IT'S A MOVE TOWARD THE AMERICAN DRUG WAR STYLE

Proposed Legislation: Federal Legislation Introduced by Tories That's
Aimed at Tougher Drug Laws Slammed by Local Marijuana Advocates

The Conservatives' proposed legislation to implement mandatory
minimum sentences for drug crimes would clog up the courts and
increase profits in organized crime according to some Nelson residents.

The Tories tabled legislation last week that would see mandatory
prison sentences introduced and a longer maximum penalty for cannabis
production if it is passed in the House of Commons.

"It's a move toward the American drug war style that definitely
hasn't worked there and I would say it's a nice little Christmas gift
for organized crime," said Paul DeFelice co-owner of the Holy Smoke
Culture Shop.

DeFelice, Holy Smoke co-owner Alan Middlemiss, and associates Kelsey
Stratas and Akka Annis are awaiting trials for a variety of charges
under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act stemming from a police
investigation last year. DeFelice is charged with possession of and
trafficking in marijuana.

Specifically, the government proposed amendments to the Act that
would see a mandatory one-year prison sentence for dealing drugs such
as marijuana when carried out for organized crime purposes, or when a
weapon or violence is involved.

Further, anyone who deals drugs like cocaine, heroin, or
methamphetamines to youth or for those dealing drugs near a school or
area frequented by youth will face a two year mandatory prison
sentence. The same sentence will be imposed for the offence of
running large marijuana grow operation of at least 500 plants while
the maximum penalty for cannabis production would increase from seven
to 14 years.

Finally, tougher penalties would be introduced for trafficking GHB
and flunitrazepam (commonly known as date-rape drugs).

Marc Emery, publisher of Cannabis Culture Magazine, known widely as
the Prince of Pot and under threat of extradition to the United
States for selling marijuana seeds to residents there, agreed with
DeFelice and explained that it would just drive up the price of drugs.

"It's going to be bad thing for the country in every sense. The
first thing that's going to happen is the price of marijuana and all
street drugs rise a lot if they started rounding up people and
putting them in jail. What that means first and foremost is addicts
will steal a lot more from the community to pay for these drugs
because the drugs don't stop getting consumed, they just rise in
price to compensate for the risk," Emery told the Daily News.

"We'll see more of what we have in the United States: [that is] more
people carrying guns if they think they're going to be put in jail
for mandatory minimums. Some people would just rather have a
firefight than get caught if they absolutely know they're going to jail."

DeFelice added that it could lead to turf wars.

"It drives out the small time people and caters to the tougher biker
types and people who have the muscle to protect what they've got.
Because the law of the black market is if you can't protect it,
somebody will take it and what we see is prohibition crime, not drug
crime," he said, in terms of the effect it will have on the pot market.

"It's people protecting their turf. They can't go to the court to
solve their problems so they have to pull guns on each other so
that's what this will lead to."

Nelson criminal defence lawyer Tyleen Underwood has defended a number
of drug cases. She said that from a legal standpoint, it would put
pressure on the court system.

"One concern I would have is - depending on where that case is in the
court system of course but if it's prior to a plea...then I'd be
concerned that we're going to have a lot less guilty pleas," she
said. "Accused persons would have no incentive to plead out early if
there's going to be some of these mandatory minimums in place so the
numbers of trials would increase and that's going to add to our
already jam-packed court lists and delay the time that it's going to
take for these trials to come on."

DeFelice and his associates expect to go to trial in 2008 but because
the amendment is not yet law, it is hard to know the effect this
legislation could have on the Holy Smoke case.

"This bill is just proposed at this point in time so I think right
now the judges would continue to use the discretion that they have in
terms of sentencing, basically considering all the relevant factors
as they do already, considering age, first time offender, motivation
for the crime, that sort of thing," Underwood said.

Emery explained that if passed, the legislation would result in more
snitching that it's easy for police officers to infiltrate high
schools and round up the kids dealing marijuana. He explained that
there will be thousands more young kids in jails in large numbers.
Further, he argues that prostitution will rise as the price of drugs
rise and people need more money to feel their addiction.

"It will cause more crime, it will cause more addiction, it will
cause more social disorder in the community and it will fill the
jails and it will eventually drain the treasury," said Emery.

The Daily News calls to Minister of Justice Rob Nicholson's office or
to RCMP Division E Drug Awareness Coordinator Scott Rintoul were not
returned Friday to learn more about the legislation's effect.

According to the Minister's press release, the government is sending
a clear message that if you sell us produce drugs, you'll pay with jail time.

"Drugs are dangerous and destructive, yet we see Canadian youth being
exposed to and taking drugs at such young ages, and grow-ops and drug
labs appearing in our residential areas," said Nicholson in the release.

The release also notes that the new legislation contains an exception
that allows courts not to impose the mandatory sentence if an
offender successfully completes a Drug Treatment Court (DTC) program.

Underwood seems to believe that aside from clogging up the courts,
the legislation - if passed - would not deter drug crimes. She also
said - with regards to grow-ops - there would be a lot of arguments
made as to what constitutes a plant, whether it's a mature plant,
clone or clipping and whether or not the marijuana is for personal
use or for trafficking.

"I'm not sure what deterrent effect these mandatory minimums would
have. I don't think that they are going to have a large deterrent
effect in these cases."