Ian Mulgrew: Fentanyl jail terms a Dickensian error walked back by B.C. court

published on October 5, 2022 by Ian Mulgrew in Vancouver Sun

A B.C. Court of Appeal division has tiptoed back the embarrassing 18-month minimum jail term it recommended five years ago for fentanyl trafficking to combat the nascent opioid crisis.

The impugned 2017 ruling failed to stem the burgeoning deaths from toxic drugs and has wrought injustice — imprisoning homeless women, an ailing 50-plus man requiring weekly dialysis, a 19-year-old without a record supported by his family …

A handful of groups intervened in the recent appeal hoping the province’s top court would end its Dickensian approach: The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, the Independent Criminal Defence Advocacy Society, the We Wai Kai First Nation and the West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund….