DON'T SACRIFICE RIGHTS IN WAR ON DRUGS

Lawyer Robert Gill proved the maxim that if the only tool you have is
a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. ("Perhaps it's time
to tweak the charter," Jan 4.) In the wake of prosecutors staying drug
charges after police botched a search of a vessel carrying cannabis,
Gill proposed we modify the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow
unlawful and warrantless searches if they result in evidence of a crime.

When such fishing expeditions come up empty, we would allow victims to
retain a lawyer and take the police to civil court, to sue taxpayers
for damages. Assumedly when victims can not afford a lawyer, one would
be provided at taxpayers' expense.

The article went on to suggest that, if after five years, we "feel"
more secure, we make the gift to his profession permanent.

Thomas Jefferson (who grew hemp) once said: "A society that will trade
a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve
neither." The war on drugs is a classic example. Perhaps it's time to
trash the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

Matthew M. Elrod

Victoria