Pubdate: Wed, 18 Feb 2009
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2009 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact: 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/feedback/?form=lettersToTheEditorForm 
Website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Robert Matas
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization)

OTTAWA URGED TO LEGALIZE, REGULATE ILLICIT DRUGS

VANCOUVER -- The explosion of gang violence on Vancouver streets 
could be stopped with the legalization and regulation of psychoactive 
drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana, says public health 
professor Richard Mathias, who speaks for the Health Officers Council 
of British Columbia.

"Anyone who is a capitalist understands, for really big rewards, 
you've got to be prepared to take really big risks," Prof. Mathias 
said yesterday in an interview. "From the gang perspective, the 
rewards are immense. So they are ready to take a lot of risk and do a 
lot of things that we would not accept, because the rewards are so great."

Prof. Mathias drew a parallel between the rash of recent shootings in 
Metro Vancouver and the gangland shooting of seven men on St. 
Valentine's Day, 1929, in Chicago. The manufacture, sale and 
transportation of liquor was illegal in the United States from 1920 
to 1933. Gangster Al Capone was widely believed to be responsible for 
the killings, although he was never charged with the crime.

Prof. Mathias believes a public-health approach could reduce the harm 
caused by drugs, wipe out much of the power of criminal gangs 
fighting over turf and help resuscitate neighbourhoods such as 
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. "Just regulate them [the drugs]," he said.

Donald MacPherson, Vancouver's drug policy co-ordinator, said the 
current system for delivering drugs such as heroin and cocaine causes 
considerably more harm than the drugs themselves.

"If I am a heroin user, I do not know the dosage or purity," he said 
in an interview. "You don't let people stand on the corner and make 
white bread and sell it unless they have been regulated. But these 
drugs are totally unregulated. The only regulated people [in the 
system] are organized criminals."

Mr. MacPherson said authorities should "at least open up the 
discussion" on the feasibility of regulating drugs.

"Why should we leave it to organized crime to regulate these drugs? 
Let's talk about it. We may not have an answer at this moment, but 
there seems to be a prohibition on even talking about the issue," Mr. 
MacPherson said.

"Drugs are everywhere. We need to regulate and control them better."

The problems resulting from drugs are among the key issues driving 
much of the death, despair and crime in the Downtown Eastside, he 
said. But he cautioned that legalizing and regulating drugs will not 
solve all the problems, which can be dealt with only through "a 
comprehensive approach."

The remarks of Prof. Mathias and Mr. MacPherson calling for changes 
in federal drug laws come as the province's medical health officers 
endorsed a resolution asking all health authorities to develop 
supervised injection sites as an integrated part of health-care 
services across the province.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom