Marijuana for non-therapeutic purposes / : Usage de la marijuana à des fins non thérapeutiques

In Canada, indications of an increasing appetite for change include a resolution passed by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police calling on the federal government to adopt a ticketing approach to the possession of small amounts of marijuana, public opinion polls and the identification of marijuana legalization as a potential campaign issue for the Liberal Party of Canada. [...] The regulatory debate centres on the impact of criminalization in reducing rates of use and on striking the appropriate balance between the social harms associated with criminalization and the health harms associated with marijuana use. [...] Three Canadian parliamentary reports, the LeDain Commission in 1972, the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs in 2002 and the House Special Committee on the Non-Medical Use of Drugs in 2003, have examined the issue and concluded that Canada’s current policy approach results in a level of harm due to criminalization that is disproportionate to the harms associated with marijuana use itself. [...] In South Australia, there was an increase above the national average in reported lifetime use following the introduction of CENs in 1987, but there was also an increase in two states that did not change marijuana policy (Tasmania and Victoria),13 and trends in weekly use between 1985 and 1995 aligned with the rest of Australia.14 Rates of use in Western Australia also followed the national trend, [...] The range of variables that could be considered span tax revenues, costs of health care, income from fines, lost productivity costs, labour market access, and the administrative and enforcement costs of regulation.23 The evidence available on decriminalization is limited in scope and specificity and the evidence available on legalization is only now emerging.