Buzzby

Marijuana Nation?
More Canadians smoking pot; more than half support legalization
Janice Tibbetts | CanWest News Service | 11/25/2004

OTTAWA -- Canadians are smoking pot more than ever before and the majority want police and government to leave people to indulge in peace.

A new poll for the advocacy group NORML Canada shows for the first time that more than half of Canadians effectively support legalization, with 57 per cent reporting that people should be "left alone" if they are caught with small amounts of Marijuana for personal use.

An advance copy of the survey was given to CanWest News Service on Wednesday, the same day the federal government released a study of 13,000 Canadians showing that Marijuana use has doubled in the last decade.

Fourteen per cent of those surveyed for the federal study said they smoked pot in the last year, up from 7.4 in 1994. The study also revealed that almost 30 per cent of 15- to 17-year-olds and 47 per cent of 18- and 19-year-olds used Marijuana in the last year.

"This is really a rude awakening for the government," said Jody Pressman, executive director of NORML Canada.

"Government is going in the wrong direction if it thinks decriminalization is a step forward," said Pressman, whose pro-Marijuana group commissioned the poll.

The survey also reveals that only eight per cent support criminalizing Marijuana if it leads to jail time. Another 32 per cent believe that pot possession should be punished by fines rather than criminal records, a middle ground that is currently proposed in a federal bill winding its way through Parliament.

NORML wants the federal government to scrap its controversial decriminalization bill and bring in an end to prohibition and begin regulating the industry.

"It's easier to get Marijuana on a schoolground today than it is to get alcohol or cigarettes because we don't apply the same regulatory measures to Marijuana to keep it away from young people," said Pressman.

The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was conducted by SES Research of Ottawa from Oct. 26 to Nov. 1. The results are considered accurate within 3.1 per cent, 19 times in 20.

The support for legalization appears to have spiked since last fall, when a Decima Research poll of 2,015 Canadians showed that only 40 per cent opposed a state ban on pot smoking.

SES president Nikita Nanos attributed the hike to the government "normalizing" Marijuana use through its policy of allowing people to smoke for medicinal purposes.

While the latest poll reveals that only eight per cent support criminalization if it means going to jail, it did not gauge opinion on the far more likely scenario of people receiving a criminal record but escaping jail time.

The federal Marijuana bill, which was revived last month after two earlier attempts failed, proposes to eliminate criminal records, replacing them with fines of $100 or more for people caught with less than 15 grams, the equivalent of about 15 cigarettes.

A Senate report two years ago also called on the government to end its Marijuana prohibition and implement a system to regulate its production, distribution and consumption.

Legalizing and regulating the industry would bring in more than $2 billion a year in extra government tax revenue, the Fraser Institute, an economic think-tank, estimated in a recent report.

The survey shows that Canadians are softening on Marijuana laws at a time when police, the business community and the U.S. are stepping up their opposition.

The study and the poll were released less than a week before U.S. President George W. Bush comes to Canada. Canada's position has been an irritant to the White House and could emerge as a contentious issue during the presidential visit.

U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci reiterated the U.S. opposition last week when he predicted liberalizing the law in Canada would lead to increased checks at the already congested borders.

An influential business group, the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, also jumped into the debate by saying that Marijuana decriminalization will exacerbate the multibillion-dollar problem of substance abuse in the workplace.

The poll also provides a breakdown of public opinion, showing that Quebec residents, renters, and Canadians 18 to 29 and 40 to 59 are most likely to support a "hands-off" approach.

Westerners were evenly divided on government intervention and Ontario and Atlantic Canada hovered around the national average. In Quebec, 68 per cent of respondents reported that people should be "left alone" to smoke pot in peace.

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Phyxius

As much as decriminalization sucks, I don't think any government will be so radical as to jump directly to legalization. Decrim seems a necessary stepping stone.

TEDMOR

The story unfolding in Canada will be an interesting one to follow, because they appear closer to meaningful reform than the U.S., at least at the national level. Can you imagine a U.S. Senate committee report coming out with anything close to the Canadian Senate Committee report? Beware of the backlash, even in Canada. Illegal drug users are a convenient scapegoat, now that racism and homophobia are "uncool". But scapegoating Marijuana smokers using junk science is just as much an outrage as gay or race bashing. How can it be overcome? That is the million dollar question, and I wish I had a good answer.

One possibility is to overcome them with reason and science. There are many studies that indicate that Marijuana use does not have the adverse effects on productivity, or even driving, that the opposition seems to believe. (Check out some of the studies readily available at the on-line drug policy libraries.) There is clear evidence that Marijuana use is safer than many conventional drugs being pushed on the public by doctors and the pharmaceuticals industry. If the 55 percent support becomes more overwhelming, the opposition will have more difficulty stopping the reform steamroller. The hypocrisy of the U.S. on this issue is also easily demonstrated. Many U.S. states have decriminalized, but we haven't sealed these state borders. If we wanted to stop the flow of drugs around the U.S. perhaps we should seal the borders of states of California or Kentucky, where Marijuana is supposedly a large cash crop. I suspect Canadians would resent the U.S. telling them what to do, moreso when they learn similar policies apply in some U.S. states and cities. I doubt government officials would be stupid enough to follow through, particularly given the large flow of business activity that could be disrupted, without putting a dent on the U.S. underground markets. Then again, they might feel this is a strategy for political gain, even though they know it can't work.

A second approach is to find a convenient alternative scapegoat that doesn't cause real harm to real people. To them this might be a game for power, control, or influence, but they are playing with our lives. If society needs a scapegoat to blame their social problems on, let's invent one. Every time we see examples of crime, depravity, or perversion around us, lets pretend, and then report, that we saw some space aliens nearby. They have purple skins , are about 3 feet tall, and become invisible before being seen. But we have seen them in and around our communities, right before all these bad things occured. (Note: if I was more skilled at posting, I would probably use one of those symbols indicating that this latter part is my attempt at some sarcastic humor--sorry). Any better ideas?

Buzzby

I've always liked the (nonfunctional) "sarcasm" tags:

[SARCASM=Heavy] & [/SARCASM]

Anyone who knows anything knows it's not the aliens. It's the commies! (That worked well when I was a kid.)

I enjoyed your post. It was well written and made a lot of sense.

Plainsman1963

Or the ever popular sarcastic eye roll.

Growguy

I read this in my local newspaper a few days ago. i dont find the results suprising and it presents many facts I have known for quite some time. Atleast they have gotten to the point where they know how much money they stand to make should marijuana be legalized. With so many marijuana users, its gotten to the point where they acually need to listen to them. full out legalization will cripple us/canada trade which would be detramental to the canadian economy. there needs to be a gradual yet effective change in our drug laws. only through this can we hope to achieve legalization, otherwise we will create problems which we have no remedy for.