Going the wrong way with drug crime sentencing… Bill C-15

Canada is currently screwing up re: drug policy. This is because the Conservatives are setting the policy and the opposition won’t bring the government to task on their law and order war on drugs approach. Of course, one of the reasons why the Conservatives are going the direction they are is because they know such “tricks” work with the public. Hysteria and simplistic crime policy attracts an uneducated public, and no Liberal opposition worth its salt is going to try and stand up for a sane, evidence based approach if it takes too much educating of the public. Sad state of affairs. So the pragmatic, i.e. good with the public con job, Conservatives are taking their law and order stance no only for the ideological reasons, but also because they know they can garner the support of the ignorant, knee-jerkers.

Caleb Chepesiuk, a staff member with Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CCSDP), has written a good editorial about Bill C-15 at Rabble.ca. Caleb argues that the best way to take drugs from the grip of organized crime to is societally regulate (i.e. legalize or decriminalize) the provision of currently illicit substances in Canada (as other countries are beginning to take steps towards).

Canadians may need to take a strong, ‘tough’ stance against organized crime. What could be tougher on organized crime than taking away its profit source by successfully re-regulating drugs?

Read Caleb’s piece, written October 9, 2009, at Rabble here

B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has written a concise statement critiquing the Conservative’s direction for drug policy and sentencing reform entitled “Incarceration does not deter drug use”. Download it from Drug War Survivor’s website : here