Lit_Match

Whiff of debate over pot laws
10-28-06|torontosun.com|By ZEN RURYK, CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF

Two of Toronto's three main mayoral candidates say it's time to get off the pot and decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.

While Mayor David Miller and lawyer Stephen LeDrew support decriminalization, Councillor Jane Pitfield said yesterday she doesn't believe there's much public appetite for taking pot possession out of the Criminal Code.

"I just feel at this point, the majority of people in this city still would support keeping it as illegal," Pitfield said.

Toronto's mayor automatically gets a seat on the city's seven-member police services board but has the option of appointing a councillor to fill the spot.

Miller said he views the matter as a "health and moral issue" and not a criminal matter

"I think the police resources should be used to get at the real problems which are dealers and gangs," he said.

Many U.S. states have decriminalized the drug, LeDrew noted.

"There have been too many lives ruined -- where you can't get across the border, where you can't get a job -- for simple possession," he said.