Reading The Daily News top story of Aug. 22, "Pot bust nets 2,000 plants,"
regarding the use of military helicopters in the "annual" cannabis search
and destroy operations in the British Columbian Interior, I am reminded of
another unwinnable "police action," the Vietnam war. Instead of body
counts, taxpayers are given reassuring plant counts and "street values." As
the Vietnamese were forced underground by U.S. air-power, cannabis growers
are setting up indoor growing operations in basements and garden sheds all
over the province.

In 1993 Kim Campbell defended the proposed purchase of EH-101 helicopters
by saying, "Without these new helicopters, how do we monitor illegal
fishing along our coasts? The first time we rescue someone off our coasts
beyond the range our helicopters now have, people will stop asking
questions about costs." Does this four day eradication effort involving
military pilots and technical staff indicate that we no longer need to
monitor illegal fishing? Has our need for helicopters in search and rescue
been met?

RCMP Sgt. Dennis Ryan claims that "Police might not net many suspects, but
they will take the profit out of the crop cultivators' hands." On the
contrary, cannabis is British Columbia's largest cash crop. The seizure of
2,000 plants will have no impact whatsoever on the availability of cannabis
in B.C. If anything, these futile and expensive efforts help to increase
the value of cannabis and so increase the profits for cannabis cultivators.
By prohibiting cannabis, a recreational drug far safer than our currently
legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco, taxpayers are subsidizing the black
market.

Like the Vietnam War, the War on Drugs is a "limited" war of suppression
with no achievable objectives. Robert McNamara once remarked that any war
worth fighting is worth fighting well. If we are serious about this war on
a plant that grows wild around the world, we should stop pulling our
punches. We should deploy the full might of the military, jet fighters,
tanks and artillery. Better yet, let us take the advice of former B.C.
Chief Coroner Vince Cain. Decriminalize cannabis, cut our losses in this
absurd and "expensive failure," and bug out.

MATTHEW M. ELROD