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Libby on Bill C-475 an Act to Amend the Controlled Drug and Substances Act

Libby Davies's picture
March 9, 2010 Speeches in Parliament

MARCH 9, 2010
HANSARD
House of Commons

Debate on Bill C-475 an Act to Amend the Controlled Drug and Substances Act (Methamphetamines and Ecstasy)

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to Bill C-475. I would like to thank the hon. member for West Vancouver—Sunshine Coast—Sea to Sky Country for introducing the bill. It is very similar to a bill that was introduced awhile ago. I spoke to that bill and it went to committee. The fact that it is back before the House is evidence of the hon. member's serious intent to bring forward this issue. We certainly appreciate that.

I want to make a few general points about the bill as it relates to the larger issue of drug policy and what we have seen from the government. While on the one hand the bill deals very specifically with substances that are involved in the selling, production or import of amphetamines and ecstasy, as it relates to the larger issue, we have to be aware that reliance on an enforcement strategy and an approach that is focused on the Criminal Code is not going to solve the very major issues we are facing with drug addiction and substance use in our society.

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Nothing solved by eviction - Libby on BC forfeiture laws

March 10, 2010
The Vancouver Province
Bad luck and a bad crowd, but she's 'not a criminal'On a clear, crisp March morning, Marianne Christine Sullivan sits on a dock at Trout Lake in east Vancouver and talks about being homeless and broke after the B.C. government took her $562,000 home under civil forfeiture legislation....Vancouver East MP Libby Davies says the sad situation Sullivan faces as a homeless person likely means it will cost society far more in the long run than what was taken with the forfeiture. "It is unbelievable this could happen to her," she says. "The fact is, she is now living on the street and suffering from an addiction. What has been solved by making her homeless?
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Libby speaking out agains the Conservative's so-called drug policy

February 12, 2010
The Ottawa Citizen
Soft on TruthWhen you look beyond the paternalism, cynicism, genuine concern -- whatever motives drive the Harper government's punitive approach to crime -- only one question matters. Is it effective? Will closing Vancouver's safe injection site, Insite, reduce drug addiction and related crime? Will imposing six-month minimum jail sentences on anyone caught with as few as five marijuana plants inhibit pot-smoking among teenagers? Will expanding prisons reduce violence in our streets? Most legal experts, criminologists, addiction researchers and street-level health workers, along with many police chiefs and past reports from Parliamentary committees, say "no" -- as does the experience of other "tough-on-crime" jurisdictions. ...As New Democrat Libby Davies noted: "What they are doing is not based on evidence, whatsoever. It's a political stance."
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Conservatives ignore law and science to shut down InSite - Libby Speaking out for InSite

February 9, 2010 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FEBRUARY 9, 2010

VANCOUVER - Libby Davies, MP for Vancouver East, called on the Conservative Government today to explain their decision to ignore multiple court rulings in favour of keeping open InSite, Canada’s safe injection site.

“InSite saves lives,” said Davies. “The science proves it, and the B.C Supreme Court and B.C. Appeal Court agree. Yet the Conservatives continue to spend tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars on legal fees to try to shut it down,” added Davies. "Canadians want an explanation”

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Libby Speaking out on Medical Marijuana - Health Canada Must Consult With Stakeholders

February 4, 2010 Open Letters to Ministers & Public Officials

Hon. Leona Aglukkaq
Minister of Health
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6

Dear Minister Aglukkaq,

Thank you for your August 2009 letter in response to my call for a full public review of the Canada’s Marijuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR).

In your letter, you outline your plan to amend the MMAR to address the Supreme Court of Canada’s ruling that Paragraph 41 (b.1) violates the Charter or Rights and Freedoms and “unjustifiably limits the ability” of authorized patients to access medical marijuana. You also mention the need to examine regulations concerning the use of medical marijuana in public.

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Libby speaking out against Mandatory Minimum Sentences for drug crimes

February 1, 2010
Vancouver Sun
Tough-on-crime justice minister once opposed mandatory minimum sentencesOTTAWA — Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, one of Canada's most vocal champions of fixed minimum prison sentences, once opposed the idea of removing discretion for judges to sentence as they see fit. As a Tory backbencher in 1988, Nicholson was vice-chairman of a parliamentary committee that rejected the expansion of automatic incarceration, asserting that it doesn't work, overcrowds jails and takes too hefty of a social and financial toll.
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Libby speaking out against Conservative's so-called "crime agenda"

February 1, 2010
The Hill Times
Justice Minister Nicholson pushes crime bill he used to be againstFederal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, who is pushing the government's tough on crime agenda and plans to revive the bill on mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes in the next Parliamentary session, did not support the proposed law when he was a Mulroney backbencher. In 1988, Mr. Nicholson vice-chaired a Parliamentary committee that released a report recommending mandatory minimum sentences not be used, except in the case of repeat violent sexual offenders. The committee found, based on testimony and the U.S. experience, that the law didn't work and increases prison populations....NDP MP Libby Davies (Vancouver East, B.C.), whose party voted against Bill C-15, said Mr. Nicholson's zest for introducing mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes is purely political.
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