Clearing the haze on pot laws

Posted at 02:56AM on Apr 22, 2008 by

Our Coordinating News Editor Kelly Ebbels posted (both on the Editors' Blog and Facebook) about students getting arrested for smoking pot on 4/20 on lower campus. And in the comments to the latter posting, there was -- as has been the case so often the past few years -- lots of confusion about marijuana possession laws. Let me clear some things up.

Possession of marijuana, no matter how small the amount, is illegal. Period (unless you have a doctor or similar authority approve it). The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is very clear (well, not really, because it's a law):

4. (1) Except as authorized under the regulations, no person shall possess a substance included in Schedule I, II or III.

(Schedule II is "Cannabis, its preparations, derivatives and similar synthetic preparations, including [and then a specific list].")

Subsection 2 of Section 4 prohibits "seek[ing] or [obtain]ing", so that's out too. There is an exception in subsection 5, where if you possess less than 30 g of "cannabis (marihuana)" or 1 g of "cannabis resin" (hashish), then your maximum penalty is only $1,000 and six months in jail; everything else has a maximum penalty of at least five years less a day. (There's a cool chart here.)

There are two types of events in recent years that caused people to think the law has changed. (The CBC has a good backgrounder on this.) First, some trial judges, particularly in Ontario and BC, have ruled simple possession laws unconstitutional. These have all been overturned on appeal. The Supreme Court even ruled in 2003 (6-3) that laws against possession of pot are not unconstitutional under Section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the life, liberty and security of the person one).

The other is when the Liberals proposed to make possession of up to 15 g be "decriminalized", so that you could only get a ticket and not a criminal record, like jaywalking (well, a higher fine). Chrétien introduced the bill as C-38, and it was sent to a special committee designed specifically for this bill, where they had a bunch of hearings. Then, when Martin took over the bill continued as C-10, and there was an interesting free vote on it which split all parties, but it eventually died before even getting to the Senate when Martin called an election. Martin was reduced to a minority, but reintroduced a new decriminalization bill that this time also heavily increased penalties for growing and trafficking, C-17. The bill was introduced, a day later it was shuffled off to the Justice Committee, where not a single meeting was held on it. After the bill languished for just over a year at committee with no movement at all, Martin's government fell, and the Conservatives won, which likely puts a halt to any further action on this file.

It could be that politicians don't want to touch this because so many people think possession of small amounts of pot is not illegal, and since so many people get away with it, it's easier to let the status quo continue than bring up a controversial issue again. Or maybe I'm too cynical. (Or both.) But either way, if the police catch you with even a tiny bit of a joint, they can send you to one.