VANCOUVER POLICE 'NOT PURSUING' ARRESTS FOR POSSESSION OF HARD DRUGS

Vancouver Inspector Makes Revelation At Senate Hearing

Vancouver police have, for all practical purposes, stopped arresting
people for drug possession -- whether the drug is cannabis, cocaine,
heroin or designer drugs -- a senior officer told a Senate committee
hearing Wednesday.

Inspector Kash Heed, commanding officer of the police department's
vice and drug section, said police have chosen to focus on busting
profit-makers in the drug industry and tacitly ignore people who carry
small amounts of drugs for their own use.

The police department also believes the prohibition of cannabis should
be revisited and the federal government should consider removing
criminal sanctions, he said.

"In practical terms, we have de facto decriminalization or de facto
legalization based on the wide margin of discretion afforded to the
police," he told the Senate special committee on illegal drugs.

However, he said he wasn't suggesting cannabis should be legalized.
The department supports the concept of possessors being given fines
akin to traffic tickets. Such penalties would not result in a criminal
conviction.

The special committee, which is reviewing Canada's anti-drug
legislation, was in Vancouver Wednesday.

Heed's comments -- which he said represent the official view of the
Vancouver police department -- came after Vancouver Mayor Philip Owen
told the committee the legalization of soft drugs such as cannabis is
inevitable.

But it was the officer's comments near the end of the day that took
the committee most by surprise.

Pierre-Claude Nolin, the committee's chairman, said Heed had made
"bold" comments that raise the stakes facing police and the public
about the issues around illegal drugs.

He congratulated the officer for considering an approach not normally
endorsed by police.

Heed said police in Vancouver recognize they need to go after drug
profit-makers such as dealers and growers, and generally don't bother
people who have small amounts for personal use.

The courts have also signalled they're not really interested in
pursuing possession charges, he said. Crown prosecutors don't want to
be burdened with personal possession charges, and judges often hand
down light sentences, up to and including absolute discharge.

As a result, police officers have been told by their superiors that
they have wide discretion in charging people who have small amounts of
drugs -- hard or soft.

"The Vancouver police department's policies focus drug enforcement
resources on people who are making a profit from the sale of drugs,"
Heed said. "Generally, simple possession charges are not pursued,
regardless of the type of drug, unless there are extenuating
circumstances."

Heed said the department, although still "vigilant," has become
tolerant of clubs that provide cannabis for medicinal purposes.

The changing public view about soft drug use and the fact that police
have been unable to effectively control cannabis means the government
should consider decriminalizing the drug, he said.

"Current policies directed at prohibiting the use of cannabis and
controlling the supply of cannabis should be reconsidered," he said.

"The confirmed ineffectiveness of control of use through prohibiting
the supply, and the high costs of implementing such a policy make it
very unlikely [it] will be effective in reducing cannabis use. It
seems likely that the removal of criminal sanctions should be given
serious consideration by the federal government in the near future."

Heed said the department is grappling with a massive cannabis-growing
industry that eats up enormous amounts of law enforcement resources.

The cannabis grown in an estimated 15,000 operations in the Lower
Mainland has a wholesale value of about $4.2 billion annually.
Provincially, the wholesale value is about $6 billion, he said.

Heed said the Vancouver police department's views run counter to those
of law enforcement agencies in the United States, who still adamantly
insist on trying to control possession.

The senate committee was created in April and is expected to table its
report to the Senate in August, 2002.