Pubdate: Tue, 25 Sep 2012
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2012 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Kelly Sinoski

MUNICIPAL LEADERS TAKE POT DECRIMINALIZATION TO A VOTE

Experts at Odds About Effect Lifting Drug Laws Will Have on Crime

B. C. municipal leaders will vote Wednesday on a resolution that 
calls for the decriminalization of marijuana, with some experts 
saying a prohibition on pot is a failed policy that has cost millions 
of dollars in police, court, jail and social costs.

But a leading criminologist and two police officers - from Canada and 
the U. S. - argue lifting the prohibition will have little effect on 
reducing organized crime or the black market in marijuana.

Sgt. Dave Williams, an RCMP drug enforcement officer, noted B. C. pot 
is a highly sought- after "commodity," especially across the U. S., 
where it is exported and traded for guns, or more potent drugs like 
cocaine, which are then brought to Canada.

The problem is so prolific, he said, that police officers, cannot 
take care of every marijuana growing complaint in B. C.

"We have the largest customer in North America directly across the 
line and that demand is going to keep the supply at a very high 
level," Williams told delegates at the Union of B. C. Municipalities 
convention Monday.

The issue, raised at the UBCM by the community of Metchosin, calls 
for the "appropriate government to decriminalize marijuana and 
research the regulation and taxation of marijuana."

The resolution suggests that based on current police information, B. 
C. is responsible for 40 per cent of the marijuana produced in 
Canada. Between 80 and 95 per cent of pot produced in this country is 
exported illegally into the U. S.

Dr. Evan Wood, professor of medicine at the University of B. C., said 
the issue has become an "intractable problem" across the province. 
About $ 2.7 billion goes every year to organized crime, he said, and 
is used to buy other drugs and guns.

Geoff Plant, a lawyer and B. C.' s former attorney-general, agreed 
prohibition of marijuana has been a "disastrous failure of public 
policy," noting 585,000 people in B. C. regularly use the drug. The 
situation has led to huge costs in enforcement, gang trials and courts.

Plant urged B. C. municipalities to work with others across Canada in 
calling for change at the federal level, while learning to work 
alongside folks south of the border, noting several states are 
considering legalizing marijuana and "the Americans are actually 
starting to get ahead of us."

But Patrick Slack, commander of the Snohomish County Regional Drug 
and Gang Task Force in Washington state, said while he sees the 
Americans partnering with B. C. to stop the "scourge out there," he's 
not sure decriminalization and regulation is the answer.

"Anything government touches gets screwed up. It's going to get taxed 
and if it gets taxed too high, what happens?" he said.

Darryl Plecas, a criminologist with the University of the Fraser 
Valley, agreed, noting gangs and violence are related to the 
production and export of marijuana, not possession. "We're not 
talking about people smoking a few joints," he said.

Plecas noted the list of harmful effects of marijuana is growing and 
"we should expect that list to grow even longer and the harms to be 
intensified," while the costs won't go away.

"We have more grow ops than most anywhere on the planet; it's a 
multimillion business," he said.

"For those to say ' I'm not going to grow [ marijuana] anymore 
because they made this change, that's just dreaming."

Williams agreed it's possible but unlikely that organized crime will 
ever be eradicated, noting organized criminals are highly adaptable. 
When the City of Surrey undertook a novel approach, by having its 
electrical fire and safety teams initiate inspections, large-scale 
marijuana producers were forced to move out of their jurisdiction.

Some of these went to Langley, while others went to rural B. C. where 
organized crime increased capacity with large-scale barns and diesel 
generation.

But Const. Dave Bratzer, a Victoria police officer, insisted 
regulation can work. "You never see Molson Canadian and Coors start 
shooting at each other across the street. They get their lawyers to 
sort it out," he said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom