MOST DRUG-RELATED VIOLENCE IS SYSTEMIC

Dear Editor - Re: 'Drug Problem Must Be Known' (Guelph Mercury, Oct. 23).

I agree that the public would benefit from knowing when crimes are
"drug linked." However, the relationship between drugs and crime can
be confusing.

Some drug-related crimes are aggravated by the effects of drugs. For
example, alcohol is implicated in half of all homicides, half of all
traffic fatalities and one-third of all suicides. In contrast,
cannabis, sedatives, hallucinogens and opiates are not criminogenic.

Heavy use of stimulants, like cocaine and methamphetamine, can lead
to violent psychosis, but most drug-related violence is systemic.
With no recourse to the law, drug traffickers and users are reliving
the wild west. The case you mentioned of a shooting last April at a
Bagot Street apartment was likely systemic, a drug deal gone bad.

Most drug-related crime is economic compulsive. Heavy users often
fund their habits through fraud, theft, prostitution and trafficking.
Economic compulsive crime is more a consequence of the price than the
chemistry of drugs. Drug profits and laundering corrupt our police,
courts, politicians and financial institutions.

The crime we associate with alcohol is mainly caused by the effects
of alcohol, but the profits, corruption, systemic and predatory
crimes we associate with illicit drugs are chiefly caused by drug
prohibition. For example, opiate-related crime was unheard of until
we passed the Opium Narcotic Act of 1908, shutting down Chinese opium
dens for openly racist reasons.

The police and the media would advance public awareness and
understanding by reserving the labels "drug-linked" and "drug
related" for crimes that are actually caused by drugs, and adopting
the term "prohibition related" for everything else.

Matthew M. Elrod

Victoria, B.C.