High-tech indoor growing room for female marijuana plants. (iStock)A crime bill tabled by the federal Conservatives Tuesday could have repercussions for jails in B.C.
One of the new proposals in the wide-ranging bill says mandatory minimum sentences should be handed out for drug crimes, something the Vancouver Sun argues could pose real problems in B.C., where the jails are already filled well past capacity.
Under the proposed new system, people caught cultivating marijuana - even in small amounts, like six plants - would receive an automatic six-month sentence. Maximum sentences for growing larger amounts of pot would double from seven to 14 years.
Speaking to the Vancouver Sun, Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd cautioned that the new laws will result in massive jail costs for the province.
Likewise, in a CBC News story about the anti-crime laws, B.C. criminal lawyer Don Skogstad said there is no room in jails for all the small-time growers in B.C., and that it would be going backwards to make these growers do time for what was once a fine-worthy offence.
Should jail capacity be taken into consideration before the bill is passed? Why or why not? Does Canada need to crack down on drug crimes?
Living in a Democracy or an Idiocracy, the stupids are still in control!
They still don't get it...
crime is when someone does something questionable to another person!
since when is it ever criminal, or even questionable to do something to yourself?
at the very worst its a medical concern that should be looked at from that angle,
but... pot use as a medical concern is more about access then anything else,
and we've seen numerous court cases supporting this fact.
why are our politicians sticking their collective heads in the sand and ignoring the facts
and passing laws that are themselves criminal enrichment enterprises?
In the end, what this law will do is lock people up for growing their own medicine...
and invalidate all commonsense & medical advancements we have achieved
in the last 5-10 years on numerous research projects...
in summation;
I'm left wondering if the Harper minions ever read anything not approved!
http://c2cjournal.ca/2009/07/the-price-of-pot-prohibition/
& this article was published in 2009, so they DO know about it!