AUTOMATIC JAIL TERMS HEADED FOR PASSAGE

A federal bill to impose automatic jail terms for drug crimes, for
the first time in Canada, is headed for passage in the House of
Commons in a final vote that could happen as early as today.

If the proposed legislation succeeds as anticipated, judges will be
stripped of their discretion on whether or not to incarcerate drug
traffickers, including offenders who grow and then sell as few as
five marijuana plants.

The bill was lambasted by 13 of the 16 witnesses who appeared before
the House of Commons justice committee during public hearings this
spring. Two American critics warned minimum mandatory sentences for
drug crimes have flooded U. S. prisons in the past 25 years, with a
disproportionate effect on drug addicts, the poor, the young, blacks
and other minorities.