A recent Saskatchewan trial court decision, which found a drug dealer civilly liable for injuries suffered by a young woman who overdosed on crystal methamphetamine he provided, brings to mind the old anecdote "bad facts make bad law." Or, even better, "bad facts make worse precedents." The plaintiff, Sandra Bergen, 23, and her family sued Clinton Davey after a 2004 crystal-meth-fuelled heart attack left her in a coma for 11 days, with a lasting heart condition. A sympathetic plaintiff (and addict), Bergen said she was using at the time to calm anxious feelings about her testimony as a victim in an upcoming sexual assault trial. [continues 694 words]
Sparse media coverage has been allotted to the potential impacts of the Conservative government's bill C-26, which would amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act by introducing new mandatory minimum sentences for drug production and trafficking. Nor has this bill been widely recognized as part of this government's now-silent war on the judiciary, or the U.S. war on drugs. "By introducing these changes, our message is clear: if you sell or produce drugs, you'll pay with jail time," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in unveiling bill C-26, which had first reading in the House on Nov. 20, 2007. [continues 697 words]
Iread Russell Barth's letter comparing drug users to smokers, drinkers and overeaters. I am none of these things and still feel compelled to write this letter. The truth is that the extra taxes one pays for cigarettes, alcohol and fatty foods, combined with taxes collected from having a job and owning a home, partially go to drug users in countless forms - police protection for us, court costs, medical costs, food banks, the building and supporting of homeless shelters, city works wages for cleaning up after squatters. And I could go on and on about how smokers, drinkers and overeaters are a functioning part of our society. To compare these two groups is disgusting. Mr. Barth owes an apology, in my view. Michelle Amann Port Coquitlam [end]
