FORMER COP SAYS DRUG WAR A FLOP

Prohibition Versus Regulation

The U.S.'s war on drugs is a losing battle and it's time to
surrender, according to a former Seattle police chief.

Speaking at Vancouver's Fraser Institute yesterday, Norman Stamper
shocked some and affirmed others with his theory that legalizing and
"rigorously regulating" now-illicit drugs such as heroin, crystal
meth and crack cocaine is more productive and socially responsible
than American-style prohibition.

"A heroin addict needs his or her heroin and I think it's cruel to
deprive them from that heroin ... it's like depriving a diabetic of
insulin," said Stamper, who argued a regulated-government model of
drug production and distribution with "hard-to-get and easy-to-lose
permits" is a "just, reasonable and compassionate solution to the
drug problem."

"The beautiful thing about Canada is that people are talking about it
and saying the decades-old way of doing things isn't working.

"We need to find something new," he added.

And while Vancouver's once controversial four pillars program is
still young, Stamper said the city is taking positive steps forward
by combining enforcement, prevention, harm reduction and treatment in
their efforts to combat drug use.

Calling Stamper a "thinker ahead of his time," B.C. Attorney- General
Wally Oppal wouldn't say whether he thought the Canadian government
should legalize and regulate illicit drugs or not, but he did say
that when it comes to deciding how to handle our own drug problems,
government should consider a dangerous American trend that shows the
U.S. spends more money on prisons and incarceration than education.