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PM says he learned about marijuana “too late to try it”
By Hempology | July 18, 2002
From the Times Colonist, July 17, 2002
By Janice Tibbetts
OTTAWA – Justice Minister Martin Cauchon confessed Tuesday that “of course” he
has smoked pot.
The more senior Prime Minister Jean Chretien, on the other hand, said he did not even
know what marijuana was when he was growing up.
They made their admissions Tuesday as the federal government
contemplates decriminalizing possession of marijuana so that people who smoke for
recreational purposes would be slapped with a fine rather than a criminal record.
Cauchon, one of the youngest members of the cabinet, said it was obvious that people
his age had tried pot at one time or another.
“I’m 39 years old,” he told reporters. “Yes, of course I tried it before, obviously.
My own expiernece can’t tell you if it’s harmful or not.”
Chretien, 68, tripped over the pronunciation of the word marijuana when he was asked
whether he’d ever smoked the stuff. “For me, I don’t know these things,” he said. “When I
was young the word marijuana did not exist. I learned about the word long after that. It
was too late for me to try it.”
But Cretien appeared to retreat from his position of one year ago, when he said that decriminalizing
marijuana was “not part of the agenda at this time.”
The prime minister said he is now leaving the matter up to his justice minister.
Cauchon stressed Tuesday that he wants to wait for the recommendations of Senate and
House of Commons committees before deciding whether to wipe marijuana possession from
the Criminal Code and make it a non-criminal offence that is punishable by a fine rather than
an arrest.
Cauchon acknowledged that it could be unfair that people like himself could be branded criminals
and prevented from obtaining jobs just because they experimented with drugs in their youth.
“The question that you raise is a very good question in our society,” he said.
The Senate committee, which has been studying the prospect for more than a year, is
expected to recommend later this summer that Canada relax its possession laws.
The justice minister joined a list of several other Canadian politicians who have
already admitted they have tried marijuana, including Alberta Premier Ralph Klein
and former Canadian Alliance leader Stockwell Day. Cauchon, like other politicians,
stressed that he no longer smokes.
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