STIFFER SENTENCES ARE COLD COMFORT

The federal government is taking steps to make sure those who peddle
crystal methamphetamine in Canada know they're putting their lives on the
line. Now classified as a 'Schedule I' narcotic, meth can send drug
traffickers to jail for the rest of their lives -- in theory.

The reality is, it's the addicts who are paying with their lives, while the
traffickers laugh at the leniency of Canada's court system.

For most criminals, the concept of a "maximum sentence of life in prison"
holds little fear. Because most criminals know Canadian courts almost never
impose maximum sentences.

This is a country where you can kill someone with your car and spend the
next two years in the comfort of your own home. Drug sentences, whether for
trafficking or producing, are also met with pleas for conditional sentences
- -- allowing the convicted criminals to stay out of jail and in the community.

Unless the federal government comes up with the backbone to attach a
minimum sentence to crystal meth production and peddling, dope-pushers are
always going to believe the maximum wasn't meant for them.

Even so, there's a very basic fallacy inherent in the idea that sentences
can act as a deterrent.

There are very few criminals who commit crimes while taking the possible
penalties into account.

For the most part, crimes are committed with the soul-deep belief that the
perpetrator will never get caught. No one robs a bank thinking, "Well, I'll
make $20,000 and only have to spend five years in jail." Those who do keep
sentencing in mind are turning more and more to Canada's youth -- protected
under the Youth Criminal Justice Act from any kind of sentencing, minimum
or maximum.

Some criminals are barely capable of thinking at all, let alone about
possible penalties.

Drugs like crystal meth feed Canada's crime statistics by creating
zombie-like addicts, desperate to feed the monster inside.

The addiction is so severe that those who work with addicts talk about
observing compulsive behaviour such as picking bumps on the skin, which are
caused by toxic meth ingredients crystallizing in the blood, and smoking
the results.

This is not the behaviour of an individual who's going to be terror-struck
at the remote possibility they may face a lifetime in prison. This is the
behaviour of someone who's life already holds little meaning.

Harsher sentences for meth possession and use are also fairly cold comfort
for those Canadians who are watching their loved ones consumed by the
substance. The Edmonton parents who called police last week because their
meth-addicted son was threatening them with a sawed-off shotgun aren't
going to get their child back. Even if they are able to access one of
Alberta's meth recovery beds and succeed in the mammoth task of tearing
their son from the grip of addiction, healing the rift in that family would
be a task at least 10 times that difficult.

But the Edmonton woman whose pregnant niece died of an overdose won't be
getting any justice even if the person who sold that meth is sent away for
life. It's too late.