Dr. Keith Martin Introduces Bill C-359 to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession
On April 2nd 2009, Dr. Keith Martin, MP introduced a bill in the House of Commons to decriminalize the simple possession of marijuana.
“The ‘war on drugs’ has been a complete failure. It has not reduced the crime rate, drug use, nor has it saved money or lives. Decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of pot and up to two plants will sever the connection between organized crime and casual users of pot. This bill is bad news for criminal gangs, which are the only beneficiaries of the status quo because it would eliminate demand for their product. As a result this bill will significantly undermine the financial underpinnings of organized crime gangs in Canada,” said Dr. Martin.
Under this bill, marijuana possession would still be illegal, but people would receive a fine rather than being passed through the expensive judicial system.
Nationwide studies and House of Commons committees have found that federal drug and crime policies are not working to reduce drug trafficking and harm. Many have overwhelmingly pointed to this course of action. Also, the monies now used to enforce the law for possession of small amounts of pot could be redirected to programs that reduce the incidence of substance abuse.
“In the medical profession our mantra is ‘do no harm’. We are actually doing terrible harm if we continue to address substance abuse uniquely as a criminal issue from the federal level. The blinders have to come off; we have to take a medical perspective if we are going to reduce harm and drug use in Canada.”
Dr. Keith Martin Introduces Bill C-359 to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession
4 Responses to “Dr. Keith Martin Introduces Bill C-359 to Decriminalize Marijuana Possession”
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April 5th, 2009 at 6:38 am
The first voice of reason on the Liberal side of the fence. Thank you Dr Martin, for having the good sense to see that the retoric and misinformation regarding marijuana needs to end. Harper’s plan to “Revamp” current laws by introducing a mandatory prison sentence for a person in possession of 1 marijuana plant show just how dangerous ideology can be, and shows no regard for the Canadian who chooses not to use marijuana, as the financial implications of Bill C-15 could run into the 100′s of millions. A finacial disaster for the Americans after 30 years of trying, and the ruination of thousands of lives, since it targets the responsible marijuana user. Mandatory minimums do not deter organized criminals, or gangs, they do however, give far reaching powers to police and prosecutors in a bid to create a criminal where one shouldn’t exist.America now has the largest prison population in the world, and if you turn on the evening news, you can easily see that creating this unjust atmosphere has done nothing to curb crime syndicates, but HAS been successful at destroying the lives of people who, in the vast majority of cases, posed no harm to anyone, including themselves.The real drugs like cocaine and heroin need medical legislation, not criminal legislation. An addict is an addict in jail or down a dark alley and will return to the streets an addict. Where is Mr Ignatieff?
April 9th, 2009 at 7:55 am
Bill C-15 is a dangerous and will enrich criminals, create more violence and fail to reduce either the demand for, or the availability of, drugs.
Thank you Dr. Martin for proposing a bill in the right direction.
Mandatory sentences are NOT the answer.
April 14th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Keith, congratulations on continuing to push on this. I agree that the war on drugs is a complete failure, and we need to move in a different direction as soon as we can.
That said, I think there are serious issues with your proposal. For one, here in urban BC, your bill would actually worsen the situation for pot smokers who get caught by police, who now simply have their marijuana confiscated. If police can simply issue a ticket without needing recourse to a prosecutor or judge, they will.
Furthermore, how many pot smokers are going to grow two plants for their own use? Setting up an indoor grow op is a lot of work and expense if only two plants are to be grown at any time. Planting in a garden means that only two plants can be harvested per year in our limited growing season — not enough for most users. Not to mention that growers still risk fines from police and loss of their plants, and if they are exposed in a garden it will be easy for police to ticket and confiscate. Again, this would be a worse situation than in many areas of Canada currently, where anyone caught growing a few plants will simply lose them without any other penalty.
No, growing marijuana is a job, not something every user is going to do, so the vast majority of pot will still be grown in large quantities — it’s just way more efficient that way. The only possibility I see of your bill making any dent into existing organized crime is if users can organize large cooperative grow ops that allocate two plants per member. Is that permitted under your legislation? Even then, these grow ops will still have to be clandestine to avoid police detection because they are still technically illegal and subject to fine and confiscation.
And that is the root of the problem. When a commercial operation is illegal, it has no recourse to the court system to protect itself, and so it needs to organize for its own protection, which means guns and thugs, bribery and extortion. And there we are, back to organized crime again. You are not really decriminalizing the industry until you have legalized every aspect of it.
So while I admire that you are pushing for a technical softening of the laws, I would suggest that any real-world solution must acknowledge that marijuana is a large-scale industry like alcohol and tobacco, and allow for legal large-scale production, distribution, and sale by licensed commercial operations. Until that happens, we will not be able to loosen organized crime’s hold on the industry.
April 24th, 2009 at 7:46 am
[...] reform. However, this year, the march will have some weight behind it. On April 2 Liberal MP Keith Martin introduced Bill C-359 in the House of Commons that proposes the decriminalization of possession of [...]