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Drug laws spark drug wars

By: Staff Writer

4/08/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 10

The idea that the users of illegal drugs are responsible for the drug trade and the crime that surrounds it is nothing new.  Neither i it entirely preposterous.  If there were no market, there would be no trade and if there were no trade there we be no profit and if there were no profit there would be no point to the crime that surrounds it today.

So it may be that the St. James businessman who snorts a little cocaine, the South St. Vital housewife who smokes a little weed, the Broadway boulavardier who likes his uppers or downers are responsible for the drug trade because they are the market.

But as we know, and as history shows us, if that supposition is not entirely preposterous, it is mostly preposterous. Crime, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and it naturally fills one when it occurs. Prohibition attempted to destroy the market for alcoholic beverages; instead it simply created the organized crime syndicates that plague North American society to this day.

Exorbitant taxes on tobacco are meant to curb the smoking of cigarettes, but all they have done is to create a hugely profitable black market that exists across the country and has turned some native reserves in Ontario and Quebec into conduits for smuggled cigarettes and lawless principalities that recognize no civil authority.

Much of the gang violence that plagues Winnipeg's inner city is attributed to turf war over the highly lucrative drug trade. It has been suggested that the shooting at a wedding reception in the North End last week was part of a drug-trade related gang war and that, because they continue to indulge their appetites, the St. Vital housewife and the Broadway boulavardier are responsible for the death and the injuries.

If, in fact, that shooting is connected to the drug trade, it is not users who are responsible. It is the gunman and, ironically, the law itself that is to blame for the violence. Simply put, you do not need to deal with a gangster if you can buy your marijuana, or even your cocaine, at a store regulated and controlled by the government, just as you can now buy your tobacco and your alcohol.

Canadian governments have been slow to recognize the obvious, that the only way to eliminate drug-related crime is to take the criminality out of the use of drugs. The furthest any Canadian government has been willing to go is to suggest that it might be possible to decriminalize marijuana. That would not make use of the drug legal, but it would allow for it under certain circumstances. Bills proposing that were proposed three times by Liberal governments since 2002 but they died on the order paper.

One would have to be blindly optimistic to imagine that the Conservative government of Stephen Harper, which doesn't even like the idea of safe injection sites, will propose a similar bill.

Even if it were to do so, however, it would not be enough to solve the problem this country faces. The decriminalization of marijuana is not nearly enough. The problem is not so much the use of drugs as the illegality of that use. Education can moderate and reduce drug use when it is out in the open -- it is the crime that surrounds the drug trade that is the country's cancer. Until a federal government has the courage to recognize that, to accept its responsibility to the citizens of Winnipeg and Canadians across the country, the drugs and the profits from them will remain in the hands of criminals, and drug wars will continue.

 

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 4, 2009 A10

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10 Commentscomment icon

If bread were to be criminalized today, it would 'feed' organized crime tomorrow, which more often than not wears a suit and tie or a uniform, in both private and public sectors. Prohibition means something will cost at least 10 times what it would if it were legal. The Legal drug trade in Canada is about $ 20 Billion+. The Illegal drug trade is over $ 200 BILLION ! Then there's the 'Alice In Wonderland' case of Tobacco, which is Legal, and still costs 10 times what it should - the most bizarre crime of all. Prohibition only creates a self-serving Industry, which includes those who claim to be trying to eradicate it, that will protect it's revenues to the death - of We the victims of it. - Steve Hartwell www_tobaccosmokersofcanada_ca

