CANADA'S OTHER UNDECLARED WAR

Editor:

As Canadian troops fight terrorism in Afghanistan, we should declare a
second war but within our own borders, on drugs. After a three-year study,
the solicitor general announced that drugs and alcohol contribute to crime
in this country. Was that a surprise to anyone?

As a former police officer, it's fair to say we knew that 35 years ago. The
question that begs to be answered is what is the solicitor general and
Parliament willing to do about it?

We know that drugs are destroying our nation. It's killing our kids at an
alarming rate. It's turning our kids to prostitution and even suicide.
People are being murdered for drug debts. It is responsible for the loss of
millions of dollars through break and enters into homes and businesses.
It's also responsible for health-care and drug-related program costs. The
only answer is to declare war on drugs and those that reap the awards by
trafficking in it.

When Canada was threatened with the FLQ crisis, we brought in the War
Measures Act. I feel drugs are an even greater threat. How many of our kids
have to die? Some say education is the answer but our kids know more about
drugs than we as adults will ever know.

I strongly believe that we need a new act of Parliament called the Drug
Enforcement Act. Police powers should be expanded to include powers to
search any vehicle, person, place or thing likely to contain restricted,
controlled or narcotic drugs. Give police open unrestricted access to
wiretap and technical surveillance of suspected drug traffickers, make
inclusion of new suspects automatic in the ongoing investigation.

Finally, anyone convicted of trafficking or conspiracy to traffic in
illegal drugs receives a mandatory 20- year sentence with no chance of
parole for 15 years. All assets owned by a convicted drug trafficker may be
seized by the Crown and disposed of for payment of the cost of
investigations. The Canadian Army may be utilized particularly for the
take-down of large organizations such as bike gangs. With these laws in
place it would take the joke out of trafficking in narcotics.

Mark Murphy

Georgetown