Pubdate: Thu, 08 Mar 2007
Source: Mission City Record (CN BC)
Copyright: 2007 The Mission City Record
Contact:  http://www.missioncityrecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1305
Author: Robert T. Rock

EVILS STEMMING FROM DRUG TRADE JUST UNDER MUNICIPALITY'S
SURFACE

Editor, The Record:

Mission has an enviable record of public safety. We're nowhere near 
the level of violence that gangs, drugs, and guns have inflicted on 
cities like Surrey or even Abbotsford, and  I surely hope that it 
stays that way.

But there's an elephant in the room that people don't like to talk 
about, preferring to ignore what they know to be true.

And that truth is that the evils stemming from the drug trade that 
has damaged other towns from the inside is just below the surface 
here. Those same gang connections have worked their way into Mission 
like the spreading fingers of a cancerous growth.  The senseless 
violence, perpetrated by numerous groups and individuals, might 
easily erupt on our streets.

Yet it doesn't have to be inevitable, not if the police and others 
can continue to hit the grow ops as hard as they did the other week 
when six went down in one day. And that success has to be repeated 
again and again so the message that Mission is not going to put up 
with the drug trade gets out.

Take out the grow-ops and you take out the profit motive for the 
gangs and their lackeys to operate here and force them to move on.

Some may want to argue about the merits of smoking dope, but you 
can't escape the reality that it's the cash crop that allows the 
illegal gangs to import the harder drugs and guns that are killing people.

So on behalf of us who want Mission to continue to be a safe refuge 
in this increasingly violent world, I want to say thanks to those in 
the community who are tackling the grow op industry one bust at a 
time. The work that the police and firefighters have to do is 
dangerous and deserves our respect and support. Each bust interrupts 
the cash flow ultimately controlled by the gangs and that is what is 
needed if we want to keep our neighbourhoods safe.

But for those who don't report on the grow ops, drug trafficking, and 
money laundering that they know to be happening, I'm far less charitable.

Especially for those who benefit from staying silent as they are no 
better than they have to be, and are just as guilty as those actively 
working to turn our town into their personal turf.

So in closing I'll just say that we're luckier than most communities 
as we're still a relatively safe town.

But that is in large part to those who aren't afraid to tackle the 
elephant in the room and say what they know to be true.

Robert T. Rock

Mission
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MAP posted-by: Elaine