News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: Lawyer Argues Heroin Healthier Than Sugar |
| Title: | CN BC: Lawyer Argues Heroin Healthier Than Sugar |
| Published On: | 2003-09-19 |
| Source: | Province, The (CN BC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-24 05:28:11 |
LAWYER ARGUES HEROIN HEALTHIER THAN SUGAR
Refined sugar is worse for your health than heroin, a defence lawyer told a
B.C. court.
"Heroin is less dangerous than refined sugar," lawyer Peter Leask, a Queen's
Counsel, told a sentencing hearing for drug traffickers See Chun "Handsome
Guy" Lee and Chuk Fong "The Ox" Tao.
They were found guilty earlier of trafficking and importing 93 kilograms of
heroin, worth $100 million on the street. It is the largest cache of heroin
seized in Canada.
Leask told Justice Austin Cullen in B.C. Supreme Court: "Many years ago when
I was conferring with an addiction expert ... he said, 'Heroin is less
dangerous than refined sugar.'
"He meant in a health sense, of course, dangerous to the body of the person
ingesting it."
Leask did not mention the expert's name or whether the expert was quoting
another source for the theory.
Leask did not dispute the addictive quality of heroin or that it makes
criminals out of addicts who can't afford to feed the monkey on their backs.
"What I dispute is that the drug heroin causes these negative effects in
society and to individuals," he said.
"Essentially the proposition that I'm putting before Your Lordship on this
sentencing is that the negative consequences which judges have . . . spoken
about in decisions . . . those negative consequences do not flow from the
nature of heroin.
"These negative consequences flow from the legal prohibition on the
possession and sale and use of heroin.
"On behalf of Mr. Lee, I deny that heroin is a deadly and dangerous drug.
Indeed, I say it is not a deadly and dangerous drug."
Four other men who were arrested with Lee and Tao in September 2000 pleaded
guilty and received jail sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years.
One kingpin, Gou Din Ho, had charges against him stayed after the federal
government and his lawyer failed to agree on the proper rate for the
lawyer's fee.
The judge adjourned the hearing to Nov. 4 -- one day after B.C. Court of
Appeal is scheduled to hear the Crown's appeal of the decision to stay
charges against Ho.
Prosecutor Martha Devlin is seeking life sentences.
Refined sugar is worse for your health than heroin, a defence lawyer told a
B.C. court.
"Heroin is less dangerous than refined sugar," lawyer Peter Leask, a Queen's
Counsel, told a sentencing hearing for drug traffickers See Chun "Handsome
Guy" Lee and Chuk Fong "The Ox" Tao.
They were found guilty earlier of trafficking and importing 93 kilograms of
heroin, worth $100 million on the street. It is the largest cache of heroin
seized in Canada.
Leask told Justice Austin Cullen in B.C. Supreme Court: "Many years ago when
I was conferring with an addiction expert ... he said, 'Heroin is less
dangerous than refined sugar.'
"He meant in a health sense, of course, dangerous to the body of the person
ingesting it."
Leask did not mention the expert's name or whether the expert was quoting
another source for the theory.
Leask did not dispute the addictive quality of heroin or that it makes
criminals out of addicts who can't afford to feed the monkey on their backs.
"What I dispute is that the drug heroin causes these negative effects in
society and to individuals," he said.
"Essentially the proposition that I'm putting before Your Lordship on this
sentencing is that the negative consequences which judges have . . . spoken
about in decisions . . . those negative consequences do not flow from the
nature of heroin.
"These negative consequences flow from the legal prohibition on the
possession and sale and use of heroin.
"On behalf of Mr. Lee, I deny that heroin is a deadly and dangerous drug.
Indeed, I say it is not a deadly and dangerous drug."
Four other men who were arrested with Lee and Tao in September 2000 pleaded
guilty and received jail sentences ranging from 10 to 18 years.
One kingpin, Gou Din Ho, had charges against him stayed after the federal
government and his lawyer failed to agree on the proper rate for the
lawyer's fee.
The judge adjourned the hearing to Nov. 4 -- one day after B.C. Court of
Appeal is scheduled to hear the Crown's appeal of the decision to stay
charges against Ho.
Prosecutor Martha Devlin is seeking life sentences.
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