Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
Tony Smith is a retired Vancouver cop and a spokesperson in Canada for Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Founded on March 16, 2002, LEAP is made up of current and former members of the law enforcement and criminal justice communities who are opposed to drug prohibition. Many of LEAP’s 10,000 members were on the front lines of the war on drugs and today have the passion found only in a convert to reform what they believe is a broken system.
While people like Smith are rare, they are not entirely new to the Canadian political scene. Canadians may remember Vancouver cop Gil Puder. Puder died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 40, but not before making his mark in the movement to end drug prohibition.
While still a member of the Vancouver Police Force, Puder made a presentation called “Recovering Our Honour: Why Policing Must Reject the War on Drugs” at a Fraser Institute conference in 1998.
Puder was threatened with discipline from his employer for his participation in the drug conference, and the Fraser Institute drew criticism from some of its conservative supporters, including sitting Reform Party Member of Parliament Art Hanger, now a Conservative representative.
In the end, though, the Fraser Institute published “Sensible Solutions to the Urban Drug Problem” in 2002 which included a posthumous contribution from Puder.
This watershed publication challenged the Canadian conservative movement to rethink the war on drugs, making opposition to prohibition at least a tolerable eccentricity.
Whether or not the political climate today is better or worse for drug law reformers like Tony Smith, however, is not clear.
Smith joined the Vancouver Police in 1973, one year after the Le Dain committee recommended to Parliament that marijuana be legalized. Then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau let law enforcement know that he supported the recommendation, signalling that marijuana charges should be a low priority. According to Smith, however, the signal was lost on rank-and-file police officers.
“I have no doubt, and indeed it was probably a consensus amongst many officers, that the only reason for many of the [marijuana] arrests were personal, such as the overtime pay for court appearances, which could exceed regular wages,” said Smith.
Shortly after joining the police force, Smith was assigned to the Car 86 program, in which officers collaborated with social workers to aid families in need of intervention. During this assignment, Smith observed that domestic violence or extremely hostile behaviour was normally accompanied by alcohol, and not illegal drugs.
Smith was later assigned to the Pawnshop Squad where he noticed that almost all the merchandise in pawnshops was stolen -- and stolen primarily by addicts who would quickly take their money to drug dealers waiting just outside the doors. The necessity to steal to feed an artificially expensive drug habit means “a $200 dollar a day habit cost the public at least $2,000 in thefts,” according to Smith.
But as an investigating officer in numerous drug-overdose deaths, Smith witnessed the devastating human cost of the war on drugs. “Having always been cast as criminals by society, [the addicts] never had a chance to escape. I’m sure their drug suppliers had no motivation to get them help as their addiction progressed. But maybe if the drugs had been medically prescribed, counselling would have been available,” said Smith.
Prescribing drugs to addicts is part of a “harm reduction” philosophy often favoured by medical practitioners to outright legalization. For instance, under the supervision of medical practitioners, a harm reduction program would allow addicts to get access to drugs of a consistent purity, preventing overdoses – and access to clean needles to prevent the contraction and spread of HIV and hepatitis. Prohibition makes this impossible.
Based on his 28 years of service, Smith’s greatest concern with the war on drugs, however, is the enormous amount of money pouring into criminal organizations because of prohibition. “It would be interesting to track the millions of dollars contributed to political campaigns from these sources,” he says. Is it possible that organized crime prefers the drug war “surge” strategy of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to a more liberal approach to drug policy? Could a plan to decriminalize drugs put organized crime in the poor house? Smith seems to thinks so.
The US war on drugs has had a negative global impact as well, according to Smith, who has travel extensively. “The approach of the DEA in Central and South America is turning those regions strongly against the US,” he says. “Just look at the recent elections in Bolivia and US relations with Venezuela. Mexico is in an even worse state,” said Smith.
He also argues that it is the drug habits of wealthy westerners that is creating much of the drug war violence in developing nations. “The government has no control, while drugs pay the bills for so many. And who fuels the market? The addicts in Canada and the US,” Smith concluded.
With the Le Dain committee recommendation to legalized marijuana now over 30 years old, a sitting Prime Minister demonstrably hostile to drug law reform, and marijuana seed seller Marc Emery facing extradition to the US to face a possible lifetime in prison, it is hard to argue that much progress has been made in drug law reform.
LEAP faces an uphill battle, but the odds in this battle may have improved somewhat this week. Libertarian Party leader Dennis Young has joined the organization. A legal agent in Calgary and a former military police officer, Young has been fiercely critical of the current government’s approach to drug policy.
“Stephen Harper is at odds with Canadians who are overwhelmingly opposed to putting marijuana users in prison. He’s at odds with the countless cops and prosecutors I talk to everyday. And he’s at odds with members of his own caucus, people like Scott Reid and even Stockwell Day,” said Young.
In 2001, libertarian-leaning Scott Reid wrote that “prohibition skews the allocation of law enforcement resources, artificially raises prices to extremely high levels, encourages crime by addicts, and prevents the emergence of private institutions and products to deal with the very real social problems posed by addiction.” And Public Safety minister Stockwell Day has said in the past that marijuana users should face only fines, and not the possibility of prison sentences.
“When those guys get sick of towing Harper’s line on this drug policy disaster, they are welcome in the Libertarian Party,” said Young.
While it is not likely that Reid or Day will leave their party any time soon, it does raise a question: Are there any true believers in the war of drugs? Or is this another bad policy with a seemingly unstoppable inertia driven by political expediency and cowardice?
