A history of empty promises to "ease up" on us....

The history of the Canadian Government's record of broken promises to "ease up" on the cannabis community reads like a black comedy. It all began on June 20th, 1970 - Health Minister John Munroe - under Pierre Trudeau - promised to "end jail terms for the possession of marijuana". He retracted his statement the next day.
In 1972, Prime Minister Trudeau allowed for absolute or conditional discharges - which changed nothing in terms of having a record. In 1975, the Trudeau government tried to make their "discharges" scheme more meaningful by equating them with a pardon, but the proposal died on the order paper.

In 1980, echoing former president Jimmy Carter (1977) and former Prime Minister Joe Clark (1979), Prime Minister Trudeau once again promised to reduce penalties. Even Justice Minister Jean Chretien made promises to "ease up" - again nothing happened. Then Nancy Reagan came on the scene, and everything got harsh for a while.

Records show that Chretien released a discussion paper on full legalization on Jan. 23, 1981, that said:

"Because the conduct would be legal there would be no offences, no criminal records, and no stigmatization. As well, there would be a signifigant reduction of an illicit market, which obliges people to engage in criminal activities or deal with criminal types in order to supply themselves with cannabis".

Full legalization was then dismissed because;

"...legalized distribution would likely result in the increased use of cannabis by Canadians thereby increasing the health and safety hazzards which are associated with it." Of course they forgot to factor in the savings to our healthcare system from a corresponding reduction in alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceutical use from cannabis substitution.

In 1993, the tories, then under Kim Campbell, introduced Bill C-85 - which was designed to allow the police to make mass arrests. Right after Kim admitted to smoking cannabis in her University days and then claimed that it "wasn't a crime", she was defeated. The Canadian people had spoken - they prefered a square to a hypocrite.

The Liberals - led by non-puffing (or non-telling) Jean Chretien came back and re-introduced Bill C-85 as Bill C-7 (and then Bill C-8 ... which became the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act). In the process, the Senate recommended that Le Dain should be revisited and decide if decrim would lead to more use or abuse. A House of Commons Standing Committee on Health was set up, but it wasn't empowered to look at Le Dain or decrim.

Bill C-7 was sold to the public like it was the emancipation proclaimation. On November 15th, 1995, the front-page headlines across Canada read: "Bill to eliminate criminal record for marijuana possession" (Vancouver Sun) and "Convictions for pot possession untraceable under new bill" (Edmonton Journal) and "Feds Pushing Softer Pot Law - Potheads high on grass law changes" (Toronto Sun) and "Dope Stigma to ease - Crime Records Won't Hound Pot Users" (Winnipeg Free Press). The next day, the bad news was printed in the back pages of the Vancouver Sun - "Canadians busted for pot still face border block, lawyer says".

On May 18th, 1996, the papers reported that "Some Senators support legal pot" - but ten days later Prime Minister Chretien was there to say "Pot smokers shouldn't hold their breath" regarding legalization. On February 12th, 1997, Reform MP Keith Martin revealed his plan to decriminalize cannabis: "1000 fines" and "mandatory treatment" for cannabis users.

On July 31st of 2000, Ontario's highest court declaired the law agaisnt the possession of cannabis "unconstitutional" and gave Ottawa a year to amend it to allow for medical use.

Sometime during 2001, Keith Martin tried again to decriminalize all on his own but the Liberals were denied a free vote by Prime Minister Chretien.

Analysis

It seems to me that we in the cannabis community need to stick together - now more than ever. We must not allow our oppressors to switch punishments - fines that will hurt poor users the most - fines that offer nothing to the growers and dealers or those who hate the suffering caused by prohibition and the black market. We must instead see decrim as a result of our efforts. The same efforts can be used to fight decrim and get full re-legalization. We end up getting what we settle for.

It seems to me that the cannabis community is a donkey, and we have been following a carrot on a stick, a carrot called "decrim", and the stick is about to break, and the carrot is rotten and we should not eat it. Instead, we should kick-off the oppressor entirely, demand NO PUNISHMENT AT ALL FOR ANY HARMLESS ACTIVITIES including proper cultivation and distribution of cannabis. Otherwise, the indigestion of decrim will be giving us aches for years to come.