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Criminal records, jail, no way to trim marijuana use
By Hempology | August 20, 2002
From the Times Colonist, August 17, 2002
By Keith Martin, MP
Recently, much frenzied public debate has revolved around whether or not to decriminalize
the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The instigating event was public musings by
the Minister of Justice, Martin Cauchon, that he would treat possession like a traffic
ticket. This is a significant departure for the minister who a few months ago ardently
opposed my private member’s bill that would do the same thing.
Well, times have changed and the minister’s new views are quite consistent with those of
most Canadians. Seventy-five per cent of us would like to see marijuana possession, at the
very least, decriminalized. Only 20 per cent want to maintain prohibition. It is important
to note that legalization means you are free to do what you want, but decriminalization means
there is still a penalty associated with possession although not necessarily a
criminal offence.
Decriminalization makes sense at a number of levels.
Firstly, most people apprehended for possession are between the ages of 18 and 24. If
prosecuted, as thousands are each year, they receive a criminal record that impairs
their ability to gain employment, access to professional faculties, travel etc.
Today, more than 500,000 Canadians have a criminal record for marijuana possession.
Secondly, it costs teh taxpayers more than $160 million a year to enforce this law which
is not applied equally across the country. This money could be better spent going after the
real criminals, who are the organized crime gangs that operate commercial grow operations
and parisitize off the foibles of others.
Decriminalization, however, should not be done in isolation.
We must also:
Adopt new treatment models which focus on treatment, work, skills training and
getting a person out of their drug environment;
Initiate, with the provinces, a National Headstart Program for children that focuses
on ensuring that children have their basic needs met and strengthens the parent-child
bond;
Adopt organized amendments that enable the police to apprehend individuals associated with
organized crime who benefit from the proceeds. The Courts also need to apply tougher
penalties against these individuals. They are often treated with too much leniency;
Remove the barriers to trade for countries such as Colombia so that farmers will produce
something other than cocaine and heroin.
In Colombia, 26,000 people a year are murdered as a direct result of the drug war. The
vast majority of these people are innocent civillians. This carnage is now spilling into
Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela and Peru.
Furthermore, growing cocaine and heroin in Colombia is causing massive environmental
damage to the Amazon rainforest. Essentially, the river and its basin are being poisoned
by the chemicals associated with drug production.
The only way mass murder in Colombia is going to stop is if we, in North America, reduce
consumption. Drug production will never stop as long as there is a significant demand.
In the end, marijuana is harmful, but so are alcohol and cigarettes. Marijuana does
impede peoples’ ability to learn, and like tobacco, has cancer-causing agents.
Yes, some people are still going to toke up but the key to restricting the number of people
who use pot and other harmful agents is through treatment, education and prevention,
not incarceration.
Keith Martin is Canadian Alliance MP for Esquimalt-Jean de Fuca.
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