ONE METHOD ON HOW TO CUT THE CRIME RATE IN BC: LEGALIZE DRUGS

Last week's column touched on crime rates around the province, which
the B.C. government tracks by health region.

If you look at violent crime, serious property crime and non-cannabis
drug crime, the safest place to live in B.C. is Vancouver Island. Next
best is the Interior region, which encompasses the Kootenays, Okanagan
and Cariboo.

In the middle of the pack is the Fraser region, the largest in the
province by population. Second worst is the vast Northern region, and
the highest serious crime rates are in Vancouver Coastal, which
includes Vancouver, Richmond, the North Shore and Sunshine Coast.

The good news is the rate of serious crime has been going down in most
parts of the province, the exception being the North, where serious
crime went up by more than eight per cent from 2001 to 2004.

The bad news, as I'm reminded by a new discussion paper just released
by the B.C. Progress Board, is that despite improvements, B.C. still
ranks in the top third of Canadian provinces in all categories of
major crime.

The discussion paper, prepared by Simon Fraser University criminology
professors Robert Gordon and Bryan Kinney, contains some provocative
suggestions. When it comes to illegal drugs, for example, the
professors conclude that B.C. has only three choices:

1. Lobby the federal government to legalize the drug trade,
controlling it as tobacco and alcohol are regulated today.

2. Eliminate the organized criminal drug trade by way of a major
expenditure in new police teams, legislation targeting money
laundering and proceeds of crime, increased penalties and construction
of new jails.

3. Combine options one and two, with a crackdown on organized crime
followed by a phased-in decriminalization and legalization.

Of course the Conservative government in Ottawa will embrace
legalization about the same time Hell opens for public skating.
Stephen Harper is reputed to be a libertarian at heart, but his
justice and public safety posse, Vic Teows and Stock Day, are hang-'em
high social conservatives who were appointed to play to the party's
older support base, and would likely only support increased drug penalties.

The criminologists argue legalizing drugs isn't likely to increase
demand much more. If people want drugs they will find a way to get
them, or manufacture it.

The report warns that there is a fourth option, which is to maintain
the status quo. For B.C. that means continuing to have Canada's most
lenient courts, which combines with a relatively benign climate to
make B.C. the destination of choice for criminals.

As things stand, B.C. currently has twice the rate of drug crime as
any other province. And since legalization is currently not a viable
option politically, the practical choice would be to increase
sentences for major drug crime.