SENATORS: POT USE ON RISE

Committee Says Laws Have 'No Effect' On Marijuana-Smoking Young People

Ottawa - Efforts to prevent marijuana use are having little impact, and
young Canadians are smoking up in greater numbers than ever, a Senate
report says.

An estimated 30 to 50 per cent of people 15 to 24 years old have used
cannabis despite its illegality, the report, released Thursday by the
Senate committee on illegal drugs, says.

"When you examine cannabis usage among youth, you realize that public
policy has absolutely no effect," Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, committee
chairman, told a news conference.

"The psychology of adolescents seems to take no account of the rules of law."

After studying the pros and cons of pot use for 14 months, the committee
also concludes that scientific evidence suggests marijuana isn't a
so-called gateway drug that leads to the use of harder drugs.

The discussion paper, intended to guide public consultation on the
marijuana issues, indicates that millions of dollars in public money being
spent to combat pot is wasted.

The arguments in the paper are far from new - many were made in the Le Dain
report of 1973.

Yet the federal government has been reluctant to change the law and Health
Minister Anne McLellan has backtracked from a plan to give severely ill
patients access to government-grown marijuana.

There's a widespread perception that the federal government is reluctant to
decriminalize pot because of opposition from the United States, which
remains committed to prohibition.

The Nolin committee raises that issue in a questionnaire it will submit to
participants in consultations planned for six Canadian communities in
coming weeks.

"If Canada was to adopt a different, more liberal approach to cannabis,
should it take into account the reaction of the USA?" the questionnaire
asks. "What would the reaction likely be?"

The discussion paper offers no recommendation on whether the law should be
changed. That will come in its final report in August. But Nolin has said
he personally favours decriminalization.

Other findings in the paper, based on extensive hearings and research over
the past year:

- - Cannabis is a psyhoactive substance and it's better not to use it. It may
have some negative effects on the health of individuals, but considering
the patterns of use, these effects are relatively benign.

- - Pharmacological studies of cannabis have not found any element that
predisposes users to more potent drugs.

- - Pot doesn't increase aggressiveness or anti-social behaviour, nor induce
users to commit crimes.

- - Definitive conclusions can't be drawn from available evidence about how
cannabis affects driving abilities, although it may lead to increased risk
at high doses or combined with alcohol.

- - Cannabis use doesn't hurt academic performance.

"Studies tend to indicate that problem young cannabis users are also
problem alcohold users, manifesting other risk-taking behaviour. These are
therefore symptoms of other underlying problems rather than causes."

The annual cost of fighting illegal drugs, for federal agencies alone, is
estimated at $500 million. Each year, more than 30,000 Canadians are
charged with simple possession of marijuana.

Police across the country swooped down on home growers of marijuana last
month in a 15-day blitz that left 255 people facing drug charges.

Between April 15 and 30, 208 search warrants were executed from coast to
coast and 369 drug charges were laid, police said Thursday.

Operation Greensweep 2, the second national blitz in three months, was
co-ordinated by the Ontario Provincial Police Drug Enforcement Section.

In Ontario alone, 122 search warrants were executed and 125 people were
charged with a total of 234 drug offences. The majority of the Ontario
raids were in areas surrounding Toronto.