Pubdate: Wed, 24 Aug 2005
Source: Goldstream Gazette (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 Goldstream Gazette
Contact:  http://www.goldstreamgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1291

AN ECONOMIC DRUG WE CAN'T RESIST

A mixed message on meth

One day we consumers in North America will collectively, finally say we've
had enough, that it's time our lives and our economy will not be held
hostage by the oil industry.

We will demand that alternative fuel sources be further researched, and that
the research and innovative pilot projects knowledge struck on the drawing
board be greenlighted.

We are going to stop buying gas-guzzling vehicles that pollute our air and
cost half of our paycheque to operate.

In the larger urban centres, we will demand that transit service be
enhanced. But we are nowhere near that mindset, unfortunately, so our
politicians won't be forced to act. We are in love with our automobiles,
can't live without them. We are not ready for the inevitable divorce just
yet.

So, the provincial and federal governments will continue to lap up the
revenue from the gas taxes we pay, as well as cash in on the taxes and
royalties collected from a booming oil and gas industry.

Those same politicians will simply shrug their shoulders at the high price
of fuel, instead cowardly pointing out how the oil and gas industry is
helping fuel economic growth.

We look at 108.9 cents a litre now as unbelievable in an oil producing
country, but the days of buying gas for under $1 a litre are probably behind
us. Europe has been living with that reality for a long time, a reality that
we in North America must now deal with.

Whatever control the Middle East oil-producing countries collectively held
over oil production and prices is now gone, fallen by the wayside to
parochial self interests.

We are playing our own version of Russian roulette by increasing our
consumption and demand for a non-renewable resource. We all still just love
our cars too much to want to see the troubled times ahead.

In Canada, there are various crimes for which the maximum sentence is life
in prison.

Murder is one. Robbery is another. Selling cocaine and heroin also carry
that judicial possibility.

And now, courtesy of Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, peddling crystal meth
can be added to the list.

However, what is missing is a minimum sentence for those convicted of
dealing this horrible drug.

Minimum sentences do exist in Canada. For example, those convicted of
committing serious firearms offences face mandatory minimum sentences,
pursuant to legislation enacted in 1996.

The problem with extending the maximum sentence for dealing meth to life in
prison from 10 years is that it is all too often justice window-dressing.

The move has captured the attention of the U.S. media, with Seattle's
KING-TV trumpeting the fact that Canada's stance on meth dealers is now
tougher than that in the U.S.

On paper, perhaps.

But not in practise.

As Cotler and Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh announced the new measures at a
press conference this month, neither could think of a single instance in
Canada in which a convicted dealer received the former 10-year maximum.

If judges did not use the 10-year maximum, the obvious question, then, is:
What makes Cotler and Dosanjh believe judges will use the lifetime maximum?

Cotler replied that the intent of increasing the maximum sentence is not
necessarily about sending dealers to prison for life (or a facsimile
thereof, which in Canada is usually about a decade). Rather, Cotler said,
it's about his Liberal government sending a message.

Sending a message?

The only message this useless legislation sends is that the federal
government doesn't know what the hell to do when it comes to the addicted
and those who prey on their weakness.
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MAP posted-by: Josh