CANNABIS LEGALIZATION SEEMS TO BE GOING WELL BUT THERE ARE STILL ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

1. As a review from two University of Toronto researchers found last year, Black, Latino, and First Nation people are still arrested for cannabis at rates much higher than whites. And this is after legalization. 2. Blair was not concerned too much about the people he used to put in jail for weed, who do not enjoy what fruits legalization offer. 3. What Blair did do was add more crime. Handing a joint to someone under 18 can lead to a years-long prison term — a punishment much stricter than handing them a beer. 4. Though possibly as many as 250,000 people have cannabis offences on their records for which they’re eligible to be pardoned, getting a pardon is so expensive and time-consuming that only about 400 people have secured one, as CTV reported.

3 years after marijuana legalization in canada
https://cannabisnow.com/3-years-of-legal-marijuana-in-canada-pros-cons-what-the-us-can-learn/

SENTENCING CRIMINAL OFFENDERS IS AN INDIVIDUALIZED ANALYSIS. WE USE “STARTING POINT” AND “SENTENCING RANGES” AS GUIDELINES AND A PLACE TO START THE ANALYSIS

“Sentencing must begin somewhere, and both starting‑point and range methodologies assist sentencing judges by providing a place to start in the form of either a single number or a range,” said four of the six justices who endorsed starting points. But they also acknowledged there is no such thing as a uniform sentence for a particular crime. “Neither tool relieves the sentencing judge from conducting an individualized analysis taking into account all relevant factors and sentencing principles,”

https://canadianinquirer.net/2021/11/13/supreme-court-of-canada-affirms-starting-point-approach-to-criminal-sentencing/

WAIT! WHAT? In the trial of the murder of a black man, you don’t want the jury of nearly all-white southerners to see your client’s confederate license plate because they might draw an adverse inference about his character?

Man who gunned down Ahmaud Arbery asks court to ban evidence of his support for Confederacy

https://www.rawstory.com/judge-deals-massive-blow-to-ahmaud-arbery-s-killers-allows-their-confederate-plates-as-evidence/?xrs=RebelMouse_fb&ts=1636149840&fbclid=IwAR13OyHJKFkHMDhOo2T4td98MrW-TvOysFL7Tn_ATdun6tCMEYXRSFQPjBU

DUTY COUNSEL –> UNDERRATED, OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID – “Fortunately, in Canada, people who need legal advice can turn to one of the most important and least-known essential services we have: duty counsel. It’s just another thing to be proud of in our country. Duty counsel represent people who don’t have a lawyer in the initial stages of the justice system: first appearances before a judge, bail hearings, child custody matters, mental health courts and much more.”

Karen Wilford
https://www.canadianlawyermag.com/news/opinion/canadas-first-ever-duty-counsel-day-celebrated-the-backbone-of-access-to-justice/361258

YOU CANNOT DETERMINE IMPAIRMENT FROM BLOOD THC LEVELS – “Even the Crown’s witness, Centre of Forensic Sciences toxicologist Betty Chow, agreed there are too many variables — how was the cannabis ingested, how long before driving, was the person new to the drug — making it impossible to determine if a driver was impaired based just on a blood THC level.”

Screenshot of Brady Robertson at St. Michael's Hospital (court exhibit)
https://o.canada.com/news/local-news/mandel-brady-robertson-guilty-of-impaired-driving-in-deadly-crash-but-dependent-on-charter-challenge