Pubdate: Thu, 20 Feb 2014
Source: Metro (Vancouver, CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 Metro Canada
Contact:  http://www.metronews.ca/vancouver
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3775
Author: Elizabeth Hames

VANDU APPLAUDS DECISION AGAINST MANDATORY MINIMUMS

Drug Trafficking: Judge Sentences Low-Level Dealer to 191 Days Behind 
Bars Instead of One Year

A representative for drug users in Vancouver is applauding a court 
ruling that the mandatory one-year minimum sentence for drug 
trafficking is unconstitutional.

B.C. Provincial Court Judge Joseph Galati made the ruling last month. 
And he put his decision into action on Wednesday, when he sentenced 
25-year-old Joseph Ryan Lloyde to 191 days behind bars.

The low-level dealer from Alberta was convicted in September of 
possessing crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking in 
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. It was his second conviction, which 
means the judge was required to hand him a minimum one-year sentence 
according to federal law.

But Galati said the law was unenforceable because it violated the 
Charter of Rights.

Aiyanas Ormond, community organizer for the Vancouver Area Network of 
Drug Users, applauded the judge's decision.

Mandatory minimum sentencing "is really just mean-spirited and 
punitive, and about expanding a drug war that has already been proven 
in many different places to be a complete failure," he said.

"It's good to see that the judiciary are actually recognizing that 
and taking a stand against these things."

David Fai, Lloyde's lawyer, has described his client as a low-level 
dealer who was selling drugs to support his habit.

That situation is "very, very common" among drug users in Vancouver's 
Downtown East Side, said Ormond.

Many of them are paid in drugs - handed six rocks of crack and told 
they can keep one for themselves if they sell five, he said.

"This is not lucrative, kingpin, Mercedes-Benz-driving drug dealers," 
said Ormond. "These are people who are just really trying to survive 
in conditions where they're addicted to these drugs. They have very 
limited other economic opportunities."

When dealers like Lloyde are sent to jail, another will usually step 
in to take his or her place, said Ormond.

He said once they go to prison, it becomes more challenging for them 
to turn their lives around.

A conviction that carries a prison sentence makes it difficult for 
people to find housing and work. And prisoners often face a higher 
risk of contract HIV and Hepatitis C.

"The whole idea that this really keeps anyone safe is bizarre," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom