Canadian Judge Strikes Down Pot Grower’s Mandatory Minimum Sentence as ‘Unconstitutional’
Because Hai Thi Pham was growing 1,110 marijuana plants in a high-rise building in north west Toronto, in an apartment she didn't own, she should have received a mandatory minimum sentence of two—maybe three—years in prison.
But an Ontario judge called that sentence cruel, unusual, and unconstitutional this week, adding another crack in the dam of Stephen Harper's trademark mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.
Justice Michael Code of the Ontario Superior Court tore through the Criminal Code sentences for marijuana cultivation.
Under Canadian law, there are a series of escalating punishments for growing pot.
If you're growing 200 or fewer plants for the purposes of trafficking, the mandatory minimum is six months. A BC court declared that sentence unconstitutional in March. If you're growing between 200 and 500, it's one year. That law is still in force.
The two-year mandatory minimum applies if...
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