HEALTH RESEARCHERS SLAM TORY MANDATORY-MINIMUM-SENTENCE PROPOSAL FOR
DRUG CRIMES

More than 500 health professionals from across Canada have written to
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and opposition leaders to protest a
government bill that would impose mandatory minimum sentences for drug
crimes including growing small amounts of marijuana.

The physicians, scientists and researchers, led by the Urban Health
Research Initiative, a program of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, and the Canadian Public
Health Association argue that the measures included in Bill S-10 are
both ineffective and expensive.

"We, the undersigned, are concerned that the federal government is
pursuing significant amendments to federal drug legislation, through
Bill S-10, which are not scientifically grounded and which research
demonstrates may actually contribute to health and social harms in our
communities," the health professionals say in the letter.

They say there is no evidence that mandatory minimum sentences will
reduce drug use or deter crime, that the sentences would have a
disproportionately negative impact on young people and members of
Canada's aboriginal communities, and that they would have a negative
impact on public health and HIV rates.

"Although the government has not produced detailed budget estimates
regarding the potential cost of implementing mandatory minimum
sentences, similar sentencing regimes introduced in the United States
have cost taxpayers billions of dollars," the letter says. "During
these difficult economic times, this raises the question of why the
federal government proposes to spend scarce financial resources on
policies that have been shown to be expensive, ineffective and
harmful."

A spokeswoman for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said the bill is
aimed at curbing the production and trafficking of illicit drugs which
is the most significant source of money for gangs and organized crime.

"Our Government introduced Bill S-10 which will set mandatory jail
time for serious drug crimes, specifically targeting drug-traffickers
connected to organized crime who use violence or weapons, dealers who
sell to youth or frequent places where youth gather, and drug
producers who pose a hazard to the health and safety or security of
residential neighbourhoods," said Pamela Stephens.

The legislation does not target individuals that have become addicted
and contains an exception that will allow the courts not to impose the
mandatory sentence if an offender successfully completes a drug
treatment program, she said. "Furthermore, simple possession offences
will not be subject to these mandatory penalties."

The letter comes weeks after the Church Council on Justice and
Corrections, a 39-year-old coalition for justice reform that
represents 11 of the largest Christian denominations, wrote a strongly
worded letter to Mr. Harper condemning legislation that is expected to
increase the number of convicts dramatically and require billions of
dollars worth of prison construction.

The health professionals say they want drug legislation that is based
on sound scientific evidence.

"Bill S-10 will put small scale growers of marijuana in jail for a
minimum of six months, even though the RCMP's study of some 25,000
cultivation files reveals that violence or the threat of violence
among cultivators is rare," said Neil Boyd, professor and associate
director of the School of Criminology at Simon Fraser University. "We
will be spending tens of millions of dollars to imprison individuals
who represent little if any real threat to the public."