JUDGE RAISES THE BAR

Bully for B.C. Supreme Court Justice Allan Stewart. Bucking what seems to
be the current trend toward kinder gentler sentencing, Stewart has slapped
a two-year jail term on a Vancouver man who ran a pot growing operation in
Vancouver.

Jason Neubert's lawyer had urged the judge to impose a fine of less than
three months in jail. Crown counsel had agreed that the three months would
be appropriate. but Stewart, citing dangers caused by a plague of home
invasions by bad guys raiding grow operations said it's time to "up the ante."

Whatever the reason, Stewart's decision brings sentencing closer in line
with the rest of officialdom, which treats dope-dealing much more seriously
than do the courts. As it stands, someone convicted of growing pot in B.C.
has a one in four chance of getting probation or a conditional discharge, a
one in two chance of being fined between $500 and $6000(with an average
fine of $2600), and only a one in five chance of going to jail, likely for
90 days or less. Hardly a deterrent, and certainly nothing to match the
massive police and health-system efforts to combat drug abuse.

May people argue that drug use should be medical issue, not a criminal one.
Fine, but that doesn't mean drug production is OK. Don't confuse
consumption with growing and trafficking, because the health-issue argument
is not transferable.

The time may cone when our politicians may say it's legal to sell drugs, in
which case we can stop pouring millions of dollars into police costs
devoted to that area. But until that day arrives, the courts must stop
undercutting the work of police and the health system, and start handing
out sentences that work.