Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jan 2016
Source: Lethbridge Herald (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 The Lethbridge Herald
Contact:  http://www.lethbridgeherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/239
Author: Mike Blanchfield
Page: A1

WORLD OF HEADACHES WHEN POT IS LEGALIZED

Canada will run afoul of global treaties, Trudeau warned

The Liberal government will have to do substantial work on the
international stage before it can follow through on Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana, new documents suggest.
That work will have to include figuring out how Canada would comply
with three international treaties to which the country is a party, all
of which criminalize the possession and production of marijuana.

Trudeau's plan to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana
is already proving a complicated and controversial undertaking on the
domestic front, in part because it requires working with the provinces.

Internationally, says a briefing note prepared for the prime minister,
Canada will also have to find a way to essentially tell the world how
it plans to conform to its treaty obligations.

The note to Trudeau was obtained by The Canadian Press through the
Access to Information Act.

Errol Mendes, a constitutional and international law expert at the
University of Ottawa, says the government faces a long, hard slog in
the global arena before it can legalize pot at home.

Legalization, he said, is a growing movement among some countries,
particularly in Latin America, but it faces stiff opposition in the
United States - including within some quarters of the Obama
administration.

If the Republicans win the White House in November, the opposition
will be even stronger in a country where some see legalizing pot "as
the thin edge of the wedge," said Mendes.

"It will be an ongoing dialogue which has to be dealt with at the
highest levels, and it's not going to be an easy one, and it's not
going to be a quick one either. It's going to take many years."

The Liberal policy means that Canada will have to amend its
participation in three international conventions:

* The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs of 1961, as amended by the
1972 Protocol;

* The Convention on Psychotropic Substances of 1971;

* The United Nations Convention against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic
Drugs and Psychotropic Substances of 1988.

"All three require the criminalization of possession and production of
cannabis," says the briefing note. "As part of examining legalization
of cannabis possession and production, Canada will need to explore how
to inform the international community and will have to take the steps
needed to adjust its obligations under these conventions."

Global Affairs Canada, the lead government department on international
treaties, did not respond to a series of questions on what lies ahead
for the government on that front.

The world's drug problem will be the focus of a special session of the
United Nations General Assembly in April, the memo says.

"At the meeting, several South American countries as well as Mexico
wish to discuss what they perceive as more effective policy approaches
to respond to the current realities of the drug problem, which could
include decriminalization/legalization of illicit drugs, harm
reduction, and/or a call to renegotiate the international drug control
conventions."

Mendes said Canada could still find a way to adhere to the treaties,
but will have to show that legalizing marijuana helps reduce illicit
drug use.

"There's no international treaty where you cannot make reservations,"
he said.

"The problem is the government having to explain why it's doing it,
why it feels it has to do it, given the conviction (with which) Prime
Minister Trudeau has said it's a failure in terms of enforcement in
almost every respect and is driving up the crime rate in some parts of
Canada."

The Liberals plan to remove marijuana consumption and incidental
possession from the Criminal Code, while creating new laws with heavy
penalties to those who give it to minors or operate a motor vehicle
under its influence.

Trudeau has promised to set up a task force comprising federal,
provincial and municipal government, while seeking input from experts
in public health, substance abuse and the police, to design a new
system of marijuana sales and distribution.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt