Pubdate: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 Source: Chatham Daily News, The (CN ON) Copyright: 2013 Chatham Daily News Contact: http://www.chathamdailynews.ca/letters Website: http://www.chathamdailynews.ca Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1627 Author: Bob Boughner TICKET POT USERS: POOLE Top Cops Say Change in Law Would Save Policing and Court Costs Chatham-Kent police Chief Dennis Poole agrees with Canada's top cops that handing out tickets for illegal possession of small amounts of marijuana could be more effective than laying criminal charges. At the same time, Poole emphasized he does not support any move to totally decriminalize marijuana possession. Delegates at the recent Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police passed a resolution saying officers need more enforcement options to deal with people caught with pot. Association president Jim Chu, chief constable of the Vancouver Police Service, said having the option of writing tickets to penalize pot users caught with less than 30 grams of the drug would reduce policing and court costs. Poole agreed during an interview with "I think it will streamline the system to deal with simple possession charges without involving the entire criminal justice system," Poole said. "It's an offence that now carries a fine anyway." Poole said the ability to lay a ticket charge, rather than a criminal charge, is a more effective use of police resources and is not as onerous on the person charged. The association said its ticketing proposal would require changing federal law, but that does not mean police chiefs support legalization of marijuana. Justice Minister Peter MacKay said in an e-mail to The Canadian Press that the federal government has no intention of legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana. "These drugs are illegal because of the harmful effects they have on users and on society for that matter," he said. "As a government, we have a responsibility to protect the interests of families across the country." The association cited statistics from 2007 that show out of more than 100,000 drug offences reported by police that year in Canada, 47,101 of them were for marijuana possession. Sarnia police Chief Phil Nelson said a move to issue tickets instead of formal charges for possession of small amounts of pot could ease the burden on the court system. "It gives the officer a little more discretion," he said. Some Canadians, Nelson said, are having difficulty getting across the border because maybe 20 years ago, they had a simple possession charge for a narcotic. "I personally don't think anybody should be in possession of narcotics," he said. "But I can see the rationalization behind this." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom