quote:

Originally posted by cenik Even though police officers routinely insist that their efforts are directed primary at individuals/groups who traffic and produce marijuana, crime statistics continuously demonstrate that the vast majority of charges and convictions for marijuana-related offences (somewhere in the neighbourhood of 90% I believe) in Canada are for personal possession.

Kudos... you seem very educated on this subject...just wondering with the 'charges and convictions', could it be the statistics are misleading. (ie. trafficers getting charged and convicted/pleading out with possession because of insufficient evidence to convict trafficing ???)

I ask again, because as someone who was part of the 'smoking' culture, I don't know ANYONE who was not trafficking that got convicted of possession. (charged yes, threatened yes, but not convicted)

Also, we did fall under the young offenders act at the time, not sure how I'd be treated now that I'm 25. (Somehow as I got older/wiser marijuanna related run-ins with the law all but dissapeared)

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quote:

Originally posted by cenik Incorrect. Marijuana was never decriminalized in Canada by any government. A few summers ago a court ruling in Ontario found the medical marijuana laws in effect at the time to be unconstitutional; as a direct result of that decision, during those summer months marijuana possession charges were not laid and/or were not brought to court. The medical marijuana laws were later altered and charges for possession began once again.

I checked, and you're right, it wasn't the Liberals who decriminalized it, it was the Ontario Supreme Court who struck the laws down.

Doesn't this look even worse for the Liberals though? Does it not seem a little bit odd that they claim to support decriminalization, but that after the Supreme Court effectively decriminalized it, the Liberals acted very quickly to recriminalize it?

If you're trying to convince me that possession shouldn't be a criminal offense, you don't have to. You're preaching to the choir. But I'd rather have the Conservatives who are honest about their lame-ass "just say no" policy than the Liberals who promise one thing but do something completely different. That's worse than a bad social policy, it's a complete slap in the face.

The Liberals were in power for 12 years. They had plenty of opportunities to decriminalize pot. Even a lot of the police chiefs supported decriminalization, so it's not as though there was a swarm of political opposition. If the Liberals really wanted to change the law, then why didn't they when they had a majority government? (And don't even try to blame the U.S. for this - Chrétien/Martin had no problem flipping them the bird)

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quote:

Originally posted by Zentac_75 I don't see the point in decriminalization. As an ex avid pot smoker, I don't remember having any REAL legal issues, or knowing anyone that did as a result of personal use. Only those that traffic marijuana did, and will continue to have issues even after decriminalization. I can't see it happening, not with all the anti-smoking (nicotine) by laws. And really what would change if they did ??? its not like pot-smokers don't already smoke wherever they want anyway....(at least I did).

spot on.

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