Pubdate: Thu, 12 May 2005
Source: Simon Fraser News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2005, Simon Fraser University, Media and Public Relations
Contact:  http://www.sfu.ca/mediapr/sfnews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1040
Author: Diane Luckow
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

MOST DRUG TRAFFICKERS ON WELFARE

A new study profiling 600 street-level drug traffickers in Vancouver's 
downtown eastside reveals that the majority are Canadian citizens on 
welfare who have prior criminal convictions. Most are dealing in cocaine.

The study was conducted by SFU master of arts student Kash Heed, a 
Vancouver police officer who previously commanded the Vancouver police drug 
section.

"No research of this kind had been done before," says Heed, who is 
currently commanding officer of the southeast side of Vancouver. "When I 
was commanding officer of the drug unit I realized that something had to be 
looked at, because for so many years, our practices and policies have not 
worked."

His MA thesis, which he recently defended in front of examiners that 
included mayor Larry Campbell, criticizes the war on drugs and suggests 
areas for change in order to establish realistic, practical policies for 
addressing the drug trade. Increased enforcement is not among the suggestions.

"A lot of our policies are along the lines of increased enforcement, which 
has created a paradoxical effect where we have made the situation worse by 
the policies we put in place," he says.

Instead, he recommends decriminalization and treatment to fight Vancouver's 
drug problems. He'd like to see a separation of the supply and demand sides 
of the drug problem and a shift from targeting big international 
organizations by means of drug busts at points of entry, to a concern for 
final users, the organization and function of local markets and the local 
criminal gangs and individuals who serve them.

He also recommends educating the public to understand that drug trafficking 
is not a problem imported to Canada from outside.

"The typical drug salesperson is not a wealthy gangster," he says, "but 
rather a person on the fringes of society who does not possess a wide range 
of options in life."

Heed would like to initiate a public dialogue on the alternative policy of 
treatment and rehabilitation. "The figures seem to show that there is a 
segment of people arrested for trafficking who could be treated for their 
addiction problems where those exist, and then encouraged and supported to 
move away from the criminal lifestyle that is the mark of the repeat 
trafficking offender."
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth