Vancouver Cops' New Drug Policy

I'm not sure this isn't merely a restatement of what has already become standard procedure but Vancouver police patrolling the city's troubled Downtown Eastside will no longer be arresting and charging druggies for simple possession. The policy is intended to free up officers for street duties. From the Vancouver Sun:

"We'll come across people all day long who have maybe a few rocks of cocaine in their pocket, or maybe a bit of methamphetamine, [for] personal use," said Const. Jana McGuinness. "Technically, yes, you could arrest and you could tie up two officers for four hours writing a report like that.
"That's where the discretion will be employed. Where they can, say, seize the drugs, get the drugs off the street and then go about their business of being out there stopping other crimes."

Less paperwork will mean more officers on the street to tackle street disorder, McGuinness said. The police business plan identifies a number of behaviours the force is trying to curb, including aggressive panhandling, squeegeeing, open-air drug markets, unlicensed street vending and sleeping in city parks.

It's curious there's no mention of street prostitution. Obviously Vancouver is trying to clean up its streets before the tourists arrive for the 2010 Olympics

Let's See If Iggy Has the Guts to Say "No"

Stephen Harper is exploiting the recent rash of gang violence in the Lower Mainland to revive his rabid, anti-drug legislation. Like most of this ideologically-driven garbage, there are a few parts of it that make sense but a lot that don't.

Growing one up to 200 plants would net a mandatory, six month sentence. One plant? Oh get real. What does he want to do, give a criminal record to an entire generation?

There's nothing in this legislation that's likely to put a dent in gang activity. If anything it would seem to help the gangs out by eliminating competition among pot growers.

If Harper wanted to deal a blow to the gangs, the best way would be to decriminalize small scale growing and possession of marijuana. But he'd rather take the route that's been proven ineffective time and time again.

Don't worry about a rash of new prisoners. Public Obedience Minister Peter van Loan says there's plenty of spare room going to waste in existing Canadian prisons. "We have capacity in our prisons right now. They are not in the overcrowded situations you might see south of the border,” Van Loan told Canwest News Service.