Pubdate: Sun, 22 May 2016
Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB)
Page: 15
Copyright: 2016 Canoe Limited Partnership
Contact: http://www.winnipegsun.com/letter-to-editor
Website: http://www.winnipegsun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/503
Author: Mark Bonokoski

NO BANG FOR TAXPAYERS' BUCK WITH POT CHARGES

U.S. President Barack Obama recently used the twilight of his tenure 
to again grant clemency to almost 60 non-violent drug offenders.

With those commutations, Obama has now reduced the sentences of 300 
federal prisoners in order to secure their release, more than the 
last six presidents combined.

He has been more reluctant, however, in dishing out the full Monty, 
as in outright pardons of crimes committed, which is a powerful right 
granted to all U.S. presidents.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Obama has pardoned just 70 
individuals during his almost eight years in the Oval Office, well 
below the number of pardons granted by the most recent presidents.

George W. Bush was until now the stingiest, granting 189 pardons 
during his presidency, while Bill Clinton was the most generous in 
recent are presently 3,943 inmates - 320 of them women - who are 
serving at least two years for what are described as "serious drug 
offenses" - trafficking, conspiracy to traffic, manufacturing, and importing.

Sentences under two years less a day, which are primarily possession 
charges or plea-bargain arrangements, are served in provincial jails, 
and are therefore not reflected in federal numbers collected by the 
Ministry of Public Safety, now headed by Liberal cabinet minister 
Ralph Goodale.

The most-recent Statistics Canada numbers show that of the 73,000 
police-reported marijuana offences in 2013, nearly 59,000, or 80%, 
were for simple possession.

Possession charges, in fact, represented 54% of all police-reported 
drug crime across the country.

It has been written that police report a pot possession incident an 
average of every nine minutes. Legalization would therefore wipe out 
more than half the court and police time currently eaten up by marijuana cases.

A 2002 Senate report, while now somewhat dated, pegged the annual 
cost of law enforcement and court time regarding the criminalization 
of marijuana as $500 million. And that was then a conservative 
estimate. The number of pot dispensaries popping up across the 
country, and particularly giving a headache to Toronto Mayor John 
Tory, who is witnessing new outlets suddenly appearing almost daily, 
provides an interesting scenario.

"The speed with which these storefronts are proliferating, and the 
concentration of dispensaries in some areas of our city, is 
alarming," said Tory.

But when the city's former police chief, Bill Blair, is the Liberal 
MP assigned by the prime minister to spearhead the legalization of 
marijuana, one cannot see his successor, Chief Mark Saunders, 
ordering his drug squad to start raiding these supposedly medicinal 
pot shops, or ramping up any arrest quota for simple possession.

That smoke has already gone up the chimney, and is why Tory is 
unleashing the bylaw cops instead.

According to Statistics Canada, some 7,000 adults saw themselves 
actually going before the courts for drug possession in 2013-2014, 
although it does not break down the type of drugs involved in charges 
being laid.

Of those cases, only 758 were found guilty, 150 were acquitted, and 
some 3,400 had their charges either stayed or withdrawn. Almost 4,500 
were given conditional or absolute discharges and/or some form of 
community service

As for StatsCan's analysis of youth courts across the country, there 
were only 1,568 drug possession charges that actually went to court 
in 2013-2014, with 435 of the offenders being found guilty. There was 
only one acquittal, but 1,123 of the charges were stayed or withdrawn 
by the prosecution.

It is not much value for the taxpayers' dollar.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom