PROTEST TARGETS NEW MINIMUMS

Protesters waved flags, shook signs and yelled questions outside
Saanich Gulf Islands MP Gary Lunn's office in Sidney on Monday. One
even lit up a marijuana cigarette and had a few puffs.

The gathering was part of a national day of demonstration against the
proposed federal Bill C-26, which would raise mandatory minimum
sentences for cannabis (marijuana) offences, including cultivation and
trafficking.

"We think they're spending too much on enforcement and prosecution of
drug offences," said Anthony D'Agati of International Hempology 101
Society, a Victoria organization devoted to marijuana legalization
through education. "This just targets the low-end street dealers and
puts a lot of power in organized crime. It clogs up the court systems."

At a similar rally in downtown Victoria, Ted Smith, founder of the
hempology society, expressed similar fears. "It'll scare a lot of them
[dealers] out of doing it and the people who will end up doing it will
be organized criminals," he said. He added that the court systems and
jails would be bogged down by an increase in charges and longer sentences.

D'Agati told the crowd of about 10 protesters in Sidney the penalties
proposed for marijuana are similar to those proposed for trafficking
in metamphetamines, cocaine, and heroin. "It [the proposed cannabis
sentencing] is more than for firearms trafficking," said D'Agati.
"It's okay to traffic weapons, but if you grow over 500 [marijuana]
plants, it's two years."

"Someone who has two plants in the living room, gets the same time as
a guy who sells a gun? That's pretty bizarre," agreed Steve Bittner,
another protester. "If a guy is growing a plant for his aunty, he's
going to get six months," he added. "This is a step backwards."

The mandatory sentences proposed in the bill include a six-month
sentence for anyone caught with a single plant for sale. Sentences
rise with more plants and a number of other factors, including growing
in a residential neighbourhood, growing at a rental property, or
involving a minor in any way. Smith said that the six-month sentences
target people who are passing a joint back and forth and small-time
growers who don't cause problems in the community.

Lunn, who was not in his office during the protest, later said that
the government's number-one priority is an aggressive approach to
crime. "It is something we feel strongly about," he said. "With
respect to drugs, trafficking is a serious issue; people have been
calling for action." He said that the government was working to
support police in their battle against drugs: "Anything we can do to
get aggressive on crime, and support the police in their efforts to
keep people from falling into the circle of using drugs."

Lunn added that the police work hard to detain drug offenders only to
find their efforts frustrated in the justice system, something the new
bill would address.

Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Liberal MP Keith Martin said he believed the
bill would be counterproductive. "The poison pill on this bill is
where you can throw somebody in jail for having one plant and for
selling or trading one or two joints to somebody else, which could put
a whole host of teenagers and young people in jail. That doesn't serve
our community," he said. Martin has advocated for the legalization of
marijuana in the past and said that while marijuana has harmful health
effects, regulating sales of the drug would generate money to put into
drug education and enforcement for more serious drug crimes.

D'Agati told the crowd in Sidney that the government spends over 30
times more on drug prosecution and enforcement than on prevention or
treatment, something that Victoria NDP MP Denise Savoie agreed with
during her speech at the downtown rally. She noted that the bill does
nothing to curb drug use and suggested the government adopt a
structure centred around harm reduction.

Local Kit Spence spoke about the cost of the proposed bill at the
Sidney protest. "Taxpayers should recognize the large drain on this
country," he said, calling the bill a "black-and-white solution to a
complex and complicated problem." He mentioned building and
maintaining prisons as just one cost of higher mandatory sentences.

"After 30 years of the war on drugs, it's lost," said
Spence.

For a complete outline of Bill C-26, go to www.parl.gc.ca/LEGISINFO/
and search for Bill C-26.