'TOUGH ON CRIME' CAMPAIGN UNNECESSARY AND HARMFUL

Wouldn't it be nice if Canadians had a government that got "Smart on
Crime" instead of "Tough on Crime"? The Harper Conservatives now have
the American spin doctor game almost perfected. For eight years
Stephen Harper learned from the Bush regime south of the border that
to control a population, first you have to scare them, then you tell
them how you are going to save them. Despite the barrage of
sensational stories in the media about murder and mayhem the reality,
as shown by none other than Statistics Canada, is that both violent
and property crime rates have been steadily falling in Canada since
1991.

Conservative propaganda thinly disguised as reports to constituents in
MPs' mailouts sent at taxpayer expense have cultivated the fear. Now
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is offering to save us with his "Tough
on Crime" legislation.

When Harper's Conservatives prorogued parliament last winter Bill C-15
was halted in its tracks. Now Nicholson is back with Bill S-10 which
includes a mandatory minimum sentence of six to nine months in jail
for growing six or more marijuana plants. The maximum penalty has now
been increased to 14 years. Harper plans to build lots of jails, spend
billions incarcerating Canadians and branding them with criminal
records for life.

The next step will be to privatize jails as they have done in the
United States. Under this system America has 25 per cent of the people
on Earth who are behind bars in their jails. Super jails are big
business making big profits.

Nicholson's latest move was to sign the U.S. extradition papers of
British Columbia resident Marc Emery. The Americans said they wanted
Mr. Emery because he was selling cannabis seeds via the Internet into
America. Despite the fact Canadian authorities would not charge Marc
Emery, and Health Canada had referred people with a
Canadian-government-authorized Medical Marijuana Growing Licence to
Mr. Emery for quality seeds, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of the
United States of America has been allowed to take a Canadian and throw
him in an American prison for five years.

It has to be a political move since anyone who cares to can easily buy
cannabis seeds from Amsterdam over the Internet.

The ingenious Dutch growers even claim to have a stealth credit card
system of payment which cannot be traced and they will mail seeds to
anyone worldwide in a birthday card or CD case.

Justice Minister Nicholson could not legally allow Marc Emery's
extradition if charges were politically motivated. Marc Emery has
donated millions of dollars to legalizing marijuana (cannabis)
campaigns in Canada, the United States and Internationally.

This is why the Americans want him so badly. He is not afraid to stand
up and point out the insanity of America's War on Drugs. Americans
have forced Canada to comply. Nicholson signed the extradition order
on Monday, May 10, defying the12,000 Canadians who signed petitions
presented in Parliament by NDP member Libby Davies and Liberal Ujjal
Dosanjh.

Nicholson opted to send a Canadian citizen to a U.S. prison for five
years for a crime that would be punishable with a $200 fine under
Canadian laws. Our minister of justice has effectively outsourced our
justice system to the United States of America.

Until last week I was not tuned into who Harper's minister of justice
really was so I started to educate myself. Search YouTube for Justice
Minister Rob Nicholson and you can find him in lots of footage, from
his own press conferences to senate committee hearings to CBC's Power
Politics with Evan Solomon. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meUUvbFaqpA )
When Solomon asks him how he can justify a mandatory sentence of nine
months for growing five pot plants our justice minister replies: "You
could go into one of these grow-op operations, they may have just
taken in the harvest, they may only have 5 or 10 plants there but they
are still in the business of trafficking. We believe there should be
mandatory jail time for the people who are in the grow-op business.
They may have had 200 or 500 plants the day before yesterday."

I find that a rather amazing statement from a lawyer who should know
the rules of evidence.

He goes on to say Bill S-10 is "not targeted at the person who has
become addicted." Unlike cigarettes, alcohol and caffeine, which are
all known to be physically addictive drugs, but perfectly acceptable
in Mr. Nicholson's world, research has shown cannabis is not
physically addictive. Anything can be psychologically addictive to
some personalities - sugar, sex, MSG-laced fatty foods or video game -
but because something is psychologically addictive does not mean it
should be illegal.

The last time the Jehovah Witnesses invaded my privacy by knocking on
my door I engaged them in discussion by asking if they thought
marijuana (cannabis) should be illegal. They rapidly agreed that it is
evil and should be illegal. I then asked if they believed that God
created Heaven and Earth and everything therein. They did. Then I
asked them why they thought God created the Indica and Sativa strains
of the cannabis plant. Was it for a medicine to fight a host of
diseases such as Crohn's Disease, glaucoma and arthritis just to
mention a few, or was it so that our governments could throw citizens
in jail, destroy their careers and their freedom to travel the Earth
because they grew a few of God's beneficial, medicinal plants.

They got back in their car and left without answering.

Alan Coxwell

Stirling