EVILS STEMMING FROM DRUG TRADE JUST UNDER MUNICIPALITY'S
SURFACE

Editor, The Record:

Mission has an enviable record of public safety. We're nowhere near
the level of violence that gangs, drugs, and guns have inflicted on
cities like Surrey or even Abbotsford, and I surely hope that it
stays that way.

But there's an elephant in the room that people don't like to talk
about, preferring to ignore what they know to be true.

And that truth is that the evils stemming from the drug trade that
has damaged other towns from the inside is just below the surface
here. Those same gang connections have worked their way into Mission
like the spreading fingers of a cancerous growth. The senseless
violence, perpetrated by numerous groups and individuals, might
easily erupt on our streets.

Yet it doesn't have to be inevitable, not if the police and others
can continue to hit the grow ops as hard as they did the other week
when six went down in one day. And that success has to be repeated
again and again so the message that Mission is not going to put up
with the drug trade gets out.

Take out the grow-ops and you take out the profit motive for the
gangs and their lackeys to operate here and force them to move on.

Some may want to argue about the merits of smoking dope, but you
can't escape the reality that it's the cash crop that allows the
illegal gangs to import the harder drugs and guns that are killing people.

So on behalf of us who want Mission to continue to be a safe refuge
in this increasingly violent world, I want to say thanks to those in
the community who are tackling the grow op industry one bust at a
time. The work that the police and firefighters have to do is
dangerous and deserves our respect and support. Each bust interrupts
the cash flow ultimately controlled by the gangs and that is what is
needed if we want to keep our neighbourhoods safe.

But for those who don't report on the grow ops, drug trafficking, and
money laundering that they know to be happening, I'm far less charitable.

Especially for those who benefit from staying silent as they are no
better than they have to be, and are just as guilty as those actively
working to turn our town into their personal turf.

So in closing I'll just say that we're luckier than most communities
as we're still a relatively safe town.

But that is in large part to those who aren't afraid to tackle the
elephant in the room and say what they know to be true.

Robert T. Rock

Mission