Kill minimum pot sentences in crime bill, U.S. cops urge
February 22, 2012 by Kristen
Filed under Police State
Cops and judges in the U.S. are asking Canadian lawmakers to learn from America’s mistakes and scrap harsher pot penalties in a controversial new crime bill.
The Conservatives have championed Bill C-10, dubbed the “Safe Streets and Communities Act,” as a way of ensuring the punishment fits the crime, and they have the support of numerous public opinion polls that show Canadians want tougher sentences for criminals.
But mandatory minimum sentences for marijuana possession in the bill will help, not hinder, organized crime and cross-border trafficking, say the former cops, narcotics investigators, judges and other justice professionals who make up the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) group.
Under Bill C-10, anyone caught growing six marijuana plants could face six months behind bars.
“You may wonder why, as former police chiefs and other senior drug law enforcement officials, we are writing to you endorsing the call to tax and regulate marijuana,” reads a letter from LEAP to the Senate’s legal and constitutional affairs committee, which is reviewing the bill.
“Our answer is simple. Through our years of service enforcing anti-marijuana laws, we have seen the devastating unintended consequences of these laws. Among the greatest concerns is the growth in organized crime and gang violence.”
