Pubdate: Wed, 06 Jul 2016
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Page: A6
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Marcus A. Sibley
Note: Marcus A. Sibley is a doctoral student in the department of Law 
and Legal Studies at Carleton University. His research largely 
focuses on gendered-based violence and processes of criminal 
regulation in Canada.

MARIJUANA TASK FORCE SHOULD RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE DECRIMINALIZATION

It's not right to give people criminal records for an act soon to be 
legal, Marcus A. Sibley says.

The Liberal government has appointed a nine-member task force that 
will develop recommendations for a comprehensive plan on marijuana 
legalization and regulation. The move to research and invest in 
sensible marijuana reform comes at a time when minor possession 
offences continue to be enforced and police raids on unlicensed pot 
shops have expanded across the country.

Unfortunately, the government has rejected the possibility of 
immediately decriminalizing marijuana possession.

Decriminalization is not full legalization, but it would eliminate 
criminal penalty for marijuana-related offences and relieve the 
strain on an already over-utilized criminal justice system. The 
decision to appoint this task force without immediately 
decriminalizing possession not only flies in the face of Prime 
Minister Justin Trudeau's mandate to implement meaningful moves 
toward "evidence-based policy," it also betrays the cannabis culture 
Canadians have cultivated over the last 30 years.

Instead, the government maintains that taking the time to develop a 
plan to control marijuana distribution and sales through a legalized 
framework - without temporary decriminalization - better suits the 
concerns of Canadians. It suggests that the current legal 
infrastructure, which saw significant expansion under the government 
of Stephen Harper, can provide meaningful protections against 
organized crime and illegal pot sales.

This decision to continue enforcing marijuana offences encourages 
police to be heavy-handed in their enforcement while providing 
virtually no added safeguards to ensure that marijuana stays out of 
the hands of minors - a primary goal of Trudeau's campaign toward legalization.

"Quite frankly, until those laws are repealed by Parliament through 
the appropriate processes, they should be upheld, they should be 
obeyed," argues MP and former Toronto police chief Bill Blair. 
Blair's comments are in reference to the growing number of unlicensed 
dispensaries, suggesting they are "reckless" and capitalizing on an 
ambiguous political climate to make a "quick buck" among recreational 
and other "unregulated" users.

Blair's position presupposes that sales of illegal substances will 
skyrocket without the threat of criminal enforcement, though there is 
little evidence to support this. In their book, Killer Weed, Susan 
Boyd (a member of the task force) and Connie Carter argue that this 
understanding of decriminalization is misleading, suggesting instead 
that countries that have moved toward decriminalizing recreational 
drugs saw virtually no rise in drug use while also experiencing 
significant reductions in prison overcrowding.

It seems there is a fundamental disconnect between the Liberal 
government's stance on pot versus what it is actually happening on 
the ground. Both Trudeau and Blair have suggested they are 
uncomfortable with the prospect that immediate decriminalization 
would make it easier for organized criminals to profit from marijuana 
sales. Their discomfort, however, evidently does not extend to the 
fact that countless non-violent cannabis users continue to face 
criminal records for an act that is soon to be legal.

Charging non-violent cannabis users and small storefront dispensaries 
with criminal sanction seems antithetical to this supposed 
ideological shift toward a seemingly softer, evidence-based approach 
to crime control. Rejecting the possibility of decriminalization 
before the task force has even had a chance to meet radically 
undermines the kinds of political interventions experts can make, 
especially when there has been a great deal of research in the field 
of drug policy.

The first and most important recommendation of the newly appointed 
task force should be to immediately decriminalize marijuana, removing 
the stigmas of criminal sanction and embracing an ethos of compassion 
toward cannabis users. The interim solution should not default to 
continued police enforcement and punitive sanctions.

While some police departments have refused to lay charges for 
possession, others continue to unevenly enforce the laws against some 
of their communities' most marginalized groups. With an estimated 
$1.2 billion spent annually on marijuana enforcement, ruined lives 
bear the cost when we privilege punishment over evidence-based reforms.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom