THE BRAVE COP

Vic Pd Officer Steps Up To The Cannabis Convention Podium To Critique
The War On Drugs

Responding to a rash of gang-related shootings and under pressure to
reassure the public that Lower Mainland streets are safe, British
Columbia premier Gordon Campbell announced last week the hiring of
168 additional police officers, 10 new special prosecutors and the
imposition of stiffer penalties for gun crimes fuelled by turf wars
over the province's lucrative drug trade.

This announcement, and the almost daily shoot-outs between young men
in Greater Vancouver's suburbs, provided a fitting backdrop for
Victoria's 10th annual Cannabis Convention at the University of
Victoria last Sunday, an event where keynote speakers from a variety
of backgrounds laid bare all that is wrong with current government
policy toward psychoactive substances-namely, that prohibition causes
more harm than good.

And it was refreshing to see that the logic of legalization is
beginning to spread beyond the confines of activism and academia, as
demonstrated by the presence-much to the surprised delight of
conference organizer Ted Smith-of one David Bratzer, a Victoria
Police Department patrol officer who, when not in uniform, is a
member of LEAP-Law Enforcement Against Prohibition-a U.S.-based
organization whose Canadian membership includes former chief coroner
and Vancouver mayor Larry Campbell, as well as retired B.C.
provincial court judge Jerry Paradis. Vancouver East NDP MP Libby
Davies also sits on the organization's advisory board.

Looking a little nervous to be associating with a room full of
believers in the healing properties of the herbal remedy, (Bratzer
made a hasty escape when his time at the podium was up), and taking
pains to ensure that all present understood he was there on his own
time and not representing the Vic PD, the clean-cut cop offered up
what his experience walking the beat has taught him about the war on drugs.

He defended his ability to publicly critique the drug war, despite
his current occupation, by noting that Section 2 of the Charter of
Rights and Freedoms extends the right of freedom of expression to all
Canadians, police officers included.

And lest anyone accuse him of being soft, Bratzer said he is no
"bleeding-heart liberal," and that, in his opinion, drugs cause harm
to those who use them. Lengthy caveats aside, Bratzer's critique of
the prohibition regime was blistering.

He told the audience that drug prohibition perpetuates a high level
of crime, both acquisitive-damage to property from people producing
drugs or stealing to feed their habits-and violent, as the recent
outbreak of gunplay in Vancouver demonstrates on an almost daily basis.

Bratzer argued the recent "targeted shootings" in Vancouver are a
direct result of the prohibition regime and the high profit margins
it creates and should henceforth be referred to as "drug-prohibition deaths."

He cited the irrationality of producers growing marijuana in rental
homes-rather than in fields under the sun-as an example of the
property damage that prohibition inevitably causes.

Bratzer continued that drug prohibition increases public disorder by
forcing users into public places and added that prohibition laws,
flouted by those who regularly use drugs, cause people to be less
deferential toward other laws, thereby weakening civil society.

"We have laws that a broad segment of the population are ignoring,"
he said, which in turn undermines people's respect for all laws.

He added that by handing complete control of the drug trade to
criminals, it becomes more difficult to conduct rigorous scientific
study of both the negative and positive implications of drugs and
more difficult for the general public to accept the evidence.

The Vic PD officer even pondered what could be done with the "peace
dividend"-the government revenue streams that could be created if the
war on drugs was brought to a close-a query that was met with cries
of "Education," "Health care," and "Affordable housing," by those in the crowd.

Sensing he was preaching to the converted, Bratzer told the audience
that perhaps his future speaking engagements would be better taken to
Rotary clubs and other organizations whose outlook on the issue might
veer more toward the conservative.

Regardless, his message was clear. "Experience, history and common
sense tells us that prohibition doesn't work," Bratzer said.

Meanwhile, his Victoria Police Department employers say so long as
Bratzer doesn't lead audiences to believe he is speaking on behalf of
the force, he has the right to share his personal opinions.

"As long as it doesn't impact his duties as a police officer, then it
won't be an issue," says Vic PD spokesperson Sgt. Grant Hamilton. "As
long as he can remain unbiased and uphold what he swore an oath to
do, then there will be no problem."

Hamilton suggests Bratzer's outlook on the drug war could change with time.

"He's only been a police officer for three years, so he's fairly new
to the profession," says Hamilton. "Those are his views now, and it
remains to be seen whether those views stay the same when he actually
has a little more time in and sees some of the effects that we see,
or that I've seen, from the drug issues we encounter on the street."

Cannabis conference organizer Ted Smith seemed almost disbelieving
that after several high-profile police raids on his Cannabis Buyers
Club over the years, he was able to introduce a serving member of the
Victoria Police Department to the microphone.

"I definitely sense it's a very positive step forward to have active
law enforcement officers in this country willing and able to question
the war on drugs in general-not just the war on cannabis," Smith told Monday.

"It's a step forward to encourage people in other areas similar to
law enforcement that they can question these laws and their careers
and lives are not going to be put at risk and their intelligence is
not going to be questioned as a result of that," he continued.
"Society is ready for this kind of debate, just like we were ready to
start debating gay marriages decades ago-and now we have it."

But serious, open debate on the subject among lawmakers and those
tasked with enforcing those laws remains a rarity.

Tony Smith, a retired 28-year veteran of the Vancouver Police
Department and LEAP member, asserts that the views expressed by
Bratzer are widely held by police officers of all ranks across Canada
and the U.S.

"I'm a little disappointed because I strongly believe that a number
of senior police officers absolutely agree with us but they are
playing a political game," says Smith. "They absolutely refuse to
come out in public and say anything. The highest ranks in some police
departments absolutely believe what we are saying but they refuse to
come out and say it public."

The price of that failure, of course, is the status quo and the havoc
it wreaks.

"We have a saying at LEAP," says Tony Smith. "For every drug dealer
you arrest, all you create is a job opening."