FIGHT CRIME, LEGALIZE POT

Communities are well-served when activists and religious leaders take
the lead in combatting the gun violence that is ruining so many young
lives in Toronto and elsewhere. Unfortunately, they do not always
understand the root causes of the problem they are fighting.

Basic economics tell us that making a commodity harder to obtain will
make it more expensive. Dealers of illegal narcotics have benefitted
from this simple truth for decades, as the government's war on drugs
has created a lucrative criminal premium for the gangs willing to
suffer the risks associated with selling contraband. As a predictable
result, violence around the illegal but immensely profitable trade
has increased, contributing to serious gang and gun problems.

Yet Canada Christian College president Charles McVety and an array of
Toronto activists are now blaming marijuana decriminalization plans
- -- and other perceived instances of not being tough enough on drugs
- -- for Toronto's gun crime.

"Stop the soft talk on drugs," Mr. McVety said at a news conference
in one of Toronto's high-crime neighbourhoods earlier this week.
"Young people are joining gangs for the lure of drug money."

It is true: Young people are joining gangs because there is quick
cash to be had. But making drugs even more verboten, and therefore
even more profitable, is just going to make matters worse.

Obviously, heavy drug use is destructive and frequently deadly.
Consequently, it is debatable whether legalizing hard drugs -- even
if it reduced organized crime -- would be a responsible reform at
this time. But cracking down on drugs such as marijuana -- no more
harmful than alcohol, the prohibition of which once caused no
shortage of crime problems as well -- is surely not the answer. The
best way to reduce crime is to legalize marijuana, not to make it
even more of a hot commodity.