Pubdate: Sun, 07 May 2000 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2000, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: #250, 4990-92 Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T6B 3A1 Canada Fax: (780) 468-0139 Website: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/ Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html Author: Kerry Diotte POT POSSESSION CHARGES STUPID Some politicians can be so gutless. Thankfully, Alberta's justice minister is not one of those types. Dave Hancock floated a progressive idea this week that, had it come to fruition, would have benefited scores of people in this city and throughout the nation. His notion was to look at decriminalizing the possession of marijuana and have police simply hand out tickets to those caught with cannabis. Hancock reckoned such an approach might free up cops and other officials for more serious matters. However, the mere mention of such a possibility was quickly shot down by an Edmonton member of Parliament, federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan, who is, in my opinion, one of those gutless politicians. Her paid mouthpiece, Stephen Bindman, said McLellan "has no immediate plans to decriminalize marijuana, even a small amount, because there is division in the police community and in the society at large over this." Since marijuana laws fall under federal jurisdiction, Alberta could study decriminalization all it wants, but nothing will change without federal permission. It's absolutely ludicrous in this day and age that Canadians should still get tagged with a criminal record for something so minor as possessing pot. Yet, thousands of Canadians get busted each year. In 1992, 17,422 people were charged with possession. In 1996, that rose to By 1997, about half of Canada's 66,521 drug-related offences involved cannabis possession. Most disturbing of all is that each year 2,000 Canadians are actually JAILED for the offence. Clearly, public attitudes about cannabis in this city and the rest of the country have changed, but the laws have remained in the Dark Ages. McLellan's mouthpiece can claim there's a "division" in society about decriminalization but that's a bogus argument, because in a democratic society there are always divisions of opinion. The one number which counts in this case is that since 1998 - according to a national poll - a slim majority of Canadians agree that smoking marijuana should not be a criminal offence. But gutless politicians don't like simple majorities. While I suspect even McLellan may see the folly of turning otherwise law-abiding pot smokers into criminals, she won't risk losing a few votes from people who don't want laws liberalized. That's a terrible shame given that millions of good Canadians from all walks of life actually smoke pot or have lit up a joint in the past. Teachers, lawyers, cops, journalists, politicians, musicians, doctors, athletes, truck drivers ... there are endless numbers of people in our society who've smoked pot, including high-profile types such as Premier Ralph Klein and Canadian Alliance leadership candidate Stockwell Day. Most haven't been caught for their past guilty pleasures, but had they been, they'd all have criminal records. Yep, people whose other greatest crime might well have been nothing more than a simple parking infraction wind up being labelled criminals for life because of our stupid drug laws. The ultimate irony is the fact that many of the people sworn to uphold the laws of the country - particularly cops and politicians - have freely admitted to breaking the Criminal Code by smoking pot at some time in their lives. People should try hard to not get sidetracked on this whole thing. The issue is not whether cannabis is a good or bad substance. That's open for debate. The issue is whether it's right that we tag people with a lifelong criminal record for the minor indiscretion of smoking pot and getting caught. Canadians' attitudes have changed radically since the 1920s when most folks believed pot caused insanity. But, unfortunately one thing hasn't changed - we still have gutless politicians. - --- MAP posted-by: Greg