Liberal MP brings government’s pro-pot stance to world stage

By Kyle Duggan

AP Photo/Adam Rountree, File

In yet another sign of Canada’s altered role on the world stage, a Liberal MP is bringing the new Liberal government’s pro-pot points to the United Nations, as part of a UN/Inter-Parliamentary Union conference.

Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, who represents Beaches-East York, is headed to the New York for a two-day hearing, titled “The World Drug Problem: Taking Stock and Strengthening the Global Response,” taking place Monday and Tuesday to review the progress of parliaments around the world in combating illegal drugs.

Hundreds of MPs from around the world are expected to attend the event, which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will open. Erskine-Smith is there for a two-on-two debate Tuesday alongside Laura Rojas, a Mexican Senator, arguing that states “should seek alternatives to incarceration when addressing possession of drugs for personal use,” against Herman Adranacus, an MP from Indonesia and Ibrahim Omer, the speaker of national assembly of Sudan.

Erskine-Smith says he’ll be bringing his own personal positions to the debate, as a former lawyer who studied civil liberties and marijuana decriminalization at Oxford, but will use the Canadian government’s position as a model example that the world “can and should look to” as an evidence-based drug policy.

“There’s a growing recognition that a complete prohibitionist approach to the ‘war on drugs’, if we still call it that, is a failure. We need to look at solving the problem – addiction and drug abuse – through a different lens: harm reduction.”

He pointed to a shifting generational mood in regulating marijuana, along with Canada’s safe injection sites – something the new Health Minister has vocally promoted – and decriminalization as a Liberal government promise. Erskine-Smith says that “Canada is uniquely situated” to discuss the position.

“I’m hopeful that if we can establish a framework that works, other countries will take notice,” he said.

Liberal MP and former Toronto top cop Bill Blair is expected to work with a new federal-provincial task force dealing with legalizing marijuana, and on Friday, alongside Canada’s big city mayors, the Prime Minister reiterated a commitment to work closely with municipalities and provinces on legalizing pot.

Speaking in French, Trudeau said the government will “definitely be working to make the necessary changes here in Ottawa, but it’s clear we’ll need to work with the municipalities and the provinces in order establish a system that ties in with the realities…and meets the needs of people across the country.”

The issue came up when Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson was asked whether pot-related crimes should still be prosecuted. He responded that Vancouver police don’t see it as a priority.

“For our police, it’s certainly not a priority when compared with violent crime, gangs. Their focus is on ensuring those serious crimes managed first and foremost.”

“I know cities across Canada are looking forward to a clear framework of regulation and control of marijuana. We’ve been living in a vacuum and dealing with challenges at the street levels in our cities.

Certainly kids today in Canada have too much access to marijuana.”

That is precisely the attitude Erskine-Smith is hoping to promote.

“The incarceration question isn’t necessarily just about legalization,” he said. “It’s about making sure we’re not just giving records to individuals over simple drug possession and using the criminal justice sphere as the only tool we use to tackle the drug problem.”