CRI210H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Criminal Record, Controlled Drug In The United Kingdom, Caffeine
17 Dec 2016
School
Course
Professor
Roberts & Grossman Chapter 17- Drugs and the Canadian Criminal Justice System
• Go’t / optios o ho to deal /drugs
o Minimal regulation, ex: caffeine (tea, coffee)
o Strict regulation- limiting who can produce and buy, ex: alcohol, tobacco
o Tax to decrease popularity, ex: alcohol, tobacco
o Testing and quality control, ex: cold medicine
o criminal law control to prohibit possession/production/trafficking, ex: cannabis,
LSD
• using criminal law to regulate drugs is largely a 21st century concept
o Controlled Drug and Substances Act (CDSA)came into effect in 1997
• Using the law to regulate drugs= prohibition
• CDSA regulates activities associated w/ the drug (ex: selling, producing, driving under
the ifluece, does’t criialize the drug itself
• Police-reported drug offences peaked in 2011 (329 incidents per 100,000 people),
lowered in 2012
• More than ½ drug offences related to cannabis
• Drug related crime rate increasing, despite most other crimes decreasing
• Very heavy punishments for drug trafficking (up to life in prison), though they are hardly
used
o But imposition of mandatory minimums in 2012 relieve judges of this discretion
• Significant percentage of inmates in jail for drug-related offences
• Criminalization of drugs actually causes increased drug-related harm
o Force people to buy illegally→ black market
▪ Large profits made encourage people to produce/sell drugs, much less
profit made in the production and selling of legal substances like coffee
▪ Often controlled by criminal organizations w/power to kill and create
corruption
• Ex: drug war in Colombia
• Rival gang violence for control of turf, ex: Quebec
o More heavily armed police to confront drug problems increases chances of
bystanders getting injured/ killed→ fear that this could lead to the militarization
of police
o Law enforcement does little to reduce the supply of drugs
▪ Many illegal drugs to choose from, so even if law enforcement manages
to cut down on the selling/buying of one drugs user can simply switch to
another drug
▪ Big drug bust= shortage of drug= inflation of price of that drug
• Inflated prices causes users to explore more efficient ways of
using the drug which may be more dangerous (ex: injection→
dirty needles= get sick)
o Criializatio does’t really deter people
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