Canada - Mandatory minimum drug sentence appeal to be heard by Supreme Court

[S.J.B.]

Mandatory minimum drug sentence appeal to be heard by Supreme Court
CBC
April 30th, 2015

The Supreme Court of Canada has announced it will hear a B.C. appeal of the federal government's mandatory minimum sentencing for drug offences.

The case centres on Joseph Ryan Lloyd, an addict from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside who was convicted of drug trafficking after police caught him with less than 10 grams combined of heroin, crack cocaine and crystal methamphetamine.

Under new federal legislation brought in in 2012, that conviction carries an automatic one-year sentence, but the provincial court judge in the case balked at the lack of discretion that left him and declined to impose the sentence.

"It is a sentence which Canadians would find abhorrent or intolerable," Judge Joseph Galati said in his written ruling last year.

Read the full story here.

I am so glad that we have the judiciary that we do here in Canada. If it were up to our elected government, our justice system would be as punitive as it is in the United States, but our judges would never let that happen.

 

[ro4eva]

"It is a sentence which Canadians would find abhorrent or intolerable," Judge Joseph Galati said in his written ruling last year.

I for one would feel this way.

 

[RedRum OG]

This is why I will never truly feel safe in the USA.... Small possession can lead to serious jail time. Even on first offense.

Really want to move just north of Washington state in the middle of nowhere... And not worry about what I have in my pocket.