SOBER CONTEXT TO BUST

We have no sympathy for Tim Felger. The marijuana activist arrested
yet again last week is the architect of his own misfortune in terms
of attracting the attention of police.

Felger makes his own choices in terms of what he does and sells in
his Da Kine store. And if found guilty of pot trafficking, those
choices will be grievous, particularly given his previous drug
conviction. That said, there is a certain irony in Felger's bust
juxtaposed with a Statistics Canada report, released the same day,
that listed Abbotsford as being among the top five cities in the
country for drug crime rates.

According to the study, the rate of police-reported drug offences in
Canada - on the rise since the early '90s - reached its highest rate
in 30 years in 2007.

Vancouver, Victoria and Abbotsford join the other two top cites,
Quebec's Trois-Rivieres and Gatineau.

Abbotsford placed fourth with a rate of 393 reported drug crimes per
100,000 people. First-place Vancouver's rate was 630.

Now place these statistics in the context of the extreme violence and
mayhem playing out for months on the streets of this city and other
Lower Mainland communities.

The bloody mayhem is being perpetrated by an assortment of gangs
struggling for turf and control in the outrageously profitable drug trade.

In the process, in addition to gang members taking bullets and
beatings, four young Abbotsford men have been slain in the past few
months. At best, they were bit-players in the drug wars, and at
worst, just collateral damage on a brutal battlefield.

The situation is deeply disturbing, as reflected in the Abbotsford
Police Chief's public warning last week to teens involved in the drug
trade. Get out now, or run the risk of becoming another victim.

And more bodies there will be, we fear, regardless of tougher drug
and criminal violence sentences, or how much law enforcement
resources are invested. The illegal drug world is simply too
lucrative, too attractive, to be eradicated by legislation and enforcement.

Prohibition is not effective. This society must come to grips with
that reality.

There must be a serious national dialogue on alternative approaches
to drug issues, which address criminal trade, addiction, and American
policies, all of which have been used as arguments against various
forms of legalization or decriminalization.

The fact remains: The current drug policy is hugely expensive,
arbitrary and for some, deadly.

There has to be a better solution.