Pubdate: Sat, 18 Jan 2014
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2014 The StarPhoenix
Contact: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Charles Hamilton

CITY POLICE LAY MOST POT CHARGES

Far Above National Average

Pot activists say new data shows Saskatoon police have a chronic urge
to charge people for lighting up.

"Saskatoon is known as being one of the prohibitionist places in
Canada," said Dana Larsen, the director of Sensible B.C., which is
campaigning to decriminalize cannabis in that province.

Saskatoon police are more likely to charge someone caught with small
amounts of marijuana than authorities in any other big city.

Incident reports obtained from Statistics Canada for 2012 show that
police in Saskatoon laid marijuana possession charges in more than 82
per cent of incidents involving possession of less than 30 grams.

That number contrasts drastically with more lax jurisdictions such as
Halifax, where simple cannabis possession resulted in a charge only 18
per cent of the time. In Vancouver, a city seen as having liberal drug
policies, police laid possession charges 20 per cent of the time.

The national average is 47 per cent, according to data from Statistics
Canada.

The patchwork of possession charge rates across the country comes at a
time when the marijuana debate is again heating up.

Simple possession has been legalized or decriminalized in multiple
states south of the border. Colorado, for example, recently legalized
recreational marijuana use. But it's not just Americans looking to
loosen up on people lighting up. While marijuana arrest rates have
increased under the Harper government, earlier this year the Canadian
Association of Chiefs of Police proposed a ticketing system for pot,
saying criminal charges place a significant burden on police and court
resources.

Saskatoon's police chief, Clive Weighill, could not be reached for
comment, but in an earlier interview he expressed support for the
association's preference for handing out tickets instead of charging
people.

Weighill stressed the police chiefs aren't seeking decriminalization
or legalization of marijuana - they simply want to give patrol
officers more discretion. Officers only have a choice between turning
a blind eye and laying a charge, he said at the time.

Still, Saskatoon has long been seen as a highly restrictive
jurisdiction compared to other Canadian cities when it comes to pot
use. In 2004, well-known pot activist Marc Emery spent three months in
the Saskatoon Correctional Centre after pleading guilty to passing a
joint at a pot rally in Kiwanis Park.

Ken Sailor, a long time marijuana activist in Saskatoon who favours
legalization, says the police position on marijuana in the city hasn't
stopped people from smoking up. Instead, the strict enforcement drives
the market underground, he said.

"Maybe the reason we have such high rates of gang violence is because
of prohibition. If we legalize it, maybe we will take the money out of
the hands of the gangs."

Saskatoon leads the country in gang-related homicides per capita and
is regularly near the top of the crime severity index. Meanwhile,
Regina - another Saskatchewan city that often tops the list of per
capita crime rates - only charges people with possession 47 per cent
of the time, which is near the national average.

No one from the Saskatoon police was available for comment Friday, but
Insp. Jerome Engele told a national newspaper that police enforcement
in the city is ensuring marijuana possession and distribution "doesn't
turn into a bigger problem.

"If you don't address a problem, and you say, 'It's OK not to clean
your room,' the room becomes a mess later on," he said.

Cities closer to Saskatoon's percentage include Winnipeg (79 per
cent), St. John's, Nfld. (71 per cent) and Edmonton (70 per cent). 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D