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HARPER'S MISGUIDED WAR ON POT
11/23/07|National Post

We are glad to see the Conservative government using the excess lifespan donated by Her Majesty's Opposition to get tough on crime. But was it really necessary to include victimless acts among the list of crimes being targeted?

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's new package of mandatory sentences for marijuana dealers, announced on Tuesday, seems to involve some perverse incentives. Under the bill, a grower who is caught with between one and 200 plants and is found to have the intention of trafficking will receive a non-negotiable minimum of six months in prison, unless he can show that he is eligible for judicially ordered treatment under the auspices of a drug court. The maximum penalty for having a few pot plants on the premises will be increased to 14 years.

Certainly, this will discourage some small-time growers from dealing marijuana, since only a fraction of them now receive jail terms for a first offence. But it's equally certain that it will encourage others to reason that they might as well go to prison for 199 plants as for five.

The government of British Columbia, which is where the effect of the new sentencing guidelines is likely to hit hardest, doesn't think the province is going to transform overnight into a utopia of temperance. The provincial corrections department said on Wednesday that if Mr. Nicholson's guidelines are enacted, it will probably have to find room in its jails for about 700 more marijuana growers per year -- people who are currently punished with house arrest or a fine. And nobody is sure where these additional prisoners are going to be put, since 80% of provincial prisoners in B.C. are already double-bunked and the rest are either in protective custody or are too violent for a cellmate.

Of course, we would not want the lack of prison space in B.C. to override what was an otherwise worthwhile federal policy that contributed to the safety of our communities. Neither do we consider that a rise in overall incarceration rates would necessarily be a bad thing for Canada, even though liberal criminologists wring their hands over how those rates reflect on our international prestige. But as American "three strikes" laws have showed, mandatory sentences have an unfortunate tendency to call the administration of justice into disrepute when they are applied to non-violent criminals -- especially those peddling a relatively harmless substance that millions of peaceable Canadian adults experimented with in college, and might still use once in a while to relax on the weekend.

There are serious criminal problems to be tackled in this country -- such as those involving gangs and guns. Compared to these, marijuana is simply not on the risk radar screen. It is baffling that, at this point in history, any government in Ottawa would bring an American-style War on Drugs approach to Canada's small-scale marijuana growers.

 

AlisonMyrden

To the Editor:

Many awe inspiring kudos to the National Post for an outstanding article entitled "Harper's Misguided War on Pot".

I am a retired Law Enforcement Officer and a legally licensed cannabis patient in Canada for the indication of chronic progressive multiple sclerosis and an excruciating pain in my face twenty four hours a day associated with MS, called tic douloureux.

Prime Minister Harper needs a big lesson in drug law reform and compassion.

The more dangerous the drug, the more it needs to be off of the streets and away from our children. IMMEDIATELY.

Legalization and regulation of all drugs is the only answer. If we remove the penalties which only incarcerate and jail drug users and instead, offer them education and treatment and Safe Injection Sites such a INSITE - we will see a dramatic decline in those who choose to imbibe and overdoses would become non-existent. This plan WILL work. Drugs are a health issue and should only be treated as such.

Legalize and regulate all drugs in order to keep our streets and our children from being in charge of these dangerous and deadly substances and to keep our chronically and critically ill off of the streets in search of their medicine.

All of our lives depend on it.


Sincerely,


Alison Myrden
Speaker for LEAP
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) › Cops Say
905.681.8287

Victor_vicious

Thanx Alison for taking the time to post your thoughts here. I was able to see Howard Woolridge once when he was in MIchigan. You folks are doing a great job. More folks are beginning to listen. We want you to know we appreciate your efforts. VV

AlisonMyrden

Thanx tons Victor_vicious.

Your kind words mean alot to me and to all of us at LEAP.v

Cool that you saw Howard. He is INCREDIBLE!

I have been speaking for LEAP around North America since early 2004 and I LOVE what they stand for. Funny I was a very vocal activist in my own right speaking on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada when Jack Cole approached me and asked me to join LEAP.

I didn't hesitate as I was already FOR the legalization and regulation of all drugs working closely with another friend of mine, Ottawa Lawyer Eugene Oscapella.

People are definitely seeing that there are other choices besides incarceration and jail for health issues such as drugs now. Thank God!

Thank YOU for ALSO thinking outside of the box...


Alison
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Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) › Cops Say

guerilla

Hey Alison, i do not understand why LEAP members don't get interviews on cnn or fox or msnbc, they always have guests on their shows who say pot makes you crazy and a bum and a criminal.

why are they so godamn biased? LEAP should be all over the tv telling the american public the truth about the war on drugs and its failure.

 

Viper420

The new laws are targetted at the growers, not the users. People who need medpot will still be able to get it. This is an effort by the government to target a section of the marijuana area that is rife with organized crime.