The Supreme Court of Canada just released a decision on Friday striking down the one year minimum sentence for drug trafficking for breaching the cruel and unusual punishment section of the Charter of Rights.
The case came from BC and involved an addict selling drugs to feed his habit.
The court was concerned with the fairness of the minimum sentence in that fact situation but was also concerned with the possibility of charges and one year minimum sentences for people who passed around a joint 15 years ago at a campfire- you see, you do not have to receive money to be a drug trafficker- you just have to give the drugs to someone else, including sharing a joint.
The court reasoned that for a minimum sentence to be valid, it either has to be drafted narrowly to catch only the truly bad people it intends to catch, or, if it is drafted widely, there has to be an escape hatch, where the barely criminal people can apply for relief (i.e. the people sharing the one joint, or the addict selling to support a habit). The court was worried about “offences that cast a wide net.”
This raises intriguing issues. For example, the Supreme Court ruled over 20 years ago that “any impairment, even slight” caused by alcohol or drugs or a combination thereof, can be enough to a judge to convict someone of impaired driving. That person would then have a criminal record and would lose their license for a year (unless they had plead guilty within 90 days of the offence, and qualified for the MTO program where essentially a breathalyzer is installed in their car).
So, if you had a cold, took some cold medicine, and had one drink, and thus had a flushed face and eyes and alcohol smell on your breath- guess what, you could be charged and convicted of impaired driving and face the above noted one year driving suspension.
Will that minimum punishment be held to be unconstitutional? Under the Lloyd case there is an argument for that. The counter argument is that driving is a privilege, not a right, and that there is a big difference between a one year mandatory jail sentence and a one year license suspension. Let us see how this one plays out.