L
lilli
Vendég
In a survey just published, it confirms that 40% of the population of Canada has used pot, and that the govt is ready to allow its use without being criminally charged.
Toronto, my a** !
Pamela Fayerman
Vancouver Sun, with Canadian Press
Thursday, July 22, 2004
WE'RE CANADA'S DRUG CAPITAL, SURVEY SAYS: Sixteen per cent of British Columbians surveyed had used marijuana in the past year.
B.C. has the highest rates of illicit drug use in the country, with more than 500,000 of the province's 4.1 million residents admitting they use marijuana and nearly 700,000 saying they've tried such drugs as cocaine, ecstasy, LSD and heroin.
The Statistics Canada findings show marijuana and hashish use almost doubled from 1989 to 2002 across the nation, and is most common in B.C., where 16 per cent of respondents said they've used marijuana in the past year, compared with 12 per cent in 1994. The national rate in 2002 was 12 per cent.
In B.C., 20.1 per cent of respondents said they had tried drugs other than marijuana, almost triple the rate in some Maritime provinces and double that of Ontario.
The findings are based on a survey of 36,984 Canadians aged 15 and older.
The study's author, Michael Tjepkema, said Wednesday that in 1994 -- the last time the federal government did a large marijuana-use survey -- B.C. also ranked number one.
"It could ... be that people in B.C. are more likely to admit cannabis use than other provinces because of differing attitudes," he said.
A public poll done by Leger Marketing last year found 53 per cent of B.C. residents had smoked marijuana at least once and 14 per cent of residents had smoked it in the past year.
The Statistics Canada report shows that B.C. holds the distinction of having the highest number of drug offences related to marijuana -- 398 per 100,000 -- which is more than double that of Ontario and Alberta.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Chuck Doucette, coordinator of drug awareness for B.C. and the Yukon, said that figure is related to the large number of hydroponic marijuana growing operations in B.C., said to produce $7 billion a year in marijuana, of which $2 billion-worth is exported.
Doucette said B.C.'s drug use rates are "worrying, but not surprising to police."
He attributes the prevalence to creeping legitimization of marijuana and "slack" attitudes on the part of baby boomer parents.
"My parents' generation was completely against all drugs but then, with baby boomers, you've got people who smoked marijuana that was one per cent THC [the major mind-altering chemical component in marijuana] and they say, 'So what? We survived,' but what they don't realize is that the marijuana out there now is 20 per cent THC and kids are getting addicted because it is so much more potent."
Doucette says strong lobbying by the Marijuana Party and advocates for legalization of marijuana and medicinal marijuana is influencing the public perception of drugs.
"Look at our own mayor. He went to a rally organized by [B.C. Marijuana Party president] Marc Emery and he's got this airy-fairy attitude [about decriminalization] that it's going to be better that way," said Doucette, who notes that tobacco smoking is going down while pot smoking is going up.
As recently as May, Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell advocated the legalization of marijuana. At a conference organized by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, he said he would legalize pot and then "tax the living hell out of it . . . and ensure that every single dollar of that tax went into the the health-care system."
ebben tényleg van valami.Originally posted by Boszi@Jul 23 2004, 07:42 AM
Vicceltem...ebbol talan csak a tisztasag igaz
kellemesen megvoltam lepödve, hogy a város (Toronto) sokal tisztább mint 2 éve volt.
ugylátszik az uj adminisztrácio jobban odafigyel mint a régi
Hasonló témák
- naplopoka
- Vancouver és környéke
