Liberals introduce bill to relax drug possession penalties

published on February 18, 2021 by Cormac Mac Sweeney and Marcella Bernardo in CityNews (News 1130)

OTTAWA (NEWS 1130) — The Trudeau government has introduced a large justice reform package to reduce penalties for drug offences.

The feds have long promised action to tackle systemic racism and say this new bill will be a big step in that direction.

The legislation aims to avoid prosecutions for simple drug possession cases by requiring police and prosecutors to first consider alternative ways to deal with them, such as drug treatment centres. Justice Minister David Lametti says many of these people should not be going to our prisons.

“Low-risk, first-time, non-violent offenders. I’m talking about single moms. I’m talking about people with problematic addiction,” he said…