Pubdate: Mon, 02 Jul 2012 Source: Edmonton Journal (CN AB) Copyright: 2012 The Edmonton Journal Contact: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html Website: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/134 Author: Mark Kennedy Cited: The Global Commission on Drug Policy: http://www.globalcommissionondrugs.org/ DECRIMINALIZE POT, 66% SAY IN POLL OTTAWA - Two-thirds of Canadians think the law should be changed so that people caught with small amounts of marijuana no longer face criminal penalties or fines, a new poll has found. The nationwide survey for Postmedia News and Global TV, which examined the state of Canadian values, revealed that the public is distinctly offside with the Harper government on the issue. This spring, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended a summit of leaders from the Americas, where some called for a major review of the "war on drugs," and perhaps even the decriminalization of some drug use. Also this year, Liberals at a policy conference passed a resolution endorsing the legalization of marijuana. That came after similar calls last year from a Global Commission on Drug Policy, which numbers former presidents of Colombia and Mexico, former United States secretary of state George Schultz and former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan among its members. That group also urged nations to consider "experimentation" with "legal regulation of drugs" such as marijuana "to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens." At the Summit of the Americas in April, Harper acknowledged that the international campaign to stem the drug trade isn't working, but he flatly rejected decriminalization as one potential solution. However, the June 18-25 survey by Ipsos-Reid found Canadians are much more willing to entertain the idea. It found that 66 per cent of people believe that "the possession of marijuana in small amounts" should be "decriminalized so that it no longer carries a penalty or fine." Another 34 per cent opposed the idea. Support for decriminalization is strongest in Atlantic Canada (72 per cent) followed by British Columbia, Saskatchewan/Manitoba and Ontario - - in all three regions, support for decriminalization runs at 69 per cent. Opposition to decriminalization is strongest in Alberta, where 42 per cent of people don't like the idea. Ipsos-Reid president Darrell Bricker said in an interview that the poll results are part of a trend in recent years which has seen support for decriminalization rising. Ipsos-Reid has conducted similar polls on the issue over the past 25 years, and the data reveal that support is considerably higher now than it was in the past. In 1987, just 39 per cent supported decriminalization, rising to 55 per cent in 2003. "It's all about tolerance," he said. "There's a general trend in Canadian values and it's really about, 'Live and let live. Don't tell me how to live my life. If you're different from me, that's OK. It's my job to learn how to tolerate that.' " Moreover, he said the country has had "more experience" with marijuana. "It's been a long time since Reefer Madness was a movie," he said of the 1936 cult film that warned of the dangers of marijuana use. The poll found that support for decriminalization is strongest among upper-income earners. Three quarters of those earning more than $100,000 a year think it should be decriminalized. For its poll, Ipsos-Reid surveyed 1,009 Canadians through its online panel. It has a national margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. The margin of error is higher in the smaller provincial samples. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom