LEGALIZING MARIJUANA WILL NOT SOLVE DRUG PROBLEMS

I am writing in response to a recently published letter: War on drugs has
failed. Its author, Devin Olmstead, puts forward the argument that criminal
sanctions (i.e. drug laws) have caused the problems related to drugs and
drug addiction: "Poverty, hunger, and homelessness in addict populations is
a direct result of the price of the narcotics they abuse."

Having worked as a police officer for over 13 years in the most
drug-riddled beat in Canada, the downtown eastside of Vancouver, I can
assure you that the situation is much more complex than the postulation
offered by Mr. Olmstead. The worst drug I deal with, even in an area
renowned for the street-level trade in cocaine and heroin, is alcohol -- a
legal substance. Under the rubric of substance abuse deaths, the worst
killer in our country is nicotine, another mass-distributed, and perfectly
legal drug. The toll these two legal drugs have on our society is
staggering. Why should we be in a rush to legalize more?

There seems to be a belief by some individuals that if drugs were legalized
we would see the end to the social problems related to drugs. There are
many significant personal risks to using drugs, ranging from disorientation
to death. Whether it is marijuana being inhaled or cocaine being injected,
the addict is incurring damage to his/her body. The collateral costs of
addiction are also significant, and they reach out to affect family
members, friends, and the community at large. Legalization -- an economic
solution to a personal problem -- cannot even begin to address the myriad
of medical, psychological, and social issues related to drug addiction.

Poverty, hunger, and homelessness will not be resolved by legalizing drugs,
rather legalization could easily serve to exacerbate these problems. The
key to helping an addict does not lie in providing unfettered access to
cheap drugs. The only real solution is to remove the drugs from the user's
life.

It is my humble opinion that instead of campaigning for legalization of
illicit drugs, attention should be vigilantly focused on prevention,
enforcement and treatment. Overall, as a country, I think we are doing
quite well. I am not naive enough to believe there will ever be a drug-free
society, but if we continually strive to make drugs unpopular, we
collectively work at reducing the consumption rates through a variety of
means, and we offer adequate treatment and help for addicts, then we will
have done our best.

I would like to personally thank Dan and Cathy Smith for arranging to have
myself, my police partner Al Arsenault, and recovered drug addict (and our
friend) Randy Miller out to your fine city for the opportunity to present
reality-based drug-abuse information to the youth of Medicine Hat. I would
also like to thank the Knights of Columbus, the Medicine Hat Police, the
RCMP and the numerous Medicine Hat schools for attending, supporting and
making our presentations possible. The hospitality we were shown will not
soon be forgotten.

Toby Hinton

Odd Squad Productions

Vancouver, B.C.