Posted March 21, 2003

Analysis By Richard Cowan
Today, the Canadian papers are carrying contradictory stories
about the position of the Justice Minister, Martin Cauchon, on whether he will
push ahead with his decriminalization bill that he proposed last December, just
as the Canadian Supreme Court was about to hear arguments on constitutional
challenges to cannabis prohibition.

At that time, he pledged to introduce a decrim bill the end of April.
That would mean that the Canadian government would once again be on both sides
of the question as the new Supreme Court hearing date is May 6th.

The Southam
papers, Canada.com, are reporting that Cauchon said, I
would be able to move before the summer recess I would be pleased. Sooner than
that, would be great.”

On the other hand, the Winnipeg Sun,
a tabloid owned by the Canoe partnership, is reporting, “Justice
Minister Martin Cauchon appears to be backing away from plans to introduce
legislation by the end of next month decriminalizing simple marijuana
possession.

Cauchon told reporters yesterday that if he could introduce a new law before
Parliament’s summer break he ‘would be happy.’

But he said he believes Canadians need a national debate
before taking any steps to downgrade possession of small amounts of marijuana
from a criminal offence to one penalized by a ticket and fine.”

Frankly, I hope that the Winnipeg version is right.
See

Canadian Tabloid Poll Finds 70 Percent Support “Decriminalization”And They Don’t
Like It. So They Quote Only Narks and Prohibitionist Politicians. Contempt for
People Who Believe In Freedom?

First, it would keep the government from playing its
games with the Supreme Court again.

Second, and perhaps more important, Canada really does
need a national debate on cannabis prohibition.
See


Canadian Supreme Court Punts On Cannabis Cases Until Spring. The Games
Governments Play Prove The Need for International Debate on Cannabis
Prohibition. Special to MarijuanaNews

Moreover, I think that the cannabis
community should also debate whether or not just any decriminalization bill is a
good thing.
See


Leader of Canadian Tories Supports “Decriminalization” – Not “Legalization” –
Again. This Makes Mere “Decriminalization” a Defeat for Us. Defining Our Terms
and Setting Our Goals.

I have grave concerns about what some
versions of such a bill might actually do.

Cauchon has also
been quoted as saying, “It is
likely that if we moved into a ticketing regime there would actually be more
enforcement of the possession offense. That has been the case in Australia.”

And that is the problem. There have
been proposals for escalating fines up to C$1,000 for the third offense. And
would poor people who cannot afford to pay their fines go to jail, as has been
the case in Australia?

A report in 2000 said that the state
of South Australia’s  “system of
issuing infringement notices found that a lot of young and poor people ended up
with convictions because they were unable to pay fines.”
See


Honest Journalism From New Zealand Tries to Deal With the Questions About
Legalization That Apply Everywhere.
and


Australian Study Shows Marijuana Laws Not A Deterrent To Use,
But They Often Wreck Lives:
“The health risks of cannabis use were often debated in the media
but little was said about the social harms associated with a conviction.” — 2
Articles

To make matters even worse, the
police would like to have a law that gives them discretion on whether or not to
arrest smokers or write them a ticket.
See


Toronto Police Chief Supports Decrim — At the Option of The Narks – And
“Education Or Treatment Programs” For Marijuana Users. The Therapeutic Police
State. — 2 Articles

Meanwhile, the Canadian
narks are waging a propaganda campaign to get increased penalties for growers.

See


As Canada Moves Toward Some Form Of Decriminalization, Canadian Narks and
Walters Escalate Lying. The New Math. “Canada Replaces Mexico” As Leading
Supplier of Cannabis. And If You Believe That…

British Columbia’s
Solicitor General, Rich
Coleman, has called for tougher, “American-style penalties” for growers. As part
of his campaign he claims that “In Whatcom County, south of the Fraser Valley,
they will deal with maybe a handful of grow ops this year ( while ) in British
Columbia, we will deal with thousands of grow ops in the Fraser Valley…”
See


The Prohibitionist Counterattack In Canada Runs Into Some Flack. RCMP
Challenged. And I Have Fun Writing A Letter to the Editor.

and links

Well, Whatcom county has a population
of only 150,000, so it is hardly typical of Washington State as a whole, which
grows a lot of cannabis. In fact, it probably ranks sixth in DEAland.

And of course, DEAland produces far
more cannabis than does Canada. In fact, California, which has a larger
population than Canada’s, almost certainly produces more cannabis than does
Canada. Vancouver seed merchant, Marc Emery, has stated that 80% of his sales
are to DEAland. Does that sound like “American-style penalties” are an effective
deterrent?

In any case, almost all Canadian
crimes carry much lower penalties than is the practice in DEAland. Coleman is
also in a rather absurd position of calling for more enforcement and stiffer
penalties at a time when the province is closing court houses, jails and even
hospitals. In fact, his ministry’s operating budget was cut by $3 million
this year, and will be cut by another $35 million next year.

That is not Coleman’s only math problem. He slavishly
follows the DEAland party line on cannabis, even claiming, “A kilo of
marijuana trades kilo-for-kilo for cocaine across the border.”

This is contradicted by the DOJ website which says,
“Border area law enforcement agencies report that Canadian traffickers
occasionally cross into the United States to swap BC Bud for cocaine. Couriers
attempting to return to Canada often are arrested along the border with large
quantities of cocaine, but reports of the reputed exchange of Canadian marijuana
for U.S. cocaine on a pound-for-pound ratio are inaccurate. DEA reporting
suggests that the exchange ratio is about three units of marijuana to one unit
of cocaine.”
See

http://www.usdoj.gov/ndic/pubs/1335/index.htm#Top

It is also contradicted by the
RCMP’s web site, which says, “Canadian
marihuana is sometimes used as a currency to purchase cocaine that is warehoused
in the USA. The exchange ratio is about 3 to 1.

Exchanges
of 1 to 1 have been rumored but never substantiated. Furthermore, such a rate of
exchange does not make sound commercial sense considering that a kilo of cocaine
sells for $13,000 US (in lots of 50 kilos or more) while the wholesale price of
a kilo of marihuana ranges around $6,000 or $8,000 US.”
See

RCMP Annual Report On the “Drug Situation in Canada” Contradicts Staples Of the
Prohibitionist Party Line. Exclusive To MarijuanaNews.

Coleman also
claims that growing is controlled by “organized crime” without really producing
any evidence that this is so. Of course, increasing penalties would be the
surest way to involve organized crime even more.
See

Organized Crime In The Marijuana Trade.
Why More “Law Enforcement” is Counterproductive.
An Excellent Halifax Editorial Says, “Marijuana laws encourage crime.”

Unfortunately,
Coleman has enlisted the support of Federal Solicitor General Wayne Easter, who
has appointed Kevin Begg, head of police services in B.C., to chair a committee
to make recommendations on more severe punishment and more extensive measures to
seize the assets of growers.

There is
every reason to suspect that these people will use any proposed
“decriminalization” bill as a cover to create a DEAland style police state in
Canada.

I am
confident that this is not something that most Canadians would favour, if the
facts are laid out in a national debate.

The first
question that needs to be addressed is just how Canada can have such a debate,
but it is clear that there is an urgent
need for an honest discussion of the issues to make the Canadian people
aware that their top law enforcement officials are lying to them.

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