IT'S NOT ABOUT DRUGS

Maybe I'm just a cynic but Kamloops Thompson Cariboo MLA Betty
Hinton's "petition" about marijuana grow operations seems
opportunistic.

And, sadly, if her motivation was more than a great photo op, she's
missing the point we all should be taking from the catastrophe that
has befallen the RCMP as they start to bury their four dead comrades.

The facts are simple enough. Four young RCMP officers were ambushed at
an Alberta farm last Thursday while they stood guard over a hydroponic
grow-op at James Roszko's property in Rochfort Bridge, Alta.

Almost immediately, many media declared the men killed while
investigating the grow-op, despite police explaining the officers came
upon it as they attempted to seize a repossessed truck.

Former Globe and Mail columnist Martin O'Malley demanded the army be
brought in to bust grow-ops. Even the New York Times got in on the
act, quoting a U.S. customs enforcement officer in Seattle who said
the incident was drug-related and showed "the length to which these
criminals are willing to go to protect it."

Later, federal public safety minister Anne McLellan announced she'll
consider toughening the marijuana laws.

And then comes Hinton and her petition.

But let's be clear: This tragedy has nothing to do with marijuana
grow-ops and everything to do with mental health and the shredding of
our social and justice systems. And it's a lesson we in British
Columbia need to pay close attention to as our government continues to
revamp those same systems here.

No one who knew Roszko is surprised he snapped and gunned down the
four officers. Even his own father called him the devil. People in the
small community were terrified of him. The police force there knew he
was an explosion waiting to happen.

Consider his history with the law:

- - As a teenager, Roszko and a friend robbed a gun shop.

- - He later got involved selling illegal drugs and
moonshine.

- - In 1993, Roszko was charged with 12 offences after a dispute with a
local school trustee. These included unlawful confinement, pointing a
firearm, assault with a weapon, impersonating a police officer and
failing to comply with bail conditions.

- - In 1994, a sheriff's officer arrived to seize some property
accompanied by two RCMP. Roszko said he would comply if the officer
came back alone. He didn't.

- - In 1999, a female bailiff hired to seize property again noted he was
likely to have firearms, to have booby-trapped his property, used a
spike belt to discourage vehicles and would likely shoot anyone on
sight.

- - In 2001, Roszko faced five assault and firearm charges. They were
dismissed.

- - Last August: He was charged twice with mischief after using a spike belt
on a truck driven by two provincial election enumerators, and was due in
court later this year.

This was a bad man with a long history of criminal activity who was
known to despise police and had an abnormal devotion to weapons. He
was the "black sheep" of his family and yet no one, not a single
agency or level of the justice system did anything but let him run
rampant in the town he was terrorizing.

There's a conflict that arises in situations like this, one that is
best left to the ethicists and human rights advocates.

For the rest of us, who tend to see incidents like the cold-blooded
murder of four young men by a deranged man everyone knew had
mental-health issues, it's a little more cut-and-dry.

Our social and justice systems exist to protect the weakest among us.
They were designed to ensure our safety, even if it is to protect us
from ourselves.

We all understand that sometimes there have to be decisions made,
actions taken, compromises accepted for the greater good.

All of those systems failed James Roszko. They failed RCMP Consts.
Peter Schiemann, Leo Johnson, Brock Myrol and Anthony Gordon. And
ultimately, they failed all of us.