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