BOOK DRUG DEALERS INTO THE CROWBAR HOTEL

Editor, the Times:

Is our justice system messed up or what?

Why is it that our government is willing to enact tough new penalties
to deal with excessive speeding and drinking drivers yet is so soft on
the drug traffickers?

The penalties for getting caught driving over the legal limit are now
automatic and immediate. I believe these laws are a good step forward
for public safety although it's somewhat ironic given the huge revenue
stream that alcohol sales produce for the provincial government.

Now we hear of a sizable drug bust involving 63.5kg of ecstasy (Times,
Sept. 24).

The suspect is caught with the drugs in his truck and a search of his
home turns up another huge quantity of the same drug, essentially
negating any remote chance of him proclaiming his innocence. We're not
talking about some misguided teenager caught with a few marijuana
seeds in his pocket.

Yet, he's promptly released in time for his next drug run while the
Crown considers charges. In the U.S., drug traffickers get a lengthy
stay in the crowbar hotel awaiting trial.

While most of us are trying to understand why the government would
keep turning these criminals back onto the street regardless of the
obscene quantity of illegal substances they are caught with, we then
hear that the drug trade is rapidly becoming B.C.'s No. 1 industry.
And then it all makes sense.

Maybe we should just drop the word British from our provincial name
and change the name from gangs to cartels. I'm sure that's how the
rest of the world will soon view us.

Raymond Lowe,

Abbotsford