Source: The Globe and Mail
Page: A1

Contact: letters@GlobeAndMail.ca

Stiffer drug penalties urged

AttorneyGeneral of B.C. seeks change

Monday, August 11, 1997
By Robert Matas
British Columbia Bureau

In an attempt to break the illicit drug trade's grip on Vancouver, B.C.
AttorneyGeneral Ujjal Dosanjh wants federal laws changed to require
life imprisonment for a drug smuggler's first offence and a minimum
10year sentence for a first drugtrafficking offence.

"Drug traffickers and smugglers are like murderers," Mr. Dosanjh said
yesterday in an interview. "They wreak havoc on the population in places
like British Columbia by making their supplies available. I think it's
important to cut it off at the source. I have no pity for them."

Mr. Dosanjh also wants tough restrictions on the possibility of parole.
Those who export or import heroin, cocaine or marijuana should have a
life sentence without parole for 25 years, he said. Those who sell the
drug should be kept in prison for 10 years without any possibility of
parole on their first offence, regardless of the quantity of drug
involved. Upon their second conviction, they should receive 25 years
without any chance of parole, Mr. Dosanjh added.

Federal law currently does not stipulate a minimum sentence for a
trafficking conviction. Drug smugglers face a minimum sevenyear term.
No restrictions are set out involving parole for smuggling or
trafficking convictions.

Vancouver is awash in imported heroin and cocaine and locally grown
marijuana, which is considered high quality and exported in large
quantities to the United States.

The port city confronts the brutal realities of the drug trade almost
every day. More than 1,200 people have died of overdoses since 1993. The
number of methadone addicts in a provincial program jumped to 2,500 last
year, from 1,200 in the previous year.

Meanwhile, residential breakins have increased 16 per cent in the past
year, soaring past every other city in the country. Police attribute the
increase directly to Vancouver's growing population of drug addicts.

The rampant use of intravenous drugs has also led to a sudden jump in
the incidence of infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.
Vancouver is believed to have the most aggressive outbreak of HIV in
injectiondrug users in North America.

Mr. Dosanjh said he is looking for a national strategy to deal with the
drug trade. "I cannot do it alone."

He intends to direct his deputy minister to raise his proposal for
tougher sentencing informally at a national meeting next month of deputy
attorneysgeneral and justice ministers. He expects to pursue the issue
at the next ministers meeting, which has not yet been scheduled.

However, his proposals might not be warmly recevied. Criminologist Neil
Boyd of Simon Fraser University said yesterday that Mr. Dosanjh is out
of step with the current debate over the issue. "I don't think he knows
what he's talking about," Mr. Boyd said.

Putting addicts in jail will not solve the problem, he said, questioning
the wisdom of spending $50,000 to imprison someone who is spending $100
on drugs.

Mr. Dosanjh also said he does not make a distinction between marijuana
and hard drugs such as heroin. Former B.C. coroner Vince Cain, in a
report to the provincial government on drug overdoses, has proposed that
marijuana use be legalized. Although Mr. Dosanjh said he would be happy
to support the consensus in the country, whatever it is, "I do not want
to lead the debate on that issue. I do not support anything that is
illegal and it is now illegal to grow or use marijuana."

Dr. Cain submitted 63 recommendations to the government in 1994. He
proposed that the province discuss with Ottawa the merits of mandatory
life sentences without parole for people convicted of importing and
trafficking in large quantities of drugs.

Mr. Dosanjh went further, urging tougher sentencing unless the drugs
were in small enough quantities that they could be considered for
personal use. For instance, selling or smuggling one marijuana cigarette
would be exempt.

The former coroner also recommended that the province consider
establishing a heroinmaintenance program for addicts and that
federalprovincial talks be started on decriminalizing the use of
substances to which people are addicted.

Despite his tough talk, the AttorneyGeneral also expressed support for
showing more understanding of drug addiction and dealing with addicts
who can be rehabilitated. He supports government resources going into
prevention and education.

"But in the end of the day, [they] have to understand that, by using
drugs, they are creating a problem, not just for themselves but for
society," he said.