SENATE SAVED US FROM HEAVY-HANDED TORIES

Canada's Senate made a sensible amendment Wednesday to a politically
motivated bill that would have seen people who grew as few as five
marijuana plants serve a mandatory six-month jail term.

Accepting a proposal from a Liberal-dominated Senate committee, by a
49-43 margin the Senate watered down the proposed legislation by
raising the number of marijuana plants grown to more than 201 plants,
which would see judges use their own discretion in sentencing those
found guilty of growing fewer than 200 pot plants.

Judicial discretion is a keystone to our justice system. Judges across
the country hear the cases prosecutors make before them as well as
hearing the reasons those growing marijuana doing so. There is no
one-size-fits-all punishment that would encompass a judge's reasons
for the sentence they impose on a convicted marijuana grower.

Undoubtedly, some growers are involved in organized crime and dealing
illegal drugs. A judge may not accept that a person who was growing as
many as 200 plants was doing so for his or her own use. Just as
surely, some people growing five to 10 plants are not selling their
harvests and a judge can hear the reasons why they feel compelled to
grow their own pot.

The bottom line is the judge in the community hears both sides of the
story and imposes a sentence they see fit. While a sentence for 10
plants may not be as harsh as a penalty for 50, given the
circumstances under the current laws, a judge can weigh the factors
surrounding a convicted person's growing of marijuana.

The law, as proposed by the Conservative government, was nothing more
than a political ploy to make them look tough on crime. What's even
worse is that Liberal MPs in the House of Commons voted in favour of
this mandatory-minimum chicanery for fear that they would look soft on
crime.

Did none of our honourable members examine what has happened south of
us?

American critics of mandatory-minimum sentences warned MPs and
Senators that these type of sentences have swamped prisons south of
the border and the majority of those sentenced have not been drug
dealers or those involved in organized crime. A disproportionate
number of those now serving long prison terms in the U.S. for minor
drug violations are addicts, the poor, the young and minorities.

Was there really a problem that new legislation needed to
address?

Perhaps the Liberal-dominated Senate's recommendation of 201 plants as
being the threshold is too liberal but five plants is ridiculously
punitive for those who grow marijuana for their own use, whether
recreational or medicinal.

That's what a judge can determine in a court of law and that's what
judicial discretion is meant for.

The sole intent of this proposed legislation is to appeal to the
Conservative government's base and look as if it's being tough on
crime. If the government wants to run roughshod over decades of common
law, so be it. At least the optics are favourable to its supporters.

In the big picture, how much harm do small-time marijuana growers
do?

If the government wants to demonstrate that it's tough on crime,
perhaps it should focus on other matters. Two crimes that have
Canadians concerned far more than growing marijuana are child
pornography and identity theft. While it's difficult to compare the
harm of one crime with another, there are far more pressing matters
that should be dealt with before focusing on pot growers.

In a show of political theatrics on Wednesday, Justice Minister Rob
Nicholson expressed contempt for the Senate's decision to amend his
proposed legislation.

The decision opens "the door to drug traffickers and people in the
grow-op business to continue to evade prison time," he said.

How would he know?

Cases have yet to come before an impartial judge who won't be swayed
by politics.