Teh One Who Knocks
10-23-2011, 11:18 AM
Even offering to share marijuana with friend considered trafficking
By PAUL McLEOD Ottawa Bureau
http://i.imgur.com/7p8LZ.jpg
OTTAWA — Passing a joint to a friend would be punishable by months in jail if the Conservatives don’t change their new crime legislation, experts warned this week.
A student living in a rented apartment who grows a single marijuana plant and offers some to a friend would face nine months in jail, said University of Toronto criminologist Anthony Doob.
Doob was one of several experts who appeared before the House of Commons justice committee this week to plead with the government to temper its new crime bill.
“To be clear, sharing or even offering to share marijuana with a friend is trafficking,” he said. “This is what the law now says.”
Bill C-10, the Conservatives’ sweeping nine-part crime bill that stiffens many penalties, does not require money to change hands for a drug transaction to meet the definition of trafficking. That means someone who grows six or more marijuana plants could face a new minimum sentence of six months in jail if he or she so much as offers pot to friends.
Another provision puts the minimum sentence for trafficking at nine months if even one pot plant is grown using property that belongs to a third party.
Conservatives say fears are overblown and the legislation is meant to go after organized crime. But Doob said it’s not written that way.
“Anyone who looks carefully at many of Bill C-10’s mandatory minimum sentencing provisions would have a hard time defending their appropriateness,” Doob said. “A law purposefully made incoherent does not deserve respect.” Over the past 12 months, 91 charges have been filed in Nova Scotia for drug trafficking under section 7(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. If all of them ended in convictions, it would equate to a minimum of 45 years of imprisonment doled out under the new law.
The last calculation of the average daily cost of housing an adult prisoner was $184 per day in 2009-10, according to Justice Department staff. Even based on minimum six-month sentences, that would put the total imprisonment cost for those convictions under the proposed new law at more than $3 million.
Nova Scotia’s prison population is close to capacity. There are 554 adult beds, with 547 adult prisoners now serving sentences. The cost for adult correctional facilities in 2010-11 was $28.5 million.
There are also 108 spots for youths, of which 41 are occupied.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada did not have a breakdown of what happened with the 91 trafficking charges, but Peter Chisholm, the chief federal prosecutor for Atlantic Canada, said they often end in plea bargains and deferred sentences such as house arrest.
Those deferred sentences would become impossible under the proposed new law.
Provincial staff say they have not calculated the cost of the Conservatives’ crime bill or its effect on inmate populations. But the province has signalled that it will be asking the federal government to cover a share of the new costs.
A new $31-million, 100-bed provincial jail is being built in Coalburn, Pictou County.
Other groups that called for amendments to various parts of the crime bill this week included the Canadian Bar Association, the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and the John Howard Society.
Doob said prosecutors would essentially be able to extort guilty pleas by offering to drop charges that would carry hefty minimum sentences.
Eric Gottardi of the Canadian Bar Association said the bill “represents a profound shift in orientation from a system that prioritizes public safety through individualized sentencing, rehabilitation and reintegration to one that puts punishment and vengeance first.”
Not everyone at the justice committee hearings was opposed to the new crime bill. Commissioner Don Head of Correctional Service Canada said it would give his organization new powers to create safer communities while addressing the needs of victims.
The Ottawa Police Service and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said the bill would help restore public confidence in the justice system.
Ultimately the testimony may not have any impact outside the committee room doors. The Conservatives have a majority government and have so far given no indication they are open to amending the bill.
By PAUL McLEOD Ottawa Bureau
http://i.imgur.com/7p8LZ.jpg
OTTAWA — Passing a joint to a friend would be punishable by months in jail if the Conservatives don’t change their new crime legislation, experts warned this week.
A student living in a rented apartment who grows a single marijuana plant and offers some to a friend would face nine months in jail, said University of Toronto criminologist Anthony Doob.
Doob was one of several experts who appeared before the House of Commons justice committee this week to plead with the government to temper its new crime bill.
“To be clear, sharing or even offering to share marijuana with a friend is trafficking,” he said. “This is what the law now says.”
Bill C-10, the Conservatives’ sweeping nine-part crime bill that stiffens many penalties, does not require money to change hands for a drug transaction to meet the definition of trafficking. That means someone who grows six or more marijuana plants could face a new minimum sentence of six months in jail if he or she so much as offers pot to friends.
Another provision puts the minimum sentence for trafficking at nine months if even one pot plant is grown using property that belongs to a third party.
Conservatives say fears are overblown and the legislation is meant to go after organized crime. But Doob said it’s not written that way.
“Anyone who looks carefully at many of Bill C-10’s mandatory minimum sentencing provisions would have a hard time defending their appropriateness,” Doob said. “A law purposefully made incoherent does not deserve respect.” Over the past 12 months, 91 charges have been filed in Nova Scotia for drug trafficking under section 7(1) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. If all of them ended in convictions, it would equate to a minimum of 45 years of imprisonment doled out under the new law.
The last calculation of the average daily cost of housing an adult prisoner was $184 per day in 2009-10, according to Justice Department staff. Even based on minimum six-month sentences, that would put the total imprisonment cost for those convictions under the proposed new law at more than $3 million.
Nova Scotia’s prison population is close to capacity. There are 554 adult beds, with 547 adult prisoners now serving sentences. The cost for adult correctional facilities in 2010-11 was $28.5 million.
There are also 108 spots for youths, of which 41 are occupied.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada did not have a breakdown of what happened with the 91 trafficking charges, but Peter Chisholm, the chief federal prosecutor for Atlantic Canada, said they often end in plea bargains and deferred sentences such as house arrest.
Those deferred sentences would become impossible under the proposed new law.
Provincial staff say they have not calculated the cost of the Conservatives’ crime bill or its effect on inmate populations. But the province has signalled that it will be asking the federal government to cover a share of the new costs.
A new $31-million, 100-bed provincial jail is being built in Coalburn, Pictou County.
Other groups that called for amendments to various parts of the crime bill this week included the Canadian Bar Association, the federal ombudsman for victims of crime, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and the John Howard Society.
Doob said prosecutors would essentially be able to extort guilty pleas by offering to drop charges that would carry hefty minimum sentences.
Eric Gottardi of the Canadian Bar Association said the bill “represents a profound shift in orientation from a system that prioritizes public safety through individualized sentencing, rehabilitation and reintegration to one that puts punishment and vengeance first.”
Not everyone at the justice committee hearings was opposed to the new crime bill. Commissioner Don Head of Correctional Service Canada said it would give his organization new powers to create safer communities while addressing the needs of victims.
The Ottawa Police Service and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police said the bill would help restore public confidence in the justice system.
Ultimately the testimony may not have any impact outside the committee room doors. The Conservatives have a majority government and have so far given no indication they are open to amending the bill.