SNUFF OUR CAPONES

Noticed at last! There we were, on the cover of the Economist, just above
Boris Yeltsin, a banner urging the reader on to page 33, to read about
"Quebec's Biker War." It was Canadian news, on the cover of the world's
most influential newsmagazine.

It's hard to take pride in this sort of fame. Not only is biker violence
wretched, it is entirely of our own making. The shootings, the bombings,
the whole underworld mess are a direct result of Canada's continued
criminalization of drugs.

Until the 1970s, as the Economist notes, biker gangs mainly spent their
time swilling beer in clubhouses or engaging in small-time crime to pay for
the beer. Now they're organized, rich, and ever more violent.

What caused the change? The demand for illegal drugs mushroomed, so to
speak. The most remarkable craving was for marijuana, which, before the
late 1960s, had been almost unknown as a narcotic in Canada.

Normally, an industrial boom and the wealth and jobs it promises are cause
for delight: If wine consumption were growing as quickly as marijuana use
did in the 1970s, champagne corks would be popping from Bordeaux to
Niagara. But the drug boom of the '70s wasn't like other industrial
expansions: The law excluded ordinary businessmen from the trade, leaving
the lucrative new market to those who don't care a fig about the law, among
them many biker gangs, which grew like, well, weed. From five chapters
worldwide, the Hells Angels now have 108 -- 40 in Canada alone. They are
now a multi-million dollar, vertically integrated, multinational
corporation. Forget Easy Rider. Think Godfather.

In a legal trade, corporations compete within the law, which generally
forbids anything more aggressive than a stiff mark-down. But in an illegal
trade, the law has no control over methods. When the Hells Angels began
selling drugs in Montreal in 1993, the established trader, the Rock
Machine, responded with guns and bombs -- the first shots in a biker war
that continues to this day.

If thugs simply blew up thugs, that would be one thing. But the peripheral
damage from this struggle is appalling. Sometimes it is tragically obvious,
as in the death of the Montreal boy who happened by when a biker bomb went
off, or of the two Quebec prison guards killed to frighten others. But it's
more often unseen: corruption, threats, fear, and the loss of youth to a
trade that pays handsome rewards for mayhem.

This isn't the first time it's happened. American Prohibition also spawned
a violent, corrupt, and cruel criminal underworld that law enforcers,
though they responded with ever-greater efforts, including abuses of civil
liberties, failed utterly to suppress.

The end came only when alcohol was legalized. Organized crime gave way to
legitimate businessmen, including former smugglers who donned the
pinstripes and swore off their old habits. Some of Canada's most
respectable -- and philanthropic -- distillers and brewers got started that
way.

There's no reason in economics, law, or logic why the same can't happen
with other drugs -- or, at least, there wasn't until this week. In Chile,
last weekend, Jean Chretien committed Canada to head up a new anti-drug
body that will report to the Organization of American States. Member states
will be required to file reports with this body on their efforts to stamp
out drug consumption. A central committee will direct improvements.

Once Canada Is Locked Into This Mission Impossible, Any Future Attempt to
Legalize Drugs Will Incur the Wrath of the Whole Oas. the Prime Minister
May Think He's Made a Commitment in Foreign Policy, but He's Really Ensured
That Our Own Drug Trade Will Continue to Enrich Thugs. Not to Mention
Magazine Editors Looking for Outrageous Stories.

Copyright 1998 The Ottawa Citizen