“As a direct result … no trial judge in Canada has any expectation that his sentence will be honoured; the worth of judicial coinage is shamefully debased; the hard and dedicated work of police officers is mocked; and every crook or would-be crook is vastly encouraged to commit even more crimes, and is not deterred, because he knows full well that the court’s sentence – to put it politely- isn’t worth spit.”
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That is the easy way out IMO. Police, judges, and crown prosecutors all share in the blame... for they all make deals outside of the court a regular part of the judicial system. They all trade justice for tale stories of bigger crimes for which all criminals can sing like a bird to escape their own crime. Judges above all have no one else to blame but themselves and their profession for allowing a mockery of justice to become the cultural norm in our judiciary.

As for the 'safe place for drug trafficking'... and then linking that to locking your doors, blocking your windows, while gangsters go about with impunity? This argument is full of holes.

First what drugs are you talking about specifically (Tylonal 3's, weed, pain killers, heroin, crack ect)? 99% of people that smoke weed have probably never met a gangster in their life, nor committed a crime outside of buy, selling, or smoking the stuff. Hard drugs like crack, crystal meth, or heroin on the other hand are a completely different story and to lump the two as one is an assessment of the two separate problems that is ignorant of their huge distinctions.

Second, it is not only drugs that drive gangster crime... the gangsters make huge money on prostitution, extortion, theft rings, loan sharking, slave trading, people smuggling, contra band importation of things like guns and stolen or otherwise banned goods. All of which are very nasty crimes on their own and often far more violent and organized than a drug vender on the street.

Thirdly, it should come as no great surprise that most of the gangster activity is done by recent immigrants that bring their home country connections and values to Canada... which is the foundation of their import/export business and related crime ventures. How some of these actors got into Canada in the first place is a huge question that goes unanswered when their bi-product of drug trade activity is only the visible manifestation of their criminal intent and activity.

Fourth point being that all this violence takes place with illegal imported guns that often wouldn't be legal in Canada anyways and these guns commit the crimes more often than not for personal vendetta's that have nothing to do with drug transactions.

I think the retired judge uses a medical problem to blame as an all encompassing source for the failures of the entire judiciary, police forces following up the serious crimes related to gangs, immigration Canada, boarder security, and the politicians that put ideology ahead of good public policy. Drug addicts will always be the easy scape goat for the commentators like Justice Wallace Graig that ignore the rest of the story no matter what the collateral damage to make an ideological point.

I noticed that Wallace Craig conveniently forgot about the Charter of Rights in his commentary?

I think it is good to make distinctions if we are to ever solve the problems of out of control gang activity. Its not politically correct to blame judges, lawyers, police, and immigration, but it is to call it an all encompassing drug problem... and that is the biggest part of the problem IMO.

"We lock our doors, bar our windows – jailed as it were – while criminals and gangsters go about with impunity."

That, unfortunately, is exactly the present state of affairs.

I have argued for years that the Canadian Charter of Rights needs to have a companion that is called the Canadian Charter of Citizens' Responsibilities and Duties.

This would be, of course (like the words *discipline* and *punishment*) seen as politically incorrect and as an infringement on the *rights* of those who choose to behave in such a way that they are a continuous blight on society.

I didnt see anything in the above article to indicate that Justice Craig was talking about drugs at all. He merely made a statement regarding an article in a newspaper.

Insofar as locking your doors and windows and boarding them up, just go to downtown and look around.

There is no defence of criminal activity, and the best way to get criminals off the street is to put them in jail. The punishment should fit the crime. We all know that the parole system was instigated, not to necessarily rehab the crilminal, but to get him out of prison and reduce the cost to the system. As a result the citizens at large have to deal with these people, rather than the justice system.

Bleeding heart Liberals, can whine all they want, however the bottom line is that we have to lean harder on criminals, so that they know that there will be consequences to their actions.

Citizens should not be deprived of their rights and freedoms, so that we can give some **voo doo** rights and freedoms to criminals who could care less.

Insofar as drugs go, common sense tells you that if the people who use drugs, and these are people from the top levels of society to the gutter, would quit using them the problem would go away. People who use drugs are just as responsible as those who sell drugs to them. It takes two to tango. To suggest that the seller is the criminal, and the user is innocent is just so much bull shit.

Under popular sovereignty, judges and cops are nothing but flunkies. The problem is: they won't accept that role. Most so called natural-born-criminals were almost ALL hard working people. What happened? Arbitrary conduct by cops, judges and prosecutors marginalized them.

Attorney General Stonewally Oppal (a former cop doormat judge), is creating imaginery dangers in order to paint himself as essential to public security. In fact, anti-gang task forces have been in business for decades. Why don't they work? Because most cops work 9-5, and empire build worthless data structures. With all that money spent, cops haven't prevented a single gang killing. They make false arrests of gang leaders only for public show. Even their compliant judiciary is forced to acquit same.

Face it: most cops gear themselves to attaining their early pension after 25 years of dubious service. They have little interest in public safety and even less in public service. Policing is the biggest waste of taxpayer money. As for the judiciary, as soon as we replace those fiction purveyors with computers, the better.

Don't believe me? Check the court lists. Cops spend one-third of their time, enforcing Bench warrants for their robed pals. Wallace Craig can't see the farce because he was part of it.

I'll have to agree with Palopu.
I do not believe for a second that the user is any less at fault than the dealer.
One cannot survive without the other.
The user allows the seller to survive, and the dealer gives the user what they want.
If either one is removed from the equation,the other is out of business.
(in theory)
And while we know that is unlikely to happen,why is the dealer the bad guy and the user the pawn?
It is just as illegal to buy drugs as it is to sell them.
We need to stop treating users and addicts like somebody we feel sorry for.
It is always interesting to note that users always know exactly what the penalties for using and obtaining their drugs are,which indicates they do take the time to think about their actions.
They just don't care and are well aware that other than the stigma attached,there no is real penalty for users,only for dealers.

Pal and Andy, may I judge from your comments regarding (who is the criminal: the user, the seller or both?) that you have not had to go through the pain of having a loved one run through the wringer cycle of addiction to crack or meth? Sure, most if not all of these addicts took the drug of their own free will the first time, but the pushers exploit the weakness of the addict. We simply cannot sit back with the attitude that this is just a business transaction, and let the buyer beware, that is as good as endorsing the sale and use of these society ruining drugs.
metalman.

Well I'll agree that the parole system in Canada is a huge part of the problem. I would have no problem with seeing that become a part of history.

My problem is when the people profiting from the system blame victims for the problems of the real criminals... because the victims are the easy target and low hanging fruit to justify the system in a perverted way that does nothing for safety of society and takes away the rights of otherwise peaceful law abiding citizens with no one else to speak up for them. Furthermore the system creates chaos in the drug world that enables violence in turf wars through a drug policy and that is the greatest contributor to violent criminals gaining market share and using the drug world to advance their crime networks.

In the United States they have 3 million people in prison for minor drug offenses and yet their crime and drug problem is worse than anywhere else on the planet, so if the goal is to fight crime and drug use, than the police state is a failure to solve that problem. In Justice Craigs last article he called these people the scum of the Earth, and then goes on to complain about the crime problem. My point is that people like Justice Graig need to look in the mirror to see the problems they create and not placing all the pontificating blame on victims that they can easily further victimize. ...

I hope this discussion is not going to get derailed into a pot legalization discussion. The points made in the article refer to 'crime'. Thats good enough for me. If we legalize drugs, there will still be crime. It isnt the system, or illegal drugs that creates chaos or enables violence in turf wars. These things existed, just like gangs did throughout history. Gangs will always exist as long as there are profits to be made from banding together to make profit from (usually illegal) activities. As there will always be SOME things that are illegal, gangs will always exist.
I think Eagle, you are illustrating some of the justices' points when you blame the system rather than the criminals. This way of looking at things has not only led to the lenient criminal justice system we have but it has provided a lot of people with a rationalization for their unacceptable behaviour. 'Its not my fault that i am a drug dealer/drug user/ car thief/ murderer, the system made me this way'.
I think that Justice Craig's point IS that the system needs reworking. He isnt really arguing aout whos at fault for criminal behaviour as much as he is calling for criminal behaviour to be punished more severely. On this point (and on most of what he has to say, i am in agreement. I for one, do not want our province to be looked at as a safe place to conduct ANY crime, regardless of whether i think it ought to be a crime in the first place.