Leave aside the obvious point -- five plants is more likely a kid in college than a small grow op -- note the sentence will send the hapless marijuana cultivator to Provincial custody.
Tough on crime but on the provincial dime.
So long as Canadian law keeps marijuana illegal, grow ops will continue and they are dangerous. But grow ops have at least 60 plants -- usually far more. The cut-off of five plants is absurd.
Tories may revive minimum pot sentences as part of tough-on-crime agenda
By Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA - The Tories are poised to revive a bill that would impose mandatory-minimum sentences on people convicted of growing small numbers of pot plants.
The Conservative government will re-introduce its drug bill this week in the Senate, as part of its continued re-tabling of tough-on-crime legislation that died when the last Parliament was prorogued.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson dropped broad hints Sunday that the new legislation would revive a controversial provision — a mandatory six-month sentence for people convicted of growing as few as five pot plants.
9 comments:
How are indoor gardens dangerous? That is simply police propaganda - show me the stats on grow op injuries or fires. There are innocent Rosedale sorts with 500+ plants hydroponic gardens which produce only decorative legal flowers such as orchids. The only difference between such urban gardens and grow ops is the the species of plangt being grown.
Maybe a college student who was looking for a way to pay off his loans early.
Why on earth would someone need that much pot for their own use?
@ anon
"The only difference between such urban gardens and grow ops is the the species of plangt being grown."
Not actually true.
These "Rosedale sorts with 500+ plants" can afford to pay professional contractors to build a proper greenhouse, with adequate ventilation, and proper electrical wiring. Grow ops often tend to be operations where as many plants as possible are jammed into a small house, with no ventilation, and with the high-power electrical equipment wired by non-professionals. It's the combination of high oxygen and shoddy wiring that makes for a fire hazard.
@ridenrain:
Why would anyone need that much for their own use? For medical reasons, maybe? It's extremely difficult to get OK'd for medical marijuana - most doctors won't even consider going through the process. My husband smokes about 2g a day for a mental health issue (we're trying to find a "legal" treatment that works as well as pot, but so far, everything he's tried just makes things worse). We can't afford to pay street prices for the quantity he needs - so we started growing our own - never more than 2 plants at a time (for space reasons), but it's the only option we have at the moment.
Whether or not you agree with the prohibition of marijuana, this kind of sentencing regime is not useful. Studies on the increased deterrent effect of harsher sentences are pretty consistent in the result that there is no observable effect.
Canadian 'law and order' politicians tend to hang their hat on one of the exceptions to this: A 1999 paper by Steven Levitt and Daniel Kessler studying the impact of the 1994 "3 strikes" law in California. They looked at several types of criminal activity in the odd years leading up to and following the creation of the law. It was persuasive on its face: Leading up to 1994, there was a significant rise in crime levels across the board, peaking in 1993. In 1995, crime levels in all areas decreased significantly over 1993 levels, and in fact continued on a downward curve in 95 and 97. They concluded that the 3 strikes law worked to deter crime, and that was pretty persuasive on the data. All other things being equal, it makes sense that the 3 strikes law caused the decline, right?
Three criminologists - including Tony Doob of UofT and Cheryl Webster of UofO - found it a little odd that Kessler and Levitt used only every other year, given that the source data included annual figures. They decided to see what happened if they filled in the even years, using the same source data Kessler and Levitt used. The result was very surprising: In all areas studied, the actual peak occurred in 1992, with a fairly significant decline to the 1993 levels. Thus, the downward trend began well before the 3 strikes law came into effect, pretty much defeating the inference that the 3 strikes law was the cause of the decline.
For more information, read the paper they wrote on it:
Webster, Cheryl Marie, Anthony N. Doob and Franklin E. Zimring (2006). Proposition 8 and Crime Rates in California: The Case of the Disappearing Deterrent. Criminology and Public Policy, 5(3), 417-447.
-DDB
ridenrain,
The reality is that very few grow ops catch fire. An assumption to the contrary is the result of internalizing police propaganda.
Here's a chart from a study of grow ops in BC to back up my claim...
BC grow op study - Hazards:
http://frankdiscussion.net/images/BC_growop_study_hazards.gif
ridenrain, can you provide any credible info dispute this?
-FrankD
GROW-OP PROPAGANDA DEBUNKING:
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ASSESSING THE 'THREAT' POSED BY GROW-OPS
October 03, 2007 - Jerry Paradis, Special to North Shore News
http://tinyurl.com/336muy
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THE CURSE OF THE GROW OP IS UPON US...
September 12, 2007 - Jerry Paradis, Special to North Shore News
http://tinyurl.com/3bnhkn
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POLICE ON GROW-OPS
02 Mar 2004 - Dan Gardner, The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n364/a10.html
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DON'T CONDEMN ALL GROW HOUSES: MOULD EXPERT
November 3, 2007 - The Belleville Intelligencer (ON)
http://www.mapinc.org/norml/v07/n1287/a10.htm
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RCMP PUT SPIN ON GROW OP BUSTS
06 Dec 2006 - Kelowna Capital News
www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v06/n1670/a03.html
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POLICE USE SPIN TO HELP BATTLE GROW OPS
15 Sep 2008 - Nelson Daily News
http://www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v08/n872/a03.html
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POT PATCH VIOLENCE A MYTH
Mar 2005 - Montreal Gazette, Shannon Kari
http://www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v05/n427/a11.html
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POLITICIANS BLOWING SMOKE ON GROW-OPS: LAWYERS
Mar 2005 - The Ottawa Citizen, Shannon Kari
http://www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v05/n429/a05.html?41501
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