DRUG LORDS TANGLED IN RED TAPE

At the very least, Township Councillor Jordan Bateman has the right
idea.

He wants to make it more difficult for drug production houses to
operate in Langley Township by making it more expensive in the best
way that government knows how - swaths of extra red tape.

The trouble is, however, that the drug business is so terrifically
lucrative, that any extra expenses added by municipal bylaws will be
readily absorbed. If necessary, the drug lords will resort to the
old-fashioned business methods, by invoking Adam Smith's time-honoured
supply-demand formula. In other words: they'll just charge more for
the product that their customers need.

As long as the demand is there, Coun. Bateman's proposal to "pull up
the welcome mat" will at best shift drug production to other
communities - until they pull up their welcome mats a little further
than Langley's, that is.

Stifling the illegal drug supply can really only be accomplished by
either cutting the demand (perhaps by giving young, would-be addicts
more hope for a better future, for instance) or by providing a legal,
regulated supply of drugs - which may or may not be an acceptable way
of dealing with marijuana, but would be absolutely untenable in
dealing with crystal meth.

Whether or not Coun. Bateman's proposed drug-house bylaws would make a
serious dent in the drug trade, it certainly would help to protect
some of the unexpected victims of the drug trade as it is practiced
today: ordinary, unsuspecting renters and homeowners who may find
themselves occupying accommodations still polluted by drug producers
because they were improperly cleared by landlords or previous owners.

Similar bylaw proposals appear to have worked to some extent in other
jurisdictions.

At the very least, it's worth a try here.