WE NEED TO BE WARY OF SIMPLE SOLUTIONS TO B.C.'S DRUG WARS

As a follow-up to the continuing news coverage of bloody gang warfare
in Metro Vancouver, it was interesting to read a story over the
weekend by Province reporter John Colebourn about how our local
marijuana industry is spreading its deadly tentacles into the U.S.

Since June, at least three people are reported to have been killed in
Washington state in murders linked to B.C.'s multibillion-dollar pot
business.

And Lt. Rich Wiley, of Washington State Patrol's narcotics program,
says police increasingly find themselves up against Canadian
criminals, as marijuana growers from B.C. set up shop there.

"We are ramping up efforts, but more needs to be done," Wiley told the
Everett Herald. "We don't want the state to turn into B.C." The irony
is shocking. For years,we have prided ourselves on the belief that
Canada is not as violent a country as the U.S. and doesn't suffer from
the same serious crime problems.

Now, it appears, the shoe is on the other foot. Crime appears to have
gotten so bad here we are actually exporting it across the border.

Liberal Sen. Larry Campbell, the former Vancouver city major, says the
solution is simple: Legalize pot.

And Campbell calls those who disagree with him either "stupid" or, in
the case of White House drug czar John Walters, a "moron."

Maybe the biggest stupidity, though, is that of those who still think
there's a simple solution to a B.C. problem that's taken years to take
deep root - namely a virulent drug culture nourished by
asleep-at-the-switch politicians.