KNIGHT'S ATTACK A NAZI-LIKE STRATEGY

Dear Editor:

Leo Knight's recent article (July 19) -- describing the inhabitants of
Vancouver's Downtown Eastside as "...the besotted, fallen whores and those
who prey on those less able to protect themselves" and "home to a battalion
of Honduran crack dealers and Asian street thugs, not to mention our own
homegrown white trash" -- is an obvious attempt to dehumanize and ostracize
a whole segment of our society. This type of journalism is not unlike that
found in Nazi Germany during the early stages of Hitler's campaign to
eliminate the groups he hated -- Jews, communists, gays, etc. Furthermore,
Knight's article relies on lies and misinformation to further his hateful aims.

Knight's claim that "... simple possession of so-called soft drugs has been
decriminalized for all intents and purposes for the past 10 or 15 years"
flies in the face of recently released crime statistics. In fact --
according to Stats Can's Crime Statistics in Canada, 1999 -- cannabis
offences accounted for three-quarters of all drug-related incidents
reported in 1999, of which 66% were for possession, 17% for trafficking,
15% for cultivation, and 2% for importation. Furthermore, the Canadian
Centre for Justice Statistics reported in its Adult Criminal Court Survey
that, in 1998-99, a total of 40,056 persons were charged with drug-related
offences. Although it does not distinguish between cannabis and other
drugs, more than half of those charged were charged with possession rather
than trafficking. And while 6,833 were found guilty of trafficking, 11,480
were convicted for simple possession. A more detailed Canadian Centre for
Justice Statistics publication -- Illicit Drugs and Crime in Canada --
reported: "The rate of cocaine offences has dropped by 36% since 1989. The
rate of heroin offences, peaking in 1993, then [fell] 25% over the last
four years."

I could just as easily and scientifically refute Knight's other wild claims
- -- the percentage of THC content in the hydroponic crop produced in this
province outstrips the Woodstock version by over 600%; MDMA is,
essentially, a vile chemical cocktail of LSD and methamphetamine; etc. --
but to do so would take up too much of your newspaper's valuable space. It
is suffice to say Knight's lies cannot be substantiated and are told for
one purpose only -- to inflame the public and, it would seem, foster hate
toward the residents of Downtown Eastside.

Kwan should be applauded for attempting to reduce the harm suffered by
people addicted to drugs. Knight should be condemned for his Nazi-like
attempt to identify a whole neighbourhood/group of people as undesirables
who should be ostracized, incarcerated and -- I am sure if he had his way
- -- eliminated. At least that is the conclusion one could draw from Knight's
diatribe.

PS. If you think my attempt to link Knight's views to Nazism is extreme
read Drug Warriors & Their Prey -- From Police Power To Police State
authored by historian Richard Lawrence Miller.

Richard Dow, Toronto, Ontario