« Victoria City Council discussing medical cannabis this Thursday | Main | Cauchon says pot laws could be eased »
Justice minister eyes pot decriminalization
By Hempology | July 16, 2002
From the TIMES COLONIST, July 16th, 2002
OTTAWA – Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says Canada is seriously considering the bold move of
decriminalizing marijuana possession because the current system encourages a patchwork of criminal
charges across the country.
After years of debate, Cauchon’s revelation that he is contemplating action is the closest any minister
of justice has come in recent years to acknowledging that saddling people with criminal records for
recreational drug use might not be fair or an efficient use of police resources.
“There is discussion to find ways to be more efficient, more effective,” Cauchon confirmed Monday. “We’re
not talking about making it legal, we’re talking about the possibility of moving ahead with what we call
decriminalization.”
The proposal would mean handing small-time users a fine akin to a parking ticket rather than criminally charging
and arresting them and forcing them through the court system.
Cauchon said that he would wait for reccomendations from a Senate committee studying decriminalization and
consult widely with Canadians before replacing the federal law.
The Senate committee, which has held hearings across the country, will produce a report by late summer that
is expected to recommend relaxing marijuana possession laws.
Cauchon acknowledged that Britian’s move last week to reclassify cannibis is a factor in his decision.
However, his proposal goes further than the U.K., which still plans to maintain pot possession as a criminal
offence, but is instructing police not to lay charges if people have the drug for their personal use.
Cauchon said the current system in Canada, in which police in some provinces lay charges while others do
not, might not be working as it should. Also, some people are getting off entirely because police do not
want to lay charges when a criminal record is at stake, he said.
“If you look at the system that we have in place, keeping it criminal, it’s not very efficient,” he said.
Topics: Articles | Comments Off
Comments are closed.