Pubdate: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (Canada) Contact: Matthew M. Elrod Related: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v99/n883/a05.html DECRIMINALIZE IT Drug doomsayer Ken Lane needs to do some research, (Simplistic solutions to illicit drugs won't solve the problem, Voices, Aug. 21). Contrary to his assertion that jurisdictions that have abandoned the failed war on drugs are going to hell in a hand basket, drug usage rates in the Netherlands are significantly below usage rates in the United States, a country with the most draconian drug laws and the highest incarceration rate in the west. South Australia, the ACT and Australia's Northern Territory have decriminalized cannabis, yet a recent government study found "there was no evidence that the introduction of expiation (on the spot fines) for marijuana use has led to any increase in the prevalence or intensity and frequency of marijuana use." Drug law reformers need not dust off the report of the Le Dain Commission to find support. In 1998 the Canadian Centre on Drug Abuse recommended cannabis decriminalization. (2) Just last spring the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, whom Mr. Lane cites, endorsed cannabis decriminalization and the RCMP quickly concurred. Simplistic solutions may not solve "the problem", but decriminalization would dramatically improve the situation. Drug warriors like Ken Lane mistake public discussion on cannabis policy for an argument over whether or not cannabis should exist. As we do not have a drug-free prison, it seems unlikely we will ever have a drug-free Canada. It is time we faced that reality. Matthew M. Elrod Victoria - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea