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Jamie Sarkonak: Judge who praised B.C. drug dealers in court cannot be trusted on the bench

The court proclaimed a Charter right to deal 'safe supply' drugs. It's nonsensical

B.C.’s courts have brought us the Charter right to smoke drugs near playgrounds, the Charter right to erect a homeless encampment, and the Aboriginal right to claim title to someone else’s land. It’s a hard list to top, but on Tuesday, Justice Catherine Murray managed it by inventing a Charter right to deal drugs.

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Murray had been responsible for judging the case of vigilante dealers Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx, who created an addicts’ rights group called the “Drug Users Liberation Front” (DULF). Among the group’s ventures was a cross between drug brokerage and charity shop: it bought supposedly pure quantities of heroin, cocaine and more, and sold them at a low price to people on the street. All of this was illegal.

Jamie Sarkonak: Judge who praised B.C. drug dealers in court cannot be trusted on the bench Back to video

The world’s media noticed — and then so did police, who busted the operation. Kalicum and Nyx were charged for violating the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, and Murray convicted them last year.

Columnist Jesse Kline keeps you up to date with what’s happening in Israel and the effects of antisemitism on life here in Canada. Friday mornings.

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But Kalicum and Nyx still had a constitutional challenge up their sleeves. It was underway at the time of their conviction, and Murray finally arrived at her answer this week: the Canadian ban on trafficking drugs violates the Charter right to life, liberty and security, as well as the right to........

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