1. Bill C-26 is a bill tabled by the Conservative government that received its first
reading in February of 2008. It proposes mandatory minimum sentences for the
production and trafficking of various controlled substances, including cannabis,
methamphetamines, cocaine and heroin. These minimums begin at six months for
production of 1-200 cannabis plants and extend up to three years for offenses
involving heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines. The bill has now received two
readings and was before the justice committee prior to the election call, prepared
to proceed to third reading if the Conservative government remains intact.
Bearing in mind that individual MPs' votes may differ from the party line
depending on the issue, what is your party's stance on Bill C-26?
Opposed.
2. Please use the space below to elaborate on your answer if you so choose:
We believe that the measures proposed in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s omnibus
crime bill are bound to be ineffective and wasteful of taxpayers’ money.
This American-style Bill would bring in criminal law policies that have created an
incarceration pandemic in the US and enormous costs for funding their criminal justice
system. There is also a lack of evidence that crime rates can be kept low by increasing
incarceration.
Increased incarceration rates simply do not lead to reduced levels of crime. It is time Mr.
Harper recognizes that the same ‘tough on crime’ strategies that are failing in the US are
bound to fail in Canada.
We believe Canadians are looking for effective and responsible strategies for tackling
crime and the Green Party is prepared to offer a different strategy – one that will bring
about real results and ensure the safety and security of our families.
3. Is your party in favour of the continued operation of Insite, Vancouver's
safe injection facility? (Only "Yes" or "No" answers will be accepted. Any
others will be recorded as "No Answer").
Yes
4. Please use the space below to elaborate on your answer if you so choose:
This policy is in line with our view that drug addictions must be treated more as a
health issue than a criminal one. We must expand and fund these sites to ensure
that a support system is in place for drug users in Canadian cities. These facilities
are highly supervised and also go along way to making our streets safer places to
be. Most importantly, it is clear that safe injection sites help prevent the spread of
disease and save lives.
5. In your opinion, the possession of marijuana for recreational use should
(choose one):
c. be legalized
6. Please use the space below to elaborate on your answer if you so choose:
In 2005, according to the Treasury Board, Canada spent $368 million targeting elicit
drugs, with 73% of that money going to law enforcement. Most of that was for the “war”
against cannabis (marijuana). Marijuana prohibition is also prohibitively costly in other
ways including criminalizing youth and fostering organized crime. Prohibition, which has
gone on for decades, has utterly failed and has not lead to reduced drug use in Canada.
After analyzing the recommendation of the Canadian Senate’s 2002 Special Committee
on Drugs and the examples of strategies used by some European countries, the Green
Party of Canada has come to the conclusion that it is time to legalize the adult use of
marijuana.
7. What steps should the government take to help those for whom illegal
drug use has become a problem?
We must address drug addiction as a health problem instead of a crime and focusing
efforts on harm reduction, treatment and prevention. It is therefore necessary to provide
much greater funding to the provinces earmarked to increase the number of detox
facilities and treatment beds for drug and alcohol rehabilitation, establish more safe
injection clinics, needle exchange programs, to provide certified addicts with
prescriptions procured drugs in small safe doses, and develop educational prevention
programs.
We would launch a public consultation on the decriminalization of illicit drugs,
considering the high costs currently used on the law enforcement effort, as well as for
treatment facilities, rehabilitation of addicts, and consider shifting to prevention through
educational programmes instead.