Pubdate: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 Source: Regina Leader-Post (CN SN) Copyright: 2014 The Leader-Post Ltd. Contact: http://www.leaderpost.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html Website: http://www.leaderpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/361 TORIES MAY RELAX POT POSSESSION LAWS OTTAWA - The Conservative government is considering looser marijuana laws that would allow police to ticket anyone caught with small amounts of pot instead of laying charges, Justice Minister Peter MacKay said Wednesday. "We're not talking about decriminalization or legalization," MacKay said before a Conservative caucus meeting on Parliament Hill. "The Criminal Code would still be available to police, but we would look at options that would ... allow police to ticket those types of offences." Prime Minister Stephen Harper is open to such an approach. But MacKay has been among the Conservatives' fiercest critics of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's stance on the issue. Trudeau supports the legalization of marijuana. MacKay accused the Liberal leader of promoting drug use to elementary schoolchildren last fall after Trudeau answered a question about his marijuana policies from First Nations high school students in Sioux Valley, Man. There were elementary school kids in the audience. "Justin Trudeau's comments to elementary schoolchildren regarding the legalization of marijuana is not only bad policy but is completely unacceptable and grossly inappropriate," MacKay had said. - - The Canadian Press - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom