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. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom