Marijuana - Canadian Perspective

[MrJim]

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<TD width=109>BILL C10

It would decriminalize possession of less than 15 grams of pot -- about 15 to 20 joints. Instead of a criminal record, it proposes fines of between $100 to $400.


USE

325,000 Canadians use marijuana on a daily basis, according the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs.


LAW

Possession of cannabis accounted for approximately 54% of all reported drug incidents.


THE U.S.

95% of Canadian marijuana production is exported to the United States. The United States government says decriminalization would lead to longer waits at the border.


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<DIV =storyline>Federal government committed to marijuana decriminalization: Martin</DIV>
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<TD colSpan=2>Alexander Panetta</TD></TR>
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<TD colSpan=2>Canadian Press</TD></TR></T></TABLE>
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Thursday, July 22, 2004</DIV>

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<TD =storycredit>Prime Minister Paul Martin gestures as he addresses the media Wednesday. (CP/Jonathan Hayward)</TD></TR></T></TABLE></TD></TR>
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OTTAWA (CP) - The federal government is committed to marijuana decriminalization and will reintroduce legislation to make it happen, Prime Minister Paul Martin said in his first statement on the issue since winning re-election.


The Liberal government will bring back a bill that died with the election call and re-table it after Parliament resumes sitting in October, he said Wednesday following a meeting of his new cabinet. "The legislation on marijuana - the decriminalization of minor quantities of marijuana - that legislation will be introduced."


According to the original bill, anyone caught with 15 grams of pot or less would receive a ticket instead of criminal charges. But those caught trafficking more than 15 grams would receive harsher penalties.


Critics say the bill could lead to more cases of intoxicated driving and cause traffic snarls at the Canada-U.S. border while American customs agents intensify their search for drugs.


They also bemoan the 15-gram ceiling for non-criminal use, calculating that it would become legal for someone to carry more than 30 joints at a time.


Detractors have already successfully lobbied the government to drive down the initial maximum amount from 30 grams. Some felt the original limit was so high that it practically made drug-dealing legal.


Wednesday's announcement came on the same day as a study concluded that the number of Canadians who have used marijuana or hashish nearly doubled in 13 years.


In 2002, an estimated 12.2 per cent of Canadians admitted to smoking marijuana - up from 6.5 per cent in 1989, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.


But Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh, sworn into cabinet just one day earlier, dismissed the suggestion that decriminalization would lead to greater use.


"I'm not so sure whether that argument has any validity. I don't know what the correlation is," he said after attending his first federal cabinet meeting.


"My view is that, if you make something illegal, some people are more attracted to it. . .If you allow people to possess it in small quantities for personal use, the allure kind of disappears for some people."


Martin had also said while campaigning for the June 28 election that he planned to reintroduce the marijuana bill. </DIV>
<DIV =storycredit align=center>©The Canadian Press 2004</DIV></TD></TR></T></TABLE>






<DIV =storyline>Legalize, tax pot: Vancouver mayor</DIV>



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Thursday, May 13, 2004</DIV>




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Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell says marijuana sales should be taxed and the revenue used to fund treatment for the effects of more serious drugs.


Campbell made the suggestion Saturday in a speech to the annual meeting of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association.


"Taxes levied on marijuana sales could add to the resources for treatment. Remember, the B.C. marijuana trade is estimated at $6 billion annually -- larger than construction or forestry," Campbell said.


The former Mountie and coroner also noted that enforcement money freed up from legalizing pot could support treatment and better policing of other crimes.


Campbell said he was calling for the regulated sale of marijuana along the lines of the way that sales are managed for tobacco, alcohol and other drugs.


He cited the case of Amsterdam, noting that the status quo there is legal-but-regulated cultivation and sales.


He said studies show fewer residents of the Netherlands than, for example, Americans, have actually tried marijuana, and cannabis use among Dutch schoolchildren has fallen.


"The conclusion is pretty clear: legal, regulated sale of marijuana may actually produce less consumption," he said.


Campbell said he is opposed to decriminalization because it does not deal with "real criminals" such as the dealers and the crimes they create.
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<DIV =storycredit align=center>©Canadian Press 2004</DIV>

[transit]

So that is what they were saying a year
ago. </span>What have they done since then? </span>I just did a quick search and read of marijuana
and </span><st1:country-region><st1lace>Canada</span></st1lace></st1:country-region> on google, and it appears that the answer is “not much.” </span>The proposed “decriminalization” is still a
maybe.</span>

[MrJim]

Yeah,


The thing about that is that Canada is a very legistatively slow country. These days this has been put on the back burner because our governmentpartys aretoo busy jockeying for power. In the past year very little has been done, not just on Marijuana reform, but in everything that is the day to day running of the government. I know that the article was a little old, but it hasn't changed as far as mentality goes. There was a brief outcry because a psychopath in Alberta had a small grow-op, but people realized that it wasn't the weed but the person who was crazy. I will search out any newer articles of relavance, let you all know.

[Be-Bop]

The thing that i find just so fucking FRUSTRATING about the subject of 'theLaw & Drugs' is that anybody with half a fucking brain can see (& the evidence is so OVERWHELMING that the whole dialogue is completely REDUNDANT) that the US inspired & led "War against DRUGS" is not only ineffective, it is actually counterproductive because it increases the profit derived by criminals (giving them EVERY reason to maximise profits further by ensuring that as many people as possible have the oppurtunity to access drugs)..any time ANY country tries something that is INTELLIGENT & based on RESULTS, America has a fucking fit& does everything that they can to STOP that experiment (eg Heroin trials..Switzerland did it coz they don't give a flying FUCK what the UN, or the US thinks!!!)


Any person that has DIRECT experience of drugs, or investigates them without an 'AGENDA',& i'm not just talking about user's..but also academics, social workers etc REALISES THAT THE war against drugs is not only a very expensive FAILURE, but in reality, it is a war AGAINST OURSELVES, & in particular, our YOUNG PEOPLE & MINORITIES.....


If you wanted to make, say Heroin addiction unattractive to kids...the best way would be to have a Heroin Program...rather than the OUTLAW image that it has know....give it all the excitement of being on unemployment benefits..


Fuck..all this makes me SO GODDAMN MAD..i wrote all this in a white-hot streak..i apoligise if it doesn't make complete sense..& i have to stop now..coz i am feeling HOMICIDAL!


Be-Bop.