• We are spending millions of tax dollars to house thousands of non-violent people incarcerated in Canada for marijuana-related offenses.

The Canadian people support a more progressive approach:

In spite of all these reports the vast majority of politicians still lack the courage to act on these findings.

This is why protesting and other efforts to visibly demonstrate support for cannabis law reform are so important. Politicians will not take any action toward genuine law reform until they are sure they have enough public support behind them.

Indian Hemp Drugs Commission, "Report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission", Simla, India: Government Central Printing Office

"The commission has come to the conclusion that the moderate use of hemp drugs is practically attended by no evil results at all."

Canal Zone Committee, "The Panama Canal Zone Military Investigations"

"The influence of [marijuana]... has apparently been greatly exaggerated... There is no evidence... that it has any appreciably deleterious influence on the individual using it."

Canadian Government Commission of Inquiry, "The Non-Medical Use of Drugs", Ottawa, Canada: Information Canada. (a.k.a. "Le Dain Commission")

"Since cannabis is clearly not a narcotic we recommend that the control of cannabis be removed from the Narcotic Control Act... The Commission is of the opinion that no one should be liable to imprisonment for simple possession."

National Commission of Marihuana and Drug Abuse, "Marijuana: A Signal of Misunderstanding, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

"Marihuana’s relative potential for harm to the vast majority of individual users and its actual impact on society does not justify a social policy designed to seek out and firmly punish those who use it... Existing social and legal policy is out of proportion to the individual and social harm engendered by the drug."

Senate Standing Committee on Social Welfare, "Drug Problems in Austrailia- An Intoxicated Society?", Canberra: Austrailian Commonwealth Government Printing Office.

"Legal controls [should] not [be] of such a nature as to... cause more social damage than use of the drug... Cannabis legislation should be enacted that recognizes the significant differences between... narcotics and cannabis in their health effects... Possession of marijuana for personal use should no longer be a criminal offence."

National Research Council, "An Analysis of Marijuana Policy", Washington D.C.:
National Academy Press.

"The advantages of a policy of regulation include... the savings in economic and social costs of law enforcement... better controls over the quality and safety of the product, and, possibly, increased credibility of warnings about risks."

McDonald D., et al., "Legislative Options for Cannabis in Australia", Report on the National Task Force on Cannabis", Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.

"Australian experiences more harm... from maintaining cannabis prohibition policy than it experiences from the use of the drug... We conclude that cannabis law reform is required in this country."

Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport, "Drug Policy in the Netherlands:
Continuity and Change", The Netherlands.

"It has been demonstrated the more or less free sale of... [marijuana] for personal use in the Netherlands has not given rise to levels of use significantly higher than in countries which pursue a highly repressive policy... Dutch policy on drugs over the last twenty years... can be considered to have been successful."

Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, "Cannabis: Our Position for a Canadian Public Policy Summary Report", Ottawa, Canada.

"Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue."

For more information and to purchase this book, visit:
University of Toronto Press

Paperback: $24.95
Cloth: $55.00

Jailed for Possession:
Illegal Drug Use, Regulation, and Power in Canada 1920-1961

by Catherine Carstairs

"In Jailed for Possession, Catherine Carstairs examines the impact of these drug laws on users’ health, work lives, and relationships. In the middle of the century, drug users regularly went to jail for up to two years for possession of even the smallest amount of opium, morphine, heroin, or cocaine, often spending more time incarcerated than on the street. As enforcement increased and drugs became harder to obtain, drug use became an increasingly central preoccupation, making it almost impossible for users to hold down steady jobs, support families, or maintain solid relationships."

Review:
"With Jailed for Possession, Catherine Carstairs provides a unique perspective on the development of policies on drug use in Canada -- an essential historical view of how our current attitudes and laws have evolved. This extremely well-written book is important and very timely, as we are in the midst of changing social, legal, medical, and moral attitudes toward those who use marijuana, have addictions to narcotics, and those who profit from the drug trade, and need this dispassionate reflection on how we arrived where we are.’"
- Jock Murray, Medical Humanities Program, Dalhousie University