Pubdate: Mon, 22 Sep 2003
Source: Parklander, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2003 Hinton Parklander
Contact:  http://www.hintonparklander.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/782
Author: Jim Gates
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

LET'S PUT DRUG DEALERS OUT OF BUSINESS

Open Gates: A Column By Jim Gates

Hinton Parklander -- I'm going to venture out on a limb with this column 
and express one of my more radical views. Like most radical views, it's not 
the ultimate answer that's going to save the world by lunch, but rather one 
side of a debate that needs more attention in the public arena.

Drugs should be decriminalized. Not just marijuana, but all of them - both 
the soft and hard drugs. I believe this to be the best way reduce drug use 
and drug-related crime and even fight international terrorism.

When I say drugs should be decriminalized, I do not mean that drug 
traffickers could then open legitimate store fronts down on Switzer Drive 
and erect bill boards depicting youthful people with pills on their 
out-stretched tongues, accompanied by a caption that reads, 'I take 
minute-meth for the best long-lasting high.'

For my ideal drug reduction strategy to work, drugs need to be 
monopolistically distributed by the federal government, and not for a profit.

Most crime is drug-related and every organized crime ring is drug based. 
Even in Hinton, most people commit break and enters and thefts so they can 
get money to buy drugs.

According to statistics from the office of the Solicitor General of Canada, 
the street value of the drug trade in Canada is $18 billion annually.

The federal government developed its own strategy for crippling this 
lucrative industry. Over the next five years we will spent an additional 
$245 million in law enforcement targeting the upper levels of the drug 
trade, disrupting organized crime and seizing the proceeds of crime.

I hate to break it to Ottawa, but for every crime ring it destroys, there 
is another already trying to take its place. Gangs are lining up to push 
their product like brokers on Wall Street fighting to sell plummeting World 
Com shares.

Canada could easily take the entire industry out of the hands of criminals. 
Crime rings could not compete with Canada if the country was willing to 
distribute a product with no intention of turning a profit.

Yet, Canada would profit.

Thousands of drug producers, warehousers and pushers would have to find 
legitimate sources of income. Only so many could turn to racketeering, 
high-tech cheque fraud and dumping toxic waste. Billions of dollars are 
lost from the Canadian economy due to lost productivity from people making 
their money in drug markets.

The real question is, would more people do drugs if there were no criminal 
consequences for doing them?

I don't think so. I don't do drugs - because they turn people into jittery, 
irritable half-wits with little to no social skills and even less reasoning 
ability. There's no way I would do drugs just because I wouldn't go to jail 
for it.

Many people first experiment with drugs when they are teens. Right now, it 
is easier for a teen to buy meth on the street than it is for them to get 
their hands on a bottle of Crown Royal.

If drugs could be purchased from a regulated store, and if there were 
serious penalties for adults buying drugs for minors, less teens could do 
drugs, even if they wanted to.

And as for terrorism, it's no secret that the illegal drug trade funds 
terrorism. US president George Bush said it himself:

"It's so important for Americans to know that the traffic in drugs finances 
the work of terror, sustaining terrorists, that terrorists use drug profits 
to fund their cells to commit acts of murder. If you quit drugs, you join 
the fight against terror in America."

The set of laws which govern drugs is called the Controlled Drugs and 
Substances Act. Canada should either change the Act's name to the 
Out-of-control Drugs and Substances Act, or start doing what the name 
implies - controlling the drugs and substances in Canada. 
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