SOLUTIONS NEEDED TO END THE VIOLENCE

In the past two weeks, bullets have been flying on the streets and
mall parking lots of Surrey, Langley, Abbotsford, Coquitlam and Vancouver.

The Lower Mainland has become a war zone - a disorganized orgy of
violence between gangs and their bit-player members, fighting for
control of the drug trade, exacting revenge for earlier hits, and
carrying out retribution for crossed loyalties, broken deals, and
threats and insults, perceived or real.

Even the presence of a four-year-old child isn't enough to persuade
the trigger-happy killers to hold their fire. The situation is
appalling, and utterly unacceptable.

And while the police are doing whatever is within their legally
restricted powers to do, the response of government at the provincial
and federal level has been anemic. For instance, last week the
attorney general trotted out a recent study that found B.C.'s courts
are not the softest in Canada.

The vast majority of the public isn't concerned with which legal
system is the most lenient. They simply want the violence to stop. The
entire nation needs to be far tougher on these morally vacant thugs
who care nothing for anyone but themselves.

That means public safety being the primary consideration of bail
hearings. It means severe punishment for gun crimes. It means no plea
bargaining for reduced charges. It means no probation and early parole
on sentences.

It also means a focused examination and debate on the massively
expensive and ineffective war on drugs. The current drug strategy is
merely fueling the insanely profitable illicit drug trade and creating
the bloody havoc being wrought on the streets.

It's time politicians came to grips with this stark reality, and
started talking seriously about progressive solutions.

The criminal justice system should be made as tight as possible - and
it should be - but it will not solve crime associated with drugs.

Now let's start dealing with that fact.