Justin Trudeau speaks about marijuana, October 21, 2009

Title:
Justin Trudeau speaks about marijuana, October 21, 2009

Description:
Liberal MP Justin Trudeau was in Alfred, Ontario on October 21, 2009. Philippe Morin asked Trudeau about marijuana prohibition in Canada; a topic which divides the Liberal party. (Some Liberal members like MP Keith Martin have called for full legalization, former PM Jean Chretien called for decriminalization and most of the Igantieff-era Liberals voted along with the conservatives' recent crime bill C-15 which increases jail sentences for growers.) Trudeau voted in favour of Bill C-15, a Conservative bill which increases jail time for marijuana growers. However, he called the Conservatives' approach to crime "all wrong." Indeed, despite voting in favour of the Conservatives' crime bill, Trudeau had nothing but criticism for the party's approach to crime. He called Conservative policies "superficial and based on scaring people into thinking that crime is going up, when in fact it's going down." On July 19, 2009 in Ottawa, as part of his farewell tour before being extradited to US jail for selling seeds, BC marijuana party president and publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, Marc Emery, said that he and Trudeau had smoked cannabis together on more than one occasion. Emery said he was outraged that Trudeau had voted yes on C-15. Trudeau --- who admits he's used marijuana in the past --- said Emery was lying about smoking marijuana. He also repeated the claim that marijuana has become more harmful since the 1960s and "cannot be called the light drug that it once was." This claim contradicts the Canadian Senate's research, which in 2001 concluded that marijuana was a mostly benign substance comparable to tobacco or alcohol. (Editor's note: Interviewer Philippe Morin says Bill C-16, but the actual bill number is C-15.) What do you think? Send us your comments or write a letter to the editor@thereview.ca

Author:
InuvikPhil

Tags:
marijuana, justin trudeau, marc emery,