Free Republic

In the course of researching paramilitary drug raids, I’ve found some pretty disturbing stuff. There was a case where a SWAT officer stepped on a baby’s head while looking for drugs in a drop ceiling. There was one where an 11-year-old boy was shot at point-blank range. Police have broken down doors, screamed obscenities, and held innocent people at gunpoint only to discover that what they thought were marijuana plants were really sunflowers, hibiscus, ragweed, tomatoes, or elderberry bushes. (It’s happened with all five.) Yet among hundreds of botched raids, the ones that get me most worked up are the...

OTTAWA - The federal government will introduce legislation decriminalizing marijuana within the first four months of the new year, Martin Cauchon, the Justice Minister, suggested yesterday. Mr. Cauchon said that should the House of Commons committee on illegal drugs recommend decriminalization in its report this Thursday, the government will respond quickly. The committee is expected to recommend that growing pot for personal use should not be a crime. A member of the committee said the report will probably suggest a 30-gram limit for personal use. "I mean, we'll see what will be the recommendations of the report," Mr. Cauchon told...