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Trafficking offenses down amid Canada’s creeping acceptance of marijuana

A demonstrator smokes a giant cannabis cigarette during a pro-marijuana legalization march in Brasilia May 23, 2014. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino/Files

The ongoing war over the perception and acceptance of marijuana use in Canada is a lot like a Nascar race – constantly in motion but never seeming to go anywhere.

The government is opposed to it, though many who sit in the House of Commons are for legalizing it. The healthcare system approves of its use, though Health Canada strongly opposes the same. Much of the public supports it, many use it, and yet efforts to bring about change have fallen short.

Regardless of the perception and the government's stance on the illegality of marijuana, the reality is that the drug is being accepted in Canada, and apparently among the country's police forces.

The Globe and Mail reports that the number of charges being placed against drug dealers is decreasing in Canada, while forces struggle with an apparent lack of zeal in cracking. While there were more people found in possession of marijuana last year over the previous year, the Globe reports there were fewer charges.

“Police are less enthusiastic about [enforcing the controlled substances legislation] now than they were 10 years ago,” Simon Fraser University criminologist Rob Gordon told the newspaper. “It is particularly true in the case of what may be defined as soft-end drugs.”

This belief is supported by recent Statistics Canada numbers, which found the number people charged with trafficking, distributing or production cannabis last year was 14,308 -- a 10 per cent decrease from 2012, and a 35 per cent decrease from a decade ago.

The number of people charged with producing and distributing cocaine and other drugs was also down from 2012, but higher by 10 per cent or more from 2003.

A recent national survey found that more than two-thirds of Canadians supported easing the laws surrounding marijuana possession and use, with 36 per cent calling for legalization, similar to the current situation in Washington and Colorado, and another 34 per cent backing its decriminalization.

So what are the factors surrounding the apparently growing acceptance of pot?

First, there is the confusing brought about by the medicinal marijuana industry. While Health Canada has recently shifted the responsibility of growing the drug from the patient to larger companies, it has done nothing to stem the growth of the industry.

In fact, the few companies with permits to grow marijuana, and others seeking their own permits, are invested in improving the level of acceptance of pot as a health aid, offering extensive information packets to doctors capable of prescribing marijuana as medicine and even lobbying doctors directly.

Last month, a Quebec hospital became the first in the country to officially allow the use of cannabis inside the facility.

This is a separate issue from the recreational use of marijuana, but it has softened the public perception. After all, how could marijuana be so terrible when it is also used as a medical aid?

The ongoing political debate about legalizing marijuana has surely broken down some barriers as well, with only one major federal party - the governing Conservatives - opposed to loosening restrictions. The Liberal Party of Canada has come out in favour of legalizing pot, while the NDP's currently contends it should be decriminalized.

And then there is the justice system itself, where there have been indications that even the most decorated officers prefer focusing on more harmful crimes.

Last year, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police requested a change in the laws that would allow officers to ticket people found possessing small amounts of pot, rather than being forced to choose between turning a blind eye and bringing the hammer down on offenders.

"It must be recognized ... that under the current legislation the only enforcement option for police, when confronted with simple possession of cannabis, is either to turn a blind eye or lay charges. The latter ensures a lengthy and difficult process which, if proven guilty, results in a criminal conviction and criminal record,” CACP President Chief Const. Jim Chu said at the time.

Since then, British Columbia police forces have openly balked at the idea of cracking down on small-time grow-ops. And Vancouver police even went as far as to assure the public that a statistical increase in local cannabis arrests was not connected to a "hardening" of their drug policy. A spokesman told The Straight the increase was more likely attributable to the public's comfort in smoking it openly.

It is unlikely that there has been a concerted effort to decrease the number of production and trafficking charges across the country, more likely that what we’re seeing is some form of ennui, underlined by its creeping acceptance across the board.

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