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PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONS WHO HAVE PUBLICLY ANNOUNCED THEIR SUPPORT OF THE DECRIMINALIZATION OF MARIJUANA - AN EVER-EXPANDING LIST STARTED ON JUNE 4, 2001

Toronto -- The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health applauds The Globe for its editorials this past week about decriminalizing the use of drugs, an important discussion that does not usually receive sufficiently researched debate. As Canada's largest addiction and mental health facility, we have strong clinical and research-based evidence to support a harm-reduction approach to drug use, including the decriminalization of cannabis.
While negative health effects can result from extensive cannabis use, studies in other jurisdictions have shown that reducing criminal sanctions for possession for personal use lessens the negative social and individual consequences, and does not lead to increased use. We urge the government to follow The Globe and the growing number of organizations and Canadians who support a more rational and balanced approach to drug policy.

- Globe And Mail 2001/08/25

The reality, said Richard Garlick of the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, is that most people who smoke dope don't get caught. It's a law that's applied in a discretionary way, he explained... "The deterrent effect ( of the law ) is extremely negligible," said Garlick, whose national drug education and prevention organization endorses decriminalization ( penalties similar to parking tickets ) rather than criminal records for marijuana users.

The pot debate has dragged on for nearly 30 years now, ever since the LeDain commission recommended dropping criminal sanctions for marijuana users. Since then, the Canadian Medical Association,

the Canadian Bar Association,

the Canadian Council of Churches,

Association of Police Chiefs,

the RCMP

and several political leaders have called for decriminalization, as distinct from legalization.

Tom Naylor, professor of economics at McGill University and expert on the underground economy, including drug trafficking, called the shift "a copout. All they are going to do is bring the law into line with actual reality." De-criminalization rather than legalization simply means the status quo, he said. "Because you don't shove people in jail - or very rarely - for smoking now. Everybody knows the law is stupid."

- Montreal Gazette 2001/06/02

As the issue of decriminalizing marijuana makes its way into the federal political arena, Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca MP Keith Martin is the latest politician to get in on the action... It's not the first time that Martin has expressed his view that people should not face criminal charges for minor possession of marijuana, as the Canadian Alliance ( CA ) MP has reintroduced a private member's bill for its second run through the House of Commons.

the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs ( CAPC ) has been supportive of the idea of decriminalizing marijuana since 1999. The RCMP has also indicated that people caught with small amounts of pot should not face criminal charges. Some Liberal MPs support decriminalization

and even many right-wing members of the Canadian Alliance are saying it's time to decriminalize pot. Martin points out that his private member's bill is getting a lot of support from party members.

- Victoria News 2001/06/01

Fewer And Fewer Marijuana Users Charged, Despite Official Call For Strict Prohibition. Canadian police officers, who publicly oppose decriminalizing possession of marijuana, are quietly backing away from pursuing charges despite catching a growing number of people with the drug. Statistics for 1999, the last year in which figures are available, show that police reported almost 40,000 cases of catching Canadians with marijuana, but they did not pursue criminal charges in 13,500 cases, roughly 34 per cent of the total. A decade earlier, police caught 29,000 people with marijuana and pressed charged in all but 4,700 cases, or 16 per cent.

"My guess is that 10 years from now it will be decriminalized or become some sort of provincial offence," said the University of Ottawa's Julian Roberts...

"This has always been a problem, and now it's a greater problem than it has been, the uneven application of the law," said Neil Boyd, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Mr. Boyd wants the federal government to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cannabis... His sentiment, backed by several academics and politicians, is to be studied by a House of Commons committee struck two weeks ago to examine illicit drugs.

- Ottawa Citizen 2001/06/01

POT ARGUMENT WASTES OUR TIME...Oh for God's sake, legalize the stuff... This is a column about marijuana, the legalization thereof... Poverty is a problem. War is a problem. The plight of women in Afghanistan is a problem. Addiction is a problem. Marijuana isn't. Let's all get a grip here and legalize the damned stuff.

- Lyn Cockburn, Winnipeg Sun and Calgary Sun 2001/05/31

A Senate committee is currently hearing presentations on the consequences of decriminalizing illicit drugs. In Parliament, Justice Minister Anne McLellan and Prime Minister Jean Chretien have given the go-ahead for a similar House of Commons look. Early this month all five federal parties in the House supported the creation of a special committee to hold hearings on the question.

The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled last year that the current rules covering the medicinal use of marijuana are unconstitutional and gave Ottawa until this summer to revamp them, or see all such cases thrown out of the court system...

If Parliament is going to take a serious move towards decriminalization - - accepting the argument that marijuana use is not a crime, they should go the distance and legalize it.

