RICH FOLK MAKE ORGANIZED CRIME PAY

Re: "The raid. What's at stake," Jan. 11.

Reporters at the Times Colonist must be bagged. Timelines, character
sketches and tonnes of drama all neatly rolled for audience enjoyment. All
we need now are a few plots to get it all growing.

Unfortunately, the writers of this melodrama seem to have missed the seed
on a subtle hint provided by RCMP Sgt. John Ward: "The value of the illegal
marijuana trade alone is estimated to be worth in excess of $6 billion."

Where is all that money coming from? And, who are the characters buying $6
billion worth of drugs?

The media is constantly reminding us about hard-core druggies and robberies
and car thefts and break-and-enters, all apparently drug related. But let's
do some math. How much stolen property would have to be fenced by B.C.'s
down-and-out in order to come up with that much cash?

B.C. has a population of about four million, nearly 180,000 are unemployed
and maybe 2,000 of those live on the street. If these are the folks
responsible for the trade in illegal drugs then each street person must
come up with about $3 million. Seems unlikely doesn't it?

Well, chances are a lot of that cash comes from some very wealthy people --
doctors, lawyers, politicians, business people, schoolteachers, university
professors, police officers and perhaps the odd judge.

Organized crime pays because there are lots of rich folk willing to make
sure it pays.

Ken Dwernychuk,

Victoria.