Drug War Issues
Politics & Advocacy
The "enforcement option" they have in mind is issuing tickets instead of criminal charges. That sounds a whole lot like decriminalization, even though CACP denies it.
"The current process of sending all simple possession of cannabis cases under the Controlled Drug and Substances Act to criminal court is placing a significant burden on the entire Justice system from an economic and resource utilization perspective," said CACP President Chief Constable Jim Chu in a statement announcing the passage of the resolution.
"The CACP is not in support of decriminalization or legalization of cannabis in Canada," Chu continued. "It must be recognized, however, that under the current legislation the only enforcement option for police, when confronted with simple possession of cannabis, is either to turn a blind eye or lay charges. The latter ensues a lengthy and difficult process which, if proven guilty, results in a criminal conviction and criminal record."
More than 50,000 Canadians are arrested each year on marijuana charges, the vast majority for simple possession.
Canada's Liberals toyed with marijuana law reform when they held national power a decade ago, proposing a ticketing scheme similar to that now recommended by the top cops, but failed to push it through. The ruling Conservatives, on the other hand, have moved to toughen marijuana penalties.
Federal Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau has this year called for legalization. That puts him in line with the Canadian public, which consistently returns majorities for legalization in national polls.
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JIM Chu
This is the Vancouver police chief that is always looking for ways to make his job easier.He wants addicts listed as chronic offenders and legislation so they can be jailed with far less work.He wants tickets for pot possession so the cops can ticket everyone,even the people with small amounts that are now let go.Why lose easy revenue?He has asked that police not deal with the mentally ill.Not that they should get training.He rejects that.He just doesn't want the responsibility.He is opposed to the harm reduction aspects of dealing with addiction.He is,in short,a throwback to the days when the police used force and violence to enforce drug laws and barring that,wants to level fines without trial.Making it easier for the police to issue fines to people for simple pot possession is a move backwards and typical of this police chief.He opposes heroin maintenance even though he admits that most petty crimes are committed by addicts.His idea is to label these addicts as chronic offenders and to brand them as such and apply greater jail time to their sentence.This in spite of the proven fact that jail does nothing and once out they will offend once again.It's something that was already tried in the early sixties with no results other than to destroy the lives of those imprisoned under that legislation.Crime was never reduced and the law was thrown out as being cruel and unusual.So,chief Chu supports cruel and unusual punishment when dealing with very sick addicts.
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