VESTED INTEREST

Cops Benefit From Drug Laws

Police have the same vested interest in maintaining pot prohibition as do
organized crime groups, says the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy (CFDP).

"(Police) acknowledge that drugs are a major source of income for organized
crime," said Eugene Oscapella, a founding member of the CFDP and an Ottawa
lawyer serving on the Law Reform Commission of Canada. "They never
acknowledge that prohibition is also the source of their income. The police
do benefit. They get employment."

The Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs recommended Wednesday that
Canada should make marijuana legal and regulate it in much the same way as
alcohol.

Most of the drug-related crime police face is a result of either drug trade
skirmishes or thefts committed by people trying to satisfy expensive drug
habits, said Oscapella.

"Some police know full well they get a lot of overtime out of drug busts,
considering court time or stakeouts." Lifting the prohibition on pot would
undermine the majority of drug-related criminal activity, he said.

But cops will always be needed to fight organized crime, whatever the legal
status of marijuana happens to be, said Canadian Police Association
executive director David Griffin.

"Organized crime didn't evaporate when prohibition was lifted on alcohol,"
said Griffin. "It's naive to think that the government is going to compete
with the people who are already producing it now."

And criminals who already have smoothly operating black market networks to
produce and distribute marijuana won't want to switch to a restrictive,
regulated market, said Griffin. "They're not just going to roll over and
give up that business." Either way, Griffin stressed, the harmful effects
of pot go far beyond crime.

Any focus on the legalization argument in the report is missing the point,
said committee member Sen. Tommy Banks.

He said people need to remember legalization wasn't the main recommendation
of the 600-page report.

Rather, the Senate concluded pot would do the least harm if it were legal,
he said.