For all the hype, says Const. David Bratzer, the life of a downtown cop is about wordplay more often than gunplay. As the scores of drug offenders who’ve served jail time at his insistence will attest, his main weapon isn’t his service revolver, it’s polite, persistent persuasion. As he unrolls his six-foot frame from a floatplane in Vancouver harbour on a humid summer morning, that’s a weapon he plans to level once again at the very drug laws he’s charged with enforcing. “It’s tough for a cop to admit,” he says, heading down the wharf while buttoning his charcoal jacket, “but our laws just don’t make sense.”
As the search for Baltimore's next top cop plods along, at least one candidate appears to be openly campaigning for the post - and has a well-known supporter. Read more »
The Federal Liberal Riding Association of Vancouver East hosted an event on marijuana legalization last weekend featuring speakers critical of Canada's Drug War and new Conservative laws regarding cannabis.
Hosted by Vancouver East Riding Association president Mark Elyas, the speakers panel included Liberal MP candidate for Vancouver East Roma Ahi, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition Canada's Steve Finlay, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition director Donald MacPherson, and Cannabis Culture publisher Jodie Emery. Read more »
A group of police officers, prosecutors, judges and other criminal justice professionals – including Seattle’s former chief of police – is endorsing I-502, the Washington initiative to regulate and tax marijuana that voters will decide on this November. Read more »
As Canadian senators meet this week to vote on comprehensive anti-crime Bill C-10, they need to reflect upon the U.S. experience and reject the bill’s entrenchment of mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences in Canada. As has been the case in the U.S., mandatory minimums can easily go wrong in Canada, too, in ways entirely predictable. Exploding court and correctional costs for resource-strapped national and provincial governments is one likely calamity that Canadians can expect from mandatory minimum sentencing laws. Read more »
Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is standing by mandatory minimum sentencing legislation despite a new warning such laws don't work.
Nicholson said the law, which includes mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences, is "very targeted."
"We develop our criminal law legislation looking at the experiences from around the world, from Britain and other countries," Nicholson said at a news conference Wednesday in Regina. "But again, ours is a Canadian solution to Canadian issues, and we make no apology for that."
The comments came after an attorney who helped U.S. politicians write mandatory minimum-sentencing laws during the 1980s issued a warning for Canadian parliamentarians. Read more »
On Wednesday, 28 current and former American law enforcement officials wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and members of the Canadian Senate urging the decriminalization of marijuana and warning against the effects of harsh mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes.
Before anyone gets up-in-arms about Americans sticking their noses into our business, consider that many of these people have been directly involved in crafting and enforcing America’s war on drugs. They all belong to the group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), which includes a number of Canadian board members. Read more »
An attorney who helped U.S. politicians write mandatory-minimum sentencing laws during the 1980s has a warning for Canadian parliamentarians.
Imposing long jail terms for minor drug offences has been a mistake in the U.S. and won't work in Canada," said Eric E. Sterling, who once served as counsel to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
"When you start going down this road of building more prisons and sending people away for long periods of time, and you convince yourself that this is going to deter people you've made a colossal mistake," said Sterling, who is the president of the Maryland-based Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. Read more »
A high-profile group of current and former law enforcement officials from the United States is calling on the Canadian government to reconsider the mandatory minimum sentences for minor marijuana offenses proposed in Bill C-10, arguing that the taxation and regulation of marijuana is a more effective policy approach to reducing crime. Read more »
"First it was Michael Jackson, then it was Amy Winehouse and now the magnificent Whitney Houston. I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalize drugs. So they have to get it through a doctor, not just some gangsters that sell it under the table."
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For all the hype, says Const. David Bratzer, the life of a downtown cop is about wordplay more often than gunplay. As the scores of drug offenders who’ve served jail time at his insistence will attest, his main weapon isn’t his service revolver, it’s polite, persistent persuasion. As he unrolls his six-foot frame from a floatplane in Vancouver harbour on a humid summer morning, that’s a weapon he plans to level once again at the very drug laws he’s charged with enforcing. “It’s tough for a cop to admit,” he says, heading down the wharf while buttoning his charcoal jacket, “but our laws just don’t make sense.”
As the search for Baltimore's next top cop plods along, at least one candidate appears to be openly campaigning for the post - and has a well-known supporter. 
The Federal Liberal Riding Association of Vancouver East hosted an event on marijuana legalization last weekend featuring speakers critical of Canada's Drug War and new Conservative laws regarding cannabis.
A group of police officers, prosecutors, judges and other criminal justice professionals – including Seattle’s former chief of police – is endorsing I-502, the Washington initiative to regulate and tax marijuana that voters will decide on this November. 
As Canadian senators meet this week to vote on comprehensive anti-crime Bill C-10, they need to reflect upon the U.S. experience and reject the bill’s entrenchment of mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences in Canada. As has been the case in the U.S., mandatory minimums can easily go wrong in Canada, too, in ways entirely predictable. Exploding court and correctional costs for resource-strapped national and provincial governments is one likely calamity that Canadians can expect from mandatory minimum sentencing laws. 
Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is standing by mandatory minimum sentencing legislation despite a new warning such laws don't work.
On Wednesday, 28 current and former American law enforcement officials wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and members of the Canadian Senate urging the decriminalization of marijuana and warning against the effects of harsh mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug crimes.
An attorney who helped U.S. politicians write mandatory-minimum sentencing laws during the 1980s has a warning for Canadian parliamentarians.
A high-profile group of current and former law enforcement officials from the United States is calling on the Canadian government to reconsider the mandatory minimum sentences for minor marijuana offenses proposed in Bill C-10, arguing that the taxation and regulation of marijuana is a more effective policy approach to reducing crime. 
"First it was Michael Jackson, then it was Amy Winehouse and now the magnificent Whitney Houston. I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalize drugs. So they have to get it through a doctor, not just some gangsters that sell it under the table."
