Pubdate: Sun, 27 May 2001 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2001, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Kerry Diotte POT LAWS BADLY NEED DEBATE Often it takes a long time in our society to see true justice done - especially when politicians are involved. Common sense frequently gets lost in a quagmire of red tape and political games. Such is the case with Canadian laws pertaining to drugs - particularly marijuana. Yet, every once in a while there's a flashback to some old-style common sense. That's the case with the welcome news that the federal government is having a good hard look at drug laws in Canada. This comes after the House of Commons recently created a committee to study non-medical drugs. The reason marijuana has come front and centre is that Justice Minister Anne McLellan has said she's "open" to the notion that part of the discussion should involve exploring decriminalization or outright legalization of marijuana. Other politicians have jumped into the debate, notably federal Tory Leader Joe Clark who supports decriminalization. Former dope-smoker, Premier Ralph Klein, is obviously not paranoid that more liberalized pot laws would lead to a voter backlash against politicians. Klein openly welcomes a debate on pot laws. All of this must be music to the ears of thousands of Edmontonians and the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who are unfairly saddled with a criminal record after being busted for pot. Roughly 600,000 of our citizens are in that boat. Hundreds of thousands of others regularly smoke pot but have been lucky enough to avoid prosecution for their behaviour. Figures suggest 1.5 million Canadian get high on weed. It is absolutely insane that our country should still attempt to give any pot-user a criminal record when a good many of our leading citizens admit to having smoked it and have gotten off Scot free. Police certainly have better things to do than harass pot smokers. I grew up in the early 1970s - long after the serious drug culture of an earlier decade - yet I would be hard-pressed to actually think of many high school or college friends who didn't at least try pot. I sure as heck smoked my share in the past. Since then I've witnessed scores of people from all walks of life flaunt this bad law by sparking a joint - doctors, dentists, lawyers, politicians, teachers, journalists, professional athletes, church ministers ... My libertarian views on drugs are probably too extreme for most Canadians. I believe all drugs should be legal. There should be no crime in getting bent out of shape any way you want, so long as you don't hurt someone else. You can legally get plenty twisted right now consuming legal booze or prescription drugs, so why should it be a criminal offence to attain that state in other ways? I suspect, though, most Canucks wouldn't go for such widespread legalization. However surveys do show the majority of Canadians think it's stupid that pot smokers get tagged with criminal records. Why should any poor schmuck have his or her life ruined by smoking something which is arguably less harmful than a deadly product like cigarettes, whose sale is fully sanctioned by the government? Smoke one kind of cigarette and you're a good, tax-paying citizen. Smoke another kind and you're a hard-core criminal. While it would make sense for our government to legalize pot, tax it and sell it, that's not likely to happen overnight. Politicians are far too wimpy to make such a bold, rational move. What should happen and has to happen first is the decriminalization of marijuana. Along with that, every Canadian who now has a record for smoking pot should receive a pardon from the justice minister. McLellan has frequently said she's not in favour of either decriminalizing or legalizing pot. That's too bad - but at the very least she's sparked a valuable debate by being open to discussing the issue. She and other top politicians might look at things differently if someone dear to them wound up with a criminal record for this very minor sin. If you feel it's time to start using common sense to deal with marijuana use, let McLellan know. You can e-mail her at and set her straight. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Stevens