Pubdate: Fri, 12 Aug 2005
Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON)
Copyright: 2005 The Ottawa Citizen
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326
Author: Allan Woods, with files from the Vancouver Sun
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

GET-TOUGH POLICY ON CRYSTAL METH 'MISGUIDED', CRITICS CHARGE

Some say new sentencing rules are about politics, not controlling the
spread and use of drugs in Canada.

The latest shot in Canada's war on drugs is a "throw-away political
gesture" that will do little to curb the spread of methamphetamine
across the country, policy experts, academics and opposition
politicians said yesterday.

Instead, critics believe the government's decision to increase maximum
penalties for producers, users and smugglers of the drug from 10 years
to life imprisonment appears designed to draw marginally tougher
sentences from a reluctant judicial system, and bring Canada's
handling of drug crimes into line with the expectations of the U.S.
government.

"They're doing the same old thing. They're saying we've got to do
something so let's toughen up the penalties," said Ottawa drug lawyer
Eugene Oscapella, of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy. "When
you get right down to it this is politics. These are politicians
pretending to do something."

The decision, announced jointly by the Justice, Health and Public
Safety ministries, changes the Criminal Code to put methamphetamine
into the same class of drugs as cocaine and heroin.

"(This is) a kind of wake-up call that deals with something that not
only harms the user but the community of which the user is a part,"
said Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. "It's a comprehensive strategy
involving enhanced penalties with regard to possession and trafficking
or involving controls on precursor chemicals with a view to really
attacking the whole question of production.

"We see this as a comprehensive strategy and an ongoing strategy to
address and redress a serious harm in our society."

The move is likely to please the U.S., which expressed concern in its
most recent annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
that Canada could become a major source of methamphetamine and the
chemicals used to make it, just as this country's marijuana crops are
smuggled across the border.

"Apparently, one of (the U.S. government's) objectives, and this is
unbelievably offensive, is to alter and modify Canadian criminal
justice policy in relation to drugs," said Alan Young, a law professor
and marijuana advocate at York University.

"Whether or not this is part-and-parcel of that exercise I have no
clue and we'll probably never know, but they've clearly stated this is
the direction they want Canada to go in."

Conservative justice critic Vic Toews said emulating the U.S.'s
approach to the war on drugs is a good start, but does not go far enough.

"I can't remember the last time anyone dealing in meth received 10
years, so what is the point of increasing it to life in prison?" he
asked. "The real issue is if you want prison to be the punishment for
methamphetamine ... then you have to impose mandatory minimum
sentences. We have to be looking at at least two years."

The Justice Department does not have statistics on average sentencing
levels for drug convictions involving methamphetamine.

Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh agreed more needs to be done, but
reminded critics that the harsher penalties are only part of a larger,
continued effort.

"We're trying to stop it (meth) because it's harmful. This is part of
the next step where you have enhanced penalties, you are going to have
more coordinated treatment across the country. I think we need to
have a nationally coordinated response with all levels of government
participating," he said.

Simon Fraser University criminology professor Neil Boyd said it is
"misguided" to think a get-tough criminal justice approach to the
problem will curtail the existence of the drug because methamphetamine
use historically emerges, peaks and dies out naturally because of its
intense, self-destructive addiction.

The main ingredient of crystal meth is pseudoephedrine, which is found
in cold remedies. It is cooked in combination with chemicals such as
red phosphorous, iodine, ammonia, paint thinner and lithium from batteries.

"What I'd say about the government's approach is that, on the one hand
it quite appropriately reflects the seriousness of the problems that
this drug creates. On the other hand, the notion that those kinds of
penalties are going to be terribly effective in changing the patterns
of abuse is a little misguided," Mr. Boyd said.

"We have a lot of historical data that amphetamine abuse tends to go
in waves, and that it's self-limiting -- that law enforcement isn't a
critical variable."

The most serious cases will be prosecuted by a dedicated team of
federal prosecutors tasked with "conveying to the courts the full
impact of the production and distribution of this harmful substance,"
Cotler explained.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin