Martin to roll his own pot bill

By JIM BROWN
Canadian Press

(Ottawa):  Prime Minister Paul Martin says he'll press ahead with
legislation, first proposed under Jean Chretien, to eliminate criminal
penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana. But he hinted
Thursday he'd like to see a new definition of what constitutes a
"small amount" and invited a parliamentary committee to consider
lowering the limit from the original proposal of 15 grams.

Mr. Martin told reporters he sees a health risk in pot use and observed
that "any doctor will tell you it's far from the best thing for
you." On the central point of the law, however, he insisted that it
achieves "absolutely nothing to give a criminal record to young people
caught with minimal amounts."

The bill brought in under Mr. Chretien, which died on the House of Commons
order paper last month, will be reintroduced when MPs return to work in the
new year, Mr. Martin said. He then offered suggestions for fine-tuning it
before it becomes law."I think that one's got to take a look at the
fines. I think that you have to take a look the quantities, and I think
that there has to be a larger effort against the grow-ops and against those
who distribute."

In a year-end interview Thursday with CPAC, the parliamentary public
affairs channel, Mr. Martin confided he'd never smoked pot but said his
wife Sheila once made some brownies "and I must say they had a strange
taste."

The Supreme Court of Canada is set to rule next week on whether the current
marijuana law violates the Charter of Rights by mandating criminal
penalties, including potential jail time, for simple possession. Mr.
Martin's comments signalled that even if the high court upholds the
constitutionality of the present regime he will move to reform it anyway.

The bill tabled last spring by then-justice minister Martin Cauchon did not
propose outright legalization of marijuana. But it made simple possession a
minor offence, punishable by a range of fines, somewhat like traffic
violations. Mr. Cauchon denied the government was going soft on drugs,
pointing out that the legislation maintained or increased the already stiff
jail terms for illicit growers and traffickers.

All the same, the bill provoked the ire of hardliners in the administration
of U.S. President George W. Bush. John Walters, the White House director of
drug policy, complained Canada was out of step with the rest of the western
hemisphere. Paul Cellucci, the U.S. ambassador to Ottawa, warned of long
lineups at border points as American customs officers scrutinize visitors
from the north.

Mr. Martin, who has promised to improve relations with Washington,
nevertheless dismissed suggestions that Ottawa should bow to American
concerns on this issue."We are an independent nation," he told
CTV in another yearend interview Thursday. "We will make decisions
based on our values and our interests. We're not going to make these kinds
of decisions based on what somebody else thinks. We'll base them on what
Canadians think."

Aside from the U.S. criticism, there was opposition to the original bill
from backbench Liberal MPs, many of them well-known supporters of Mr.
Martin's bid for the party leadership.

Mr. Cauchon, who was dropped from cabinet last week, had tried to deflect
that attack by opening the door to possible amendments, among them:

- Lowering the limit for non-criminal possession to 10 grams of marijuana.

- Increasing fines for repeat offenders. The original bill provided for
penalties of between $100 and $400, depending on whether the offender was a
juvenile or an adult.

- Ensuring illicit growers will do jail time and not be let off with
conditional sentences. The bill had already proposed to double the maximum
sentence for growers to 14 years from the current seven, but critics say
judges rarely impose the maximum and too often let offenders off with
probation or community service.


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