- Kenora Daily Miner and News 2001/05/31

EUGENE OSCAPELLA ( Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy ): We've had almost eighty years of prohibition of cannabis. It hasn't stopped the use of the drug. It hasn't stopped the production, and it's fed organized crime.

ALLAN ROCK ( Minister of Health ): It does little good for that person to arrest them and bring them before a criminal court or imprisonment...

The Canadian Medical Association Journal and groups such as Parents Against Drugs favour decriminalizing marijuana.

- The National, CBC Television - 2001/05/24

Never before has there been such a broad social consensus that decriminalizing marijuana is the right thing to do. It's time to act.

- Donna Laframboise, National Post - 2001/05/24

As he has done several times during his political career, Tory Leader Joe Clark called Tuesday for the decriminalization of marijuana.

In January, the Belgian government agreed to decriminalize the use of marijuana, following a similar decision in the Netherlands.

- Globe and Mail 2001/05/23

Support for the outright legalization of the drug is rising in Canada, with the population now almost evenly split on the issue, says a poll conducted by a University of Lethbridge sociologist who has been studying the subject since the 1970s.

a 1999 Health Canada decision in favour of using marijuana for medical purposes likely contributed to the drug's kinder reception.

MPs from all five parties have said they intend to discuss legalization, or at least decriminalization, of marijuana as part of a sweeping look at the country's drug strategy.

Justice Minister Anne McLellan added fuel to the debate last week when she said she personally is "quite open" to discussing the liberalization of marijuana laws.

The Canadian Medical Association Journal also announced its support of decriminalization - which would reduce marijuana possession to the level of a parking infraction - last week, noting that 1.5 million Canadians use the drug, and that studies show "minimal negative health effects [with] moderate use."

- Globe and Mail 2001/05/22

Yesterday, sociologist Andrew Hathaway echoed the sentiment of three other expert witnesses when he told the committee that Canada must drop "coercive sanctions" for marijuana possession...

The committee was also told that decriminalization in European countries and in Australia has not led to an increased prevalence of marijuana.

- Ottawa Citizen 2001/05/15

Liberal delegates at a weekend convention voted against legalizing same-sex marriage but supported decriminalizing marijuana in a policy debate that could form the backbone of the party's election platform.

- The Canadian Press 2000/03/19

The Belgian government announced last month that it will formally decriminalize personal use of marijuana, and a similar bill is before the Luxembourg parliament. The Swiss parliament will soon debate a law permitting people to smoke cannabis, and in July a new Portuguese law comes into effect that will decriminalize the personal use of all drugs, hard and soft.
The British government announced recently it would draw up new guidelines for police, recommending that they do nothing when small quantities of cannabis are found; French authorities do not prosecute 95 percent of cannabis-possession cases, and in Spain, Italy, and most German regions the police turn a blind eye. Only in Sweden and Greece have authorities still fixed their goal on a drug-free society.

- Christian Science Monitor 2001/03/12

Last year the Swiss cabinet approved a marijuana decriminalization measure. The Swiss Parliament is set to consider the measure in June and is expected to pass it. (In March 2000 both houses of Parliament approved resolutions calling for the decriminalization of marijuana.) The cabinet's decision followed a recent report by the Federal Commission on Narcotics Issue, an independent panel that advises the Swiss government, which recommended legalizing the possession, sale, and consumption of small amounts of marijuana within a regulatory framework.

- The Lindesmith Center 2001/02/23

In New Zealand, Both Prime Minister Helen Clark and Health Minister Annette King say they support decriminalization with Miss Clark advocating a move towards "spot" fines.

- Scoop 2000/03/23

According to Family Watch (www.familywatch.org), organizations that have endorsed medical access to marijuana include: the American Academy of Family Physicians; American Bar Association; American Public Health Association; American Society of Addiction Medicine; AIDS Action Council; British Medical Association; California Academy of Family Physicians; California Legislative Council for Older Americans; California Medical Association; California Nurses Association; California Pharmacists Association; California Society of Addiction Medicine; California-Pacific Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church; Colorado Nurses Association; Consumer Reports Magazine; Kaiser Permanente; Lymphoma Foundation of America; Multiple Sclerosis California Action Network; National Association of Attorneys General; National Association of People with AIDS; National Nurses Society on Addictions; New Mexico Nurses Association; New York State Nurses Association; New England Journal of Medicine; and Virginia Nurses Association. A few of the editorial boards that have endorsed medical access to marijuana include: Boston Globe; Chicago Tribune; Miami Herald; New York Times; Orange County Register; and USA Today. Many organizations have favorable positions (e.g., unimpeded research) on medical marijuana. These groups include: The American Cancer Society; American Medical Association; Australian Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health; California Medical Association; Federation of American Scientists; Florida Medical Association; and the National Academy of Sciences.

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