Our federal Conservative government has a disturbing tendency to circumvent judicial deliberation by imposing upon courts their own authoritarian sense of justice. Whenever 'public' fears of rampant crime within the country must be quelled, Prime Minister Harper and his minions consider the most effective political maneuver to be the cobbling together of bills which aim to impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for myriad offences. This supposedly 'tough on crime' strategy embodies the curious mentality with which the Harper Conservatives regard crime: that all transgressions are committed by individuals or groups of individuals, and extenuating circumstances surrounding their offences count little compared to the fact that they are naturally immoral and should be punished. [continues 677 words]
Dear editor, Cameron MacLean is to be commended for his thoughtful piece, "Marc Emery: poster child for the U.S. war on drugs," in the Feb. 7 issue of the Uniter. Marc Emery is a high profile victim of America's misguided and notoriously flawed 'war on drugs,' which has now begun to rear its ugly head in the policies and rhetoric of Steven Harper's federal Conservative government. As a representative of the University of Winnipeg's chapter of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP), I feel it is my responsibility to point out that the nascent Canadian version of the 'war on drugs'-coming in the form of proposed legislation such as Bill C-26, with its promises of a tougher stance on illegal substances through an increased emphasis on law enforcement-is destined to fail. It is either naive or deceitful of Harper's Conservatives to suggest that implementing such policies will bring about meaningful and positive change in drug use and distribution within Canada, when the American legislation upon which such policies are based has had the opposite effect. [continues 425 words]
