EDITORIAL

OUR OPINION

Alliance Between OPP And Sudbury Police Is The Way To Proceed In This
Never-Ending Battle

BATTLING THE ILLEGAL DRUG TRADE

The elite police squad known as the joint street crime unit is a
formal alliance between the Ontario Provincial Police and the Greater
Sudbury Police Service. Its goal is simple: to combine skills,
strengths, knowledge and sources to come down hard on the drug trade.

Since the unit was formed three months ago, 40 individuals in
northeastern Ontario have been charged with 120 drug-related and
criminal code offences, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of
marijuana and hard drugs have been seized, pot growing operations in
Noelville and Capreol have been found and destroyed and a group of
alleged traffickers was intercepted and arrested at Pearson Airport in
Toronto.

This team has a big job to do. Drugs flow into the North on a daily,
if not hourly, basis. Cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin and ecstasy have
invaded city streets. Marijuana is grown right here.

By creating this joint task force, the two police services have
demonstrated an admirable single-mindedness. Rather than approach the
problem from opposite ends, in their own jurisdictions and using their
own resources, they are working together to effect change, a
high-level assault on the organized drug trade in Sudbury and
throughout the North. An attack on the drug trade has spinoff
benefits, as other crimes - theft, assault, burglary, prostitution -
can be linked to drug abuse.

Not everyone out there, though, is a big-time "player" on the drug
scene. Consider the case of the man arrested last summer with about 11
grams of marijuana in his van. As reported in Thursday's Sudbury Star,
he was pulled over for a traffic violation and police noticed the
odour of marijuana. A search turned up the drugs, with an estimated
street value of about $100. Definitely small-time.

The accused entered a plea of guilt and was fined $200.

Was this really the best use of the justice system? That fine doesn't
even begin to approach the cost of arresting, processing and
prosecuting the accused. It doesn't take a significant quantity of
drugs off the street. It takes the smallest nibble out of the drug
trade, not the growling bites the joint task force is tearing away.

There's been a steady, low-key call for the decriminalization of "soft
drugs" in Canada for several years now. That doesn't mean legalization
- - it simple means the possession of small quantities of marijuana for
personal use becomes a misdemeanour, akin to getting a traffic ticket.

That call received a high-level boost in November, right in the House
of Commons. An open vote is expected sometime this year on a private
member's bill introduced by Canadian Alliance MP Keith Martin, who
says a majority of federal politicians, including Liberals, support
his call for the decriminalization of marijuana.

Bill C-344 would impose a system of fines - up to $1,000 - rather than
criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of pot.

Under Martin's plan, there would be no need for a person like the
aforementioned dope smoker to be arrested, jailed and put on trial for
possessing a small amount of marijuana.

When the efforts of the joint task force are looked at, this argument
makes sense. The Greater Sudbury Police and the OPP have their
priorities straight: use the street crime unit to target the heavy
hitters. Take down the traffickers. Take the dealers off the street.
Burn pot crops. Come down hard on thieves who steal from pharmacies,
as happened just days ago in Val Caron.

But there has to be a better way to deal with the small fry. Wasting
the skills and resources of highly-trained police and court
professionals to issue a $200 fine to a man who likes to smoke a
little grass seems like an exercise in futility.