Posted on 02/22/2006 4:37:51 PM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
A provincial court judge in Courtenay has crafted a sentence he clearly hopes will attack the marijuana grow industry at its root -- money.
In a decision made public this week, Judge Peter Doherty fined marijuana grow operator Patrick Joseph Hamilton $25,000 and gave him six months to pay. Police found 179 plants in the back of Hamilton's pickup when they stopped him in July 2004.
Doherty noted in his decision it was Hamilton's fourth conviction for cultivating a narcotic.
The judge said those previous convictions could well earn Hamilton a prison term but he referred to another case in which a judge wrote that substantial fines have been overlooked as appropriate sentences for marijuana cultivators.
In the earlier decision the judge wrote that the free market economy was working to satisfy the widespread demand for marijuana. Meanwhile, police and the courts are spending huge amounts of taxpayers' money to investigate, arrest, try, and incarcerate marijuana grow-operators and to supervise them during probation.
In the earlier decision the judge wrote it made sense to hit grow operators with hefty fines so the government can defray the costs of apprehending and prosecuting them.
Also, as long as fines are heavy enough, it will still promote respect for the law and denounce illegal conduct.
Doherty wrote that he found the logic "impeccable."
And in the case of Hamilton, he determined, such a sentence might serve the community well.
Doherty noted Hamilton owns the truck where the marijuana was found and also owns the acreage property where he grew the marijuana.
Forcing him to take out a loan or mortgage to pay the fine will give him something to reflect upon.
"Each month he makes a payment would be a reminder to him of his transgression," wrote Doherty.
It seems to me that market forces need to be considered -- as in so many other things that governments try to control.
If they really don't want to put people in jail for it, they'd be better off just legalizing it and taxing it, rather than having it illegal and punishable by a fine. Get it out of the courtroom. Cut out the middle man.
Sounds pretty hard to achieve unless they were seedlings.
How is he going to make the $25,000 to pay the fine?
(Illustrating the absurdity of the decision)
This judge is behing the times. They could have just unconstitutionally siezed all of his property (house, car, cash, etc.) on mere suspicion. That is the general MO of the fWO(s)D crowd. I guess the judge didn't get the memo.
It would be far better for governments to tax marijuana (and reduce other taxes); rather than have the money go to support organized crime.
It would also take a huge burden off of the courts (I'm assuming it's as big of a problem in Canada as it is down here). In the end, the people who do get stoned would still get stoned, the people who do not get stoned would still not get stoned, and an entire class of criminals would be cut off from their earnings.
The whole prohibition thing is silly, really.
Canadian judge. That puts him out of the US DEA loop...
Unless they were piled as high as a hay truck. Dumb criminals have done dumber things.
"Doherty noted in his decision it was Hamilton's fourth conviction for cultivating a narcotic".
Gee, I didn't know that marijuana was a member of the opium family.
The truth is, it ain't.
No wonder it is illegal, the government has no idea what they are doing.
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