Pubdate: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 Source: Langley Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Langley Times Contact: http://www.langleytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1230 Author: Maurice Vanderbeke TEAM A STEP TOWARDS A POLICE STATE Editor: Re: "40 grow-ops pinpointed" (The Times, July 11). In this article, reporter Natasha Jones refers to an operation that was carried out by the Township's Public Safety Inspection Team, which is comprised of firefighters, bylaw enforcement officers, municipal staff, RCMP and BC Hydro. According to provincial legislation, they can enter premises without a search warrant. This makes me wonder who is next on the list to join the team -- the postman? What is our mayor and council trying to do, create a police state within a democracy? Or does this just provide ammunition for snitches, who reside in all local neighbourhoods? Or is it a way to justify expanding their powers? To solve the problem, I have some free advice. We should make marijuana legal. That's not only my personal opinion, but the recommendation of Senator Larry Campbell, the LeDain Commission ordered by former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and many other people, including the late Pierre Berton. By doing so, we will prevent people from building a dependency on other drugs like coke, amphetamines, crack etc., I agree these drugs are deadly. By making it legal, we would also free up a lot of staff from the so-called "Green Team" to fight a more dangerous drug, alcohol, which is often mixed with excessive speed. Each year, several teenagers lose their lives in Langley to that dangerous drug, but I have yet to hear about the first one that took a toke and croaked. Let's leave drug enforcement up to the RCMP, as they have the training, and if they have extra staff with nothing to do, let them watch the border to stop the constant flow of coke and illegal weapons. Maurice Vanderbeke Langley - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin