BY MARK KENNEDY, POSTMEDIA NEWS
Most Canadians are at odds with the Harper government’s firm stance against marijuana decriminalization, a new poll finds. Photograph by: Ben Nelms , REUTERS
OTTAWA — Two-thirds of Canadians think the law should be changed so that people caught with small amounts of marijuana no longer face criminal penalties or fines, a new poll has found.
The nationwide survey for Postmedia News and Global TV, which examined the state of Canadian values, revealed that the public is distinctly offside with the Harper government on the issue.
Earlier this spring, Prime Minister Stephen Harper attended a summit of leaders from the Americas, where some called for a major review of the so-called “war on drugs,” and perhaps even the decriminalization of some drug use. Also this year, Liberals at a policy conference passed a resolution endorsing the legalization of marijuana.
That came after similar calls last year from a Global Commission on Drug Policy, which numbers former presidents of Colombia and Mexico, former United States secretary of state George Schultz and former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan among its members. That group also urged nations to consider “experimentation” with “legal regulation of drugs” such as marijuana “to undermine the power of organized crime and safeguard the health and security of their citizens.”
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