Pubdate: Fri, 12 Aug 2005
Source: StarPhoenix, The (CN SN)
Copyright: 2005 The StarPhoenix
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/saskatoon/starphoenix/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/400
Author: Allan Woods, CanWest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?241 (Methamphetamine - Canada)

TOUGHER METH SENTENCES BRING MIXED REACTION

Premiers Offer Praise; Critics Skeptical About Benefits Of Gov't
Move

OTTAWA -- The latest shot in Canada's war on drugs is a "throw-away
political gesture" that will do little to curb the spread of
methamphetamine across the country, policy experts, academics and
opposition politicians said Thursday.

Instead, critics believe the government's decision to increase maximum
penalties for producers, users and smugglers of the drug from 10 years
to life imprisonment appears designed to draw marginally tougher
sentences from a reluctant judicial system, and bring Canada's
handling of drug crimes into line with the expectations of the United
States government.

"They're doing the same old thing. They're saying we've got to do
something so let's toughen up the penalties," said Ottawa drug lawyer
Eugene Oscapella, of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy. "When
you get right down to it this is politics. These are politicians
pretending to do something."

The decision, announced jointly by the Justice, Health and Public
Safety ministries, changes the Criminal Code to put methamphetamine
into the same class of drugs as cocaine and heroin.

"(This is) a kind of wake-up call that deals with something that not
only harms the user but the community of which the user is a part,"
said Justice Minister Irwin Cotler. "It's a comprehensive strategy
involving enhanced penalties with regard to possession and trafficking
or involving controls on precursor chemicals with a view to really
attacking the whole question of production."

In Banff, Alta., the move was applauded by premiers -- particularly in
Western Canada where abuse of the drug has been most prevalent.

"I think Canadians generally should be very pleased with this news,"
said Saskatchewan Premier Lorne Calvert, adding that tougher measures
should act as a deterrent. "It's something that we as Western
premiers, when we gathered just weeks ago, called for."

The move is also likely to please the U.S., which expressed concern in
its most recent annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
that Canada could become a major source of methamphetamine and the
chemicals used to make it, just as this country's marijuana crops are
smuggled across the border.

"Apparently, one of (the U.S. government's) objectives, and this is
unbelievably offensive, is to alter and modify Canadian criminal
justice policy in relation to drugs," said Alan Young, a law professor
and marijuana advocate at Toronto's York University.

A Saskatoon father of a recovering crystal meth user also applauded
Thursday's announcement.

"I think it is a move in the right direction. I am really pleased that they
have gotten on this really quickly. The people that are out there selling
this material to our kids need to understand, if they going to do this they
are going to pay a price, and they are going to pay a hefty price," said
Saskatchewan Party MLA Ted Merriman.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin