CRIME!: DRUGS TOP LANGLEY'S CRIME LIST

Drugs are the major cause of crime in Langley, and the man in charge of the
RCMP's drug squad said it is up to the community to take a stand to stop it.

Langley is growing. Houses are going up, people are moving in, and the area
is expanding.

Yet despite the fact that its population has doubled since 1981, Langley
does not have some of the social ills that plague other areas.

There is no skid row, no visible sex trade, no random violence.

But Langley has a problem: drugs.

"Drugs are really the scourge of all evil in a lot of ways," said Langley
RCMP Sgt. Brian Cantera, who oversees the detachment's Drug Section and
Green Team. "Crimes are committed for a variety of reasons, but one
consistent element is the drug factor."

In fact, Cantera said 75 to 80 per cent of Langley's serious crimes, such
as break and enters, assaults, thefts, and robberies, are drug-related.

In most cases, the crime is committed by someone looking for quick cash to
feed their addiction.

"Users often commit armed robberies to purchase drugs. Stealing a TV or a
stereo out of your car may not seem drug related, but drugs are purchased
with the proceeds," Cantera said, adding that money obtained through fraud
is also usually used for drug purchases.

And drugs, said Cantera, are plentiful and easily accessible in Langley.

"The demand is there basically, in my opinion, because of a lackadaisical
approach society has," he said. "Marijuana and its harm are underestimated
by the public."

Cantera believes that marijuana is a gateway drug, and that those who use
it are more susceptible to trying harder drugs. From there, addition is
almost inevitable, and the cycle is difficult to break.

"Once hooked on coke or methamphetamines, it is so detrimental to one's
health it isn't funny," Cantera said. "People will trade their souls for
coke or meth. They absolutely possess people. I've seen people go from
riches to rags to get more."

"There's no going back. It's a whole different world," he said of drug
addiction. "There is no safety net that's going to catch you."

Once addicted, many people turn to crime to fund their habits.

Cantera says it is common to see people - especially youths - try drugs
once, get addicted, start stealing from their parents, then turn to harsher
crimes such as robbery and theft.

They are also putting their health in jeopardy: "Methamphetamines are
scaring the heck out of us," said Cantera, referring to a substance created
in laboratories in Langley and Port Kells, as well as throughout the Lower
Mainland.

A form of speed, methamphetamines are popular at raves, have a number of
adverse affects on the body, and are easy to get a hold of.

"Kids are really, really getting hooked into this particularly, and it's
definitely dangerous," said Cantera, adding that the problem is complicated
by the fact that meth labs are mobile, and full of harmful chemicals.

"Hard core kids often traffic in it, and consumers can be good kids who get
spun into the criminal element," he said.

But not everyone involved in the drug trade is a user. Many are traffickers
from a "simply entrepreneurial point of view," Cantera said.

Drugs are often linked to organized crime, which specializes in the
importation of cocaine, the exportation of marijuana, and the production of
methamphetamines.

So big are the profits of the drug trade that sentences for those caught
producing or trafficking drug are not a deterrent.

The drug trade can lead to potential violence, Cantera added, noting that
there were two drug-related beatings in Langley this year, as well as home
invasions relating to the drug industry.

The war on drugs, Cantera believes, will not be won until individuals and
communities take a stand.

"We need to take a stance on what kind of a society we want to live in," he
said, adding that a large part of the community's acceptance of drugs comes
from parents who were exposed to them as teenagers and are allowing their
children to believe drugs are okay.

"We don't hear from those they did harm," he said.

"The community as a whole has to take an extremely strong stance against
the people who traffic drugs for entrepreneurial purposes," Cantera added.

In the meantime, police will keep doing what they can to fight drugs and
the crimes that stem from them, even though the task is sometimes frustrating.

"Police are members of the community and we have children," Cantera pointed
out. "If you save even one or two kids from getting involved in drugs,
you've done your job."