Decriminalization of pot nixed
Attorney general rejects Victoria MP Murray Rankin’s proposed bill
The federal government will not decriminalize the possession of marijuana until it becomes law — with stringent regulations and restrictions in place, Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould said on Monday.
“Our government’s objectives in doing so are to protect young Canadians by keeping marijuana out of the hands of children and youth,” said Wilson-Raybould. “We also want to keep profits out of the hands of criminals, particularly organized crime.”
The federal attorney general spoke against an Opposition Day motion introduced in Parliament on Monday by NDP justice critic Murray Rankin, who represents Victoria.
The bill urges the government to decriminalize possession of personal amounts of pot before it’s made legal.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau campaigned on a promise to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana.
“You can’t have the prime minister announcing it’s going to be legalized and then stand up and prosecute it,” Rankin said in the House of Commons. “It’s a ludicrous situation, ludicrous.”
The Liberal government says it plans to introduce legislation in the spring of 2017, after it has put together a task force to develop a comprehensive regime for controlling the safe production, distribution and consumption of cannabis products across Canada.
“This task force will be set up very shortly and will have an ambitious timeline so that it can inform the government on its progress and complete its review in a timely and responsible way,” Wilson-Raybould said.
Decriminalizing possession of marijuana without ensuring the appropriate controls are in place would be giving a green light to dealers and criminal organizations to sell marijuana to Canadians, especially children and youth, she argued.
But Rankin said a new law could take up to two years to come into effect, leaving many Canadians — especially youth — at risk of criminal records for something the government has said it doesn’t believe should be a crime.
It’s contradictory for the prime minister to promise during the election to immediately fix marijuana laws in Canada and then do nothing for eight months, Rankin said in a phone interview.
This year, based on Statistics Canada data, as many as 60,000 Canadians will be arrested for simple possession of marijuana and 22,000 will end up with criminal records, according to the NDP.
“We are saying as an interim measure — until they get around to amending the law to allow possession and all the restrictions and regulations that appropriately go with that — we think as an interim measure they should tell the police departments and Crown attorneys around the country to just back off,” Rankin said.
He said mothers have complained to him that their children are unable to easily get employment or travel because they have a criminal record for pot possession.
Rankin pointed out in the House of Commons that the attorney general has the ability, under the Director of Public Prosecutions Act, to issue a directive that it is no longer in the public interest for small quantities of marijuana to be the subject of prosecutions.
The Victoria MP said he’s in favour of restricting and regulating marijuana, but “what I can’t get my head around is the contradiction of people getting criminal records for something that in a year or two will be perfectly legal and people’s lives being dramatically affected as a result of that.”
Rankin said the law is currently being enforced in a patchwork of ways across Canada. In Saskatoon and Kelowna, prosecution for personal amounts of marijuana occurs “more readily,” he said in Parliament. “I live in Victoria,” said Rankin. “The police have better things to do than prosecute people for simple possession of marijuana in most circumstances.”
But Wilson-Raybould said rushing into an interim period of decriminalization — possibly making it easier for youth to acquire pot — is not the answer and is not in the best interests of Canadians.
Canada has the highest rate of marijuana use of any developed country, especially among youth, and there’s compelling evidence to suggest it poses a significant health risk to the developing brain, said the attorney general.
Aside from the public health risks for youth, the government must consider the need to prevent drug-impaired driving, promote safe and responsible production and distribution of marijuana and remove profits from organized crime, Wilson-Raybould said.
The Liberals underscored on Monday that pot continues to be included under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. “The law is in force and it should be obeyed,” Wilson-Raybould said.