The Conservatives are trying to take the war on drug users to another level with Bill C-15, which proposes mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses.
This Bill, if passed into law, will strip judges of their discretion in sentencing Canadians convicted of drug offenses. Rather than being allowed to take all factors into consideration before making a sentencing decision, judges will have no choice but to impose prescribed sentences. This will result in a sudden and ongoing surge of new prisoners, leaving us with no choice but to construct more prisons to accommodate them all, at great expense to ourselves.
The crazy thing about us adopting this approach to drugs is that we already know it will fail. The United States brought in mandatory minimum sentences in the mid-80s. They continue to spend a fortune on it, and the evidence continues to show it doesn’t work. One of every hundred Americans is now incarcerated in prison or jail, and one in 33 is under some form of correctional control such as probation or parole. A huge proportion of incarcerated Americans are there for using drugs, including marijuana. The US spends more on corrections than any other industrialized country, and what does it have to show for it? More incarcerated citizens than any other industrialized country in the world. More children growing up with incarcerated parents. High crime rates. No reduction in drug use.
The United States has shown us, by example, that mandatory minimum sentences, as a strategy for dealing with drug use, is an extremely expensive unmitigated failure. And that’s exactly what Harper’s Conservatives are trying to force us to emulate.
It costs between $88,000 and $250,000 to keep someone in prison for a year in Canada. And that doesn’t even begin to look at the hidden costs, such as job loss, foregone income taxes, family breakdown and child welfare costs.
Judges already have ample power to incarcerate drug offenders when circumstances warrant it. We don’t need legislation that strips them of their discretion and forces them to imprison people, regardless of circumstances. Such legislation would be regressive, ineffective, expensive and driven by conservative ideology rather than evidence.
So the obvious question is “Why are the Conservatives trying to get Bill C-15 passed, then, if it’s doomed to fail and is going to cost a lot of money?”
It’s not because they’re stupid; It’s because they think we are. The Conservatives like things that can be reduced to extremely simple, easily digestible slogans that will resonate with people who don’t think. Like this: War on Drugs. Tough on Crime. Zero Tolerance. They’re going for the votes of non-thinking Canadians, and they’re counting on them being the majority of voters. They might be right; I hope not.
It’s not too late to stop Bill C-15. Contact your MP. Contact these Senators:
| David Angus | anguswd@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| George Baker | bakerg@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Tommy Banks | gautj@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Larry Campbell | campbel@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Joan Fraser | frasej@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Serge Joyal | joyals@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Lorna Milne | milnel@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Pierre Claude Nolin | nolinp@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Jean-Claude Rivest | jcrivest@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| John Wallace | wallaj@sen.parl.gc.ca |
| Charlie Watt | wattc@sen.parl.gc.ca |
Here in the US, it’s worth asking questions about the conservative pols who push this sort of legislation. Questions about who will profit from this massive expenditure of public funds (from building or running the new or expanded jails and prisons), then tracing connections from that profiteer (pun intended) back to the pol. Often we find there are significant campaign contributions and/or family/friend connections. Not that that has stopped it from happening down here, but I’d like to think your citizenry is less gullible than ours.
I had some written correspondence with Edmonton MP Laurie Hawn about mandatory minimums, which I posted on my blog here.
My post includes scans of Hawn’s letter, so you can see the drivel straight from the horse’s mouth.
I tried to ask this conservative MP how more prisons will save taxpayers money, but I guess he’s not a real conservative.
– RG>
I think you fail to see the “big ” picture here.
Both here and in the states the neocons abhor the idea of socialist health care but both also realize the population must have health care. By incarcerating everyone they are in a position to provide the health care, clean up the streets and provide low paying jobs to thousands while giving huge contracts and outrageous profits to the corporations they will be hiring to build and run the prisons.
Its a win all around for right thinking people everywhere.
$250,000 a year to keep someone in jail? How about they give me the money and I’ll deal with the person.
I agree, something needs to be done.
We should be looking at what Portugal has accomplished! Decriminalization gave the law teeth when it came to real drug crime – cartels and the pushers, and gave real teeth to their social programs to combat drug addiction as well as harm reduction programs. WIN WIN
Spot on, mudmama, spot on!
Ever since bill c-15 was bill c-26 (pre last October’s election) I’ve been trying to educate and resist this bill. It’s been a huge effort and I feel a little let down that it got this far, especially in a minority government. Before the election, the Liberals were against it. After the election, they’re giving in to the Cons as much as they have to to survive, and it sickens me deep inside.
Partisan politics make me angry. They make me make noise and fight. The NDP were totally against this bill, and if you read my most recent blog post you’ll see that Libby Davies has been fighting hard and long in support of drug users. It’s almost unbelievable the things she has to endure in the House of Commons, and this clip illustrates to any sane person how out of touch the Cons really are with things.
