Pubdate: Sun, 25 May 2014
Source: North Shore News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2014 North Shore News
Contact:  http://www.nsnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/311
Author: Jane Seyd

FORMER WEST VANCOUVER TOP COP CONSULTS FOR POT BIZ

Former West Vancouver police chief and one-time solicitor general Kash
Heed has a new line of work - offering advice to commercial medicinal
marijuana growers.

"I'm a security consultant and policy advisor," said Heed this week
about his role in one of the country's greenest new industries.

Heed said he sometimes accompanies marijuana company bosses as they
explain their business to local governments and law enforcement officials.

But he added he's choosy about which companies he gets involved with,
and has turned down business from operations that were "not a good
fit."

Heed said he sees no contradiction between his former career in law
enforcement and his current involvement in the new commercial
marijuana business.

Even as head of the Vancouver Police Department's drug section, he was
an advocate for drug policy reform, said Heed.

"I advocated for changes to the laws here in Canada," he said.
"Current prohibition laws in Canada are a failure."

Heed said the percentages of Canadians who admit to having tried
marijuana - about one-third of the population - and those who admit to
being regular users - about 11 per cent - haven't changed in decades,
despite the war on drugs.

During his brief stint as the top cop in West Vancouver, Heed created
controversy when he cancelled the Drug Abuse Resistance Education
(DARE ) program that had been delivered in West Vancouver elementary
schools for a dozen years, describing it as a waste of money. Heed
still stands by that decision.

"The 'Just say no to drugs, boys and girls' does not work," he
said.

"I'm saying take the profits away from organized crime."

Heed said he's not alone in his views. "Many leaders in policing and
political figures feel the way I feel," he said. They just won't say
it publicly, he added.

Heed also predicted that Canada could see full legalization of
recreational marijuana use for adults within five years - mostly
because of shifts in U.S. states and other countries.

Const. Jeff Palmer, spokesman for the West Vancouver Police
Department, had no comment on Heed's new venture. "We wouldn't have
any comment on a private citizen making a decision about where to work
or views he would express."

The DARE program has not been reinstated in West Vancouver but is
still taught in North Vancouver schools.

"The RCMP continues to support the DARE program as one of our drug
prevention programs for our youth," said Cpl. Richard De Jong,
spokesman for the North Vancouver RCMP.
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MAP posted-by: Matt