| MAP - Drugnews - Canada | | | | Canada: Editorial: Failure To Prosecute | | National Post, 12 Mar 2010 - The explanations on offer for Rahim Jaffer's fortuitous escape from impaired driving and drug possession charges are wholly inadequate. The Crown says only that there was no reasonable prospect of conviction -- which we'd hope would go without saying, given that it dropped the charges. There are reports an inexperienced officer somehow bungled a strip search of the former Conservative MP, tainting key evidence -- but this is disquieting, not reassuring. And unless the officer ordered a nude breathalyzer test, we fail to see what bearing it should have had on the impaired driving charge. Police said they clocked Mr. Jaffer driving 43 km/h over the speed limit, that he failed a breathalyzer test and that they found cocaine in his car. Any Canadian caught in such a situation would have just cause for heart palpitations. And yet Mr. Jaffer walked away with no criminal record and a measly $500 fine. The public has a right to know why -- and whether this is, in fact, an unusual outcome. |
| |  | CN BC: LTE: Grow Ops 'Stink', Local Runner Fumes | | Cloverdale Reporter, 11 Mar 2010 - Dear Grow-Op Owners, Venting your grows while I'm out running stinks and pollutes the air I breathe. The provincial and municipal governments are being negligent in the fight against organized crime. | | CN SN: Joint Operations | | Regina Leader-Post, 09 Mar 2010 - Former Inmates Describe Thriving Illicit Economy Behind the Bars at Regina Provincial Correctional Centre A man who has served repeated stints at the Regina Provincial Correctional Centre says it's common knowledge to both guards and inmates that there is a plentiful supply of drugs inside the jail -- but he also says he's surprised that the situation has finally come to light. "Everybody in the jail knew about this, just nobody said anything about it," said the man, who asked not to be named. His identity is known to the Leader-Post. "It was a big operation in there. Big money." | | CN AB: LTE: Jaffer Sentence May Put Laws In Jeopardy | | Edmonton Journal, 11 Mar 2010 - The $500 fine given to former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer for careless driving by an Ontario judge on March 9, after he was initially charged with cocaine possession, impaired driving and speeding, hardly sends a message as a deterrent. This case raises the question, Can influence, money and a good lawyer sway the course of justice? Most Canadians will consider the penalty handed out to Jaffer to be unreasonable. This could very well encourage contempt, disrespect, and disdain for our impaired driving laws. Unquestionably, this would weaken the resolve of the criminal justice system and Canadians to enforce the laws. The consequences of this speaks for itself! | | CN ON: Column: Justify Jaffer Deal | | Ottawa Sun, 11 Mar 2010 - Someone Has To Reveal How Drug, Drunk-driving, Speeding Charges Disappeared While the secret non-trial and exoneration of former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer on cocaine-possession and drunk-driving charges may have satisfied the letter of the law, it hasn't exactly enhanced public confidence in the judicial system. |
| | CN ON: Column: Life's Acceptable Risks | | Ottawa Citizen, 10 Mar 2010 - Another hockey game, another limp body. This time the victim was Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins, lying unconscious on the ice after a devastating hit to the head by Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins. But unlike all the other times, this time the NHL's general managers were about to meet and discuss, among other things, whether hits to the head should be banned. The pressure for such a ban has been growing for years. And now this. | | Canada: Prison Building Spree Expected | | Ottawa Citizen, 09 Mar 2010 - Crime Legislation to Cause Increase Number of Inmates (CNS) The head of Canada's prison system says there will be "major construction initiatives" in the coming years to cope with the impact of federal legislation to imprison more offenders longer, an assertion backed by new spending estimates showing a 43-per-cent increase in penitentiary capital costs next year. | | Canada: PUB LTE: More Jails Equals More Criminals | | National Post, 11 Mar 2010 - Re: Building Boom Set For Federal Prison System, March 9. The prison building boom being promised by the Tories will only lead to a more violent and dangerous Canada. I know firsthand that prisons breed crime and violence. I was convicted as a non-violent pot dealer and was caged with 37 other, mostly violent, offenders. I was released on appeal after five days but that was plenty of time to learn many scams and cons and make new contacts in the underworld, if I ever desired to become a career criminal. | | CN ON: Judge Gives Former Tory MP $500 Slap On Wrist | | Toronto Star, 10 Mar 2010 - Says 'I'm sure you can recognize a break when you see one' after drunk driving, cocaine charges withdrawn Staff Reporter Justice advocates and opposition politicians are demanding an explanation after former Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer received a $500 slap on the wrist for careless driving, a muted conclusion to his highly publicized drunk-driving and cocaine-possession charges. |
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