Binky
05-10-2005, 07:27 PM
In "Dealing dope in B.C. is far from a victimless crime," you opined that our "naive judges" are too lenient on "drug kingpins," that U.S. judges understand the value of long prison sentences, and that cannabis consumers are "contributing to a dark, dirty and increasingly violent business."
Despite incarcerating more drug offenders than Western Europe imprisons for all crimes combined, the U.S. remains its own largest cannabis supplier.
There is no evidence that U.S. sentencing practices have made their black marketeers less dark, dirty, violent or organized than ours. On the contrary, their aggressive war on cannabis contributed to their methamphetamine epidemic.
No one knows what share of the lucrative cannabis market Parliament has abdicated to violent criminals, because the market is entirely unregulated.
But a survey of Canadian prisoners serving time for high-level cultivation and trafficking found that about 70 per cent were of the unorganized variety.
In other words, just as some alcohol consumers contributed to Al Capone, if you purchase cannabis on the black market ( rather than grow your own ) and you do not know its origins, then you might be contributing to a dark, dirty and increasingly violent business.
If you still support cannabis prohibition, then you most certainly are.
Matthew Elrod,
Victoria
2005 The Province
Contact: provletters@png.canwest.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/
Despite incarcerating more drug offenders than Western Europe imprisons for all crimes combined, the U.S. remains its own largest cannabis supplier.
There is no evidence that U.S. sentencing practices have made their black marketeers less dark, dirty, violent or organized than ours. On the contrary, their aggressive war on cannabis contributed to their methamphetamine epidemic.
No one knows what share of the lucrative cannabis market Parliament has abdicated to violent criminals, because the market is entirely unregulated.
But a survey of Canadian prisoners serving time for high-level cultivation and trafficking found that about 70 per cent were of the unorganized variety.
In other words, just as some alcohol consumers contributed to Al Capone, if you purchase cannabis on the black market ( rather than grow your own ) and you do not know its origins, then you might be contributing to a dark, dirty and increasingly violent business.
If you still support cannabis prohibition, then you most certainly are.
Matthew Elrod,
Victoria
2005 The Province
Contact: provletters@png.canwest.com
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/theprovince/