From: [m--g--s] at [hempbc.com] (Dana Larsen) Newsgroups: alt.hemp.politics,talk.politics.drugs,rec.drugs.cannabis,alt.drugs.pot,can.politics Subject: The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is Law in Canada Date: Tue, 16 Jul 1996 22:45:25 -0800 What follows is excerpted from the upcoming issue of Cannabis Canada, which will be on the shelves in about 3 weeks. If you'd like to support us, please call 1-800-330-HEMP and get a subscription. It's not very expensive, and is a good way to show your support for what we're doing. *** On June 19, 1996, the Senate passed Bill C-8, the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. It then sent the bill to the House of Commons so that Parliament could approve the minor changes that the Senate had proposed. The changes were accepted and the bill was given Royal Assent the next day. This means that the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is now law in Canada. The Senators Betray The failure of the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs to recommend significant amendments to the bill was a surprise to most of those who testified before them. Many of the Senators on the Committee had spoken publicly about their support for the decriminalization of marijuana and a drug policy based upon harm reduction, and yet they allowed the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to pass through their committee without any recommendations to roll back or even limit the brutal prohibitionist ideology inherent within it. The Senators on the committee were told by every expert witness that came before them that the prohibition of marijuana and other drugs is counter-productive. They learned that prohibition hurts and kills people needlessly, and that it only intensifies and exacerbates any dangers and health risks associated with drug use. Despite this, Committee Chair Senator Sharon Carstairs was quoted as saying that the Senators on the Committee didn’t recommend decriminalization and harm reduction policies because they felt it would never pass the House of Commons. Clearly this is an unacceptable answer, especially when public opinion polls show that about 70% of Canadians support reducing the penalties for marijuana. If the only role of the Senate is to passively accept the dictates of Parliament then the Senate Committee certainly fulfilled its mandate. But if the Senators had taken their role as a voice of sober second thought more seriously then they might have done what they knew to be right instead of doing what they knew would be easy and nonconfrontational. All or Nothing The Senators were told by every expert witness that came before them that the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was more than just a “housekeeping” bill, and that it would dramatically step up the War on Drugs in Canada. It was explained to them over and over again that this bill would result in more Canadians going to jail for marijuana and other drug offences. There was no reason for the Senate to take an all-or-nothing approach to amending the bill. Even if the Senators knew that a recommendation to decriminalize would not pass Parliament, there was plenty of room for them to modify the bill in other ways. A recommendation to simply maintain the status quo and not increase police powers and provisions for the seizure of property would have been a major improvement, and spared many thousands of Canadians from much pain and suffering. Yet the Senate Committee apparently decided that they couldn’t do it all, so they chose to do nothing instead. Three hundred Canadians are arrested for a marijuana offence every day, and one hundred of them will be convicted and have a criminal record that will follow them for all of their lives. Every day that this bill is in force will see another sixteen Canadians sentenced to time in prison for involvement with marijuana. These numbers will only rise as the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is integrated into police procedures. By allowing the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to become law without serious opposition, the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs has literally sentenced millions of Canadians to continued harassment and humiliation by the police and the courts. Senator Sharon Carstairs admitted that the Committee chose to rubber stamp this vicious law only to avoid a confrontation with the House of Commons. This is not sober second thought, this is sheer cowardice. No Help for Hemp In what is perhaps the greatest disappointment, the Senate Committee didn’t even make any recommendations which would free up the Canadian cannabis hemp industry. Although the Senators appeared to be enthusiastic about the prospects of hemp cultivation, they did not recommend that industrial strains of cannabis be exempt from the definition of marijuana, as requested by the Canadian industrial hemp lobby and prospective hemp farmers. Instead, they made a recommendation that “mature cannabis stalks, that do not include leaves, flowers, seeds or branches,” be exempted from the definition of marijuana, along with any fibres derived from such stalks. This does not mean that commercial hemp cultivation is in any way permitted in Canada, it simply means that the raw fibre is no longer considered to be marijuana. This clears up the technicality that hemp fabrics and papers were illegal in Canada as they fall under the original definition of marijuana. We asked for a Canadian hemp industry, they gave us permission to wear hemp shirts. Although this bill has never contained any provision to allow for the cultivation of industrial cannabis, this is the second time that there have been headlines indicating that hemp farming was now legal in Canada. A Faint and Distant Hope The only good recommendation to come out of the Senate is that a joint Senate / House of Commons committee should be established to conduct an “extensive review” of Canadian drug laws and policies. This recommendation echoes that made by the Parliamentary Committee that looked at the bill, which also passed the buck to a future policy review. This process has already begun, as the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health has indicated that it will begin a review of Canada’s drug policies in October, to be completed in June of 1997. Unfortunately, the Parliamentary Review looks doomed before it has even begun. David Dingwall, Canada’s Minister of Health, wants the review to focus on “demand reduction”. The Committee’s Terms of Reference make no mention of “harm reduction” which should clearly be the ultimate goal of any sane and healthy drug policy. This is a direct contrast to the direction of the drug policy review as recommended by the Senate, which specifically includes the development of a “national harm-reduction policy to minimize the negative consequences associated with illicit drug use in Canada.” It is unclear at this time if Parliament will allow the Senators to join their Committee for drug policy review. If they do not, it is possible that the Senate will form a separate Committee to review the matter independently of Parliament, but this would require more courage than the Senate has exhibited in this matter so far. It is certain that the Parliamentary Committee will do its utmost to ignore and avoid all of the anti-prohibitionist testimony brought before them. If there are Senators involved in the drug policy review then they may provide the counterweight to force an honest assessment of the evidence. Nevertheless, even if the Senators are able to work political magic, this is still a faint and distant hope. While the Senators on the Committee try to convince their Parliamentary colleagues to take a realistic look at the issue of prohibition, the Canadian people will be suffering under the oppressive Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. While we wait for the review to begin in the winter, continue on until next summer, and then be discussed and debated and reviewed for another year or two, the police will be paying informants to sell drugs, the courts will be confiscating people’s homes because of a few plants in their basement, and kids with a half ounce in their pocket will get charged with trafficking and go to jail for five years less a day, without a trial by jury. We must use this upcoming review to force change upon our government. If we have learned any lessons by now then we must know that Parliament is not our ally, and that they will fight any sort of progressive change every step of the way. Our politicians do not lead, they follow, and we cannot wait for them to liberate us and our culture from the yoke of their oppression. They will have to pushed, bullied and cajoled into ending their brutal war against us. We must overwhelm them with the force of truth and decency, and give them no other choice but to accept us as what we are: natural, normal, human beings. What you can do Write regular letters to your local newspapers and call in often to radio talk shows. Make and distribute posters, pamphlets and newsletters. Make stickers, buttons, t-shirts, and bumperstickers. Grow more pot. The more people that grow their own pot the better off we’ll all be. Overgrow the government! Support your local hemp stores. If there’s no store in your area, then open your own! Talk to people. This is still the most effective method. Speak the truth with a smile and you will get results. Smoke in public without shame. Shame, fear and ignorance are all than stand between us and freedom! Attend hemp rallies. It was a misinformation campaign that made hemp illegal, and it will be a re-education campaign that sets it free. Write to the government If you do nothing else, then please just send a letter to the Parliamentary Committee on Health, expressing your feelings about prohibition and requesting that they send you all transcripts and other related information from their drug policy review. They must immediately be inundated with mail and faxes and requests for information from Canadians from all walks of life, all across the country. Contacts and Updates To present a written submission or appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Health drug policy review, please contact Nancy Hall, Clerk of the Standing Committee on Health, 6th Floor, 180 Wellington St., Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6. Phone (613) 992-1775, or fax (613) 996-1626. ** Please make the effore to contact this committee!! Request transcripts of the testimony they receive and a copy of their recommendations, plus anything else they will send you. ** You can write to the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs at: The Senate, Ottawa, K1A 0A4. Committee clerk Heather Lank can be reached at: (613) 995-5013, and her fax number is (613) 947-2104. You can send her email at [s--nc--m] at [magi.com], and the Senate Committee web page is located at http://www.parl.gc.ca/english/senate/com-e/lega-e.htm. You should also contact David Dingwall, Canada’s Minister of Health. He can be written to at: The House of Commons, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A6. Phone (613) 996-4743 or fax (613) 996-9851. A good place for updates is the web page of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy, at http://fox.nstn.ca/~eoscapel/cfdp/cfdp.html You can also get current information from the Cannabis Canada Online “What’s New” section at: http://www.hempbc.com/whatsnew/index.html. For Cannabis Canada updates by email, send a message to [c c list] at [hempbc.com] with a subject of “subscribe”. -- Dana Larsen ([m--g--s] at [hempbc.com]) Editor, Cannabis Canada, "The Magazine of Canada's Cannabis Culture" Visit Cannabis Canada Online at http://www.hempbc.com Subscribe to Cannabis Canada! 6 issues for CDN $29 / $24 US Join the Cannabis Canada News and Information Email List! Send an email with a message of "subscribe" to [c c list] at [hempbc.com]