[OG Kush]

We'll Pay To Hold Them In Prison When Property Forfeiture Is Sensible

B.C. Supreme Court Judge Ian Pitfield is single-handedly trying to stem the province's green tide of marijuana-growing operations by bucking precedent and dishing out stiff jail terms.

In a tough-talking judgment in which he finds wanting the judiciary's response to the hazard and danger of grow-ops, Pitfield sent two middle-aged guerrilla gardeners to jail for two years less a day.

"I consider each of them to be a danger to the public by reoffending," Pitfield wrote of the duo described in pre-sentence reports as reliable, honest, hard-working, trustworthy and caring.

The judge stridently dismissed as "wholly unrealistic" the prosecution's suggested one-year sentence for Allan Douglas Koenders and Allan Wayne Simpson, both of Courtenay.

"If Mr. Koenders and Mr. Simpson are to see the error of their ways, time in an institution will be required," Pitfield said.

"In my opinion, the circumstances of the offences and the offenders warrant a penitentiary sentence."

Federal prison time, however, would have been truly egregious.

So Pitfield gave both men two years less a day. They'll be on parole for two years after their release.

After a three-day trial in March, they were found guilty of growing and possessing marijuana for the purposes of trafficking.

They were arrested in July 2003 in connection with a farm near Courtenay from which police seized a total of 2,144 plants as well as oscillating and furnace fans, fluorescent lights and other paraphernalia, including fertilizers and chemicals used to grow pot.

Police experts estimated a harvest would earn them between $560,000 and $840,000, depending on the yield of each plant.

However, the two argued that was an over-estimation and that they were growing primarily for themselves, friends and medical marijuana patients on Vancouver Island.

Koenders, a 43-year-old construction worker with a Grade 10 education, was born in Port Alberni, but grew up in the Parksville-Qualicum area. Single and living in a motor home on a friend's property, Koenders said he wasn't a threat to society and didn't need counselling because he smokes pot.

The court was told he has a criminal record that includes five prior convictions for the possession of marijuana and he has been on probation four times -- convicted of offences during three of those periods, and convicted of a breach of probation in 1985.

A 55-year-old, Simpson was born in Montreal and has been intermittently self-employed as a furniture and cabinet-maker since 1984. Now he is on a disability pension and says he started using marijuana in 1981 because of a back injury.

In 2001, Simpson was convicted at Parksville of producing marijuana and given a 12-month conditional sentence.

Both men said part of their harvest was destined for terminally ill patients.

Pitfield noted neither had a government exemption to grow for medical use, nor had either applied for such a licence.

In the last five years, what had been an epidemic of growing operations in B.C. has become a plague, the judge noted.

He quoted a decision from Court of Appeal Justice Mary Southin, who said back in 2001 there was no longer any judicial consensus on the right thing to do in marijuana cases.

"With respect," he noted, "the statement is as accurate today."

Surveying the situation, Pitfield concluded that if current sentences are not having the desired effect, judges should change their approach.

"The plethora of charges related to grow-ops provides support for the proposition that the present range of sentences, particularly in respect of grow-ops of considerable size, does not promote the principle of general deterrence," the judge said.

"Unless other means of reducing illegal production specifically and generally can be found, custodial sentences ... will likely provide the only realistic means of constraining illegal activity of this kind, and the penitentiary terms ... may be preferred."

He said it was obvious Koenders and Simpson were unrepentant and would probably reoffend.

"Each has a criminal record for drug offences," Pitfield added. "Neither expresses any sincere remorse for what he has done. In fact, each regards the production of marijuana as a worthy pursuit, particularly if some of their product is made available for medical use. Each has advanced what amounts to a Robin Hood defence by claiming that their offences are less criminal because they were committed to help others."

Specific and general deterrence are factors of greater importance in this case, Pitfield sternly concluded.

It's enough to make you weep.

That taxpayers will spend in the neighbourhood of $80,000 to keep two middle-aged incorrigible dope smokers in jail is ridiculous.

With all due respect to Judge Pitfield, I think his sentence is a waste of resources, does not make the community any safer and probably erodes confidence in the administration of justice.

Both of these men could have been appropriately handed conditional sentences and the forfeiture of their property.


Newshawk: SX420 - 420Girls.com
Source: 420Times.com
Author: Ian Mulgrew
Copyright: 2006 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: sunletters@png.canwest.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/