POLICE CAN'T WIN THE DRUG BATTLE

Officers Deserve Credit For Targeting Dealers, But The Only Real
Solution Is To Reduce Demand

Full credit to Victoria police for a successful undercover operation
aimed at disrupting a major local source of heroin and cocaine.

But don't expect "Project Plato," as the exercise was dubbed, to have
any effect on problems on Victoria's streets in terms of making drugs
harder to get or more expensive or curbing crime.

The five people charged will go through the legal process and, if
convicted, will likely face prison time. Every dealer will likely be
looking nervously over their shoulders for a while.

But removing one source of drugs, even a large one, will have no
effect on the problems affecting life in the community. There are many
others willing to step in and supply the market.

Police are still performing an important job with such efforts, which
this time involved about 50 officers working for more than a month to
gather evidence. Enforcement gets dealers off the street and provides
at least some deterrent value for others considering the illegal
trade. We expect police to take on the difficult challenge.

We should also recognize that it will make little or no difference in
terms of the drug problems that affect community life and public
safety. As long as there is strong demand for drugs, new suppliers
will emerge to fill any gaps in the market.

Consider the results of one of the largest drug seizures in Canadian
history. In 2000, police scored a stunning enforcement success.
Officers in Vancouver grabbed 99 kilograms of heroin destined for the
streets; at the same time police in Toronto seized 55 kilograms. The
raids removed about six million doses in one decisive operation.

Coincidentally, University of British Columbia researchers were in the
middle of a major project tracking 1,400 drug users on the Downtown
Eastside. They were able to look at the seizures' effect on the
streets and reported their findings in the Canadian Medical
Association Journal.

The seizures had absolutely no impact. Heroin was just as available.
Prices actually dropped slightly following the seizures. Ten people
had died of overdoses in the month before the raids; an average 13 a
month died in the three months following the raids.

Police deserve credit for their success in this case and others like
it. But our drug problems will not be fixed, or even reduced, by
attacking the supply side. As long as demand exists and big profits
are possible, drugs will be available.

Our efforts need to be on the demand side. Education, to keep people
from starting drugs. Harm reduction, to help them manage their use.
Treatment and support, to help them quit. Without a real commitment to
those elements, enforcement efforts are doomed to fail.