Pubdate: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Copyright: 2011 Canoe Limited Partnership. Contact: http://www.edmontonsun.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/135 Author: Bryn Weese, Parliamentary Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Marijuana - Canada) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) MPs DRUG-CRAZED OVER TRAFFICKING BILL OTTAWA - Where there's smoke, there's pot. And sometimes a Liberal flip-flop, too. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson came out swinging against the Grits Thursday for pulling their support of the government's proposed drug-trafficking bill, S-10. If passed, it would impose a minimum six-month prison sentence for anyone caught growing between six and 200 marijuana plants. Having supported an earlier identical bill that died when Parliament was prorogued in December 2009, the Liberals now say the bill fails to distinguish between young people who make a mistake and hardened gangsters who should be locked up. "We could have our prisons absolutely replete with young people who have made mistakes, which they surely shouldn't have made, but shouldn't be filling our prisons," Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland said Thursday. The Liberals want the minimum number of pot plants before the mandatory minimum sentence applies raised to 20 from six, and also want to know what it would cost to implement the bill, a figure the government won't release. But Nicholson insisted the bill only targets traffickers, and that the six-plant threshold allows for young people who make a mistake. (One well-grown pot plant can yield one pound of marijuana, according to police.) "I am very disappointed that the Liberals have changed their mind on this," Nicholson said. "I know I'm never going to get the support of the NDP on any of this stuff ... I understand that, and the Bloc is the same way. "I think he (Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff) has a lot of explanations to do as to why he has flip-flopped on this ... if he flip-flops on this, he'd flip-flop on anything." The bill has passed the Senate, but still requires approval from the House of Commons. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake