News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: PUB LTE: The Key Is To Treat Drug Addiction |
| Title: | CN BC: PUB LTE: The Key Is To Treat Drug Addiction |
| Published On: | 2003-01-22 |
| Source: | Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-01-21 14:02:29 |
THE KEY IS TO TREAT DRUG ADDICTION
Re: "Drug dealers thrive despite added heat," Jan. 20.
I am a criminal lawyer and have had some considerable experience dealing
with individuals charged with drug offences. Accordingly, I read with some
interest Jack Knox's column, which begins with the proposition that now
that we've decided to treat drug addiction like a real illness, we should
treat drug dealing like a real crime.
While there is certainly a category of drug trafficking that occurs on a
commercial scale and might properly be described as serious, parasitic
activity, this will not be abated by police officers on bicycles repeatedly
arresting individuals selling minute quantities of drugs on the street corner.
Contrary to Sgt. Darren Laur's suggestion, it has been my experience that
the vast majority of the individuals charged with street-level trafficking
offences are, themselves, rather pathetic drug addicts who are involved in
this activity in order to support their own unsustainable habit.
It was my experience, when I spent some time at the beginning of my career
doing drug prosecution work, that if the risk of death involved with the
use of intravenous drugs was not going to deter a user, the risk of myself,
or Laur, sending someone to jail will not do so either.
While our enforcement efforts fail to impact on the availability of drugs,
they do succeed in increasing their cost and as a consequence we have
stories such as another one on Jan. 20: "Grocery owner uses broomstick to
thwart knife-wielding robber."
By ineffectively restricting supply we also manage to create a lucrative
market for individuals to engage in commercial level drug trafficking.
While it is not as viscerally satisfying as the idea of longer jail
sentences for street level drug traffickers, it is indeed the treatment of
addiction that will both prevent Laur from banging his head against the
wall enforcing our present policy -- and also reduce the need for shop
owners to fend off desperate people with broomsticks.
Michael T. Mulligan, Victoria.
Re: "Drug dealers thrive despite added heat," Jan. 20.
I am a criminal lawyer and have had some considerable experience dealing
with individuals charged with drug offences. Accordingly, I read with some
interest Jack Knox's column, which begins with the proposition that now
that we've decided to treat drug addiction like a real illness, we should
treat drug dealing like a real crime.
While there is certainly a category of drug trafficking that occurs on a
commercial scale and might properly be described as serious, parasitic
activity, this will not be abated by police officers on bicycles repeatedly
arresting individuals selling minute quantities of drugs on the street corner.
Contrary to Sgt. Darren Laur's suggestion, it has been my experience that
the vast majority of the individuals charged with street-level trafficking
offences are, themselves, rather pathetic drug addicts who are involved in
this activity in order to support their own unsustainable habit.
It was my experience, when I spent some time at the beginning of my career
doing drug prosecution work, that if the risk of death involved with the
use of intravenous drugs was not going to deter a user, the risk of myself,
or Laur, sending someone to jail will not do so either.
While our enforcement efforts fail to impact on the availability of drugs,
they do succeed in increasing their cost and as a consequence we have
stories such as another one on Jan. 20: "Grocery owner uses broomstick to
thwart knife-wielding robber."
By ineffectively restricting supply we also manage to create a lucrative
market for individuals to engage in commercial level drug trafficking.
While it is not as viscerally satisfying as the idea of longer jail
sentences for street level drug traffickers, it is indeed the treatment of
addiction that will both prevent Laur from banging his head against the
wall enforcing our present policy -- and also reduce the need for shop
owners to fend off desperate people with broomsticks.
Michael T. Mulligan, Victoria.
Member Comments |
No member comments available...