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Western Standard
Copyright: 2008 Western Standard
Contact: Western Standard
Website: Western Standard
While people like Smith are rare, they are not entirely new to the Canadian political scene. Canadians may remember Vancouver cop Gil Puder. Puder died of cancer in 1999 at the age of 40, but not before making his mark in the movement to end drug prohibition.
While still a member of the Vancouver Police Force, Puder made a presentation called “Recovering Our Honour: Why Policing Must Reject the War on Drugs” at a Fraser Institute conference in 1998.
Puder was threatened with discipline from his employer for his participation in the drug conference, and the Fraser Institute drew criticism from some of its conservative supporters, including sitting Reform Party Member of Parliament Art Hanger, now a Conservative representative.
In the end, though, the Fraser Institute published “Sensible Solutions to the Urban Drug Problem” in 2002 which included a posthumous contribution from Puder.
This watershed publication challenged the Canadian conservative movement to rethink the war on drugs, making opposition to prohibition at least a tolerable eccentricity.
Whether or not the political climate today is better or worse for drug law reformers like Tony Smith, however, is not clear.
Smith joined the Vancouver Police in 1973, one year after the Le Dain committee recommended to Parliament that marijuana be legalized. Then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau let law enforcement know that he supported the recommendation, signalling that marijuana charges should be a low priority. According to Smith, however, the signal was lost on rank-and-file police officers.
“I have no doubt, and indeed it was probably a consensus amongst many officers, that the only reason for many of the [marijuana] arrests were personal, such as the overtime pay for court appearances, which could exceed regular wages,” said Smith.
Shortly after joining the police force, Smith was assigned to the Car 86 program, in which officers collaborated with social workers to aid families in need of intervention. During this assignment, Smith observed that domestic violence or extremely hostile behaviour was normally accompanied by alcohol, and not illegal drugs.
Smith was later assigned to the Pawnshop Squad where he noticed that almost all the merchandise in pawnshops was stolen -- and stolen primarily by addicts who would quickly take their money to drug dealers waiting just outside the doors. The necessity to steal to feed an artificially expensive drug habit means “a $200 dollar a day habit cost the public at least $2,000 in thefts,” according to Smith.
But as an investigating officer in numerous drug-overdose deaths, Smith witnessed the devastating human cost of the war on drugs. “Having always been cast as criminals by society, [the addicts] never had a chance to escape. I’m sure their drug suppliers had no motivation to get them help as their addiction progressed. But maybe if the drugs had been medically prescribed, counselling would have been available,” said Smith.
Prescribing drugs to addicts is part of a “harm reduction” philosophy often favoured by medical practitioners to outright legalization. For instance, under the supervision of medical practitioners, a harm reduction program would allow addicts to get access to drugs of a consistent purity, preventing overdoses – and access to clean needles to prevent the contraction and spread of HIV and hepatitis. Prohibition makes this impossible.
Based on his 28 years of service, Smith’s greatest concern with the war on drugs, however, is the enormous amount of money pouring into criminal organizations because of prohibition. “It would be interesting to track the millions of dollars contributed to political campaigns from these sources,” he says. Is it possible that organized crime prefers the drug war “surge” strategy of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives to a more liberal approach to drug policy? Could a plan to decriminalize drugs put organized crime in the poor house? Smith seems to thinks so.
The US war on drugs has had a negative global impact as well, according to Smith, who has travel extensively. “The approach of the DEA in Central and South America is turning those regions strongly against the US,” he says. “Just look at the recent elections in Bolivia and US relations with Venezuela. Mexico is in an even worse state,” said Smith.
He also argues that it is the drug habits of wealthy westerners that is creating much of the drug war violence in developing nations. “The government has no control, while drugs pay the bills for so many. And who fuels the market? The addicts in Canada and the US,” Smith concluded.
With the Le Dain committee recommendation to legalized marijuana now over 30 years old, a sitting Prime Minister demonstrably hostile to drug law reform, and marijuana seed seller Marc Emery facing extradition to the US to face a possible lifetime in prison, it is hard to argue that much progress has been made in drug law reform.
LEAP faces an uphill battle, but the odds in this battle may have improved somewhat this week. Libertarian Party leader Dennis Young has joined the organization. A legal agent in Calgary and a former military police officer, Young has been fiercely critical of the current government’s approach to drug policy.
“Stephen Harper is at odds with Canadians who are overwhelmingly opposed to putting marijuana users in prison. He’s at odds with the countless cops and prosecutors I talk to everyday. And he’s at odds with members of his own caucus, people like Scott Reid and even Stockwell Day,” said Young.
In 2001, libertarian-leaning Scott Reid wrote that “prohibition skews the allocation of law enforcement resources, artificially raises prices to extremely high levels, encourages crime by addicts, and prevents the emergence of private institutions and products to deal with the very real social problems posed by addiction.” And Public Safety minister Stockwell Day has said in the past that marijuana users should face only fines, and not the possibility of prison sentences.
“When those guys get sick of towing Harper’s line on this drug policy disaster, they are welcome in the Libertarian Party,” said Young.
While it is not likely that Reid or Day will leave their party any time soon, it does raise a question: Are there any true believers in the war of drugs? Or is this another bad policy with a seemingly unstoppable inertia driven by political expediency and cowardice?
News Hawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE ® - Medical Marijuana Publication & Social Networking
Source: Western Standard
Copyright: 2008 Western Standard
Contact: Western Standard
Website: Western Standard