Legalize all drugs and organized crime will simply vanish and all drug related problems will all go away!. We can all trust that once drugs are legal, your local Hell's angels member or local drug dealing gang banger will simply see the folly of their criminal ways and start selling girl guide cookies!. Of course, legalization will also remove the dangerous, addictive, toxic, mind altering nature of most of those drugs as well their social health impact. Alcohol is by far the most used and abused drug by youth yet is "illegal" for youth under a regulated, taxed and controlled system that you propose for all drugs - very comforting - Show me how you can actually make the system work for alcohol and youth and then we can perhaps debate other drugs. You state that the current regulatory framewrok for tobacco is encouraging criminal activities by people seeking not to pay government prices. Under legalization, the same will happen to other drugs as the organized crime groups will simply use their existing network to sell more potent and cheaper stuff than what the governement has to offer. We should ALL look at reducing the demand for drugs and work on changing social norms that normalizes if not glorifies drug use. Legalization is not the answer. We do not need a sound bite solution to a very complex social-health issue. We ALL need to focus on education, prevention, treatment, sound harm reduction practices and well targeted enforcement as well as using restorative justice

Jason Wayne

The proof is in the pudding.

When there was no drug prohibition there were no gangs. Look that up in the history books.

What do you suppose the gangs would be doing without vices to make billions from?

All drug deals are voluntary just like all transactions down at the liquor store are.

There will never be that kind of money to be made in anything that is not voluntary.

What will the gangs do? Resort to kidnapping and other crimes where there is a victim rather than a willing participant. There won't be any money in any of that! I'm pretty sure people would complain if someone was muscling them for money instead of offering them a desirable product.

So "repealing" drug prohibition will solve all the drug crime related problems just like repealing alcohol prohibition solved all the alcohol crime related problems.

Alcohol was never "legalized." Prohibition was repealed. Legalize implies the state will pass a law to permit something. Like Hitler passes the Public Order laws and "legalizes" the persecution of Jews. Or the Canadians government passes the Opium Narcotic Act of 1908 thereby legalizing the persecution of Opium users who happened to be Chinese. Whenever the government "Legalizes" anything they always step above rule of law to the rule of the tyrant, that is unless you think rule of law was evident in Nazi Germany.

Repeal is the proper word since that is what governments do to bad laws.


There's a lot of money in Prohibitions for the wolves in sheeps' clothings, the very people allegedly protecting us all from ourselves, but, who never achieve their 'witch-hunting' goals, which only get worse because of their efforts, surprise surprise. AND, that also goes for Tobacco Prohibitions too.

Yep, just legalize everything that will solve all our problems.

What a simple fix, why hasn't the government thought of that sooner? Then all the gangs and organized crime would just disappear.

What a crock.

dyachison

If Heaven was helping...then people like you would have never supported drug laws in the first place. Like how about the lessons from the Parable of The Fall? That's the Garden of Eden parable where we learn that the forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter. So why outlaw drugs? Then there is the lesson that lying to your charges unleashes powerful serpents. The government had no business lying to us about substances they label as drugs in the first place. Dangerous drug is a political designation.

Heaven helped us all right. How about opening the first page of the Bible? Genesis 1: 29 is plain enough English to me. It says "And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." That means the plants of planet Earth are bestowed to the people, not the government and certainly not to the doctors....to you dyachison

So "Heaven" gave us all the help we need a long time ago.....no one listened!

So drug users do not break God's law," it is the politicians who do that by passing foolish and unjust laws.

Prostitution is legal in Canada....there is some foolish law about communicating for the purpose that does a lot of harm too.

Suicide means to self-kill which makes assisted suicide murder. No one needs help killing themselves, they just need courage.

What we should not do is turn vices into crimes!

Thank you, Staff Writer.

Well we are at it let legalize prostitution. We should allow assisted suicides even if our someone else wants us gone. Kinda like kill a friend for thier own good. We should allow the government to take money from people like our friend Madoff. Oh yea we call that old age pension.

All laws should be banned and then no one will commit a crime. No one has been able to stop criminals in the world there still is as many if not more now. So why try and stop it. Good plan!!! I know that the gangs will be all for it make everything that is illegal now legal. We can all join a gang. Heaven help us.

I agree. Much as I abhor drug use, instead of spending money trying to control it. Collect the money that would be going to drug czar and use it to educate people. If statics are to be believe, smoking is declining, which is probably due to education.

No government or law agency has been able to stop drug use for hundred of years. What makes any current government think they can stop it.

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