TheStar.com | Canada | Tories plan drug crackdown
Tories plan drug crackdown

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THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA ?? Health Minister Tony Clement will announce the government's anti-drug strategy this week with a stark warning: ??the party??s over? for illicit drug users.

??In the next few days, we??re going to be back in the business of an anti-drug strategy,? Clement told The Canadian Press.

??In that sense, the party??s over.?

Shortly after taking office early last year, the Conservatives decided not to go ahead with a Liberal bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana.

Since then, the number of people arrested for smoking pot has jumped dramatically in several Canadian cities, in some cases jumping by more than one third.

Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax all reported increases of between 20 and 50 per cent in 2006 of arrests for possession of cannabis, compared with the previous year.

As a result thousands of people were charged with a criminal offence that, under the previous Liberal government, was on the verge of being classified as a misdemeanour.

Police forces said many young people were under the impression that the decriminalization bill had already passed and were smoking up more boldly than they??ve ever done before.