Pubdate: Tue, 27 Sep 2005
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Tim Naumetz, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)

FEDS HEDGE ON BILL TO EASE POT LAW

Justice Minister And PM Also Duck Opposition Demands For Tougher 
Sentences For Marijuana-Growing Operations

OTTAWA -- Justice Minister Irwin Cotler washed his hands Monday of 
the once-heralded bill to decriminalize marijuana, saying it is up to 
the Commons justice committee to decide what to do with it.

But Cotler and Prime Minister Paul Martin ducked opposition demands 
to bring in tougher sentences for cannabis growing operations as the 
families of four slain Mounties appealed to Parliament and all 
Canadians for support in their campaign against drugs and organized crime.

The family members, still scarred by the shooting deaths of the 
officers by a violent outcast near Mayerthorpe, Alta., called on the 
government to scrap the marijuana bill and introduce mandatory 
minimum jail sentences for those who grow cannabis on a commercial scale.

"We have to draw the line and we're drawing the line here," said Don 
Schieman, whose son was among the officers killed by James Roszko, a 
violent criminal who was known to the local RCMP detachment and was 
found with 283 marijuana plants in his isolated yard.

Schieman, with the assistance of Alberta Conservative MPs Rona 
Ambrose and Rob Merrifield, whose riding includes Mayerthorpe, held a 
news conference to ask Canadians to put pressure on the government.

The families want households across the country to switch on their 
front porch lights between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. on the evening of the 
third of every month, beginning in October, until next March 3, the 
anniversary of the killings.

"As we have put the puzzle together we also live with a fear that 
this could very easily happen again if present conditions do not 
change," Schieman said.

He called for a minimum sentence of two years in prison for anyone 
convicted of running a growing operation, and decried the lenient 
sentences that have been handed down for drug growers and dealers.

"I'm sure the Roszkos of this world are laughing at us," Schieman said.

With an election on the horizon, and following a show of 5,000 police 
and peace officers over the weekend for a Parliament Hill memorial of 
all officers slain over the past year, Cotler said the government is 
not going to press MPs to push the legislation ahead.

"We brought it forth, it's now a matter of what the committee will do 
with it," he told reporters.
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MAP posted-by: Elizabeth Wehrman