Maptalk-Digest Saturday, December 14 2002 Volume 02 : Number 454
001 Canada: The Commons Committee Report on Cannabis
From: Richard Lake <>
002 Canada bends over...
From: "J-White" <>
003 Nice note from the Times of Acadiana LA.
From: "Larry Seguin" <>
004 House Comm(Mica)on CSPAN2/Col.Heroin
From: "Dave Michon" <>
005 Sent to Mica
From: "Dave Michon" <>
006 Re: MAP: House Comm(Mica)on CSPAN2/Col.Heroin
From: Larry Stevens <>
007 eonline story on Nick Nolte
From: "kim hanna" <>
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Subj: 001 Canada: The Commons Committee Report on Cannabis
From: Richard Lake <>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 12:16:17 -0500
URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v02/n2248/a13.html
Pubdate: Thu, 12 Dec 2002
Source: Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs
Notes: The table of contents for the final report of the Canadian House of
Commons Special Committee is at
http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/37/2/SNUD/Studies/Reports/snudrp02/08
Footnotes linked to the text of the final chapter of the report below can
be found at this Webpage:
http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/37/2/SNUD/Studies/Reports/snudrp02/20
Also: News items about this report have been (and will be as new stories
are newshawked) linked from this webpage:
http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
CHAPTER 9: CANNABIS
1. MANDATE OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NON-MEDICAL USE OF DRUGS
As explained in Chapter 1, the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of
Drugs was initially mandated to study "the factors underlying or
relating to the non-medical use of drugs in Canada" and to bring
forward recommendations aimed at reducing "the dimensions of the
problem involved in such use." That mandate was expanded on 17 April
2002 when the House of Commons, by order of reference, added the
subject matter of Private Member's Bill C-344, An Act to amend the
Contraventions Act and the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
(marihuana).299 This chapter will consider the provisions of the
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) only as it relates to the
criminal prosecution of cannabis offences.300
Bill C-344 proposed to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
and the Contraventions Act, to make the offences of possession,
possession for the purposes of trafficking and trafficking in small
amounts of cannabis (one gram or less of cannabis resin and thirty
grams or less of cannabis (marijuana)) "ticketable" offences. The
available penalties would be a $200 fine for a first conviction, $500
for a second and $1,000 for a third. At present, possession of those
amounts is a summary conviction offence with a maximum penalty of a
$1,000 fine or six months in jail, or both. Today, trafficking of
anything less than 3 kg of cannabis resin or marijuana is exclusively
indictable and carries a maximum penalty of 5 years less a day
imprisonment.301 In support of his bill, Dr. Martin argued that it
would unburden the courts, save money, and free up police resources to
combat more serious offences.
2. LEGISLATIVE OPTIONS
The Committee heard a wide variety of suggestions respecting the legal
treatment of cannabis. Some recommended legalization, either regulated
or unregulated. Others favoured some form of decriminalization that
would create a non-criminal offence of possession, while still others
preferred a more cautious approach that would retain present
prohibitions, while introducing more and better diversion options as a
way of avoiding some of the harms associated with prosecution. There
were also those who favoured increased penalties, at least for
trafficking offences, and a renewed commitment to the goal of
abstinence. For their part, some health care professionals thought
that more research into the effects of cannabis should be undertaken
before amending the law, in order to bring better information to the
debate, while others pointed out that the illegal status of cannabis
has contributed to "a real resistance to conducting those sorts of
studies."302
For the purposes of this discussion, the Committee defines
legalization as the removal of all criminal sanctions prohibiting the
production, sale or possession of a given substance. Legalization need
The Committee observed the following:
Smoking any amount of marijuana is unhealthy, because of its high
concentration of tar and benzopyrene.
The consequences of conviction for possession of a small amount of
cannabis for personal use are disproportionate to the potential harm
associated with that behaviour.
DECRIMINALIZING the possession of small amounts of cannabis for
personal use would not affect the penalties or consequences for
trafficking, or for the possession of any other controlled substance.
All orders of government must undertake to inform Canadians about the
potential harms associated with cannabis use and, in particular, the
heightened risk to young persons.
RECOMMENDATION 40
The Committee recommends that the possession of cannabis continue to
be illegal and that trafficking in any amount of cannabis remain a
crime.
RECOMMENDATION 41
The Committee recommends that the Minister of Justice and the Minister
of Health establish a comprehensive strategy for decriminalizing the
possession and cultivation of not more than thirty grams of cannabis
for personal use. This strategy should include:
Prevention and education programs outlining the risks of cannabis use
and, in particular, the heightened risk it poses to young persons;
and
The development of more effective tools to facilitate the enforcement
of existing Criminal Code prohibitions against driving while impaired
by a drug.
- - ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake
------------------------------
Subj: 002 Canada bends over...
From: "J-White" <>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 12:24:36 -0500
...for Uncle Sam.
RECOMMENDATION 40
The Committee recommends that the possession of cannabis continue to be
illegal and that trafficking in any amount of cannabis remain a crime.
RECOMMENDATION 41
The Committee recommends that the Minister of Justice and the Minister of
Health establish a comprehensive strategy for decriminalizing the possession
and cultivation of not more than thirty grams of cannabis for personal use.
This strategy should include:
. Prevention and education programs outlining the risks of cannabis use
and, in particular, the heightened risk it poses to young persons; and
. The development of more effective tools to facilitate the enforcement of
existing Criminal Code prohibitions against driving while impaired by a
drug.
------------------------------
Subj: 003 Nice note from the Times of Acadiana LA.
From: "Larry Seguin" <>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 15:43:47 -0500
> Because of the volume of letters we receive (a good thing),>
Reform friendly...
Larry
- ----- Original Message -----
From: "Johnson, Judy" <>
To: "Larry Seguin" <>
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2002 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: Government misinforms On Marijuana
> Thank you for your thoughtful letter. Watch for it in an upcoming edition
of
> The Times. Please also note that all letters to the editor are also
> published on our Web site: www.timesofacadiana.com.
>
> Because of the volume of letters we receive (a good thing), it can take
four
> to five weeks for letters to appear once they have been received.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Sincerely,
> Judy Johnson, Editor
> The Times of Acadiana
> 215 Garfield St.
> Lafayette LA 70501
> (337) 237-3560 (voice)
> (337) 288-3004 (cell)
> (337) 261-2630 (fax)
> e-mail:
> url: www.timesofacadiana.com
>
>
> on 12/11/02 11:42 PM, Larry Seguin at wrote:
>
> > To the editor:
> >
> > I appreciate the Times of Acadiana publishing of two outstanding letters
by
> > Robert Sharpe and Kirk Muse. (Government misinforms On Marijuana 11 Dec
> > 2002). Take marijuana out of the drug war.
> >
(snip)
------------------------------
Subj: 004 House Comm(Mica)on CSPAN2/Col.Heroin
From: "Dave Michon" <>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 15:25:09 -0600
C-Span: http://www.c-span.org/ (link to video on Page One-currently)
House Comm on Gov Reform: http://www.house.gov/reform/ (Link on Page
One-currently)
I caught the latter half of this farce and it may be of interest to some of
you. I guess we'll be hearing more about this. Two things stick out from
what I saw:
While talking of, pushing would be a more apt description, the use of
mycotoxins to spray coca and poppies, Mica was told by an ambassador that
the current herbicides are "very benign herbicides" to which Mica responded
with his malignant smirk that he wouldn't mind herbicides that are "much
less benign."
He asked the same woman if there was any political opposition to the
spraying and she thought he meant foreign political opposition. As she began
to answer, Mica told her he meant opposition in the US but just let it drop
completely as if the thought that there could be any opposition was just
ridiculous and not worth breath.
All in all, and I missed much of it, an interesting look into the higher
echelons of the Drug War.
Dave
------------------------------
Subj: 005 Sent to Mica
From: "Dave Michon" <>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 15:58:27 -0600
I saw your hearing about Colombian Heroin on C-Span 2 and was amazed at the
general misunderstanding of the nature of the issue. No amount of secret
reports can make up for life experience in this matter.
Have you ever considered what the results of total eradication would be?
Look at the meth-amphetamine problem for your answer. No, there is only one
way to put the gangster suppliers out of business: regulate supply.
There are incremental measures which, once taken, could be tracked to assess
efficacy. Take the locks off methadone and trial other agonist maintenance.
The recent re-write of methadone regs is not nearly enough. The
Buprenorphine move will scarcely touch heroin. Even the most recalcitrant of
addicts, if given low-threshold methadone, will drop their heroin use
precipitously. Ninety percent, or more, of their heroin purchases are to
maintain themselves. Stronger agonists will bring in those who methadone
can't help and keep them in treatment. Furthermore, "adjuvant opioid
therapy" will give a doctor the tools to remove that last bit of
non-maintenance use. Even if they don't abstain 100% you still should be
able to drop consumption 80-90% in an area...probably more. Consider the
effect on markets.
The effect on those thinking about opioid use? The "Message"? Well, Sir,
there is no "Underground Cachet" or rebellious romance in standing line at a
clinic!
It is the only action you can take which the drug dealers truly fear. It is
the only thing we haven't tried under modern conditions, the people are
ready for it, and it removes the many threats to our free society which drug
control have presented.
------------------------------
Subj: 006 Re: MAP: House Comm(Mica)on CSPAN2/Col.Heroin
From: Larry Stevens <>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2002 18:50:02 -0600
Man oh man! About an hour or so into it, Dan Burton asks his last question
before leaving the hearing, talking about how he's attended "thousands" of
these hearings over 30 years, and wanting to hear from the panelists what
would happen if you took the profit out of selling drugs.
The panelists were stunned. Their chagrin at the question was
obvious. The first one said your'e basically talking legalization. They
all maintained that drug use would spread. Burton countered that people
wouldn't be interested in trafficking drugs if there wasn't any profit in it.
He left the hearing and Mica took over and it went straight back downhill
to fingerpointing and excuse-making about the lack of success in
Colombia. I guess it was Burton's last day as chairman of that subcommittee.
To my knowledge, this is the first thing Dan Burton has ever said
questioning basic drug strategy. Am I wrong? I've always known Burton as
a slimeball and a drug war hawk. His bombshell question is truly a
newsworthy story. Has he defected? Is he now reachable?
At 03:25 PM 12/12/13 -0600, Dave Michon wrote:
>C-Span: http://www.c-span.org/ (link to video on Page One-currently)
>House Comm on Gov Reform: http://www.house.gov/reform/ (Link on Page
>One-currently)
>I caught the latter half of this farce and it may be of interest to some of
>you. I guess we'll be hearing more about this. Two things stick out from
>what I saw:
>While talking of, pushing would be a more apt description, the use of
>mycotoxins to spray coca and poppies, Mica was told by an ambassador that
>the current herbicides are "very benign herbicides" to which Mica responded
>with his malignant smirk that he wouldn't mind herbicides that are "much
>less benign."
>He asked the same woman if there was any political opposition to the
>spraying and she thought he meant foreign political opposition. As she began
>to answer, Mica told her he meant opposition in the US but just let it drop
>completely as if the thought that there could be any opposition was just
>ridiculous and not worth breath.
>All in all, and I missed much of it, an interesting look into the higher
>echelons of the Drug War.
>Dave
------------------------------
Subj: 007 eonline story on Nick Nolte
From: "kim hanna" <>
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 2002 15:45:07 -0500
http://aol.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,10972,00.html
Nolte Gets Probation for DUI
by Josh Grossberg
Dec 12, 2002, 2:10 PM PT
Nick Nolte's lucky his affliction didn't land him in jail.
As part of a deal worked out with prosecutors, the Oscar-nominated actor
pleaded no contest on Thursday to driving under the influence of drugs and
received three years' probation for his DUI arrest
in September.
MSN 8 with e-mail virus protection service: 2 months FREE*
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------------------------------
End of Maptalk-Digest V02 #454
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