Pot Promoter Smoking Mad

[boulder]

Police and the government will milk the proposed decriminalization of pot like a cash cow, warns the leader of the Marijuana Party. "The day that the government realizes there's money to be made by fining marijuana users, I guarantee there's going to be an increase in repression," said Marc- Boris St-Maurice.

 

Agreeing it's a step toward legalization, St-Maurice is fuming about a Commons committee recommendation that would see those caught possessing 30 grams or less get off with a ticket and no criminal record.

 

Justice Minister Martin Cauchon says he's ready to roll on the decriminalization of marijuana for personal use by early next year.

 

St-Maurice, a former Montreal musician who now works full-time to legalize pot, said the decriminalization proposed by the Commons committee could make life "potentially worse" for pot users.

 

"Like we have with speeding tickets where at the end of the month they've got to up the quota, so they put out radar traps, I wouldn't be surprised to see groups of police ... go out and hustle up some marijuana users ... because (they) need money to buy bullets for (their) guns," St-Maurice said.

 

He came fourth in the 2000 election -- ahead of the Tories, the Canadian Alliance and the NDP -- but failed to beat Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe in his Montreal riding.

 

St-Maurice said a "daily user" could be expected to burn up about 30 grams a month.

 

St-Maurice said another problem comes from its recommendation that the 30-gram limit include plants being grown by users.

 

"A 30-gram plant is tiny and may only produce a gram or half a gram of usable product, so in order to grow your 30 grams, you're going to have to have 700 grams of plant material," St-Maurice said.

 

"How much weight of a corn plant do you need to get one ear of corn?" he said, adding he's also upset that MPs failed to recommend amnesty for those with criminal records for pot convictions.

 

Source: Calgary Sun, The (CN AB)

Author: David Gamble, Ottawa Bureau