Pubdate: Sat, 13 Aug 2005
Source: St. Albert Gazette (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 St. Albert Gazette
Contact:  http://www.stalbertgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2919

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.
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MAP posted-by: Beth