News (Media Awareness Project) - CN NS: Column: Just Who Are The Victims? |
| Title: | CN NS: Column: Just Who Are The Victims? |
| Published On: | 2000-04-02 |
| Source: | Halifax Daily News (CN NS) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-09-04 23:01:01 |
JUST WHO ARE THE VICTIMS?
Dartmouth High school drug sting unfairly duped alleged traffickers
When she finally surfaces, it will be interesting to see
what Tanya looks like.
In case you missed it, "Tanya" is the nom-de-sting of a 28-year-old narc who spent two months undercover at Dartmouth High School, where she managed to inveigle nine boys into selling her "small, personal-use quantities of marijuana and hashish," as police described it.
The boys, aged 16 to 19, stand charged with trafficking in narcotics,
an offence carrying a possible five-year prison term.
Police won't reveal Tanya's true identity, but various sources
describe her as an attractive blond who looks half her age.
Significantly, no girls were caught in the sting.
It's not hard to scope out what was going on here: new, cute girl
shows up at school, sparks boys' interest. One by one, missy asks boys
whether they can score some dope for her to smoke with her cousin.
(Part of Tanya's cock-and-bull story was that she was living
temporarily with a cousin.)
Thinking with their little heads, the boys said something like, "Uh,
sure, I have a friend I think I can get some from."
So they did, and why not? Puffing the odd joint is a common and benign
pastime among Canadian teenagers, not to mention teachers, lawyers,
reporters, civil servants, doctors, dock workers, truck drivers,
police officers and any other group of Canadians you'd care to name.
`Grave concerns'
Of course, teachers, lawyers, reporters, etc. don't usually have
secret police agents infiltrating their places of employment and
snookering them into copping a few joints from which to contrive an
overblown trafficking charge.
"It's an illegal activity," said police spokesperson Judy Pal. "We
heard from students, teachers, and administrators who had grave
concerns about drug dealing in the school, and were being victimized
by the students that were dealing drugs."
When pressed, Pal conceded that police had been contacted by the
school administration, not by students or teachers.
"Surveys show us people want to feel safe in their schools," Pal said.
"They want to feel safe in their homes. They want to feel safe on the
streets. We hear that again and again."
"These people are our clients. When they contact us, we have to
respond."
Ignoring, for the moment, Pal's use of weighted buzzwords - calling
citizens clients, and inflating recreational marijuana use into an
issue of safety for those who abstain - let's concede the germ of
truth in her comment: smoking marijuana is illegal, and if school
officials complain about such activity, police have a duty to respond.
They have a duty to respond. They don't have a duty to pour scarce
resources into a preposterously disproportionate, not to say
obnoxious, secret police operation - in a high school, for heaven's
sake. Go do some worthwhile police work; goodness knows plenty needs
doing.
I couldn't help wondering how long it had been since Pal smoked
marijuana.
"I think I was about 14," she said.
Give her points for honesty, anyway. If police had mounted an
undercover operation in her school and caught her with "small,
personal-use quantities" of marijuana, what are the chances today she
would be the official spokesperson for the Halifax Regional Police?
"Not very good," said Pal.
Using marijuana at such a young age didn't ruin Pal's life, though an
arrest and criminal conviction might have. She grew into a respected
television broadcaster and public-relations professional.
"I wasn't dealing, Parker. There's a difference."
No, there's no difference. Small scale, personal recreational use of
marijuana inevitably involves buying, selling, trading, or giving away
small quantities of dope with friends and acquaintances.
How can Tanya sleep at night?
This may (or may not) amount to trafficking in the narrow, legalistic
sense, but it doesn't equate with the evil spectre of drug-dealing
predators invoked by police and school officials with their use of
words like "victimization" and "safety."
Nothing about their recreational use of marijuana will harm these nine
boys as deeply and permanently as Dartmouth High School principal Bob
Johnston and the Halifax Regional Police have done with this offensive
and wrongheaded police action.
It will indeed be interesting to know what Tanya looks like. I also
wonder how she sleeps at night.
Dartmouth High school drug sting unfairly duped alleged traffickers
When she finally surfaces, it will be interesting to see
what Tanya looks like.
In case you missed it, "Tanya" is the nom-de-sting of a 28-year-old narc who spent two months undercover at Dartmouth High School, where she managed to inveigle nine boys into selling her "small, personal-use quantities of marijuana and hashish," as police described it.
The boys, aged 16 to 19, stand charged with trafficking in narcotics,
an offence carrying a possible five-year prison term.
Police won't reveal Tanya's true identity, but various sources
describe her as an attractive blond who looks half her age.
Significantly, no girls were caught in the sting.
It's not hard to scope out what was going on here: new, cute girl
shows up at school, sparks boys' interest. One by one, missy asks boys
whether they can score some dope for her to smoke with her cousin.
(Part of Tanya's cock-and-bull story was that she was living
temporarily with a cousin.)
Thinking with their little heads, the boys said something like, "Uh,
sure, I have a friend I think I can get some from."
So they did, and why not? Puffing the odd joint is a common and benign
pastime among Canadian teenagers, not to mention teachers, lawyers,
reporters, civil servants, doctors, dock workers, truck drivers,
police officers and any other group of Canadians you'd care to name.
`Grave concerns'
Of course, teachers, lawyers, reporters, etc. don't usually have
secret police agents infiltrating their places of employment and
snookering them into copping a few joints from which to contrive an
overblown trafficking charge.
"It's an illegal activity," said police spokesperson Judy Pal. "We
heard from students, teachers, and administrators who had grave
concerns about drug dealing in the school, and were being victimized
by the students that were dealing drugs."
When pressed, Pal conceded that police had been contacted by the
school administration, not by students or teachers.
"Surveys show us people want to feel safe in their schools," Pal said.
"They want to feel safe in their homes. They want to feel safe on the
streets. We hear that again and again."
"These people are our clients. When they contact us, we have to
respond."
Ignoring, for the moment, Pal's use of weighted buzzwords - calling
citizens clients, and inflating recreational marijuana use into an
issue of safety for those who abstain - let's concede the germ of
truth in her comment: smoking marijuana is illegal, and if school
officials complain about such activity, police have a duty to respond.
They have a duty to respond. They don't have a duty to pour scarce
resources into a preposterously disproportionate, not to say
obnoxious, secret police operation - in a high school, for heaven's
sake. Go do some worthwhile police work; goodness knows plenty needs
doing.
I couldn't help wondering how long it had been since Pal smoked
marijuana.
"I think I was about 14," she said.
Give her points for honesty, anyway. If police had mounted an
undercover operation in her school and caught her with "small,
personal-use quantities" of marijuana, what are the chances today she
would be the official spokesperson for the Halifax Regional Police?
"Not very good," said Pal.
Using marijuana at such a young age didn't ruin Pal's life, though an
arrest and criminal conviction might have. She grew into a respected
television broadcaster and public-relations professional.
"I wasn't dealing, Parker. There's a difference."
No, there's no difference. Small scale, personal recreational use of
marijuana inevitably involves buying, selling, trading, or giving away
small quantities of dope with friends and acquaintances.
How can Tanya sleep at night?
This may (or may not) amount to trafficking in the narrow, legalistic
sense, but it doesn't equate with the evil spectre of drug-dealing
predators invoked by police and school officials with their use of
words like "victimization" and "safety."
Nothing about their recreational use of marijuana will harm these nine
boys as deeply and permanently as Dartmouth High School principal Bob
Johnston and the Halifax Regional Police have done with this offensive
and wrongheaded police action.
It will indeed be interesting to know what Tanya looks like. I also
wonder how she sleeps at night.
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