TIME TO LEGALIZE DRUGS

These are not good times for those who oppose tougher and more
sweeping mandatory minimum sentences for people convicted of gun offences.

Homicide rates have been climbing - shootings are the most common
method to dispatch one's enemies - and politicians sense that the
public's had enough.

During the last federal election campaign, the Conservatives, the
Liberals and, hey, even the bleeding-heart NDP pledged stronger
penalties for gun-related crimes.

Ever sensitive to the public mood, politicians know full well that
Canadians are fed up with the tame sentences given to many violent
offenders.

Consequently, there hasn't been a public outcry over Bill C-10, the
Tories' draft legislation that would bring in a system of escalating
penalties for gun offences.

Nevertheless, behind the scenes, there have been objections raised in
front of the Commons justice committee that is currently studying the
bill.

A couple of weeks ago, the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry
Societies made an impassioned plea against mandatory minimum sentences.

Fixed terms don't deter crime but bloat prison populations instead,
the association told the committee in its brief.

"Simply put, mandatory minimum sentences do not address some of the
root causes of crime - such as persistent poverty, unemployment, lack
of educational opportunities and social marginalization," it argued.

Even the existing mandatory minimum sentences for firearms crimes
"offend" charter guarantees such as the right to be free from cruel
and unusual punishment, it said.

Never mind the cruel and unusual punishment suffered by the families
of the more than 200 victims killed by gun-happy thugs across the
country last year. We don't want to stigmatize all those poor killers.
Good grief.

Why can't we have mandatory minimum sentences for gun crimes and
tackle the root causes of crime? Keep the bad guys behind bars, where
they can't hurt anyone else - at least temporarily - while working on
our underlying social ills.

As the Canadian Police Association pointed out to the Commons justice
committee, chronic offenders work the justice system to their advantage.

"Canada's police officers have lost confidence in a system that sees
violent offenders regularly returned to the street," the association
said in its brief.

Tougher penalties may not deter criminals, but at least stiffer
sentences will keep some of the worst criminals off the streets for a
few years. Otherwise, why jail anyone for anything? Is punishment so
hopelessly old-fashioned?

Governments are too chicken to take such a radical step, but if we
wanted to engineer an immediate, dramatic drop in crime, we'd legalize
drugs, demolishing the profit motive.

For the most part, it's not poor people gunning each other down in
Alberta's red-hot economy - it's greedy, rich punks fighting over drug
turf.

In a paper on our failed drug war a few years ago, the Fraser
Institute wondered why we spend so much money on drug prohibition in
an effort to save a small hardcore group of drug users from themselves.

We should be asking ourselves the same thing. It is drugs - not
prohibition - that boost crime, the institute noted.

If we were smart, we'd divert the money we're spending on drug
prohibition into treatment programs for addicts.

"It's not clear why marijuana or even cocaine should be illegal and
alcohol legal," says Peter Rosenthal, adjunct professor of law at the
University of Toronto.

He, too, believes it's time to consider legalizing drugs. Uncle Sam
would have a fit.