DOCTOR OPPOSES BILL S-10

A local doctor is among a long list of health professionals across the
country against a proposed bill which would impose mandatory minimum
sentences for drug-related crimes.

"Criminalizing people who aren't criminals isn't a good idea," said
Dr. Andy Edelson, who signed a letter written by the Urban Health
Research Initiative earlier this month.

Edelson predicts the bill will be expensive and won't work. He
believes governments should spend money on therapy, counselling and
safe injection centres instead.

"The more you criminalize something, the more money you spend on
it."

The Conservative's Bill S-10 proposes minimum penalties for serious
drug crimes, such as trafficking drugs in connection with organized
crime, if there are children involved, or when there is a weapon or
violence involved.

It also lays out minimum penalties for producers of marijuana grow
operations.

There are exceptions for anyone who has completed a treatment program
approved by a province and under the supervision of a court.

The minimum sentences range from one to two years for trafficking, and
two to three years for producing an illegal substance, other than
marijuana. Minimum sentences for cannabis growers will depend on the
number of plants grown and if there are any health and safety factors
involved.

Targeting organized crime is great, said Edelson, "but [governments]
have been unable to deal with it by criminalizing substances."

It didn't work with alcohol prohibition in the 1930s and it's not
working with drugs today, he continued.

Criminalizing drugs increases their value, which drives more people to
take risks to provide them, said Edelson, adding, governments should
take the value out of the substance instead.

"So much money goes into [criminalizing] it," he noted. "Who are the
victims? The users. We have to pay attention to the victims and
organized crime will take care of itself."

Once there is no value attached to the drugs, organized crime won't
want to be involved, said Edelson, arguing education works better than
criminalization.

"There needs to be a three-pronged approach," said Pitt Meadows-Maple
Ridge-Mission Conservative MP Randy Kamp, who agrees education is
needed, but so are treatment and enforcement.

This bill is intended to disrupt criminal activity, not recreational
drug users, said Kamp. "I think it's necessary ... We're targeting
those who produce and traffic drugs and there will be additional
sentences if there is violence or children involved."

The bill was introduced last May, following the defeat of two similar
pieces of proposed legislation. It's now at second reading debate,
said Kamp, who hopes it will move forward, but is disappointed both
the Liberals and the NDP have opposed it.