US embassy cable - 03OTTAWA1497

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 OTTAWA 001497 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SNAR, PREL, PGOV, CA, Narcotics 
SUBJECT: CANADA: GOVERNMENT INTRODUCES LEGISLATIVE CHANGES 
TO ITS CONTROLLED DRUGS AND SUBSTANCES ACT - THE CANNABIS 
REFORM BILL 
 
1.  Summary:  On May 27, Canada's Minister of Health Anne 
McLellan, Minister of Justice Martin Cauchon, and Solicitor 
General Wayne Easter presented to the House of Commons the 
long-awaited legislative reforms to Canada's Controlled Drugs 
and Substances Act pertaining to marijuana. Debate in the 
House will now take place and, according to Minister Cauchon, 
the Government hopes the new law will be in place by the end 
of the year.  The legislative changes are part of what 
Minister McLellan said  is a renewed National Drug Strategy 
that,the GoC hopes, will decrease the use of harmful drugs, 
decrease the supply of illicit drugs, modernize and promote 
anti-drug laws (including adjusting penalties), and promote 
healthy decision-making, especially among younger Canadians. 
End Summary. 
 
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The Proposed Marijuana legislation 
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2.  The Government of Canada, spearheaded by the Ministers of 
Health and Justice and the Solicitor General, introduced the 
Cannabis Reform Bill (C-38) to the House of Commons on May 
27.  According to the GoC's press release, this bill, if 
enacted, would replace the current criminal court process and 
resulting criminal penalties with alternative penalties for 
possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana or one gram or 
less of cannabis resin (hashish); would provide law 
enforcement officers the discretion to give a ticket or issue 
a summons to appear in criminal court for possession of 
between 15 and 30 grams of marijuana; would provide for 
greater alternative penalties when aggravating factors are 
present (including possession while committing an indictable 
offense such as operating a motor vehicle or while on or near 
school grounds); and would create new offenses and provide 
for tougher penalties for illegal growers.  Specifically, the 
proposed bill would set penalties for the possession of 
marijuana as: 
 
-- possession of 15 grams or less of marijuana - fine of USD 
100 (youth USD 70) 
 
-- possession of one gram or less of cannabis resin - fine of 
USD 200 (youth USD 130) 
 
-- possession of 15 to 30 grams of marijuana - fine of USD 
200 (youth USD 130). 
 
3. For possession of 15 to 30 grams, the police officer 
present would retain the ability to determine if the offender 
should receive a ticket or be issued a summons for a summary 
conviction. If a summary conviction is determined, the 
penalty for possession would be up to six months in prison 
and/or up to about USD 700 in fines.   Moreover, if an 
individual is caught in possession of marijuana while he/she 
is operating a motor vehicle or while near a school,  or if 
there are other aggravating factors, the fines could be 
increased to about USD 300 for an adult and USD 175 for a 
youth under 18.  And, if an offender is under 18 years of 
age, his/her parent/guardian would receive a written notice 
of the child's infraction. 
 
4. By decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of 
marijuana, the GoC claims that it will be able to focus more 
law enforcement resources on combating commercial marijuana 
growers and traffickers, including those associated with 
organized criminal groups.  In his announcement, Minister of 
Justice Cauchon said the new legislation would increase 
penalties for commercial growers.  For instance, individuals 
caught growing between 1 and 3 plants could face up to 12 
months in jail plus fines up to USD 3500, growers of between 
4 and 25 plants could get up to 18 months in jail and fines 
up to USD 16,500, growers of 26 to 50 plants could face 10 
years and growers of over 50 plants could get 14 years in 
prison. In addition, in cases involving the growing of more 
than three plants, a judge would have to provide reason why 
imprisonment was not imposed where any of the following 
aggravating factors was found: 
 
-- a risk of danger for children in the building where the 
operation exists; 
 
-- use of traps (set to protect the premises from intruders 
or police); 
 
-- use of explosives (booby traps or to destroy evidence); 
 
-- use of land belonging to others (farm land); and 
 
-- operation creating a safety hazard in a residential area. 
 
 
According to Cauchon, the GoC is proposing no changes to the 
penalties for those individuals convicted of narcotics 
trafficking. 
 
 
5. Though Minister of Health McLellan stated in her public 
announcement that the GoC recognizes that its move to 
decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana 
would likely result in an immediate increase in the number of 
users, she believed this would be a temporary response by the 
public and not a long-lasting trend.  McLellan stated that 
the proposed decriminalization of marijuana was part of a 
renewal of Canada's National Drug Strategy and pledged a new 
5-year-USD160 million budget to decrease the use of harmful 
drugs; decrease the supply of illicit drugs, modernize and 
promote anti-drug laws (including adjusting penalties), and 
promote healthy decision-making, especially among younger 
Canadians. 
 
6.  For his part, Canada's Solicitor General Wayne Easter 
stated that the renewed National Drug Strategy would devote 
additional resources to Canada's drug awareness program and 
would give Canada's law enforcement increased tools with 
which to fight Canada's drug war.  For instance, Easter 
stated that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) would 
receive more resources for their efforts to identify and 
dismantle indoor marijuana grow operations and precursor 
chemical laboratories , money to teach police how to identify 
individuals who drive while impaired, money for substance 
abuse treatment programs in Canada's penal institutions, and 
funds to establish a coordination subgroup within the 
Solicitor General's office. 
 
7.  Comment: Though the GoC is quick to stress that the 
introduction of C-38 is in accordance with the will of the 
Canadian people, some MPs, including members of the majority 
Liberal Party, have already expressed concern about the bill. 
 According to Liberal MP Dan McTeague, (quote) it is clear 
that there are problems (with C-38) and that some 20 or more 
other Liberal MPs are opposed (unquote).  Not surprisingly 
other MPs, for instance Libby Davis, NDP and Greg Thompson 
PC, say C-38 is (quote) out of the twilight zone and is not 
well thought out (unquote).  Some Parliament watchers suspect 
(or hope) that if the Prime Minister allows his party to vote 
their consciences, the bill -- as it now is written -- may 
not find its way out of debate before the winter recess - 
thereby effectively killing it. 
CELLUCCI