A Supreme Court of Canada ruling that someone too impaired by drugs to be capable of self-control isn’t criminally guilty has caused mixed reactions and a call for new legislation by some.
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) ruling of R. v. Brown concerned a former Calgary university student who, at a party in Calgary in January 2018, drank alcohol and consumed “magic mushrooms,” which contain a drug that can cause hallucinations. Around 3:45 a.m., while naked, Matthew Winston Brown broke into a nearby home where he violently attacked a woman and left her with permanent injuries.
Brown, who had no previous criminal record or history of mental illness, said he had no memory of the incidents. He was charged with two counts of break and enter, assault with a weapon, and mischief….