Ignoring lessons from the regulation of tobacco and alcohol, the federal government chooses questionable morals over sound policy
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Call to legalize pot goes beyond wanting a puff
Clogged courts, cash-strapped governments and the failed American war on drugs point to urgent need for public policy reform in Canada... [...More]
Changing the Frame: A New Approach to Drug Policy in Canada
Leading experts in drug policy call on government to reject Bill C-10, rethink Canada's drug laws
Today, members of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC) released their foundational paper on drug policy reform outlining the Coalition's vision and plans for creating a new drug policy for Canada.... [...More]
Minister fights back on crime bill
proposed law not as depicted, Nicholson says, as he prepares to face angry provinces... [...More]
Crime bill extinguishes hope for thousands of Canadians
Written by Sandy White, a former aide to Christian Paradis as Minister of Public Works, who is studying law Laval University in Quebec City.... [...More]
Tory Omnibus Crime Bill: Pierre Claude Nolin, Conservative Senator, Says He Can't Support Government Crime Bill
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Canada’s federal prison ombudsman warns omnibus crime bill will exacerbate prison overcrowding, create more ‘complex’ penitentiary populations
Prison policy and tough-on-crime laws under the majority-governing Conservatives have Canada’s federal penitentiaries overcrowded—with prisons for women using treatment and counselling space for cells—and a controversial crime mega-bill the government is forcing through Parliament will only make it worse, the federal prison ombudsman says.... [...More]
Help the BCCCS fight the Conservative Government’s Cruel Omnibus Crime Bill.
The BCCCS need you to help us Stop the Conservative Government’s Cruel Omnibus Crime Bill. Please take action through the campaign launched at leadnow.ca to Make Canada Safer, Not Meaner.
About Bill C-10:... [...More]
BCCCS Speech To 420 Rally
Last Wednesday, the BCCCS addressed the 420 rally in Vancouver, speaking to over 10,000 people, primarily in the 18-24 age group of who only 1 in 3 voted in the last election. As events would have it, it was 4:10pm by the time I got on, there was a thick sea of people and the energy was absolutely primed!!!! ... [...More]
BCCCS members donated $554 to help send a 100-strong contingent of MMAR exemptees from all over Canada to Parliament on January 31 2011 to protest the suffocating conditions around medical cannabis in Canada.
Only a third of the group was allowed into the Parliament building after standing in the freezing cold surrounded by police. Each patient had to go through a body scanner before being let in.... [...More]
BCCCS Thanks Liberal Party of Canada For Promising To Vote Down Bill S-10
March 3, 2011
The BCCCS has sent an open letter to the Liberal Party of Canada and all its MPs expressing our thanks for their recent public condemnation of Bill S-10, and their statement of intention to vote down the hugely regressive and harmful bill, which would see mandatory prison sentences for cannabis cultivation starting at 6 plants.
In a press statement issued last month, the Liberal Party announced that “it will oppose
Bill S-10 over concerns that the bill disproportionately targets youth and would cause an... [...More]
Canadian Senate Passes Bill S-10
On December 13 the Canadian Senate Passed S-10 (formerly known as C-15 and C-26
before that). So, where does that leave our community?
S-10 proposes Mandatory Minimum Sentences of 6 months for growing 6 or more
marijuana plants, and 18 months for producing any amount of hashish or edibles
(cookies, brownies, etc). S-10, like C-15 and C-26 before it, has been opposed by
every expert as a massive waste of money that will increase crime and violence on
our streets. In response, the Stephen Harper Conservatives have been unwilling and... [...More]
BC Compassion Club Opposes Bill S-10 for Proposing Mandatory Minimum Sentences Against Patients and Cultivators
Members and supporters of the BC Compassion Club Society will be holding rallies in Vancouver on Saturday, October 2 at 12.30pm, as part of a nation-wide Day of Action against Bill S10.... [...More]
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Watch the presentation by Jeet-Kei Leung of the BC Compassion Club Society to the Senate Committee about the impacts of Bill C-15 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) on Compassion Clubs. (December 2nd, 2009)
You can read more about Bill C-15 in our Law,...
BCCCS Gives Testimony to the Senate Against Bill C-15
In December, the BCCCS went to Ottawa to provide expert testimony on the damaging effects the Conservatives' proposed Bill C-15 would have on medical marijuana patients and Compassion Clubs. If passed, Bill C-15 would impose mandatory prison sentences for drug offences, including cannabis cultivation, starting at 5 plants.... [...More]
Bill C-15, the mandatory minimum sentencing Bill for drug offences currently in Senate, will harm the lives and freedom of people who grow cannabis, including medicinal cannabis patients and cultivators who supply ill people through Compassion Clubs. Mandatory sentences mean the judge will be forced to send someone found guilty to prison without being able to consider their motivations (such as supplying ill people).... [...More]
Bill C15 Petition and Poster
The BC Compassion Club presented this petition against Bill C15 to the Senate Committee on December 2, 2009. This regressive legislation - had it passed - would have written into law mandatory minimum sentencing for drug crimes, including cultivation of cannabis. The bill ultimately died when Stephen Harper prorogued Parliament in late December, 2009.
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Bill C-26 promises more people in prison
Bill C-26 is the Conservative Government's set of proposed changes to the Criminal Code, in particular the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. This Bill--if it passes--will have some deeply damaging effects on our society. You can read the Bill here.... [...More]
Bill C-26 (House of Commons website)
This is a link to the complete Bill C-26 on the House of Commons website. It is the Conservative Government's set of proposed changes to the Criminal Code, in particular the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, that deal with mandatory minimum sentencing.... [...More]
Bill C-26 has mandatory minimum prison sentences for pot
An article from the April 15, 2008 edition of Cannabis Culture Magazine urging Canadians to avoid the 'American style Drug War' that is predicted if Bill C-26 passes. It contains a summary of the Bill, info on the negative implications that mandatory minimum sentences would have, comparisons with US laws, ideas about what you can to do to oppose the bill and useful contacts and links.... [...More]
Politics of Fear: Harper's 'War on Drugs'
This is a link to an article written in November 2007 by Libby Davies about Bill-C-26 for Rabble.ca. Libby is the Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, and Deputy Leader of the Federal NDP. She is the Party's spokesperson for drug policy reform, and has long championed the need for progressive drug policy reform.... [...More]