Pubdate: Thu, 05 Sep 2002 Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON) Copyright: The Hamilton Spectator 2002 Contact: http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181 Author: Peter Van Harten SENATORS WOULD LEGALIZE POT Government Will Take Its Time In Deciding On Committee's Controversial Recommendation A Senate committee says anyone over the age of 16 should be allowed to use marijuana without fear of criminal prosecution. The committee's recommendation to legalize pot smoking immediately ignited a controversy when it was released yesterday. Marijuana advocates are lighting up to celebrate the senators urging the government to lighten up on illegal drug use. "I'm surprised and delighted they listened to us," says Hamilton artist Wayne Phillips. "They are usually thought of as a bunch of stodgy, elite politicians." That observation might explain Justice Minister Martin Cauchon's reserved reaction. While admitting the government must evolve with society, he would not endorse the senators' report. He will wait for suggestions, expected this fall, from a Commons committee looking into drug uses. The country's police chiefs, also were guarded in their response to the senators' report. Hamilton Police Chief Ken Robertson wants time to read the Senate committee report before he comments on its recommendations, which go further than even drug-tolerant countries such as the Netherlands. Robertson and other police chiefs favour the decriminalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana. But the Senate committee's release yesterday goes beyond decriminalization and surprised police authorities by calling for the actual legalization of cannabis. The committee recommended the drug be regulated, controlled and taxed for use by adults, not unlike beer and wine. Tobacco companies should not be eligible to be suppliers, it said. David Griffin of the Canadian Police Association says the committee's findings are "nothing more than a back-to-school gift for drug pushers." Griffin says the committee has spent millions of dollars travelling the globe in search of witnesses willing to support its theory that smoking pot is safer than drinking alcohol. The Senate committee reports that needed funds and resources are wasted in policing and prosecuting drug possession and that prohibition has drawn organized criminal elements. It rejected the "gateway" view that cannabis use leads to the use of harder drugs. Committee chairman Senator Pierre Claude Nolin says scientific evidence indicates marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. He says using pot should be "a personal choice" that does not result in criminal convictions. The Senate committee also calls for an amnesty for anyone convicted in the past of possession of marijuana. Hamilton's most vocal and flamboyant exponents of marijuana use, Michael Baldasaro and Walter Tucker, want more than an amnesty. "There should be compensation for all the lives they have destroyed with the prosecution of cannabis use," Tucker says. The two men are ministers with the Church of the Universe which administers marijuana as a sacrament and the drug is described by Baldasaro as harmless "as the potato." Hamilton artist Phillips, who uses the actual leaves of cannabis plants in his artwork, says the recommendations exceeded his expectations of the senators. But he's a downer on whether their recommendations will ever be implemented by politicians. "This is going to fall on the deafest of ears," he says. "It will collect dust on the shelves just like the Le Dain report (which recommended decriminalization 30 years ago)." He feels that Canadian politicians will be intimidated by the United States which uses its hardline war on drugs approach as part of an agenda to dominate other countries. "The recommendations come as manna from heaven but ultimately they don't mean anything," he says. He's impressed, however, that the senators took an honest look at the issue and responded to the wishes of Canadians for a more understanding approach to drug use. Phillips says he suffers from medical conditions that are alleviated with cannabis use. But he doesn't qualify for a medical exemption from the drug laws because of the stringent conditions imposed by Health Canada. Burlington medical marijuana user Alison Myrden -- a former corrections officer who suffers from multiple sclerosis -- does have an exemption for daily legal use of cannabis to relieve constant facial pain from the disease. She welcomes the Senate recommendation for speedier and more compassionate approvals for medicinal use and for a controlled supply. Currently, there is no legal controlled source for cannabis. Family members have to get marijuana for her from pushers at exorbitant prices. Myrden worries the ongoing battle being fought by users who take marijuana for medicinal reasons will be sidetracked now as the country debates legalization for all. "This is long overdue but all those people who are sick and suffering and dying can't afford to be lost in the shuffle. They have fought too hard." Medical marijuana users need a supply of the drug now and not a national debate, she says. She is involved in a court challenge against the laws because there is no available legal supply. A regulated approach with licenced suppliers, as advocated by the Senate committee, would eliminate the fear and risk of arrest for medical users, she says. "Whether it is legalized for everyone in the country is up to the politicians but we can't forget the sick people who need it now." All eyes will be on Canada to see whether it provides new direction in its approach to drug use. "The world is watching and waiting to see if Canada breaks new ground," she says. Other highlights of the report recommending legalizing marijuana and hashish: * Marijuana and hashish should come under a regulatory system for production and sale under licence for legal use by any Canadian resident over 16. * Looser rules for the use of medical marijuana access. * The law should be changed for those who drive after using both alcohol and marijuana, with blood-alcohol limits lowered to .04 per cent in such cases. * The government should erase the criminal records of 300,000 to 600,000 Canadians convicted of simple possession of marijuana. * The government should appoint a national adviser on psychoactive substances. * The government should call a conference of the provinces, municipalities and other interested parties to set the ground rules for legal marijuana. * The government should finance research on drugs and on prevention and treatment programs, financed by taxes on the sale of legal marijuana. - -- With files from Canadian Press. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom