so if they legalize it'll make our people think more seriously about it. Canada just needs to legalize and put up with a few drug warriors whining for a bit, then the wall will fall down.
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Comment #6 posted by null on July 13, 2002 at 19:38:14 PT
the root
If Canada moves toward decriminalization, Mr. Oscapella said, the main problem for the U.S. government may be stemming the support for a similar initiative from its own citizens.There it is. the U.S. government doesn't want IT'S CITIZENS to determine public policy. Why is it the job of the government to prevent policy change?? Think about that one.
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Comment #5 posted by JR Bob Dobbs on July 13, 2002 at 18:06:32 PT
Vote out THIS incumbent for SURE
  Mark Souder comes up for re-election this year, doesn't he? I hate voting for someone because he's less evil than the other candidate, but with Mark Souder, it's probably a good idea.
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Comment #4 posted by The GCW on July 13, 2002 at 14:40:19 PT
MAN OF LAWLESSNESS  ???????????
Canada, does not like being flicked.It seems if Canada, Jamaica and Mexico were to go even further... and legalize, full on.... the multi Godzillions in American dollars lost would cause the big snakes to bomb the world.The SOOONER We realize cannabis IS the Kahuna in the plant kingdom, and it goes beyond what we can see.... or imagine... then We will understand the Secret Societies have known about the powers of Cannabis a long long time. They do not want everyone to know the Truth about cannabis.The Truth about cannabis puts their greedy needs to rest.Cannabis helps expose ALL TRUTH.Truth is the prohibitionists worst nightmare.The end of booze prohibition was not a Biblical event.The end of cannabis prohibition is.If You are drawn toward the spirit when using cannabis, realize the spirit is expecting You.The secret societies are threatened by others knowing this.Many people are thankful OR they are anointed.When We know that We may become THANKFUL & ANOINTED TOGETHER, We will be going forward.. UNIMAGINABLY FORWARDTo what extent will the leaders try to make Us accept what is NOT Truth? Is the one who never stops trying to make You accept what is NOT Truth, BIBLICALLY, the MAN OF LAWLESSNESS?As in the titled: “Man of Lawlessness”, which is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17. (New American Standard Bible, for Americans... http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?passage=2THES%2B2&showfn=on&showxref=on&language=english&version=NASB&x=15&y=9 And when You see where it mentions APOSTASY, in 2 Th. 2:3, consider reading what many Christians for Cannabis (http://www.christiansforcannabis.com/ & FORUM: http://www.drugpolicycentral.com/phpBB/viewforum.php?forum=16&0) types reference in 1 Timothy 4:1-18; titled APOSTASY.This 2 Th. 2 & 1 Tim. 4, stuff in the N.A.S.B. is God Awesome.
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Comment #3 posted by Hope on July 13, 2002 at 11:33:28 PT
That smell
Just reading Mark Souder's name is like having a writhing globule of cesspool scum passed under my nose. The man is the epitome of character disordered, deluded, pompous, hateful, merciless, self-righteousness. 
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Comment #2 posted by BGreen on July 13, 2002 at 08:24:12 PT
Go ahead, Canada, we've got your back!
Mr. Souder's message was clear, committee members say: Proceed and we'll crack down even more on your borders. B.C. bud, he pronounced, is as dangerous as cocaine."I thought, 'My God, what is this man talking about?'" said Vancouver MP Libby Davies, a New Democrat. "We can't be subservient to the ridiculous rhetoric coming out of the United States."This BS has to end, and Canada and England have to be the instigators. There are a crapload of people in the US who can't come out publicly for cannabis and risk incarceration, but we sure as hell CAN yell when our gov't starts bullying these other countries.
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Comment #1 posted by bongathon on July 13, 2002 at 08:03:17 PT:
fear
If all the politicians would go to a coffeeshop and see what it is like, they might not fear the madness so much. Of course, that wouldn't change their views on legalization. The multi million dollar corporations have them by the cajones.
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