Canada - For the second time this fall, a committee of the Liberal-dominated Senate has amended a Conservative law-and-order bill, eliminating an element that would automatically send marijuana growers to jail for at least six months if they're caught with as few as five plants.
The committee altered the controversial bill Thursday to retain a judge's discretion when sentencing offenders convicted of growing fewer than 200 plants, putting the upper chamber on a collision course with Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.
Automatic terms for a variety of other drug-related crimes — for the first time in Canada — were kept intact.
Nicholson, however, seized on the committee's move to highlight divisions between the Liberals in the Senate and the House of Commons.
The drug bill sailed through the Commons earlier this year after the Liberals teamed up with the Conservatives, despite grumbling within Grit ranks that they were being told to support a bad bill so they wouldn't be accused of being soft on crime.
Nicholson called on Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff Thursday to "lean on these people" in the Senate and urge them to pass the bill in its original form.
The legal and constitutional affairs committee amendments will go to the Senate as a whole, which will begin debating the bill next week and then decide whether to pass the bill in its original or altered form.
The committee has also amended the bill to reaffirm the Criminal Code principle that the special circumstances of aboriginal offenders should be taken into account when sentencing.
A third amendment rewrites a provision that would automatically jail offenders convicted of a second drug offence, stating that the first offence must have been a serious one.
Liberal Senator Serge Joyal described the amendments as minor and he said no reasonable person could say that the committee "gutted" the bill.
Nicholson, who earlier this fall accused the Senate committee of gutting another crime bill, would only say Thursday that he is "disappointed" by the latest move.
The Liberals have accused the Conservatives of revelling in the Senate scrutiny because they can use it as a springboard to reinforce their tough-on-crime message and take aim at their Liberal opponents.
The committee had warned this fall that it would not rubber-stamp the legislation, which has drawn heavy criticism in public hearings in both the Commons and the Senate. Opponents have warned the bill, if passed, would flood jails and imprison drug addicts and young people rather than drug kingpins, who will continue to thrive, while small-time dealers are knocked out of commission.
The same Senate committee voted in October to dramatically alter a Conservative bill to eliminate judicial discretion to give offenders a two-for-one credit for time spent in pre-sentence custody, but the Senate as whole rejected the amendments and the bill was enshrined in law a few weeks later.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Canada.com
Author: Janice Tibbetts
Contact: Canada.com
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Website: Senators Alter Crime Bill To Go Easier On Pot Growers
The committee altered the controversial bill Thursday to retain a judge's discretion when sentencing offenders convicted of growing fewer than 200 plants, putting the upper chamber on a collision course with Justice Minister Rob Nicholson.
Automatic terms for a variety of other drug-related crimes — for the first time in Canada — were kept intact.
Nicholson, however, seized on the committee's move to highlight divisions between the Liberals in the Senate and the House of Commons.
The drug bill sailed through the Commons earlier this year after the Liberals teamed up with the Conservatives, despite grumbling within Grit ranks that they were being told to support a bad bill so they wouldn't be accused of being soft on crime.
Nicholson called on Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff Thursday to "lean on these people" in the Senate and urge them to pass the bill in its original form.
The legal and constitutional affairs committee amendments will go to the Senate as a whole, which will begin debating the bill next week and then decide whether to pass the bill in its original or altered form.
The committee has also amended the bill to reaffirm the Criminal Code principle that the special circumstances of aboriginal offenders should be taken into account when sentencing.
A third amendment rewrites a provision that would automatically jail offenders convicted of a second drug offence, stating that the first offence must have been a serious one.
Liberal Senator Serge Joyal described the amendments as minor and he said no reasonable person could say that the committee "gutted" the bill.
Nicholson, who earlier this fall accused the Senate committee of gutting another crime bill, would only say Thursday that he is "disappointed" by the latest move.
The Liberals have accused the Conservatives of revelling in the Senate scrutiny because they can use it as a springboard to reinforce their tough-on-crime message and take aim at their Liberal opponents.
The committee had warned this fall that it would not rubber-stamp the legislation, which has drawn heavy criticism in public hearings in both the Commons and the Senate. Opponents have warned the bill, if passed, would flood jails and imprison drug addicts and young people rather than drug kingpins, who will continue to thrive, while small-time dealers are knocked out of commission.
The same Senate committee voted in October to dramatically alter a Conservative bill to eliminate judicial discretion to give offenders a two-for-one credit for time spent in pre-sentence custody, but the Senate as whole rejected the amendments and the bill was enshrined in law a few weeks later.
News Hawk- Ganjarden 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Canada.com
Author: Janice Tibbetts
Contact: Canada.com
Copyright: 2009 Canwest Publishing Inc.
Website: Senators Alter Crime Bill To Go Easier On Pot Growers
