Canada: Growing opposition to draconian anti-pot bill

The anachronistic and vindictive proposed anti-cannabis legislation being promoted by the PCs is generating opposition from than more just pot smokers, as both the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the Canadian Bar Association have come out in opposition to this expensive and backward-looking set of laws.

From the Canadian Bar Association:

“The CBA believes that the bill will make already serious criminal justice system problems much worse, with huge resource implications,” likely referring to backed-up courts and overcrowding in BC and other jails that will only get worse if the Harper Government is intent on jailing tens of thousands more Canadian gardeners.


From the Canadian Civil Liberties Association:

“This is a flawed approach to drug offences. Mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes have not worked elsewhere, and there is no reason to believe that they will work in Canada.”


Instead of trying to make pot smoking and growing a more serious offence than rape (both minimum and maximum sentences are longer!), why not look at the financial violence caused by perpetrators of white collar crime, and increase penalties for those offences?