Pubdate: Thu, 19 Mar 2009
Source: Richmond Review, The (CN BC)
Copyright: 2009 Black Press
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/P92NTYdG
Website: http://drugsense.org/url/WcGUPNub
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/704
Note: Previously appeared in the Chilliwack Progress:

AN ARGUMENT THAT'S GONE TO POT

Another day, another targeted shooting.

Such is life (and death) in the Lower Mainland these days.

In the past few months, there have been 37 shootings, with three 
occurring just over the weekend.

The escalating violence is leaving residents rattled. And rightly so.

Finding people to blame is the easiest part of this crisis.

The courts, the police, the politicians, even parents share 
responsibility for the carnage, according to some.

To one group however, the solution is simple: decriminalize 
marijuana. With knee-jerk regularity they claim every gangland 
slaying and every drive-by attack could be avoided if marijuana were 
legally obtainable.

Their argument rests on a comparison with the prohibition of alcohol 
in the 1920s. Gangs and guns went hand-in-hand with the distribution 
of the contraband. Once the prohibition was lifted, they say, the 
tommy guns were silenced.

But did organized crime truly die with prohibition?

Hardly.

Although one lucrative tap was shut off (with the diverted proceeds 
running freely into government coffers), organized criminals simply 
found other sources of wealth. Because that's what they do. That's 
their business.

Besides, the illegal drug industry is a North Americanwide problem. 
If Canada welcomes the weed, there will still be a black market south 
of the border in the U.S. and Mexico. And of course harder drugs like 
cocaine, crystal meth and heroin - not to mention guns - will still 
be bought and sold.

To assume the gangster wannabes will hang up their Kevlar vests just 
because marijuana becomes easier to acquire is simplistic at best.

Certainly we can have the discussion about the effectiveness of our 
courts or police chasing everyone at the whiff of a smoldering joint.

But let's not be so naive as to believe the people who are capable of 
spraying a mother with machine gun fire while her four-year-old son 
is in the back seat of the car will transition smoothly into civilian 
life once their illicit income runs dry.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart