Cauchon Vows Quick Action Despite PM's Reluctance

[boulder]

Source: National Post

 

Ottawa - Despite the Prime Minister's misgivings, Martin Cauchon, the Justice Minister, says he intends to pursue decriminalization of marijuana by taking a proposal to the federal Cabinet "in the weeks ahead."

 

Mr. Cauchon heads to Europe today, where he will discuss pot decriminalization with his counterparts in France, England and Germany, which have relaxed their laws or plan to do so.

 

"I want to move ahead as quickly as I can," Mr. Cauchon said yesterday, when asked whether Jean Chrétien's hesitancy will delay legislation.

 

Mr. Cauchon, a 40-year-old who has confessed to smoking pot in his youth, acknowledged that he and his boss may have a difference of opinion on whether marijuana possession should be eliminated from the Criminal Code.

 

But Mr. Cauchon, who has been a Chrétien loyalist through his leadership problems, denied there is a generation gap between he and the Prime Minister, who turns 69 on Saturday and says he did not even know what marijuana was when he was growing up.

 

Mr. Chrétien's reluctance to modernize laws is in step with a significant portion of Canadian society, Mr. Cauchon said. "He is a guy that understands perfectly our Canadian society. He knows where we are on many, many issues."

 

A recent poll conducted for Southam News indicated that Canadians are split on whether simple possession should be decriminalized.