POLICE SAY NO TO RELAXED POT LAW

Politicians are ignoring the advice of police in the debate over relaxation
of marijuana possession laws, says Dave Roseberry, Kelowna's former police
chief.

And while RCMP officers across the country have been told to hold their
tongues on the issue, Roseberry is speaking for many officers who can't
speak out.

"I am totally against the legalization of it. I feel it is a stepping
stone, a launching pad for the use of stronger drugs," he said.

"I would suggest that if you went and talked to recovering addicts, the
majority would say they started with marijuana and the worst step would be
to make it easier to get."

A parliamentary committee on the non-medicinal use of drugs is recommending
that Parliament remove criminal sanctions against possession of under 30
grams (about an ounce) of marijuana (it would be dealt with by a fine) and
even allow people to grow their own supply.

But once the news came forward, RCMP brass in Ottawa issued a directive
that all public comment be made from headquarters.

Roseberry, who retired in 1992 as the officer in charge of the Kelowna
detachment, says he expects professionalism in the RCMP will also prevent
them from speaking out. But Roseberry says someone has to counter the
pro-legalization rhetoric that backing off the laws is the best way to
handle it.

"Prohibition (of alcohol) didn't work because we quit on it. Let's not quit
on drug use," he said.

"I do not thank my great grandparents for legalizing alcohol and I don't
want to be the great grandparent that legalize marijuana or any other drug."

Roseberry holds firm to the theory of marijuana as the "gateway drug"
because he has seen it with his own eyes as a cop on the beat since the
mid-1960s.

But Wade Jenson, a criminal defence lawyer, disagrees saying Parliament
should go even further in its apparent softening of the law.

"Marijuana is harmless and shouldn't be criminalized," he says, adding
de-criminalizing marijuana possession is a half-measure for the same
reasons prohibition of alcohol was scrapped.

"It is really not addressing the issue if those smoking it are forced to go
into dark alleys or take other extreme steps to acquire it.

"The only reason there is organized criminal activity with marijuana is
because it is illegal.

"That drives the price of a worthless weed through the roof and as long as
there is a profit motive it will continue."

It does continue and so do the police.

On Wednesday, Kelowna RCMP dismantled a large marijuana grow house and
seized 140 plants, 4.8 kg of bud and equipment.

Two men are charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and
production of a controlled substance.