REGULATION OF MARIJUANA COULD CURB GANG VIOLENCE, POLL SHOWS

It's not easy to be a police officer who is vocally opposed the
criminalization of marijuana.

But Victoria Const. David Bratzer is required to arrest people for
growing and selling marijuana during his day job, and then, once
off-duty, speaks out about the damaging effects of keeping Canada's
massive marijuana trade illegal.

"When I am on duty, I still enforce drug laws," said Bratzer. "When
you are a police officer you are sworn to uphold the law and when you
are on duty you have to enforce the law. You can't pick and choose.
When I am on duty I do arrest people for drug offences, but when I am
off-duty I do advocate for change."

Bratzer wants to stress that his opinions are his own and his
activist activities all conducted off-duty. But that hasn't kept him
immune from criticism.

"There was some controversy," he said of the initial reaction from
the force when he first spoke up on the issue in 2008 after joining
Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), an international
marijuana legalization advocacy group.

"Lots of officers speak up about it after they retire, but it was
really important for me to call for a change to this failed policy. I
didn't want to work for 25 or 30 years and then wish I had spoken
up," said the community policing officer.

But as time has passed, Bratzer said, "My fellow officers realize I
am ethically committed to the job of policing and my advocacy is off
duty and I express myself in a reasonable way."

His latest activity: he joined as member of a new coalition Called
Stop the Violence B.C., a coalition of doctors, police officers and
academics, who want the pot market regulated as a public health issue.

The group released the results of a poll today showing that 87 per
cent of B.C. residents surveyed believed than gang violence was
linked to organized criminals' efforts to control the illegal marijuana trade.

"In B.C., organized crime is reaping billions from the illegal
marijuana industry and increasingly consolidating its hold through
violence," coalition member retired RCMP Chief Supt. Vince Cain said
in a release.

"Stiffer sanctions will not reverse these trends, but legally
regulating marijuana in B.C. would eliminate a primary source of
revenue for these criminal groups, reduce gang violence, and generate
tax income."

The poll found only 12 per cent of citizens polled in the Angus Reid
survey supported keeping existing marijuana laws in place.

Another 69 per cent said that arresting marijuana sellers and growers
was ineffective and believed B.C. would be better off taxing and
regulating use of the drug.

And just 39 per cent were in favour of mandatory minimum prison
sentences for marijuana-related crime, including possession of six or
more plants.

"From a scientific and public health perspective, we know that making
marijuana illegal has not achieved its stated objectives of limiting
marijuana supply or rates of use," coalition member Dr. Evan Wood,
co-director of the Urban Health Research Initiative at the B.C.
Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS said in a release.

"We must discuss alternatives to today's failed laws with a focus on
how to decrease violence, remove the illicit industry's profit motive
and improve public health and safety." he said.

The coalition also released a report, called Breaking the Silence,
and plan to launch a series of public forums with the goal of putting
pressure on governments to revisit marijuana drug laws.

To learn more visit stoptheviolencebc.org or follow
@stvbc on Twitter.