[Mb-civic] CBC News - CRYSTAL METH MAKERS NOW FACE LIFE IN PRISON

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CRYSTAL METH MAKERS NOW FACE LIFE IN PRISON
WebPosted Thu Aug 11 11:27:15 2005

---People who make, import, sell or possess the super-addictive drug
commonly known as crystal meth now face stiffer sentences, the federal
government said Thursday.

"The maximum penalty for production and distribution of methamphetamine
has increased from 10 years to life in prison," three federal ministers
said in a news release.

"Methamphetamine has been moved to Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and
Substances Act, which provides access to the highest maximum penalties."

The change puts crystal meth on par with cocaine and heroin when judges
sentence offenders.

The news release, issued by the ministers of Health, Justice and Public
Safety and Emergency Preparedness, cited the "significant health, social
and economic harms" caused by addiction to the synthetic drug, which can
be made with ingredients that are readily available to the public.

 FROM CBC'S THE FIFTH ESTATE: Dark Crystal

Meeting with Canada's other premiers in Banff, Alta., Saskatchewan
Premier Lorne Calvert welcomed the news.

His province has been dealing with a spiralling crystal meth addiction
rate in recent years, as have British Columbia and other western
provinces.

"This is not just a western problem," Calvert said. "You will see this
become a nationwide issue."

Waving a copy of the U.S. magazine Newsweek, which contained a story
calling crystal meth "America's Most Dangerous Drug," the Saskatchewan
premier said, "I don't ever want to see that kind of headline on the
cover of Macleans."

Federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler says his government is heading
the call from communities trying to cope with the ruined lives of
young people.

"And we're sending a clear and unambiguous message as to the gravity of
the offence by ratcheting up the nature of the sentence to life
imprisonment."



 FROM FEB. 15, 2005: MLA's daughter survives crystal meth nightmare

Some studies have suggested that people who become addicted to the street
drug will live for an average of only seven years, slowly starving
themselves as the addiction takes hold.

Calling the crystal meth problem a "scourge," B.C. Premier Gordon
Campbell congratulated the federal government on toughening the
sentences.

He said the heartbreak caused by the drug is "going to touch everyone in
Canada if we don't act together on it."

YOUR SPACE: Send us your thoughts

Kerry Jackson, whose 26-year-old son Ryan died after a reaction to the
drug applauded the changes to the law.

But she said the do-it-yourself nature of creating the drug means there
will always be a new supplier to fill the demand.

"There's lots of recipes on the internet, and they can do this with a
minimum of supplies and equipment that can fit into a box, and basically
travel with it. This is how it mushroomed in the States."

An addictions expert in British Columbia said she isn't sure the threat
of life sentences will be the deterrent the politicians predict.

"What we know about human beings is that they've always used psychoactive
drugs in one form or another," said Sherrie Mumford.

"They attempted to take down huge quantities of heroin in the past, for
example, and they thought that this would decrease the drug use. Well, it
has put a dent in the heroin use, but we saw huge increases in drug use
like cocaine."

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