Re: Tories unveil crime crackdown plan, May 4. Conditional sentencing is an important safety measure. Canada's growing prison population, mounting evidence that jail time does not reduce the chances of re-offending, and other factors have led to an increasing use of conditional sentences. Calls to eliminate conditional sentences for impaired driving causing death or serious injury seem to be driven by a sense of justice based on punishing offenders for the devastation they have caused. The argument is presented that long prison sentences are a more effective deterrent than house arrest. If that is true, offenders who go to jail should be less likely to re-offend when released than those given conditional sentences. Yet the two groups tend to re-offend at about the same rates. There is even evidence that long prison sentences without other remedial programs may actually increase the chances of re-offending after release. [continues 217 words]
Mayerthorpe Freelancer -- Dear Minister: As you are aware, some Canadians fear that decriminalizing possession of small amounts of cannabis will lead to a rise in pot-smoking drivers. Whether or not this will happen is an open question. The fact is, we already have a serious problem and it must be addressed. A study entitled The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy: Cannabis in Amsterdam and in San Francisco appears in the May 2004 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Funded by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Dutch Ministry of Health, it found no evidence that criminalization either decreases or increases use. The researchers found strong similarities in patterns of marijuana use in Amsterdam and San Francisco, despite vastly different national drug policies. They also found that decriminalization appears to reduce the so-called "gateway effect." [continues 239 words]
Dear Editor, As you are aware, some Canadians fear that decriminalizing possession of small amounts of cannabis will lead to a rise in pot-smoking drivers. Whether or not this will happen is an open question. The fact is, we already have a serious problem and it must be addressed. A study entitled The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy: Cannabis in Amsterdam and in San Francisco appears in the May 2004 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. Funded by the US National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Dutch Ministry of Health, it found no evidence that criminalization either decreases or increases use. The researchers found strong similarities in patterns of marijuana use in Amsterdam and San Francisco, despite vastly different national drug policies. They also found that decriminalization appears to reduce the so-called "gateway effect." [continues 202 words]
