MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES JUST DON'T WORK

No matter where you stand on the marijuana debate, one thing that will
affect even the most straight-edged Canadian is mandatory minimum
sentencing. Bill C-15, which has passed in the House, and needs only
Senate approval before becoming law, proposes just that. It's scary for me
to think of Canada's courts and prisons packed full of what are most of
the time non-violent people.

That leaves less time in court and room in jail for people charged with
more serious and dangerous crimes to be dealt with. Not only that, but
mandatory minimum sentencing was instituted in the United States, and such
has been the stand of criminal justice experts, who say that has done
nothing to curb the demand for the herb, and only increases criminal
activity surrounding the drug culture.

The US has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world.

One in 100 Americans were in prison at the beginning of 2008. Second place
is China - and though it has four times the population of the US, they
only have 18 per cent of their incarceration rate. Drug offenders make up
about one quarter of the US prison population. And that's not to say that
many of them probably don't deserve to be there, but take a look at
Portugal, and their drug laws. In 2001, the Portuguese government opted to
decriminalized all drugs, determining that these people are more in need
of treatment than punishment. While drug dealing is still illegal in
Portugal, someone caught with small amounts of any drug is entered into
voluntary treatment, Eight years later, and all reports coming from the
European nation have been positive.

Deaths caused by drug overdoses and HIV/AIDS infections both fell
drastically in the first few years, while treatment for drug addiction
more than doubled. Since decriminalization, marijuana use in Portugal of
people over 15 was 10 per cent - the lowest rate in the European Union. In
fact, illicit drug use is down across the board in Portugal since 2001.
The point here is, by making drugs more and more illegal, it doesn't
decrease the demand, but pushes the activity further underground, where
people are the most unlikely to seek treatment.

Let's hope our senators take a good look at our southern neighbours and
see that mandatory minimum sentencing is not the answer to Canada's drug
problem, it will only exacerbate it.