LIBERALS ON SIDELINES AS TORIES PUSH THROUGH TOUGHER DRUG LAWS

OTTAWA - One leading critic calls it a law that would have put a young
Barack Obama in prison, but Liberal justice critic Dominic LeBlanc defends
the official Opposition's support of a Conservative bill to fight drug
crime.

MPs were set to pass Bill C-15 Monday, which relies heavily on mandatory
minimum sentences to deter drug dealers.

The NDP and the Bloc Quebecois both oppose the controversial bill, and it
ran into heavy criticism from witnesses at the Commons justice committee.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson defends the bill as "focused, targeted, and
balanced" and a much-needed response to rising violence fuelled by the
drug trade.

But one law lecturer, Eugene Oscapella of the University of Ottawa,
pointed out that merely giving somebody a drug constitutes the offence of
trafficking.

Oscapella pointed out President Barack Obama has admitted that when he was
a young man, he used cocaine.

Under these amendments, if Obama had been 18 and shared some cocaine with
a friend who was 17, a minor, or if he had done this near a school, he'd
get the mandatory sentence of two years in prison.

"That does not make sense to me," Oscapella told the Justice committee.
"Look at the tremendous potential that we would have lost with this man."

But LeBlanc countered in an interview that "many people who oppose the
bill use extreme examples where no Crown would lay a charge in
circumstances these opponents describe to illustrate their point this bill
goes too far.

"In fact, what will happen is that the discretion from the sentencing
judge will be in the hands of a prosecutor who will not lay a charge that
would lead to a completely unreasonable prison sentence."

The bill's provisions include:

* a one-year mandatory prison sentence for dealing drugs for
organized-crime purposes or when a weapon or violence is used or if it is
a second drug offence;

* a two-year minimum term for dealing harder drugs such as cocaine and
methamphetamines to youth or near a school;

* two years minimum for running a marijuana grow-op with at least 500 plants;

* plus increasing the maximum term for producing marijuana to 14 years.

The Canadian Bar Association also came out against the mandatory minimums.

The CBA's Sarah Inness, a Winnipeg lawyer, said mandatory minimum
sentences do not deter nor target the most serious offenders.

Rather, they catch less culpable offenders, who will also be less likely
to plead guilty if they face a mandatory sentence.

Two Department of Justice studies also cast doubt on mandatory minimums.

A 2002 study called them "blunt instruments that fail to distinguish
between "| hardcore versus transient drug dealers."

The bill does allow judges not to impose a mandatory sentence if an
offender successfully completes a program in drug treatment court.

Those courts help offenders with drug addictions overcome their addictions
and avoid incarceration and more trouble with the law.

Offenders typically still have to plead guilty to be admitted to the
program. They are subject to random urine tests to ensure they are staying
off drugs.

But Canada has just six federally funded drug treatment courts and none
are in New Brunswick.

Fundy Royal Conservative MP Rob Moore said provincial court judges can
still refer drug offenders to appropriate treatment options.

Moore said this kind of law "sends the appropriate message - one Canadians
want sent - that we aren't going to be too lax towards those committing
serious offences."

NDP MP Libby Davies argued that mandatory minimums do not work and that a
number of U.S. states are repealing theirs. She predicted provincial jails
and courts will be overburdened because of the law.

Davies said she's been "frustrated" by the Liberals' refusal to fight the
bill because they don't want to be seen as soft on drug dealers.

"If it's all about political optics," lawmakers are ignoring the real
impact on young people whose futures will be affected by the law, she
argued.

"The very fact the drug treatment courts are in this bill - it's actually
an admission the bill targets street-level offenders, not drug kingpins,"
said Davies.

In the Commons, Liberal Moncton-area MP Brian Murphy called some of the
bill's minimums - such as two years for running a large pot grow-op -
"wonderful provisions for a very specific problem" but "what is missing in
this crime prevention program is a more holistic approach" to preventing
drug crime.

The Conservatives say their approach to drugs includes prevention. In
April, 2008, for example, the Conservatives announced a drug treatment
fund of $111 million for young people at risk.

Moore, Murphy and LeBlanc all sit on the justice committee.

It called for a parliamentary committee to undertake a cost-benefit
analysis of mandatory minimum sentences.

MPs are also about to pass Bill C-25, the "Truth in Sentencing Act," which
will specify lower credits for time served while awaiting sentencing.

The bill sets the maximum credit for time served at 1.5 times the days
spent in pre-sentencing custody.

LeBlanc said that the current system, where judges have typically credited
offenders with twice the time served, has been "abused by many accused
persons and resulted in a great deal of public misunderstanding."