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Canadian Press Review 
Posted by CN Staff on May 28, 2003 at 22:32:28 PT
By Matt Keating 
Source: Guardian Unlimited UK
Marijuana dominated yesterday's newspapers after Prime Minister Jean Chrétien's government revealed its plans to decriminalise minor possession of the drug. Under the plans, possession of up to 15 grams of marijuana would be a minor offence punishable only with fines. The government's motivation, said the Halifax Herald, was so "young people won't automatically be saddled with criminal records that haunt them for life". 
Many Canadians oppose the plan, said the Toronto Star. "But let's be frank: Current rules aren't working ... Three million Canadians use marijuana occasionally, so the existing laws aren't much of a deterrent." Martin Cauchon, the justice minister, insisted that the government was not trying to legalise the drug. Indeed, custodial sentences for growing cannabis plants would increase from a maximum of seven years to 14, while the penalty for trafficking would remain life imprisonment. "Rarely have so many conflicting messages managed to find their way into a single government initiative," said the Star. The draft legislation, reckoned the Montreal Gazette, was "a typically Canadian compromise - a bumpy middle course steered between opposites toward something neither side really quite approves". That, said the Vancouver Sun, showed the government's sensitivity "to complaints ... in the US that Canada is relaxing its drug laws". Moreover, there is no chance the law will be changed by the end of the year, said the Toronto Globe and Mail: "There is too much opposition from within the Liberal party, and too little time before Mr Chrétien must leave office." Sars and BSE also preoccupied the press. The Toronto Star carried the story of Carol Tough, a nurse who faced a second 10-day quarantine after the city saw a resurgence of Sars over the weekend. "She believes easing Sars precautions in the middle of May was a mistake. 'Who dropped the ball? The government? Which one? All of them.'" The Globe and Mail led with the news that the Canadian government was "looking at tighter controls on the commercial slaughter of cattle" following last week's diagnosis of what was only Canada's second recorded case of BSE. Claude Boissonneault of the Canadian food inspection agency told the paper that Canada had laxer slaughter practices than Europe because, until now, "mad cow disease has not been a problem in North America". Source: Guardian Unlimited, The (UK)Author: Matt Keating Published: Thursday, May 29, 2003Copyright: 2003 Guardian Newspapers LimitedContact: letters guardian.co.ukWebsite: http://www.guardian.co.uk/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmDrug Scheme Full of Mixed Messageshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16429.shtmlLegalize Pot, Says Mayor Campbellhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16423.shtmlA Realistic Revision of The Cannabis Lawhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread16421.shtml 
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