c-15

Editorial: Edmonton Journal

 

For decades, California has cracked down on crime, punishing offenders with textbook "tough" policies like mandatory minimums, "three strikes laws" and stringent parole. The result has been a steady and dramatic rise in the state's prison population. Today, about 167,000 adults are incarcerated in California. Offenders are now being locked up at a per-capita rate well over double what it was 30 years ago.

 

All those prisoners have cost the state's taxpayers dearly. In 1980 California spent about $1 billion on corrections. By 2007 that number had climbed to nearly $14 billion. Today about one in every nine dollars the state spends goes to prisons and prisoners.

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Editorial: Calgary Herald

 

Ignoring what was a wise recommendation on the part of the Senate, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has revived an ill-considered bill that will impose a mandatory minimum sentence of six months for anyone convicted of growing as few as six marijuana plants.

 

The Harper government has apparently learned nothing from the U.S. experience of its war on drugs. Despite 25 years of harsh mandatory minimums, disproportionate numbers of the poor, the young, minorities and the drug addicted have been thrown in U.S. jails with no impact on the drug business itself, which has flourished. Several U.S. states have recently retreated from mandatory minimums as ineffective.

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Thanks for your email outlining your opposition to Bill S-10, an Act to amend the Controlled Drug and Substances Act.

 

I share your concerns and have been working at every turn to stop this failed, George Bush style war-on-drugs Bill that proposes mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.

My NDP colleagues and I voted a resounding NO when this Bill was introduced in the House as Bill C-15, but it was passed with the support of the Liberal Party. Now we have a second chance to stop this wrong-headed and costly legislation.

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Thank you for your past email outlining your concerns over marijuana laws in Canada.

 

Regrettably, the Conservative government has reintroduced legislation to impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes. Bill S-10, an Act to amend the Controlled Drug and Substances Act, follows up on their flawed legislation from last session, Bill C-15.

 

New Democrats opposed Bill C-15 and continue to believe that this type of legislation is wrong-headed and costly. The attached letter by my colleague and NDP Spokesperson for Drug Policy Libby Davies, MP expands on our position.

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By Kendall Walters - Kamloops This Week

 

Marijuana producers growing as few as six plants for sale could face minimum jail sentences if a new bill becomes law in Ottawa.

 

The Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Act, or Bill S-10, was introduced in the Senate on May 5 by Conservative Sen. John Wallace.

 

If enacted, it will change laws surrounding drug charges, particularly those involving cannabis.

 

The bill has been considered twice before, dying first due to the general-election call in 2006 and again in December 2009 when Parliament was prorogued.

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ctvcalgary.ca

 

There was a sit in at the prime minister's constituency office on Wednesday.

 

At 1p.m., demonstrators entered the Calgary office and explained they would be staying until the end of the business day.

 

Those who took part saw it as a non-violent way to protest the pending extradition of Marc Emery.

 

Emery is the self-proclaimed Prince of Pot. In days, he is expected to be extradited to the United States for selling marijuana seeds.

 

Emery's wife was part of Wednesday's protest.

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Written by: Sheryl Ubelacker, Health Reporter, THE CANADIAN PRESS

 

TORONTO - Rates of HIV among inmates in federal prisons appear to be rising dramatically, prompting advocacy groups to call for sweeping changes to prevent further spread of the disease, both inside the institutions and in the community at large.

 

A newly released report from Correctional Service Canada revealed that 4.6 per cent of prisoners reported having HIV-AIDS in 2007, more than double the 1.6 per cent rate cited in previous reports. The 2007 survey data are the most recent available.

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Posted By CECILIA NASMITH Northumberland Today.com

 

GRAFTON -- Justice need not be a cookie cutter, and revenge need not be our only response, St. Leonard's Society executive director Elizabeth White declared recently at St. Andrew's United Church in Grafton.

 

Appearing as the first speaker in a series of talks on how today's issues affect the Christian community, White noted that the first prisons were built by Quakers to replace physical punishment with an opportunity for repentance and reflection.

 

Today's prisons are a statement of disapproval for the offence and a return to punishment.

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By Evan Wood, The Star [Toronto]

 

Illicit drugs represent one of the greatest threats to community health, and recent examples of drug-related violence across Canada show the toll continues to mount:

 

A double slaying in picturesque Old Montreal has the hallmarks of a professional hit. Winnipeg police warn of “imminent” violence after a crackdown on a Hells Angels puppet club creates a power vacuum that a rival outlaw motorcycle gang tries to fill. Police directly tie the increase in gang violence on the streets of Vancouver and other Canadian cities to the drug cartel wars terrorizing Mexico.

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By KATHLEEN HARRIS, Parliamentary Bureau Chief Toronto Sun

 

OTTAWA — The outgoing ombudsman for victims of crime says the federal government is “shortchanging” victims and should refocus spending that now has a “staggering” weight in favour of criminal offenders.

 

Steve Sullivan, who ends his three-year term this week, told QMI Agency in an exclusive interview the government has pared funding to victims programs and services while giving corrections a $200-million-plus “enhancement.”

 

“At a time when the government is making difficult choices about how to spend money, it is frustrating for me and disappointing that victims of crime are on the short end of the stick,” he said.

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