CANADA - Harper's misguided war on pot

[Alison Myrden]

Friday, November 23, 2007

 

Harper's misguided war on pot

 

Editorial

The 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.

 

Contact: letters@nationalpost.com

 

 

_________________________

[Alison Myrden]

My response, one of four, printed in Monday's National Post, one of Canada largest circulated and most prestigious Newspapers...

 

Yipppeee!!!

 

 

The last guy has the same license that I do...

 

Ali

xx

Speaker for LEAP

Law Enforcement Against Prohibition

www.leap.cc

 

 

Debating the war on pot

Monday, November 26, 2007

Published Letters

The National Post

 

Re: Justice Minister Responds, letter to the editor, Nov. 24.

 

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson forgot to add a couple key words to his letter --

the war on drugs leads to more petty crime, more gang violence and more risk to

law-enforcement officers, all of which makes our communities less safe. If Mr.

Nicholson and company truly cared about these things, they would end the war on

drugs instead of escalating it.

 

Bruce Korol, Calgary.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I was very disappointed to read this editorial. When a newspaper with as much

influence as yours prints an editorial like this, a child at school will use it

to justify smoking pot. Marijuana is not a victimless crime.

 

Although Canada has much more resources per capita, why is our GDP per capita so

much lower than the United States? I think our lax attitudes about marijuana are

part of the problem. Being high, Canadians do not think about who they are

voting for. As a result, we do not get the government we could. How much Quebec

separatism and similar delusional ideas are fuelled by marijuana consumption?

 

Canada, get off the pot. There is a world out there.

 

John A. Matheson, Toronto.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Many awe-inspiring kudos to the National Post for an outstanding editorial. 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 24 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 the streets and away from

our children. Legalization and regulation of all drugs are 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, 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 safe 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.

 

 

Alison Myrden, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Burlington, Ont.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Re: Harper's Misguided War On Pot, editorial, Nov. 23.

 

As a federal medical marijuana exemptee whose permit to grow marijuana is

jeopardized, I will probably be one of many very ill and dying Canadians heading

to prison if Ottawa's new drug laws are passed. For those of us licensed to use

cannabis to relieve pain and debilitating nausea, we have no option but to grow

our own medicine because the costs of purchasing medical-quality cannabis are

too high and not covered by any insurance.

 

The cost of purchasing the quantity of cannabis required by most licensed

federal medical marijuana patients is in the area of $1,500 to $3,000 per month.

For those on disability pensions, that is just not affordable. Keep in mind that

medical use of cannabis involves not only smoking, but also vaporizing and

mixing cannabis in cooking oils and butter to cook and bake with. The latter

methods require large amounts of cannabis.

 

For sick and dying Canadians there will be no option but to continue to grow our

life-extending medicine, whether or not Mr. Harper wants us to. That will fill

prisons and for some, like myself, it will be akin to bringing the death penalty

back to Canada.

 

E. Jolin, potential prisoner in Canada's new war on drugs, Pointe-Claire, Que.

 

 

 

Contact: Letters (National Post) <letters-2@nationalpost.com>

Edited November 27, 2007 by Alison Myrden

[bufo marinus]

Hey Alison

I see you guys in Canada have the same problem with deadshits in gangs playing criminals and basically giving the powers that be a good reason to demonise pot.

If everyone here in Oz stopped supporting these costume wearing FREEKS and grew their own none of this would matter.

I think I read last year that Quebec had something like 120 and counting, drug related murders, due to motorcycle gang activity.

 

I say to anyone with their own brain, don't support these grubs. Wipe em like a dirty arse

[Alison Myrden]

Hi bufo marinus

 

Great advice!

 

Yup, Sadly criminal activity will be rampant WHEREVER drugs are prohibited. THAT is why we at LEAP call for FULL and COMPLETE regulation and LEGALIZATION of ALL drugs.

 

We are desperately trying to get our Government to allow people to grow their own so that the criminal activity involving these drugs would stop as an option.

 

You're so right that GROWING YOUR OWN IS one of the best options...

 

 

Alison

xx

[Luke Skywalker]

Hear bloody hear! Keep up the great work Alison and know that many people around the world agree wholeheartedly with ya.

[WantDaChronic]

great work again alison