Pubdate: Tue, 03 Mar 2009 Source: Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Copyright: 2009 The Ottawa Citizen Contact: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/326 Author: Larry Comeau Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v09/n237/a04.html THERE'S A DOWNSIDE TO DRUG LEGALIZATION Re: How to get tough on gang violence? Legalize drugs, Feb. 28. Having spent close to 40 years in law enforcement, working national and international organized crime cases, I would point out that legalization of drugs would not necessarily eradicate gang violence. Individuals join gangs to gain prestige, power and money. Legalization of drugs would simply force such gangs to go into other lucrative enterprises. Would we then want to entertain legalizing such things as extortion, kidnapping, prostitution and armed robberies, as a further effort to stamp out inter-gang violence? The Netherlands tried to liberalize its soft drugs laws by opening pot cafes many years ago. The huge influx of people from the rest of Europe, wanting to take advantage of that country's general attitude towards drugs, has resulted in increased gang violence. Dutch authorities are examining policies on illicit drugs. Legalization of drugs in Canada would see this country deluged in the same manner, with the same negative result. Often overlooked when people talk of legalization of drugs is the tremendous downside. There would be no major financial savings as other gang related crimes would have to be investigated. By expanding free choice, we may well be enslaving more people to drug addiction. This would require even more money for our dying health-care system. Although many strategies have been tried, there is no simplistic solution to curbing gang violence. Increasing enforcement, coupled with stiffer jail sentences, may be as good as other current alternatives. Larry Comeau Ottawa Mr. Comeau is a retired superintendent with the RCMP. - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin