RCMP WORRIED MAYOR'S IDEA AN INVITATION TO ADDICTS

VANCOUVER -- The RCMP's top officer in charge of drug enforcement and
organized crime in Canada says he has concerns with Vancouver Mayor
Sam Sullivan's idea of giving free drugs to addicts.

"I think it will make things worse," Chief Superintendent Derek
Ogden, the RCMP's director general of drugs and organized crime, said
Monday during a meeting with the editorial board of The Vancouver Sun.

He believes drug use would increase if Vancouver adopted Sullivan's
idea to provide maintenance drugs to addicts.

"More people would come to Vancouver," he said. "Definitely I would
have a lot of concerns with that plan."

Ogden, when questioned, admitted he didn't have any evidence to prove
drug use would shoot up if Sullivan's idea were implemented.

"We've never had a situation where the drug laws have never been
enforced," he said. "My assumption is that drug usage would go up."

Ogden said he isn't opposed to drug harm reduction programs such as
needle exchanges to reduce the incidence of blood-borne diseases, but
feels harm reduction, in some circles, is becoming synonymous with
"facilitation" -- providing drugs to addicts in order to reduce crime
and take the profits away from organized crime.

"Facilitation isn't something we want to build Canada's drug strategy
on," explained Ogden, who was in Vancouver to attend an international
harm reduction conference.

He also believes legalizing drugs in Canada would not be a "magic
bullet" to get rid of organized crime and drug addiction.

"I think if it was legalized, we'd have a much greater problem than
what we have today," Ogden said.

He believes legalization would lead to increased drug use, health
care costs and Canada becoming a safe haven for drug dealers.

Even if marijuana was legalized, he said, organized crime groups
would still be involved in exporting pot for huge profits.

"Marijuana has definitely changed the face of organized crime," Ogden
said, adding that crime groups use the profits from the home-grown
marijuana industry to finance other ventures.