IF WE'RE SERIOUS ABOUT ATTACKING GANGS, WE WOULD LEGALIZE DRUGS

It remains one of my last memories of Richmond before I embarked on my
career in journalism.

A shootout in a quiet park early in 2007, a block from my parents'
house, that produced so much gunfire that, at the time, the police
said they had never seen so many bullets exchanged in a single clash.

As it turns out, that shootout was gang-related, much like the recent
daily violence oozing out of the Lower Mainland.

A few months later, working at our sister paper in Quesnel, I used the
incident as a backdrop for a column on my views about drugs.

Given the recent chaos on the streets of Metro Vancouver, the time
seems right to revisit my ideas.

Simply put, if you want to put a stop to the endless gang wars and
body count, legalize all drugs.

Crack, heroin, pot - legalize all.

Pouring millions of dollars into policing and jails hasn't worked and
will continue to fail in the future.

The reasons are fairly straightforward.

The lure of the drug trade (it's estimated the marijuana industry
alone in B.C. is worth $7 billion) is just too lucrative for some
people to pass up and stopping its use is a losing battle.

The threat of prison hasn't done anything to make a dent in the gang
warfare. And why would it?

Does anyone really believe tougher sentences for gangsters will deter
someone who's willing to die?

Some suggest more police are needed to investigate and infiltrate the
criminal organizations.

The City of Vancouver did this in the past, with weak
results.

Remember its Gang Suppression Task Force? They're the ones with the
cool jackets that had their name sake written on the back so that
anyone could see them coming from a mile away.

It hasn't slowed the bloodshed.

But don't for a second think smaller communities like Kamloops are
immune to the kind of violence in the Lower Mainland.

Otherwise, Victoria wouldn't have stepped in and formed two gang units
for both Kelowna and Prince George.

To that, Mayor Peter Milobar and city council are sending a letter to
the province, asking for a unit here in Kamloops.

Milobar argues if the two units in those other cities are successful,
it's likely the gangs will look our way to set up shop.

It's a reasonable argument and an idea Milobar can't be faulted for
pursuing.

But, even if Kamloops is successful in fending off gangs, they will
still terrorize some other part of the province, ultimately taking
lives and taxpayer cash.

It's estimated a police investigation into just one shooting can cost
up to $1 million.

Instead, legalizing - not just decriminalizing - drugs will quickly
put an end to the ongoing turf war fueling the violence in the first
place.

These thugs aren't shooting each other because someone stepped on
their shoes.

Essentially, let the government become the biggest drug dealer on the
block and there's no turf to fight over.

The profit government would earn from drug sales, which would be in
the billions, can go directly back into rehab, education programs,
health care - wherever the money is needed to get those afflicted with
drug addiction some help.

The money can also go toward programs for at-risk youth, so they can
avoid getting caught up in the "gangsta" lifestyle in the first place.

Right now, all those profits are going toward the fancy bulletproof
cars that seem to turn up at every one of those deadly scenes.

Some will argue by legalizing drugs, the government and society is
condoning their use.

But you can buy a pack of cigarettes at the corner store and we don't
hear an overwhelming outcry against the government's efforts to spread
the use of tobacco to households across the country.

It's an acceptance and recognition that a certain segment of society
wants to get high.

We need to go back to the drawing board, think outside the box or get
back to square one.

Because, at the rate of the current violence, it's becoming cliche to
get killed in hail of bullets.