Please take zoom!’s advice and email the senators — it’s time to take the power back!
-JM
This is INSANE. We’d all be better off if they put that money into drug treatment programs, supportive housing and vocational training. I’m so writing letters.
I’m sorry I don’t live in Canada or I would write straight away. Putting people in prison is the new vote-getting strategy of most governments these days. They have no ideas, can give no hope of a better life, so they use scare tactics and play on people’s fears of things that might happen one day while not addressing the things that are happening right now like being poor, not earning enough to eat correctly, inadequate schooling, health funding,etc.
Its still not to late to help stop Bill C-15. Now that its made it through the Senate its back to Parliament for one last reading. This will take place in about February. Before then we need as many people as possible to Email Liberal leader Michael Ignaieff.
Ignatieff is the one person who has the power to stop Bill C-15. He’s playing a poker game of supporting the bill so far and we really need to call him on it. One of the best things you can do is go to http://www.whyprohibition.ca and read up on the latest C-15 updates.
Here’s Ignatieff’s email address. IgnatM@parl.gc.ca , Tell him to vote no on bill C-15 !
Thanks Alan. I just sent my letter to Mr. Ignatieff.
Thanks for doing that Zoom. For anyone that wants to email Ignatieff , it would also be helpful to send one to each Liberal MP. Make sure and tell them the amended version of C-15 is still majorly flawed and dangerous. Tell each and every one of them that you are watching this vote closely and you will remember it at election time. Tell them not to form a coalition with the Conservatives and vote no on Bill C-15. Here’s every Liberal MP’s email address to copy into an email:
Andrews.S@parl.gc.ca , Bagnell.L@parl.gc.ca , Bains.N@parl.gc.ca , Belanger.M@parl.gc.ca , Bennett.C@parl.gc.ca , Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca , Brison.S@parl.gc.ca , Byrne.G@parl.gc.ca , Cannis.J@parl.gc.ca , Coady.S@parl.gc.ca , Coderre.D@parl.gc.ca , Cotler.I@parl.gc.ca , Crombie.B@parl.gc.ca , Cuzner.R@parl.gc.ca , Damours.J@parl.gc.ca , Dhaliwal.S@parl.gc.ca , DhallR@parl.gc.ca , Dion.S@parl.gc.ca , Dosanjh.U@parl.gc.ca , Dryden.K@parl.gc.ca , Duncan.K@parl.gc.ca , Easter.W@parl.gc.ca , Eyking.M@parl.gc.ca , Folco.R@parl.gc.ca , Foote.J@parl.gc.ca , Fry.H@parl.gc.ca , Garneau.M@parl.gc.ca , Goodale.R@parl.gc.ca , Guarnieri.A@parl.gc.ca , HallFindlay.M@parl.gc.ca , Holland.M@parl.gc.ca , Ignatieff.M@parl.gc.ca , Jennings.M@parl.gc.ca , Kania.A@parl.gc.ca , Karygiannis.J@parl.gc.ca , Kennedy.G@parl.gc.ca , Leblanc.D@parl.gc.ca , Lee.D@parl.gc.ca , MacAulay.L@parl.gc.ca , Malhi.G@parl.gc.ca , Martin.K@parl.gc.ca , McCallum.J@parl.gc.ca , McGuinty.D@parl.gc.ca , McKay.J@parl.gc.ca , McTeague.D@parl.gc.ca , Mendes.A@parl.gc.ca , Milliken.P@parl.gc.ca , Minna.M@parl.gc.ca , Murphy.B@parl.gc.ca , Murphy.S@parl.gc.ca , Murray.J@parl.gc.ca , Neville.A@parl.gc.ca , Oliphant.R@parl.gc.ca , Pacetti.M@parl.gc.ca , Patry.B@parl.gc.ca , Pearson.G@parl.gc.ca , ProulM@parl.gc.ca , Rae.B@parl.gc.ca , Ratansi.Y@parl.gc.ca , Regan.G@parl.gc.ca , Rodriguez.P@parl.gc.ca , Rota.A@parl.gc.ca , Russell.T@parl.gc.ca , Savage.M@parl.gc.ca , Scarpaleggia.F@parl.gc.ca , Sgro.J@parl.gc.ca , Silva.M@parl.gc.ca , Simms.S@parl.gc.ca , Simson.M@parl.gc.ca , Szabo.P@parl.gc.ca , Tonks.A@parl.gc.ca , Trudeau.J@parl.gc.ca , Valeriote.F@parl.gc.ca , Volpe.J@parl.gc.ca , Wilfert.B@parl.gc.ca , Wrzesnewskyj.B@parl.gc.ca , Zarac.L@parl.gc.ca
Sorry about the duplicate post. Darn internet.
[…] agenda, which will force us to spend significantly more money on cops, courts and corrections. Mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses – just one element of the Law and Order agenda – will necessitate the expansion of our […]