Date: Wed, 21 Jun 1995 16:52:07 -0500
From: [KUB 1] at [aol.com] (by way of [c--o--n] at [dsmnet.com] (Carl E. Olsen))
Subject: Feds move to decriminalize in Vancouver.

From the front page of the Vancouver Sunday Province(June 18,1995):"JUST SAY
WHOA- Feds tell city cops: Stop charging people for Drug Possession"

Users off the Hook
by Greg Middleton

Simple drug possession in Vancouver will no longer be prosecuted,under
newfederal government guidelines, the Province has learned. Senior federal
drugprosecutor Lindsay Smith wrote to Vancouver police on May 17 advising
themof the relaxed stance.  The letter said the Crown would only approve
possession charges if there was an aggrivating factor,such as if the person
was "a known gang member."

"We were simply indicating the system is badly overtaxed and we have more
drugcases than we can deal with," explained Tony Dohm, of the Justice
Department.Dohm is in charge of federal prosecutions in B.C.  All drug
charges are handled by federally appointed prosecutors.  He said the edict
applies to Vancouver, wheredrug prosecutions have overloaded the courts.  "We
have to look at the effect onthe community," he said.  "It may be different
if someone is caught outside a schoolin West Vancouver or North Vancouver
with drugs."  Drugs,from marijuana tococaine and heroin, are part of the
downtown area, he said.  Dohm defended thenew position.  "We're not giving
people carte blanche. It's not a license to do drugs and we're not telling
police to turn a blind eye."  While no one knows how many illicit drug users
there are in Vancouver, one downtown needle exchange will giveaway at least
1.5 million needles this year.Two provincial courtrooms run almost full-time
in downtown Vancouver exclusively fordrug cases. And there can be several
dozen new drug-posession cases a day.Vancouver police deputy chief Rich
Rollins agrees with Dohm.  "We have to be practical; that is the bottom
line," Rollins said.  He confirmed the letter had come aftera number of
meetings with federal justice department officials and drug
prosecutors.Members of the drug squad had complained about the number of
recent drug cases being dropped or refused by federal prosecutors.  "It was
discussed at an exeutive meeting of the police department," Rollins said.  

Mayor Philip Owen, chairman of theVancouver police board, could not be
reached for comment last night.  But Prof. NeilBoyd, head of Simon Fraser
University's criminology department, said giving up ondrug-possession charges
is "probably the right way to go."  He advocated decriminalizing drug
possession, saying drug use should not be a criminal offence."It doesn't make
sense to criminalize the chemical alteration of consciousness with some drugs
when we allow people to do it with tobacco and alcohol,"  Boyd said.