DRUG LAW PROPOSALS DRAW FIRE

(CNS) - Under Canada's proposed new drug laws, an 18-year-old who
shares a joint with a 17-year-old friend could end up in jail.

Small-time addicts, who are convicted of pushing drugs near schools,
parks, malls or any other prospective youth hangouts, would be
automatically imprisoned for two years. And growers caught selling
even one plant to a friend would also be incarcerated.

The Harper government's bill to impose Canada's first mandatory
minimum prison sentences for drug crimes -- removing discretion for
judges to sentence as they see fit -- has come under intense scrutiny
in public hearings, which began last week.

Several witnesses have warned the House of Commons justice committee
the proposed legislation will fill jails with drug addicts rather
than drug kingpins, who will continue to thrive while small-time
dealers are knocked out of commission.

The all-party committee will likely get an earful again today when it
hears from more opponents, including Ottawa drug policy analyst
Eugene Oscapella.

"It's a wonderful gift to organized crime," said Oscapella, a lawyer
who teaches at University of Ottawa.

"We're going to drive some of the smaller players out of the business
and they'll be replaced by people who do not respond to law
enforcement initiatives."

The Conservative government proposes to automatically jail dealers
and growers at a time when several American states, most recently New
York, have retreated from mandatory minimum sentences, saying they
are a glaring symbol of the failed U.S. war on drugs.

"We're going in exactly the opposite direction," said New Democrat
Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East, whose party will vote against the bill.

The Bloc Quebecois also opposes the legislation, which was originally
introduced in late 2007, but died last September when the federal
election was called.

The bill would pass in the minority Parliament if the official
Opposition Liberals decide to support it -- and MP Brian Murphy
cautioned that "the jury is still out" for his party.

The Liberals, at this stage, would probably push for amendments to
narrow the bill's reach, rather than vote against it, he said.

The United States experience in the last 25 years has shown that
mandatory minimum sentences have flooded jails, with a
disproportionate effect on drug addicts, the poor, the young, blacks
and other minorities. The U.S. surpasses every other country by far
in incarceration rates and, meanwhile, the drug business has flourished.