BILL TARGETS MEDICINAL CANNABIS USERS

Dear Editor:

Regarding Dan Albas MP REPORT: Lack of info quickly turns to
misinformation of Dec. 8, 2011.

What seems to be misunderstood by the Member of Parliament is that
Clause 39 - 41 of Bill C-10, in effect, amounts to the providing of
insulation for organized crime and drug kingpins. This consequence
would, for the most part, be triggered by the enactment of the
proposed changes to the medical marihuana program by Health Canada.

The amendment to clause 41, the last of the Part 2 amendments in
reference to Schedule II inclusions of Bill C-10, the Safe Streets and
Communities Act, alone ensures that. (Mandatory minimum penalty would
only apply to instances where more than five plants but fewer than 201
plants are produced for the purpose of trafficking and where any of
the specified aggravating factors would apply.)

Among those caught up in Bill C-10 will be sick and dying medicinal
cannabis users who refuse to relinquish their MMAR Personal Production
Licenses (PPL's) and those designated growers who grow cannabis for
MMAR patients who, for various reasons, cannot grow for themselves.

These will be among those who will be targeted as "serious drug
offenders" and facing mandatory minimum sentencing and
incarceration.

Moreover, this redefines cannabis offences in such a way that it will
invariably hamstring jurisprudence while forcing a great expense upon
the provinces and, inevitably, the taxpayer.

Bill C-10 will do what it claims insofar as incarcerating people is
concerned, but the police won't be targeting serious drug offences,
nor will the courts be incarcerating serious drug offenders and the
Member of Parliament should be under no illusions as to what his
party's Bill is about to unleash.

Wayne Phillips,

Communications Director,

Educators For Sensible Drug Policy,

Hamilton, ON