LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WOULD CRIPPLE THE PROFITS OF THE VIOLENT DRUG LORDS

Gangs, gangs, gangs. That's all we heard about in the news this past
weekend. Gangs . . . and guns.

The Lower Mainland Integrated Gang Task Force says there are an
estimated 129 criminal organizations at work in the province.

But, apart from being able to count them, the IGTF can't seem to
catch them, even though they claim to know who they are.

The weekend's most poignant moment was hearing Eileen Mohan speak
about the murder of her son Chris, one of two innocent victims of the
tragedy in

Surrey last year in which four known gang members were also killed.

Arrests to date: None.

And what is it that fuels the activities of all these gangs? Drugs,
drugs, drugs.

And of these, marijuana comprises by far the biggest trade and
provides by far the greatest profits. I never thought I'd say this,
but I'm forced to the conclusion that to pursue the war on pot
through prohibitive legislation is the grandest of all follies.

When any law is regarded with complete and utter contempt by a
significant part of the public, then it demeans all laws and erodes
respect for the system. Such is the case with the marijuana law.

The result is that thousands of otherwise respectable people,
including lawyers, professors, bus drivers and yes, even journalists,
engage in a recreational habit that risks a criminal record.

But it's not them I'm particularly concerned with.

Aside from making an ass of the law, the marijuana business -- one of
the most lucrative in B.C. -- enriches all the wrong people, and at
no benefit to the community.

The scum who kill in cold blood to protect their turf are the
beneficiaries of a gratuitous shower of riches even Croesus would envy.

Some of their vast income trickles down to the poor saps who risk
jail for the chance to earn a couple of grand by turning their
townhouses into grow-ops.

But millions, maybe billions, pass through gang hands -- and
possibly, we now learn, through our casinos -- beyond the grasp of
the tax collector.

By regulating and imposing a levy on the stuff, vast sums would flow
into government treasuries.

Drug gangs buy guns with their filthy lucre. We could build permanent
hospitals, instead of portable emergency rooms in parking lots.

Would legalization make marijuana more widely available? Rather the
opposite, if it were subject to proper retail controls, as is liquor.

Would it be safer for white-collar professionals indulging at
weekends? Certainly.

Would we have at our disposal greater resources for research into
addictions, both alcohol- and drug-related? Of course.

Would legal marijuana put us on a slippery slope to moral decay? I doubt it.

But I do know it would put a crippling dent in the obscene profits of
the drug lords and their trigger-happy assassins for whom the present
law is just dandy, thank you.