Pubdate: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 Source: Standard, The (St. Catharines, CN ON) Copyright: 2007 The Standard Contact: http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/676 Author: Grant LaFleche Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) NIAGARA POLICE USED DISCRETION WHILE POLITICIANS DEBATED POT LAW It really was a case of law enforcement playing wait and see. In 2005, while the House of Commons debated whether to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marjiuana, police officers took a liberal approach to applying the law. Niagara Regional Police responded to nearly 200 cannabis possession calls that year but only laid charges in 46 of them. The rest where cleared without charges being laid. That changed in 2006 when the Conservative government dumped the decriminalization plan. The number of charges laid jumped 124. "That is really what was going on," said NRP Deputy Chief Gary Beaulieu. "Police officers were using their discretion." The problem for officers, said Beaulieu, was they had no way of knowing if a possession charge against someone for a small amount of pot would stick in court. Had the government legalized small amounts of marijuana, some charges could have wound up being a waste of time and money. "So officers would confiscate the drugs, and do the paper work to have them destroyed," Beaulieu said. "They would probably give the person a warning and that would be it." In other cases involving multiple suspects, he said charges cannot be laid because there is some doubt over who is in possession of the drug. So again, the drugs are seized and destroyed, but no one is charged. Once the status quo was maintained by the Stephen Harper government, it was business as usual for the NRP and officers began to lay more charges. That trend continues into 2007, where 47 possession charges have been laid as of July 9. The NRP is not unique in this regard. Statistics show that several large Canadian police services saw a significant jump in the number of marijuana possession charges laid in 2006 over 2005. Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa reported increases of 20 to 50 per cent once confusion over possible changes to Canada's drug laws passed. And 2006 also saw an NRP crackdown on marijuana grow operations in the region, supported by provincial funding for the so-called "guns, gangs and grows" operations. As the frequency of drug busts increased, more possession charges were laid. However, Beaulieu said most simple possession charges are not laid by the NRP drug squad or by special operations targeting the growing and trafficking of marijuana. "We are talking about charges laid by patrol officers, dealing with marijuana possession on the street level," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Steve Heath