Pubdate: Thu, 22 Jul 2004 Source: Toronto Sun (CN ON) Copyright: 2004, Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.canoe.com/NewsStand/TorontoSun/home.html Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/457 Author: Kathleen Harris Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?218 (Canadian Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs) GRITS PUSHING PLAN TO RELAX POT LAWS: PM Study Shows Surge In Smokers The liberal government is plowing ahead with a controversial plan to relax pot laws in the face of a new study showing a surge in Canadian dope-smokers. The report released by Statistics Canada yesterday reveals the use of marijuana and hashish has nearly doubled in the last 13 years -- with teen tokers growing fastest in numbers. About three million Canadians 15 and older admitted getting high at least once in 2002 -- 12.2% of the population. But the upward trend won't deter Prime Minister Paul Martin, who vowed yesterday to bring back the controversial bill that died when Parliament closed for the election. "The legislation on marijuana -- the decriminalization of minor quantities of marijuana -- that legislation will be re-introduced," he said. Admitting he's concerned about the StatsCan findings, rookie Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh suggested pot consumption might decrease with decriminalization. "My view is that if you make something illegal, some people are more attracted to it -- it's just the high in getting something in a stealth fashion," he said. "But if you make it available, if you allow people to possess it in small quantities for personal use, the allure kind of disappears for some people." Conservative MP Vic Toews discounted the theory, insisting weed will become even more popular if the feds fail to develop a strong national anti-drug strategy. "What we have seen is that, with the decrease in penalties generally, we've seen an increase in the use of the drugs. Why would full decriminalization change that trend in any way?" he said. Toews accused the Grits of blindly rushing to decriminalize without providing roadside deterrent measures and adequately addressing U.S. concerns. "We can't afford to jeopardize our trade relationship by adopting a policy that the American federal government does not approve of," he said. "Just having the trucks idling at the border for a couple of hours costs us literally millions and millions of dollars a day -- and that jeopardizes jobs across Canada." RISING TREND In 2002, about 3 million Canadians aged 15 or older said they had tried marijuana, which represents a significant increase in self-reported drug use over the last decade. YEAR CANADIANS HAVING USED CANNABIS 1989 6.5% 1994 7.4% 2002 12.2% - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin