Pubdate: Sat, 15 Oct 2016
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2016 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Page: A23

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT POT

Over the last decade, about half a million Canadians have been
prosecuted for simple possession of marijuana, many of them young
people. More than 100,000 others have been charged for growing pot,
possessing it for the purposes of selling or actually selling it to
other Canadians. Some of these have indeed been gangsters, but many
others have not. In fact, Statistics Canada data shows that since 2006
- - excluding impaired driving - more Canadians have been busted
annually for marijuana than for traffic offences.

According to Health Canada, marijuana is the world's most widely used
illicit psychoactive substance, with an estimated 200 million users
globally. Marijuana is also the world's most trafficked illegal drug.

This vast black market creates fertile ground for organized crime and
is a driver for equally onerous enforcement and administrative costs,
not to mention the criminalization of hundreds of thousands of
otherwise law-abiding citizens with all the social, career and
personal costs that accompany criminal records. One United Nations
report published in 2013 found Canada ranks highest among all nations
in rates of marijuana use among youth.

So it's not surprising that Canadians strongly support the federal
government's pledge to legalize marijuana while strictly regulating
and restricting access, a practice in which it is already well-versed
through the control of alcohol. And British Columbia, opinion polls
show, is the source of the strongest provincial support for
legalization - 76.2 per cent in favour. The more conservative prairie
provinces trail in support, yet even there six out of 10 want
marijuana decriminalized and regulated like alcohol. In fact, support
for legalization has grown steadily in every region.

But these opinions are tempered. Almost as many want a parallel system
of close federal monitoring for safety and quality. As Vancouver Sun
reporter Lori Culbert found during her investigations for a Postmedia
report on Canada's present and future marijuana landscape, B.C., where
support for legalization is strongest, also investigates people for
simple possession more aggressively than any other province.

These facts are just a few that Postmedia journalists uncovered as
they examined the history of marijuana regulation since the 1920s.
More rolls out in our pages and online over the coming week. We hope
you will find it useful in evaluating a dramatic policy initiative
that promises to affect every Canadian.
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MAP posted-by: Matt