cannabisnews.com: Is Canada Going To Pot?





Is Canada Going To Pot?
Posted by CN Staff on December 22, 2002 at 21:41:14 PT
By Grant LaFleche, The Standard 
Source: St. Catharines Standard
Critics charge this is exactly what will happen if we decriminalize marijuana, with dire implications for health, crime and our relationship with the U.S.All it could take is a single vote in the House of Commons and the delicate balance between American security interests and Canadian commercial needs being forged along Niagara's borders with the U.S. could literally go up in smoke, according to the MP from St. Catharines.
That may sound rather melodramatic given the long history of Canadian-American co-operation, but it is a possibility that weighs heavily on the mind of Walt Lastewka when he considers a recent committee report recommending the use of small amounts of marijuana be decriminalized.The United States government reacted with some rancour over the recommendation, coolly warning of massive delays in Canadian traffic heading south."How would you like to see the borders closed?" Lastewka said during an interview from his Scott Street office in St. Catharines. "Because that is a possibility if we go ahead with decriminalization. I'm not joking."The St. Catharines Liberal MP is not the only one casting a wary eye toward Ottawa, wondering if the nation's capital hasn't got a serious case of the munchies."The manufacture and distribution of marijuana is largely in the hands of organized crime," said Niagara Regional Police Chief Gary Nicholls. "If the illicit use of the drug increases, then that only serves to deepen the pockets, to increase the resources of organized crime."The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police said the notion of decriminalizing marijuana is a bad idea and will hamper efforts to combat organized crime and complicate impaired driving, health and youth crime issues, Nicholls said.Added Lastewka: "There are just too many unknowns. And until I can get more answers than I have questions, then I am dead-flat against this."Despite objections such as Lastewka's, Justice Minister Martin Cauchon said last week the government will be able to move quickly toward decriminalization and a bill may appear before the House next year.The prime minster, however, backed away from his justice minister's comments Wednesday. A decision would be made "one day," said Jean Chretien.Those who have lobbied for years to have pot use removed from the Criminal Code say it's an idea whose time has come."This is absolutely the right thing to do," said Keith Martin, a medical doctor and Canadian Alliance MP from Esquimalt-Juan De Fuca in British Columbia. He brought the issue before the Commons three times in the form of private member's bills in the last 16 years. Each time the bill was defeated."The war on drugs is a failure and prohibition of marijuana simply doesn't work," he said. "Is it really fair that some 18-year-old gets caught with a small amount of pot and gets a criminal record?Unlike Niagara's four MPs, all of whom express "grave concerns" about decriminalization, Martin said it would reduce overall consumption of the drug and ultimately hit organized crime where it counts -- in the pocket book.Stan Sambey, a member of the Federal Marijuana Party of Canada who ran for a federal seat in the Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke riding, said being able to grow your pot would keep many users from giving their money to organized crime."It is really a matter of convenience,"he said. "If you can grow a plant in your house, then in a few months you have your bag of shwag and whoop-de-do. What's the big deal?"Last week's committee report, regarding the non-medical use of pot, suggested the possession of 30 grams or less no longer be a crime.That wouldn't mean pot is legal in any amount, but would spare the occasional user the burden of a criminal record. If found with 30 grams of pot -- which could produce around 30 joints -- a person would face a fine, much like getting a parking ticket.Although production and trafficking would still be a crime, the report also recommends users be allowed to grow their 30 grams themselves.Although no timetable for creating a bill based on these recommendations has been put forward, the report has already caused ripples that have reached as far as the Supreme Court of Canada.Supreme Court judges have delayed a federal case against pot smoking, given Cauchon's comments about his plans to decriminalize marijuana. Three pot smokers, two from B.C. and one from Ontario, are challenging the government on constitutional grounds.The debate over the legality of marijuana use is not new in Canada. For decades, proponents have argued that it is relatively harmless, or at least less harmful than the most common used drugs in the country -- tobacco and alcohol.  Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/cgp.htm Source: Standard, The (St. Catharines, CN ON)Author: Grant LaFleche, The Standard Published: December 22, 2002Copyright: 2002 St. Catharines StandardContact: pbailey scs.southam.caWebsite: http://www.canada.com/stcatharines/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmDecriminalizing Marijuana is a Pragmatic Step http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15033.shtmlWe Make Our Own Laws in Canada http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread15032.shtmlDecriminalize Marijuana Now http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14996.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #3 posted by John Tyler on December 23, 2002 at 07:34:22 PT
a thought
I would like to add something that has been mentioned here before that what the Drug Czar is overly concerned about (Canadian decrimilization) is already a fact in three of our own states (Calif., Main, and Ohio) and for larger amounts than the Canadians are proposing. These states haven't been lost to sin and corruption have they? Shouldn't Canada be able to pass a similar law if it wants to without U.S. interference?
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by The GCW on December 23, 2002 at 07:03:29 PT
Exposing the truth, is growing everywhere.
CN MB: Editorial: A War Gone to Pot -A WAR GONE TO POT 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2314/a07.html?397The words were hardly out of Justice Minister Martin Cauchon's mouth and the United States was already making strange. Last week, Mr. Cauchon said that if the House Committee on illegal drugs recommended that the possession of marijuana for personal use be decriminalized, his government would act quickly to implement that recommendation. It is an idea that makes eminent sense. Many Canadians, in fact, would argue that it does not go far enough, that marijuana, a relatively harmless and non-addictive drug should be legalized and regulated and sold in the same way that alcohol and tobacco are sold today. Many Americans would make the same arguments to their government if they thought there was any hope it would listen. Some Canadians, some Americans, would go even further and argue that the war on drugs, which both countries spend billions of dollars a year waging, has long since been lost and that money would be better spent elsewhere and that governments should take over the sale and distribution and quality control of not just marijuana, but narcotics as well. That debate will not be held until some far distant day in either Canada or the United States. As the drug culture has moved more and more into the mainstream of North American society, North American governments have dedicated themselves ever more vigorously to eradicating it. The debate in Canada today -- the argument that has arisen between this country and the U.S. -- is about the simple decriminalization of marijuana. The issue seems like a no-brainer, but the fact is that intelligent and informed people have strongly different views about it. Nowhere is the opposing view more passionately held than in the United States, where the war on drugs is waged most relentlessly, most expensively and least successfully. Mr. Cauchon's musings about decriminalizing marijuana brought a response from U.S. drug-war czar John Walters that would be hysterically disproportionate if it were not taken in the context of Washington's obsession with eradicating illegal drugs from American society. Mr. Walters threatened that Mr. Cauchon's initiative would block, or at least clog, the border between the two countries. Why that would happen, he did not explain, perhaps because it cannot be explained. The decriminalization of the personal use of marijuana in Canada changes nothing in regard to the Canada-U.S. war on drugs; it neither will make more marijuana available -- the market is flooded with it in any case -- nor will it change the fact that trying to take it across the border, in either direction, is a serious criminal offence punishable by years of imprisonment in both countries. Mr. Walter's fulminations, in fact, are an attempt to impose a misguided American sense of morality and reality on Canada. This country cannot ignore American concerns, but neither should it cave in to this kind of extra-territorial blackmail. Mr. Cauchon must explain carefully, in detail, to the Americans that this change in Canadian law will make no difference at all to their war on drugs. He might explain to them -- and to his own government -- that the war on drugs cannot be won the way it is being fought. After he has explained all that, he should pursue the decriminalization of the personal use of marijuana regardless of what the Americans threaten to do. 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by WolfgangWylde on December 23, 2002 at 04:58:35 PT
Canadians should get hip...
...to how the U.S. really functions. "Closing" the border, or even seriously delaying traffic, would hurt the U.S. economy. George W. will not let that happen because he wants a second term. All this talk about toughening up the border is just hot air.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment