PRISONERS' ADVOCATE SLAMS TORY PLAN

Harper Wants 'Serious' Sentences For Traffickers

The federal Tories plan to get tough on crime by imposing mandatory
minimum jail time.

But the head of a prisoners' advocacy group says the plan will only
put more people behind bars and won't address the problems of drug use.

Stephen Harper's Conservatives are calling for mandatory minimum
sentences of two years for offenders involved with trafficking,
importing, exporting or producing drugs like heroin, cocaine, crystal
meth and more than three kilograms of marijuana or hashish.

"Criminals who are growing marijuana in grow ops, manufacturing
crystal meth in drug labs or selling crack cocaine in our streets
have to know that if they are caught, they will not get a slap on the
wrist," Harper said in a media release. "They will go to jail and
serve serious time."

Edmonton-Strathcona Conservative candidate Rahim Jaffer said the
proposed changes will deter drug trafficking.

"I think it would have a real deterring effect," said Jaffer, adding
the justice system doesn't come down hard enough on repeat offenders.

"This will send a message to people trafficking drugs that they'll be
stuck in jail and that the government is going to lock them away."

Brad Odsen, executive director of the John Howard Society of Alberta,
called Harper's plan ill conceived.

He said a similar strategy in the war on drugs in the U.S. has done
little to stop the flow of drugs into communities.

"It has not had any impact on the use of drugs but it has
criminalized a section of the population and filled up jails," he said.

"What happens to those people when they get out of jail? And they
will get out of jail."

Keith Brownsey, who teaches political science at Calgary's Mount
Royal College, says he's not sure Harper's plan will be a big hit
with all Canadians.

"There is a large segment of the population who would like to see the
decriminalization of marijuana," he said.