Pubdate: Wed, 21 Nov 2007
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 Times Colonist
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Authors: Richard Foot, CanWest News Service and Richard Watts, Times Colonist
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

MANDATORY JAIL TERMS PROPOSED FOR DRUG TRAFFICKERS

Law Wrongheaded, Victoria Lawyer Says

The Conservative government unveiled historic legislation yesterday 
to create the first mandatory prison terms in Canada for people 
convicted of trafficking illicit drugs.

The proposed changes are the newest chapter in the Harper 
government's sweeping crackdown on crime, which includes bills before 
Parliament to toughen rules for repeat violent offenders, to keep 
accused young offenders in jail before their trials, and now to 
impose automatic prison penalties on serious drug offenders.

Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act currently contains no 
mandatory prison sentences for anyone convicted under the act. Judges 
use their own discretion about whether to send drug pushers and 
growers to jail.

HOWEVER, THE NEW BILL PROPOSES:

- - A one-year mandatory jail term for dealing drugs while using a 
weapon, or for dealing drugs in support of organized crime.

- - A two-year mandatory term for dealing cocaine, heroin or 
methamphetamines to young people, or for dealing them near a school 
or any place young people are known to frequent.

- - A mandatory six-month sentence for growing as little as one 
marijuana plant, for the purposes of trafficking.

- - A two-year mandatory term for running a marijuana grow operation of 
at least 500 plants;

- - A doubling of the maximum prison term for cannabis production from 
seven to 14 years.

The Conservatives are also proposing to allow judges to exempt 
certain offenders from mandatory prison terms, on condition that they 
complete drug treatment court programs.

Drug treatment courts are designed to help non-violent offenders who 
have trafficked in small amounts of drugs in order to support their 
addictions overcome their drug habits.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the changes in the sentencing 
provisions are designed to target the people the government considers 
at the root of the drug supply problem: large-scale growers and 
traffickers, organized crime groups that finance their operations 
through drugs, and people who push drugs on children and teenagers.

Not everyone is convinced.

Sue Wishart, chairwoman of the criminal section of the Canadian Bar 
Association Victoria branch, said social research shows prison 
sentences do not rehabilitate drug offenders and do little to control 
drug abuse.

But installing mandatory prison sentences is an easy out for a 
government, goaded by a public rightfully concerned about 
drug-related crime. "You can understand politically why they would do 
this because the public have said 'We're getting tired of this 
issue,' " Wishart said.

Mandatory minimum sentences take away judicial discretion to craft a 
sentence for a particular offender, removing the individual from what 
should remain a human process, she added.

Mandatory sentences will clog up the justice system, Wishart 
predicted. With a mandatory sentence, offenders have no incentive to 
plead guilty in exchange for a lighter sentence. Instead, they will 
go to trial because they have nothing to lose.

Drug trials often involve lengthy legal arguments, based on the 
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, contesting the legality of a search 
or seizure. "You would get more and more of these cases going to 
trial if there is a mandatory minimum," Wishart said.

She also said if that if Ottawa were serious about fighting drug 
crime, it would put money into policing and programs that deal with 
drug addiction, mental illness and homelessness.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom