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Newsbrief:
Marijuana
Charges
Down
30%
in
Canada
8/6/04
In a report released July
28, Statistics Canada announced that the number of marijuana possession
charges brought last year was down 30% from the year before. The
decline in pot possession cases contributed mightily to an 8% overall decrease
in drug prosecutions, the first decline since 1993, the government reporting
agency said.
Statistics Canada suggested
the decline in marijuana arrests even as marijuana use is increasing in
Canada (https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/347/canada.shtml)
may be partially explained by the unsettled politics of marijuana in the
country. Last year, the period in question, saw a "summer of legal
weed" in Ontario as the courts grappled with the very constitutionality
of marijuana prohibition, as well as lots of talk about the Liberal government's
"decriminalization" bill, which Prime Minister Martin has promised to reintroduce
this year.
The decline, said Statistics
Canada, "may have been, in part, a result of a climate of uncertainty among
police, given recent court rulings questioning the constitutionality of
current laws regarding cannabis possession. In addition, legislation
was introduced in 2003 in the House of Commons to decriminalize possession
of small amounts of cannabis."
In a seeming paradox, British
Columbia, with its reputation as a marijuana user's paradise as well as
a thriving Vancouver hard drug scene, was the only province to report an
increase in drug arrests last year. In BC, drug arrests were up 6%,
including a 3% increase in marijuana arrests. But, as Statistics
Canada pointed out, BC has reported the highest rate of drug crimes of
any province for the past two decades.
Across Canada, more than
41,000 were arrested for marijuana possession alone in 2003, nearly half
of all drug arrests. An additional 8,000 were arrested for growing
pot and 10,000 more were arrested for trafficking.
Read the Statistics Canada
report at http://www.statcan.ca/Daily/English/040728/d040728a.htm
online.
-- END --
|
Issue #349, 8/6/04
Medical Marijuana Victory in Detroit |
Supreme Court to Fast Track Effort to End Federal Sentencing Chaos |
Massachusetts Needle Exchange Activists Hold Day of Protest, Demand Action from Legislature |
Newsbrief: Defendant Can Post Pictures of Narcotics Agents in Info Search, Federal Court Says |
Newsbrief: Nevada Marijuana Initiative Wins Legal Victory, Still Alive |
Newsbrief: Justice Department Backs Off on Plan to Destroy Library Asset Forfeiture Pamphlets |
Newsbrief: Israeli Soldiers to Get Cannabis Therapy for Stress? |
Newsbrief: Marijuana Charges Down 30% in Canada |
Newsbrief: California Narc Indicted in Rudy Cardenas Killing |
Newsbrief: Federal Prosecutors in Seattle Use Patriot Act in Marijuana Case |
Newsbrief: Bolivian Coca Growers Call for Referendum on Legal Coca |
Newsbrief: Highway Travel Advisory -- South Dakota/Sturgis Rally |
Press Release: Students for Sensible Drug Policy Activists to Take "Skate for Justice" Through New York State Tomorrow (8/7) |
Media Scan: Peter Moskos in the Baltimore Sun |
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