Pubdate: Thu, 12 Mar 2009
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Prince George Citizen
Contact:  http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Author: Bruce Strachan
Note: Bruce Strachan is a former B.C. cabinet minister and Prince George
city councillor. His column appears Thursdays.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

BARELY ILLEGAL

As Canadian gang violence escalates, is it time to legalize the
narcotics trade?

It probably is, but it won't happen.

At the outset, let me say today's piece was prompted by a recent
article in The Economist referred to me by a physician friend; all
aided and abetted by the lively online discussion following last
week's column on gang crime.

From the perspective of controlling crime and saving lives, legalizing
mood-altering drugs makes a lot of sense. Those drugs are cannabis,
opium (heroin) and cocaine.

But politically, the notion of legally-sold narcotics has the same
chance of survival as the latest Lower-Mainland gunshot fatal, which
is DOA, if not sooner.

To begin with the argument for legalization, The Economist article
uses the experience of the United States and its failed prohibition
against alcohol.

By way of a brief snapshot; prohibition in the U.S. lasted from 1913
to 1933, had little influence on the consumption of alcohol, but
richly rewarded suppliers of the prohibited product.

Why? Well as Willie Sutton said when asked why he robbed banks,
"Because that's where the money is."

When prohibition ended in the U.S., former bootleggers quickly found
that illegal drugs were more profitable than alcohol. Those
now-unemployed booze-peddlers were entrepreneurial people; they had an
effective distribution network, they had inroads to a customer base
and they knew how to market.

Following World War Two, and right in sync with the growing
international economy, the illegal narcotics trade took off and is now
reckoned by UN studies to be a $320-billion worldwide industry.

Are we winning the drug war? No. The U.S. spends $40 billion a year
attempting to eliminate the drug trade; it locks up half a million of
its citizens a year for drug crimes, yet there's no evidence of any
reduction in illegal drug use.

Given this dismal outcome it would make sense to draw on our
experience from the failed alcohol prohibition exercise in the U.S.
and legalize the product.

Let government agencies control the distribution and set the price. By
doing this we solve two problems. One, there's no money in the game
for organized crime; and two, drug addiction shifts from being a
law-and-order problem to a public-health issue. Which is no doubt why
my MD buddy suggested the article.

Drug addiction is a terrible problem. Just picture some poor
whacked-out doper turning tricks for the next hit, a regular happening
on streets throughout the world including ours in Prince George. It's
not a nice picture.

Legalizing the narcotics trade would go along way to solving that
problem. The addict would still be hooked, but she - or he - wouldn't
be hooked on hooking. Instead, they could turn their attention to
seeking help, not out hustling for the next score.

Which leads us to the political question. Would the Canadian
government legalize the drug trade? Not too likely.

The Economist article makes the point that politicians love to promise
a drug-free world. A proclamation of innocence all wrapped up in trust
me, I can protect you from evil. The problem being, they can't
deliver. They never could.

The Harper government, overly religious in nature, would faint away at
the prospect of allowing demon drugs to be sanctioned and sold legally.

The larger problem for legalizing narcotics in Canada would the U.S.
reaction.

You can bet any move to decriminalize hard drugs in Canada would cause
the U.S. to construct a border making the former Berlin Wall look like
a picket fence.

U.S. politicians take great delight in wrapping themselves in
fundamentalist fervour, and even with an annual $40 billion wasted
expenditure on the drug war, they're loath to admit the country has a
problem.

Until we change our strategy, the drug problem will continue. It will
kill our troops in the poppy fields of Afghanistan, ruin the lives of
thousands of Canadians, cost billions to fight and remain
unstoppable.

We have a war on drugs and drugs are winning. They always have. This
war can be won, but only if we have the courage to realize our current
tactics and policies are terribly and fatally flawed.

Bruce Strachan is a former B.C. cabinet minister and Prince George
city councillor. His column appears Thursdays.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin