LET'S PUT FIGHTING DRUGS IN SOME CONTEXT

Growing marijuana remains a crime in Canada.

Under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act it is listed as one of
the substances that it is illegal to cultivate.

In B.C., enforcing that particular part of the CDSA has become a
herculean task. Never mind Gabriola Island, where the RCMP are asking
for help from the public in busting those dealing in drugs of all
types; all over B.C. the reality is that growing marijuana is for the
most part easy and highly lucrative.

But what has been happening on Gabriola Island highlights a growing
issue in B.C., and that is the prevalence of hard drugs in every
community. Let's not be coy about it, we all know that people have
been growing pot on every Gulf Island for decades.

But in recent months both the police and residents on Gabriola Island
have been alarmed that drugs like GHB, the date rape drug, ketamine,
MDMA and the like have been showing up.

While the police claim that hard drugs and pot are interlinked -- that
pot growers are peddling hard drugs as part of their business -- that
is a sweeping generalization.

It may be true that some are, but it is illogical to jump to the
conclusion that because pot is being grown anywhere in B.C. that hard
drugs follow. Hard drugs come with organized crime, and if police want
to get a handle on the drug situation then they need to go after those
groups that are all about crime before going after pot growers with no
such links.

The RCMP have said in regard to the situation on Gabriola Island that
they need the public's help. But that's true in every community, from
Gabriola to Nanaimo, Victoria, Vancouver and right across the province.

No one should be surprised if there is a culture of silence around
drug production and trafficking. That's not just the case on Gabriola
Island, but anywhere.

No one with detailed knowledge of the drug trade is going to blab to
the police, and given the potential consequences of such an action,
that should make sense even to the police who want to prevent further
crimes.

And even for those who consider going to the police, they are
confronted by the reality that protecting informants can be
challenging, despite the best efforts of the police.

What this seems to always come back to is the failed and failing model
of using enforcement as a drug strategy. Maybe the question we have to
ask here is why, outside of medicinal use, people are so keen to smoke
pot.

For the average healthy person, smoking pot -- like alcohol -- serves
no real purpose and has no redeeming value.

It may lift stress briefly, or for a short time raise someone above
the mundane, but after that it's pretty much useless.

And there is a good argument that, again like alcohol, this should be
a personal choice. Should we as a society choose to go down that road,
and that might make more sense than current efforts to control pot
that are a big drain on police resources, then the question is do we
legalize or decriminalize?

Legalizing pot would be the wrong way to go. It must be strictly
controlled, and given our current financial situation there is great
potential there for tax revenue. That is in the future.

As of today we have a society intent on the use of drugs as a means to
escape reality. And the more we seem to fight those drugs with police
resources, the more people seem to want them.

In the bigger scheme of things, snitching on your neighbour won't
solve those problems