Pubdate: Sat, 19 Dec 2015
Source: Nanaimo Daily News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Black Press, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nanaimodailynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1608
Author: Darrell Bellaart

MP CALLS TO CHANGE WORDING IN CRIMINAL CODE

Nanaimo's New Democrat MP wants government to strike from the Criminal
Code of Canada wording that makes it illegal to possess cannabis.

Sheila Malcolmson said government should stopping laying charges
first, before destroying the records of those convicted of possession
charges - something her colleague, NDP justice critic and Victoria MP
Murray Rankin raised the subject last week in the House of Commons.

"I think we should (do that), but I think the first step is to
decriminalize possession of small amounts - that way we won't continue
to add criminal records in the community," Malcolmson said. "It's an
easier thing to do - all you have to do is remove a line in the text
of the Criminal Code."

Rankin said the Liberals promised to legalize and regulate marijuana,
but "there appears to be a long time before we see anything that
resembles comprehensive reform."

In the meantime, he said the number of Canadians convicted in the
courts for cannabis possession is in the "hundreds of thousands," and
with it comes an associated stigma and employment issues of a criminal
record. Rankin said he realizes immediate action may not be realistic,
but two issues need to be considered.

"One, can we expunge criminal records for small quantities of
marijuana, and second, a bit more complicated would be whether or not
people facing marijuana charges should still be subjected to marijuana
penalties. It seems to me that's something that also should be studied."

William Blair, Liberal parliamentary Secretary to the minister of
justice and Attorney General said government plans to "legalize,
regulate, and restrict access to marijuana, but in order to do that,
"we will be establishing a federal-provincial-territorial task force
to design a strict sales and distribution system with appropriate
health concerns."

For now, cannabis is illegal and because of this Nanaimo RCMP recently
arrested more than a dozen cannabis dispensary staff and recommended
charges against most of those arrested.

Government must provide clarity on the issue, Malcolmson
said.

"I really think the right and just thing would be to expunge those
records. It affects jobs, and travel and the easiest thing right now
would be decriminalization, to show we don't saddle these people with
criminal records," Malcolmson said.
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MAP posted-by: Matt