BILL HITS WRONG TARGET: CRITICS

But Conservative MP says mandatory minimum sentences will reduce drug
use

The smell of burning marijuana wafted briefly through a small crowd
gathered in the public library courtyard in downtown Victoria.

A dapper Ted Smith, decked out in a suit for the occasion, was largely
preaching to the converted when he spoke about the dangers of the
Conservative government's plan to impose mandatory minimum sentences
for people convicted of trafficking even small amounts of illicit
drugs, including marijuana.

"It'll scare a lot of them out of doing it and the people who will end
up doing it will be organized criminals," Smith said.

During a Monday rally he quoted figures that under Bill C-26, which
proposes changes to the federal Controlled Drugs and Substances Act,
400 more people would be imprisoned in B.C. alone. Such a scenario
would require another prison to be built, he said.

"I think the whole community will suffer if these laws come in,
because the court system and jails will get bogged down."

The marijuana legalization advocate garnered the support of Victoria
NDP MP Denise Savoie and Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Liberal MP Keith
Martin in calling for the bill to be altered.

Among other changes, the bill calls for a mandatory six-month jail
sentence for people convicted of possession of less than 201 plants
for the purpose of trafficking. The sentences increase based on the
number of plants seized and other factors, such as posing health or
safety hazards to youth or growing in a third party-owned residence.

Smith argues that the six-month sentences, particularly, unfairly
targets people who might be passing a couple of joints back and forth,
or the "mom and pop" growers who aren't causing problems in the community.

While he had yet to read the proposed amendments, Victoria police Sgt.
Grant Hamilton said in general the department will continue to focus
its resources in the areas that are going to have the biggest impact
on reducing the drug trade in the city, regardless of how the justice
system determines sentences.

"We've heard from the public that drug concerns are paramount," he
said, "so we'll continue to focus on trafficking around schools in
illicit drugs, the trafficker that is trafficking downtown that is a
concern to businesses or a person (in a neighbourhood) who is a
concern to residents."

This week, Saanich-Gulf Islands Conservative MP and Natural Resources
Minister Gary Lunn said his government is addressing police
frustration with the justice system after they work hard to get an
arrest and help secure a conviction of a drug trafficker.

"We're ensuring the police can deliver," he said.

"We are taking a tough approach on the use of illegal drugs and
narcotics - 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."

Martin, who has advocated for the legalization of marijuana, admitted
that marijuana has harmful health effects, but regulating sales of the
drug would generate money to put into drug education in the schools,
and for enforcement against more serious drug crime issues.

"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."

For her part, Savoie said the bill does nothing to curb drug use. The
government needs to adopt a balanced structure centred around harm
reduction.