Pubdate: Sat, 17 Feb 2007 Source: Winnipeg Sun (CN MB) Copyright: 2007 Canoe Limited Partnership Contact: http://www.winnipegsun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/503 Author: John Gleeson, Editorial Page Editor Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) DRUG PROFITS AND THE BIG PICTURE Winnipeg Sun columnist Robert Marshall's Valentine's Day column was almost worth a news story. Because in that column, Marshall, a retired and highly respected veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service, added his name to the growing list of credible cops from across North America who are arguing that the war against drugs is a folly of monumental proportions. How monumental? How does $400 billion a year sound? That's the estimated annual profit to organized crime from the drug trade worldwide. That means each year, as long as drug prohibition continues to be enforced as the law of the land, organized crime grows $400 billion richer, $400 billion stronger. Law enforcement can't compete with that kind of money stacked up against it. The only way society can win this war is to remove those profits. And, as Marshall wrote, "that can only be done by legalizing drugs. By making it a governmental responsibility to regulate, control and most importantly to keep them out of the hands of children." It's the same conclusion reached by the Fraser Institute in a ground-breaking report several years ago, yet it's one the Conservative party of Stephen Harper seems to stubbornly and emphatically ignore. Many Conservative voters see drug legalization as another left-wing cause that would erode Canada's social fabric -- and Harper's unequivocal position no doubt reflects that thinking. Legalization, however, does not mean condoning drug use. It means, first of all, striking the hardest blow possible against organized crime. Isn't that the theme of Harper's "law and order" stance? Second, it means taking control over a substance far too dangerous to leave in the hands of criminals. In his column, Marshall cited retired Lieut. Jack Cole of the New Jersey State Police, a former undercover officer who says drug prohibition "has given criminals the opportunity to supply drugs and to decide which ones. It's then left to the criminal to say how they'll be produced, how potent they'll be, what age levels they'll sell to and where they're going to sell. "If they decide to sell to 10-year-olds on our playgrounds then that's where they'll be sold," Cole says. Finally, legalization will shift drug abuse from a criminal to a clinical matter. As Marshall put it so well, "In Winnipeg, if an addict needing a fix could turn to Health Canada instead of the Hells Angels, violence and crime would plummet." There are also fringe benefits, including huge tax revenues that would help pay for medical services and billions of policing dollars that could be diverted into more worthwhile forms of crime fighting. But the big reason is to hit organized crime where it hurts most -- in the pocketbook. It must be extremely difficult for veteran cops like Marshall to condemn the war against drugs. All their training, all their years on the streets go against it. But they see the big picture. They know who the good guys and bad guys are and they know who is winning the real war. If the Conservatives want to make the kind of dent in crime that they claim to, they can no longer afford to ignore this option. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman