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Bill C-15

Click on the Video above to watch B Channel coverage of local opposition to Bill C-15

Click on the Video above to watch Ted Smith speak about Bill C-15

Click on the Video above to watch Dr. Keith Martin, Member of Parliament, speak at the 14th Anniversary of Hempology 101

Click on the Video above to watch Denise Savoie, Member of Parliament, speak at the 14th Anniversary of Hempology 101

Click on the Video above to watch Ted Smith speak at the 14th Anniversary of Hempology 101

Bill C-15 Introduces Tough New Marijuana Laws

by Lisa Nickol, B Channel News

Bill C-15, An Act to Amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act was introduced by the Conservative Government as part of their “tough on crime” agenda. It was introduced as a response to what police statistics have indicated is a rise in drug and gang crime. C-15 has been criticized by opposition parties for not addressing drug and gang crime. The act also received opposition from the medicinal marijuana community, recreational users and legal and judicial members. The clause of contention was the introduction of a mandatory minimum sentence of 6 months jail for the cultivation of one marijuana plant.

The focus of this Bill C-15 is not solely on marijuana, which is given the least severe sentencing. The bill toughens sentencing for all other controlled substances, giving mandatory minimums that range from 1-3 years up to the possibility of life in jail for trafficking controlled hard substances.

The Standing Committee on Justice and Human rights amended the act. The committee is composed of 6 Conservatives, 3 Liberals, 2 NPD and 1 Bloc Quebecois. One plant was changed to five as the minimum for a 6 month mandatory jail sentence. At committee stage Parties can negotiate amendments to garner support for a bill, as well as bring their own input and any interests they represent.

In June, the C-15 was passed by the House of Commons, the Liberal Party voting in favour with the government. The House saw further collaboration work between the two parties in June, shortly after bill C-15 passed; Michael Ignatieff formed a commission with the Conservatives to study Employment Insurance reform over the summer, which allowed the Conservative Government to survive. The Liberal Party avoided an even more contentious federal election by voting in favor with the government on the reforms to the Act.

Currently the bill sits with the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, which is composed of 7 Liberals, 4 Conservatives and 1 Independent. The next step is for the Committee to report back to the Senate, where it will be debated and voted on.

Opposition has continued against this bill C-15, saying that the amendments do not address concerns that mandatory minimum sentences do not reduce drug related gang crime and will be a costly endeavor that could target the wrong people. In Victoria, the Hempology 101 club at the University of Victoria, with community group support, organized a rally and a Senator Call-in Campaign in September.

“Some of the broader goals we think people should be concerned about, whether they smoke pot or not, are the effects on the economy because the judicial system in particular is very costly. When mandatory minimums are brought in there is no discretion to the judge whether this person should get community sentence or jail; just straight jail… As the United States has witnessed, it will slow down trials, and make the process more time consuming and costly, stopping the criminals from being prosecuted as quickly as they should and making criminals out of people who are often just trying to make a living,” said Ted Smith, Cannabis Buyers Club, founder of the Hempology 101 society.

The NDP, which has opposed this bill since the beginning, continues to pressure the government to address the root causes of drug crime; which they say include the lack of funding to drug programs. The NDP want to see more focus on treatment and rehabilitation which they have stressed the spirit of C-15 does not.

“We want to eliminate the presence in our communities of gangs, especially drug related gangs, but it [C-15] doesn’t and that is part of the problem it will eventually just target the lowly user and that just further criminalizes a behavior that shouldn’t be criminalized, and that is what we’ve been advocating is the decriminalization of drugs like marijuana and the treatment of serious drug users, because it is a medical problem and we’ve heard that from doctors, jurists, lawyers, from law professors… that this problem cannot be treated as a crime and that is what we are opposing; a futile war on drugs,” said Member of Parliament for Victoria, Denise Savoie.

Despite the Liberal Party voting in favour of this bill, local Esquimalt – Juan De Fuca Liberal MP Dr. Keith Martin, who stated he abstained from the vote, has a different approach to reducing crime. Martin has introduced Private Member’s Bill C-359 which would decriminalize ‘small amounts’ of personal possession of marijuana up to 2 plants. Martin introduced similar bills while he was still a member of the Conservative’s predecessor the Canadian Alliance, with low support from his party.

“My bill will sever the tie between the casual user because there are 1.5 million Canadians at the very least and the organized gang crimes. The organized gang crimes that have the commercial grow-ops are the real parasites in the situation…If this bill passes it then it will destroy part of the organized crime gangs ability to generating funds, because they are the only ones benefiting from the status quo,” said Dr. Keith Martin. Martin’s bill is currently at first reading, and has not yet been debated in the House.

The Conservative Government has defended the bill saying the bill is intended to go after the traffickers. That this will give police the tools they need to go after specific criminal organizations. They believe it will create a larger legal scope to go in and take out the violent gangs. Local Conservative Member of Parliament for Saanich-Gulf Islands, Gary Lunn was not available for an interview.

Though there has been support from different Members of Parliament, and political parties in Canada for legalization, this has not translated into action by a governing party. The Liberal Party does not have official policy for legalization, neither does the Conservative Party. Though Prime Minister Harper recently sang “I get high with a little help from my friends”, there is no movement on the Conservative end to change the status quo approach to drug crime. Friends who help friends get high will need to educate themselves on the proposed changes to the Controlled Drug and Substances Act.

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Bill C-15

Bill C-15 Introduces Tough New Marijuana Laws

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