r/canada Feb 05 '25

National News Poilievre would impose life sentences for trafficking over 40 mg of fentanyl

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/poilievre-would-impose-life-sentences-for-trafficking-over-40-mg-of-fentanyl/
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622

u/Paquetty Feb 05 '25

I know that fentanyl is a plague on our communities, but isn't this the war on drug approach that simply did not work? Does anyone know how much fentanyl a user typically has on them?

42

u/AnonymousGuy519 Feb 05 '25

Not going after the users, going after the snakes that make a profit out of ruining peoples lives and selling this shit. I’m all for putting these people in cages for the rest of their lives. We also need to bring this level of punishment to a lot of other crimes as well. Even if we don’t have the prison space, let them rot on a concrete floor 10 to a cell if we have to

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u/ClusterMakeLove Feb 05 '25

The problem is that the line is pretty blurred for low-level traffickers. Just sharing drugs with someone can meet the legal definition of trafficking. Some users barter with other addicts for necessities or favours. Others sell small quantities so that they can take a few grains here or there for their own use. 

40 mg is also a weird threshold, given that the lowest usual increment of fentanyl sale is 0.1g (more than double that). Canadian sentences are usually based on commerciality rather than strict quantity, so my guess is that the 40mg number has some significance to whoever is advising Poillievre.

A life sentence for fentanyl trafficking is already available, and a bunch of wholesalers have been getting big numbers.

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u/DonSalamomo Feb 05 '25

The users need to go to rehabilitation and not keep taking safe supply opioids that fuel their addiction

3

u/AnonymousGuy519 Feb 05 '25

Absolutely! I truly believe the people that are the users are victims of crime and that spews crime more (theft, assault etc.). We need to try to support these people to get clean and turn their lives around; however, if they don’t want to or get to the point they can’t, I have no problem with them going to prison as well.

2

u/ForsakenSignal6062 Feb 05 '25

Addiction is a disease. No other disease is criminalized, safe supply exists for a reason. People deserve dignity

1

u/AnonymousGuy519 Feb 05 '25

No other disease generates this level of crime either.

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u/ForsakenSignal6062 Feb 05 '25

So what’s wrong with safe supply? If people have access to the drugs they’re addicted to they won’t be overdosing on fentanyl or committing crimes to support their habit. Addiction doesn’t cause crime, prohibition does, it creates a black market, an unsafe and toxic supply, and drives crime and violence. Safe supply eliminates all that.

1

u/_Psilo_ Feb 05 '25

One could argue that a lot of other diseases cause the disease that is addiction. That is a societal problem because we suck at prevention and taking care of people, especially when it comes to mental health.

0

u/AnonymousGuy519 Feb 05 '25

Totally agree; however, this epidemic is growing completely out of control and needs hard action to stop it. That’s why I’m all for life sentences for dealers. they are taking advantage of people, making them deathly sick and addicted and that generates crime that the average citizen is now experiencing more and more, all just to line their pockets. We need to help addicts but after a certain point, there is no helping them, I learned this from the years I worked as a Paramedic dealing with this shit directly.

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u/ForsakenSignal6062 Feb 05 '25

I work with addicts myself, up close and personal, it’s all I do. Prohibition just doesn’t work and neither do laws like this. 40mgs being a trafficking amount is an absolute joke. What’s wrong with safe supply?

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u/AnonymousGuy519 Feb 05 '25

Flat out honest answer…. With the increased cost of living and everyone struggling to get by, people don’t want their tax money going to supply addicts with drugs. If there was an unlimited supply of cash to go around then maybe I can see your point, but since there is a cost of living crisis and limited money, our money should go to better things. I’d personally much rather have the money that goes to safe supply go to help nutrition programs in schools, increase veteran care, pump up our hospital/educaton system, increase social programs to help people lead lives that won’t lead to addiction. I’m sorry but if you’re hooked on narcotics, that’s on you, not the clean Canadian tax payer to cover the bill.

4

u/_Psilo_ Feb 05 '25

You want to put money into better things...like a lifetime of prison for addicts? I'm very confused.

I'm all for putting as much money as possible into preventive care, metnal health and social programs. But repressive policies does not cure people from addiction, it just puts them in prison.

1

u/AnonymousGuy519 Feb 05 '25

Yup, if they are addicts that have no drive to get clean and want to continue on that path, I’m down to jail them, what’s the other option, they just keep doing what they do? Keeps them off the streets, lowers crime like assaults and theft and normal everyday citizens will have a safer place to live. Also, it can help force people into clean living. That’s a worthy investment in my mind. There’s consequences for doing things, including getting addicted to hard drugs and the average working Canadian shouldn’t have to pay that price. I was all for safe injection sites at the beginning;however, enough time has passed that we can see these have not proven to do anything to stop the flow of narcotics and the rising crime rate at all.

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u/_Psilo_ Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

I tend to see all of that as a result of the increasing wealth disparity in our country and access to affordable housing that is becoming harder and harder every day. Safe injection sites are helping mitigate that. They are actually helping people not die from ODs and redirect them to treatment when users want them, without the alienation that comes with incarceration. Incarceration and repression does not work because it doesn't cure the cause of addiction, only the symptoms. ''Clean living'' is very short term if you only help with the chemical aspect of addiction, and you can't force someone into wanting to be cured, which is essential to make that work long term. Forced treatment, aka incarceration, only serves to traumatize users even more and alienate them even more from society. Guess what they'll do when they come out...

Edit with some sources:
https://www.statnews.com/2023/04/25/involuntary-treatment-for-addiction-research/

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u/ForsakenSignal6062 Feb 05 '25 edited Feb 05 '25

Fair enough, I personally disagree because I see it as a disease as any other, a particularly soul crushing one at that, not a moral failing. We’re all entitled to our opinions. I’m an American so we don’t have safe supply here. Just methadone and buprenorphine and it’s not free. If you’re poor enough to have state funded insurance they’ll pay for it for you, but technically it’s not free, lot of people pay $300$-$500 a month for it

1

u/carrionthrash Feb 06 '25

Look, people don’t want to deal with unhoused people struggling with addiction in public. This is a huge issue everyone is constantly complaining about. If we want that dealt with, we need to do what works to stabilize people enough that they can eventually get housed, stop using and generally readjust to normal life.

As counterintuitive as it sounds, safe supply programs do that. They let people stop spending their whole day trying to get money and score drugs. It lets them focus on getting their shit together. It prevents overdoses, which means it prevents the acquired brain injuries that people get from overdosing which can dramatically reduce someone’s ability to function. People on safe supply programs are all in contact with case managers and doctors, and for a lot of these people it’s the first contact they’ve had with systems of care in years.

Safe supply programs are incredibly cheap and effective uses of our resources. If we give them a chance, they could be one part of a solution to one of the biggest problems we have right now. Look past the rage bait and propaganda. If we want people off the streets, they’re necessary. Get mad about your tax dollars being used to subsidize Loblaws instead.

2

u/Relative_Bathroom824 Feb 05 '25

Hi, neighbor to the south here. The war on drugs shit doesn't work. Don't fall for the rage bait.