Pubdate: Fri, 25 Jul 2014
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2014 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Gloria Galloway
Page: A3

POLICE APPEAR TO BE LOSING MOTIVATION TO ENFORCE POT LAWS, NEW 
STATISTICS SHOW

Police appear to be losing their zeal for investigating
marijuana-related offences - particularly those related to cases of
trafficking and production.

While they are still searching people for pot and laying charges of
possession, statistics suggest they are increasingly less likely to go
to the trouble of finding actual drug dealers.

The federal Conservative government has introduced a slate of
legislation aimed at punishing those who profit from marijuana
production and distribution. But criminologists say those laws are not
working in a country where the majority of people, and perhaps even a
majority of police, do not recognize the recreational use of cannabis
to be a crime worth prosecuting.

"Police are less enthusiastic about [enforcing the controlled
substances legislation] now than they were 10 years ago," said Rob
Gordon, a former policeman and a professor of criminology at Simon
Fraser University. "It is particularly true in the case of what may be
defined as soft-end drugs."

Statistics Canada numbers released this week show that the per-capita
incidence of pot possession recorded last year by police across the
country climbed by a tiny amount, continuing a trend going back at
least a decade. In 2003, there were 130 incidents of possession
recorded for every 100,000 people in the population. By 2013, that
rate had climbed to more than 167.

Although police found more people with marijuana last year than they
did the year before, the rate at which they laid charges actually
declined a bit - from 86 charges per 100,000 Canadians in 2012 to 84.
But that rate was still significantly higher than it was between the
years 2003 and 2009.

The per capita rates for trafficking, importation and production, on
the other hand, have taken the opposite trajectory.

Over the past 10 years, the rate of charges for trafficking marijuana
fell from 38 to 24 per 100,000 Canadians. The rate of production
charges was cut more than a half and the rate of importation charges
dropped more than 90 per cent.

The federal government sees that as proof its laws are
working.

"We are encouraged by the decline in trafficking, production and
importation charges," said Mary Ann Dewey-Plante, the director of
communications for Justice Minister Peter MacKay. "We have been clear
all along that our justice measures target the traffickers of drugs -
those who sell drugs to children and who deliberately exploit the
addictions of others for personal profit."

But critics say, if Canadians are smoking it - and the police-reported
rate of incidence would suggest they are - then someone is growing,
importing and selling it.

Dr. Gordon said the reduction in trafficking charges is likely
related, in part, to the roughly 40,000 people who are now authorized
by the federal government to grow their own for medical purposes. But
it also relates to the fact that police just aren't pursuing drug
dealers the way they used to, he said.

When politicians are urging decriminalization or legalization, when
prosecutors are refusing to try people for possession, and when police
chiefs are recommending tickets over criminal charges, pot is no
longer a police priority.

Eugene Oscapella, who teaches drug policy and criminology at the
University of Ottawa, said last year's dip in the rate of charges for
possession could be a matter of declining police resources. But it
could also reflect a change in attitudes on the part of police, he
said.

"I think if you speak to most police," said Dr. Oscapella, "they think
that simple possession of cannabis is a nothing offence, and I don't
think they think they are saving the world by prosecuting somebody."
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