Pubdate: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 Source: Tribune, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2013, Osprey Media Group Inc. Contact: http://www.wellandtribune.ca/letters Website: http://www.wellandtribune.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2807 Author: Jeff Bolichowski Page: A3 TICKETS FOR TOKERS? CHIEF SAYS OK Would reduce court costs and avoid criminal records for some ST. CATHARINES - Niagara's police chief says issuing tickets to people found carrying marijuana could reduce be a money-saver all around. Jeff McGuire voiced support Friday for a Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police recommendation that police be allowed to give tickets for pot possession. He said it would spare the expense of court proceedings against small- time pot users and help those caught with a small amount of marijuana avoid a criminal record. But he said ticketing would not decriminalize marijuana or take the possibility of court proceedings off the table. "It's not completely eliminated. It ' s just to give us another option on how to deal with it," he said. Currently, he said, most smaller cases are dealt with by destroying the drugs and handing the culprit a warning. "Right now, the only option that exists is either commence a criminal case =C2=85 and then go through the whole court process. And we know how expensive that can be." The chiefs came down against decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana, though. That comes in the face of federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau calling for weed to be legalized and his admission he smoked it as recently as three years ago. McGuire said attitudes toward pot have changed in recent decades and people have become more accepting of the drug. But he said there are still issues with it. "I think there are too many health risks. There are too many dangers to society that come from it," he said. And he voiced concern about motorists driving while under the influence of drugs. But, he said, a criminal conviction for possessing a small amount of marijuana can dog someone for life, impeding their ability to travel or find employment. Marijuana activist Matt Mernagh, a St. Catharines native, said the police chiefs pitched the same idea in 2004 and it went nowhere. "It's surprising that in 2013 they're issuing the same statement and that's still where we are," he said. Mernagh said marijuana prohibition is draining police resources away from solving other crimes. "It's not that they're bad people," he said. "They're upholding a bad law." He said generally, people charged with possession will get a criminal record. Mernagh praised Trudeau's stance on marijuana. He said the Grit leader's tax- and-regulate position dovetails with his own beliefs. And he said Trudeau is "doing some smart thinking" by taking that stance, because legalization bids in the U. S. saw more young voters turn out to support pot access. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt