HEED OPTS IN

Kash Heed pulled back the curtains on the worst kept secret in
provincial politics yesterday, officially confirming he would run as
a B.C. Liberal in Vancouver-Fraserview.

But the 30-year police veteran, tabbed as a natural pick for
Solicitor General should he and his party get elected May 12, also
comes with strong opinions on drug laws and policing that would put
him on the hot seat as B.C.'s top cop.

Heed is on record criticizing marijuana prohibition and supporting
the removal of criminal penalties for possessing small amounts of pot.

"The effectiveness of the present policy for prohibiting the use of
cannabis falls far from its goal of preventing use," Heed told the
Senate special committee on illegal drugs in 2001,when he was head of
the VPD's vice squad. "It can no longer be argued that the use of
cannabis would be much more widespread . today if prohibition did not exist."

Speaking with reporters yesterday, Heed called his views a "balanced approach."

"We need to look at different ways of doing business because what we
currently have is not getting us ahead of the problem," he said.

Heed has also been a vocal supporter of a regional policing model, an
idea that the B.C. Liberal government hasn't yet taken to.

"It was only months ago that the [Liberals] shot down Kash Heed's
call for a regional police force as . 'an unwelcome distraction,'"
NDP candidate Gabriel Yiu said in a news release yesterday.

"Today, incredibly . he's being touted as their newest star candidate."