NORML Canada strongly opposes the Harper Government’s Bill C-10. This “omnibus” crime legislation, titled, “The Safe Streets and Communities Act,” bundles nine different crime bills together as one bill and is being rushed through parliament with insufficient study and debate. Included in Bill C-10 is highly controversial legislation that proposes mandatory prison sentences for growing 6 or more cannabis plants, if there is intent to “traffic” any of it.
Bill C-10 will clog the courts and overflow prisons with low-level, non-violent drug offenders. Included in those numbers will be many small-scale cannabis growers, despite the repeated claims of the Harper Conservatives that this mandatory minimums legislation is intended to target organized crime!
In an effort to help raise awareness about this preventable policy disaster, NORML Canada has created a petition for you to download and distribute.
Download the Petition:
http://www.norml.ca/OmnibusBill-C10-Petition.pdf
It takes a minimum 25 signatures to make the petition official. The idea here is to get as many signatures as possible, but because this is a fast moving campaign, as soon as 25 people have signed on, it’s ready to move forward.
Liberal MP Ted Hsu (Kingston) has agreed to vet and certify all of our petitions, and NORML Canada is currently speaking to Green Party and N.D.P. MP’s that are willing to assist us as well. Perhaps your MP would be willing to submit one of our petitions as well. It can’t hurt to ask, and time is very short. We have a week at most to get this campaign in front of the House, or it will be too late.
It will take every bit of effort from all of us to prevent this horrible mistake Stephen Harper is trying to make. Please lend a hand in any way you can to help our community. Download the petition, sign it, have your friends and family sign it and get it back in our hands as soon as possible!
Download the Petition:
http://www.norml.ca/OmnibusBill-C10-Petition.pdf
Petitions with 25 or more signatures are to be mailed, for free, to:
Kevin Perry
Legislative Assistant to Ted Hsu, M.P. Kingston and the Islands
Justice Bldg. Room 818
The House of Commons, Ottawa, ON K1A 0A6
Tel: 613-996-1955 / Fax: 613-996-1958
[*no stamps needed; letters sent to members of government do NOT require postage.]
Please keep us up to date on any efforts you make to help this simple, yet powerful campaign by emailing normlcanada@gmail.com the details of where it is or where it’s gone.
Thank you in advance for your efforts, we appreciate all that you do for the cannabis community and we stand beside you in your efforts. Please stand beside us in ours.