WILD WEST ATMOSPHERE

Fourteen have been charged after an undercover drug operation in
Halifax (Nov. 20 story). "Called Operation Imperative, the police
response to the drug problem in the targeted zone should help make
the neighbourhood safer, said Deputy Chief Chris McNeil of Halifax
Regional Police."

According to my research on this issue, taking drug dealers off the
street actually makes a neighbourhood LESS safe because now that
territory is up for grabs. It isn't the drugs that make our streets
unsafe - it's the guns and the Wild West atmosphere that prohibition entails.

Many officers of all stripes are coming to the realization that the
"war on drugs" does more harm than the drugs themselves. Frank
Serpico is one of those cops and I'm going with him to a film
screening in Amsterdam this week. It's an NFB/imX documentary that I
wrote and directed, called Damage Done: The Drug War Odyssey.

Serpico is a hero to cops everywhere, naturally. His story is on the
curriculum of police academies the world over.

This event is part of a process the Dutch are going through to
re-evaluate their drug policy, and I am honoured to have been invited.

Thousands of cops have seen our film, which played on Global TV four
times last year. I'll make sure Deputy McNeil receives a copy.

Connie Littlefield,

Halifax