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Tories propose stiff penalties for pot producers

Revive tough anti-drug bill

February 27, 2009
By Janice Tibbetts, Canwest News Service

OTTAWA — The Conservative government revived a bill Friday to impose automatic jail terms for drug-related crimes, which would send people to jail for growing as little as one marijuana plant for the purpose of trafficking.

The proposed legislation, which Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said is designed to target organized crime, mirrors a 2007 bill that died when the Oct. 14 general election was called.

“Mandatory prison sentences are appropriate for those who commit serious drug offences threatening our society,” Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said in Vancouver, where a spate of shootings in the last month has been blamed on gangs and the drug trade.

The proposed legislation would impose six months for growing one to 200 marijuana plants to sell, and two years for big-time growers of 500 plants or more.

There also would be a one-year mandatory jail sentence for marijuana dealing when it’s linked to organized crime or a weapon is involved.

The sentence would be increased to two years for dealing drugs such as cocaine, heroin or methamphetamines to young people, or for pushing drugs near a school or other places frequented by youths.

The bill also revives a failed initiative from the previous Liberal government to increase maximum imprisonment for growers to 14 years, from the current seven, for running grow operations.

The legislation, however, gives judges leeway to impose suspended sentences for drug addicts who agree to enter drug treatment programs.

There are already 45 to 50 minimum prison terms in the Criminal Code, mainly for murder and offences involving firearms. The current bill would change Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which currently contains no mandatory prison terms.

Critics oppose automatic minimum sentences because they eliminate discretion for judges to impose sentences as they see fit.

Opponents have warned that minimum terms for drugs will flood Canadian prisons and jails.

The opposition parties warned in the last Parliament they would vote against the bill, partly because the experience in the United States has shown that automatic sentences have not worked in reducing drug crime, they said.

Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan said he doesn’t expect the Conservatives to build more prisons if the bill passes, because penitentiaries in Canada are not full.

“We have capacity in our prisons right now. They are not in the overcrowded situations you might see south of the border,” Van Loan told Canwest News Service.

“The last thing I would want to see is a situation where we leave criminals on the street, because there is concern we do not have enough room for them.”

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