BLOOD MONEY FUELS DRUG TRADE

The gangland-style assassination of a local realtor last week sent
shock waves through Chilliwack. The killing marks 17 targeted
shootings in the Lower Mainland this year alone - evidence, police
say, of the continuing struggle for control over the region's
lucrative drug trade.

Police have said little about the murder of 33-year-old Mike Gordon
Wednesday evening, except that the victim was "known to police," and
that he and his assailants were likely known to each other.

Nonetheless, that hasn't stopped the speculation. Theories were
flowing fast and freely last week as gang connections were drawn
between Gordon and the murky underworld of organized crime.

That Chilliwack finds itself stained by the same gang war that has
left a trail of blood in other municipalities should be expected.
Gangs have been operating in the community for years. It was only a
matter of time before the violence reached a deserted parking lot in
a quiet suburban neighbourhood in Chilliwack.

But onus should not rest solely with the person who pulled the trigger.

If Gordon was indeed killed by organized crime, his murder was funded
- - in part - by the recreational drug users who can't see through
their own smoke to understand the world they are financing.

Money drives organized crime. And every dollar spent on illicit drugs
trickles up the ladder to people who think nothing of ending a life.