KILLINGS POSE QUESTIONS WITH NO EASY ANSWERS

The death of four young RCMP officers on an isolated Alberta farm on
Thursday has conjured up strong feelings with few outlets, and tough
questions with few answers. Our first reactions are naturally horror
at the bloodshed and sympathy for the families - followed promptly by
some reflection on the danger all police officers face daily as they
make Canada a safer place to live.

Then come the ramifications of this disastrous raid for marijuana law
and law enforcement. Some elected officials have been quick to call
for a moratorium on spin, but this is precisely because the policy
implications of the tragedy are so profound. Already, opinion on the
incident is divided into opposing camps, one calling for a crackdown
on marijuana "grow operations," the other urging an end to the war on
drugs.

Unfortunately for our decision-makers, both camps make interesting
points. Crackdown advocates will point out that marijuana plantations
are not, as many suppose, run by harmless hippies attempting to
supplement their modest incomes from pottery sales. James Roszko, who
apparently shot himself after gunning down the officers, was a violent
loner with a criminal past. He was said to be trading in stolen auto
parts as well as cannabis.

Across the land, and not least in Quebec, the marijuana market
attracts bikers and gangsters who pay no taxes on the fortunes they
amass. Their hydroponic operations are often run with stolen
electricity. Payment for pot may be in cocaine as well as cash.
Grow-ops are booby-trapped to deter theft or destruction by rival
gangsters, if not to prevent entry by the authorities. Seizures have
more than tripled since 1995. Few dispute that the pot market has
expanded at an even greater rate. This is big-league crime.

Which is precisely why the enforcement effort is useless, say the
pro-grow types. Legalizing marijuana cultivation, they argue, would
eliminate the illicit trade as quickly as the repeal of Prohibition in
the United States ended traffic in alcohol, with all its associated
crime and mortality. Many Canadians enjoy marijuana regardless of its
legal status. It is ineradicable, so the argument runs, and not worth
eradicating in any case.

Some go a little farther and say the four RCMP officers died in vain,
that they would be alive in a Canada with legal pot. This is illogical
as well as callous. No police officers would perish at the hands of
bank robbers if bank robbery ceased to be an criminal offence.

And apart from his marijuana activities, Roszko was charged for firing
a shotgun at trespassers in 1999 and served jail time in the 1990s for
other firearms offences. Pot or no pot, he was a dangerous man.

This very fact raises questions about RCMP training and tactics. Why
was there no experienced officer supervising the Thursday raid? How
could a single gunman slay four armed officers who knew him to be violent?

The Alberta tragedy will resonate in the consciousness of Canadians
long after the flags at half-mast are raised again. Its unresolved
questions deserve our sober consideration.