US Drug War Pushes Canada Toward Police State PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #213 Tuesday, June 19, 2001 The Canadian government may not pursue the drug war as ruthlessly as the United States, but Canadian politicians aren't immune from drug war stupidity. As the National Post reported last week, new banking rules will put many Canadian citizens under suspicion as money-launderers. National Post columnist Terence Corcoran noted: "The common thread running through these money-laundering and other anti-crime laws around the world leads straight to Washington and the most futile crime crusade since prohibition: the war on drugs. Hundreds of billions of dollars, global prosecution regimes and out of control police actions are doing little to stop the drug trade. But they are lining the pockets of bureaucrats and police workers and laying the groundwork for institutionalized state control." Please write a letter to the National Post to say that the US, with its mixture of high drug abuse rates and high incarceration rates, is no role model for drug policy. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter, Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to followsuit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is the only way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. Contact Info Source: National Post (Canada) Contact: Additionally, Corcoran's column was published in two other papers. Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Contact: Pubdate: Mon, 18 June 2001 Headline: Big Brother has a brand new weapon Source: Halifax Daily News (CN NS) Contact: Pubdate: Sat, 16 Jun 2001 Headline: War on drugs a war on Canada ARTICLE Canada: Column: One Step Closer To A Police State URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n1062/a08.html Newshawk: Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy http://www.cfdp.ca/ Pubdate: Fri, 15 Jun 2001 Source: National Post (Canada) Copyright: 2001 Southam Inc. Contact: Website: http://www.nationalpost.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286 Author: Terence Corcoran, National Post ONE STEP CLOSER TO A POLICE STATE Claiming to be fighting a valiant war on crime, governments around the world -- but especially in Canada -- are actually fighting an escalating war on people. This includes Ottawa's draconian "money-laundering" regulations. If you send $15,000 in cash to pay for your grandmother's hip replacement at a U.S. hospital, your name will go on the list of potential money launderers. Privacy? Freedom? Guilt? Innocence? Forget it. Under some definition, sending cash into the U.S. health-care system probably is money laundering. Another manifestation of Ottawa's war on people at the expense of individual freedom is Bill C-24, a law to fight organized crime. Introduced last April, C-24 whipped through final third reading on Wednesday, just before the MPs fled Ottawa with their pockets stuffed with the proceeds of organized politics. The new law vastly expands government power and gives police the right to break the law to enforce the law. The Canadian Civil Liberties Association has called parts of the legislation "evil," but that didn't phase the government. People who tried to follow C-24 on its rapid run through the Commons say it is as bad in the final version as it was the day it was introduced. Provincial and local governments have their own power-expansion ambitions and are more than ready to hand police fresh authority to stomp on basic rights. Ontario last month reintroduced its own infamous organized crime legislation, noted mostly for giving government the ability to seize the assets of innocent people if prosecutors think the assets were acquired, directly or indirectly, through some organized criminal activity. That these laws go overboard and trample on people's rights nobody seriously doubts. Oddly, though, it's not until the laws and regulations are on the books that people begin to realize how much power governments have taken and how many rights have been lost. The federal money laundering law, which sets up a new federal money laundering agency to monitor every transaction over $10,000, passed last year with plenty of warning. But now that the law is in place, law societies are calling for amendments. There is also growing recognition the law will do nothing to stop organized crime. It's a little late for these concerns. Banks, investment houses and others are also trying to fight regulations that would impose massive paper-pushing and monitoring costs -- estimated at up to $100-million -- and turn bankers, lawyers and accountants into government spies on their customers. It's not a police state yet, but the laws are in place to create one should anyone get the urge. The common thread running through these money-laundering and other anti-crime laws around the world leads straight to Washington and the most futile crime crusade since prohibition: the war on drugs. Hundreds of billions of dollars, global prosecution regimes and out of control police actions are doing little to stop the drug trade. But they are lining the pockets of bureaucrats and police workers and laying the groundwork for institutionalized state control. The international rhetorical campaign against money laundering, organized crime and so-called "gang" laws, has escalated into what one legal specialist called a "regulatory jihad." The objective is to enroll the whole world in the U.S. drug war. The enrolment technique is to grossly exaggerate the crime. Ottawa's money laundering legislation was adopted on the grounds that somewhere between $5-billion and $17-billion in crime proceeds were being washed through Canada every year. Those bogus numbers were concocted by a consultant who defined money laundering as an "economic crime." It's a handy catch-all that included insurance fraud ($2.5-billion), cellular phone fraud ( $650-million ), stock market fraud ( $3-billion ), telemarketing fraud ( $4-billion ). Even if these numbers are accurate, and they look wildly implausible, most of the crimes have nothing to do with money laundering or the drug industry. The New Yorker magazine estimated last year that the U.S. government spends US$16-billion a year on the war on drugs. State and local governments another US$24-billion. The result is two million people in prison, up from 750,000 a year ago. But the number of drug addicts has not changed. Where do Canada's governments get such enthusiasm for joining this absurd U.S. war -- and at such expense to Canadians' rights and protections? The new laws expand police powers, break down the trust between bankers and customers, and between lawyers and clients, and give governments new authority to prosecute and harass innocent people. The U.S. war on drugs is fast becoming a Canadian war on Canadians. And we don't even have a drug problem worth worrying about. SAMPLE LETTER To the editor: On behalf of Americans whose tax dollars are used to fund our misguided War On (some) Drugs, please accept our apologies that these horribly failed policies are creating a ripple effect which increases government intrusion into the affairs of your country's citizens. Here in the United States, many of our weak willed politicians use the Drug War as motivation for all manner of government snooping and legislative silliness. As your report from Mr Corcoran related, we also have invasive inquiries into even modest cash transactions by otherwise law-abiding citizens. In recent months, consideration has been given to criminalizing free speech on the Internet that may contain references to any kind of illegal drug use. And in this past year, we have approved funding for several billion dollars in military hardware which is being used to poison the agricultural lands in Colombia and other parts of South America. This in a supposed effort to crush cocaine production and thus 'save' less than 1% of our population from their own self destructive choices. Of course such strategies do nothing to address the very real problems of drug abuse in our country or yours. An encouraging remedy may be near at hand, however. In your country, serious discussion is being raised with regards to ending the criminal sanctions against responsible adult use of cannabis. Those of us who work closely with drug-policy reform in the U.S. are fully aware that cannabis Prohibition accounts for over 2/3 of all monies expended in The War. As your country makes the very sensible decisions relating to ending criminal laws against cannabis, the U.S. will find itself further isolated from our irrational strategy of warring against our own citizenry. At that time, you will likely see much relief in Canada from the pressures being exerted by the U.S. government to enlist your participation in the ill-fated Drug War. Stephen Heath Drug Policy Forum of Florida contact info IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. TARGET ANALYSIS NATIONAL POST Canada's version of USA Today, The National Post, is available everywhere in Canada. The MAP Published Letter archives shows 23 pro-reform letters published at http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=National+Post While the letters published from United States writers are few, this is probably more a reflection of where the majority of the letters they receive come from rather than any bias towards Canadian writers. The National Post clearly prefers to print short letters. The average published letter is only 136 words long, with a range from 40 to 244 words. ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Prepared by Stephen Heath, Richard Lake and Stephen Young - http://www.maximizingharm.com/ Focus Alert Specialists

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