When is enforcing the law a criminal enterprise?

When you use the law to steal peoples property when there is virtually no evidence to support the proceeds of crime statute other than that the onus is now on the property owner to prove their innocence.Take the recent case of a reclusive gulf islands resident who's paid for,$600,000 dollar home was seized by the crown for the horrible crime of growing marijuana.Had this man actually been growing for profit he would have been aware of the law and the inherent danger of using his own property for the deed.The man,a 59 year virtual hermit,had been growing pot for his own use for 22 years.He freely admitted this thinking it would be in his favor.If he was a true criminal he would have said nothing and called a lawyer.The crown,in it's zeal to show how B.C. has a zero tolerance policy(unless your an aid to a government minister or a developer with a penchant for hookers and cocaine and the police chief for a friend)chose to take the mans every possession in spite of the obvious doubt that crime had anything to do with this property purchase.Since the passing of this act the Province has stolen 4 million dollars in just under two years.I'm sure a lot of this property was seized justifiably,if you think ownership a crime.If every drug dollar was pulled out of the province tomorrow,half of every new project would fall into the hands of whoever the drug lords chose to offload it on.How much of the recent construction boom do you think is being used to launder criminal proceeds?Not just drug profits but white collar crime prostitution,gambling,protection.Look at the recent activities of this government on the issue of patronage and lobbying.How much illegal money is involved in the ICBC scandal,the Dobel cases,the recent disclosures about the deals in Washington,not to mention Basi-Virk?Why is the only crime that's punishable by the forfeiture of property the drug crimes?It's a known fact that the majority of Canadians want an end to prohibition,especially marijuana prohibition.That's what's in play here.I don't know the man involved.I am only taking the word of him,his lawyers and his neighbors that he almost never has visitors or is even seen.Doesn't sound like a drug dealer to me and I was a drug dealer for almost 35 years.This law is double punishment for a property owner and nothing else.It puts the police in an obvious conflict of interest as the proceeds of the sale of seized property goes to the law enforcement community.What's to stop a police officer that sees something he likes from planting evidence and seizing it then having it purchased in a sweetheart deal for pennies on the dollar?Not possible you say? where have you been for the last 40 years.The drug war has corrupted more police officers than during alcohol prohibition when whole forces were on the mafia payroll.Do you really believe this isn't happening as we speak.We had a police chief working for a major drug ring in the late 50's before drugs exploded onto the scene.Does anyone think things have changed as much as they have with no concurrent corruption?What are you smoking?

Informants just weren't enough

The Vancouver police department wasn't satisfied with turning addicts into informants and putting their lives at risk by ratting out their friends.Now they've taken some poor sucker that was so desperate for drug treatment that he turned himself in,into a poster boy for duplicity.This obvious mental patient was coerced into making a video in favor of police chief Chiu's jailing of chronic offenders for more than two years.The deputy,a fellow named DePard actually said that crime was the worst it has been ever in the history of mankind.I won't even comment on the banality of this overstatement.There is no question that the Vancouver police have abandoned any attempt at truth or keeping the argument at a meaningful level.Parading this poor and obviously sick individual,even with his voice altered and his face obliterated,in front of the public is a desperate and contemptuous act.If this guy actually had to turn himself in to the police and beg for a federal sentence it points out the pathetically small choices an addict has in this Province.While on the one hand we are told that there are now drug courts offering treatment instead of prison.We have the police saying we need to send people to prison and this person agreeing with them.Where is this treatment we've been inundated with stories of?Why does this person,who admits that he has his addiction under control and is only doing drugs a few times a week,so unable to access a treatment program?Something is rotten here and we are not being told the truth.The fact that different drugs have different courses of treatment and different success rates for the programs is confusing the issue and there seems to be little will to sort out the differences.This man is a cocaine addict.I don't know what the success rates are for cocaine treatment but I'm sure they are far and away more successful than any heroin programs.We need people that understand the differences and can make relevant suggestions to be asked for input.If we continue to make policy based on hysteria,even police hysteria,we will get nowhere.It's time we stopped asking representatives from the treatment community for suggestions as they have a vested interest in keeping things just as they are.It becomes more obvious every day that there are holes in our safety net.Having the police make this video was a mistake as it doesn't show what they think it does.This video shows we need more treatment,not more prison.To the contrary,it points out the necessity to open up more facilities that can offer the treatment that some addicts are obviously looking for.

Vancouver Police Chief Is lying

Jim Chiu wants people to believe that sending addicts to prison is going to magically transform the city into a bright new future.He is well aware that he is lying.Prison is not a new solution to the drug problem.In fact it is no solution to anything except to warehouse human beings.No-one is claiming that we should close down the prison system and find something better.There are people that are simply too dangerous to allow them to live freely among us.Chiu says he's talked to addicts that have told him that prison saved their lives.He wants us to believe that they meant that they were grateful for federal time.(2 years or more)I have been at this long enough to know exactly what he is referring to.We often say that if it wasn't for all the time we've done we'd probably be dead.This is not a declaration in favor of the federal prison system but a comment on the violence of the addict lifestyle.For Chiu to suggest anything else is dishonest and disingenuous.Prison is a twisted and often brutal place to be and it warps the mind.Sending petty criminals and that is who we're talking about,to prison will only make them more dangerous when they get out.Even Chiu won't say how long he wants the sentence for these "super chronic offenders"(addicts)to be.One only has to look to the south to see what happens when you implement such laws.Prisons fill up and over flow and costs go through the roof.Do we want to have private prisons and long sentences for people who have a disease and steal to feed it?If there was anything new here it might be worth a try,even though it offends the soul.This is something that was done in the past with the result that it was found to be cruel and unusual punishment.I think the police chief knows this.If he doesn't he should look for another job.The Province also tried to have addiction declared a crime and to throw every one in prison for mandatory treatment.When confronted with the facts about the success rates for treatment of hard core addicts they were forced to withdraw the bill.This is a terribly difficult problem and there has,to this date,been no satisfactory solution.That is no reason to go back to imprisoning people for a sickness for long periods of time.It stops them from stealing for the duration of their sentence but it costs a lot of money and makes better criminals out of them.There is also the fact that people who do petty crimes to support their drug habits will turn to more serious crimes if the time they face is the same for both.The chief won't tell you that either and he's well aware of that as well.

dog and pony show losing it's zeal

It used to be that when the police made a major bust of any kind they would drag out all the seized property,run the perp walk,display a table loaded with drugs,money,guns and bundles of cash.They would have some officer with the sternest face in the division give a statement about how this was a _ year investigation costing$-millions of dollars and that it had dealt a major blow to the drug scene and to organized crime.On the street no-one even noticed.Today we saw another low in the dog and pony show era.One tattooed guy with an RCMP entourage went to the airport where they did a one man perp walk and then made the speech with nothing in the way of evidence as he was being deported by their con-air plan to rid the city from as many street people before the Olympics.This was a sad replica of bygone days when they actually solved crimes before they pandered to the public via the media.A few days ago they set up two addicts for murder by making sure the dealers they had just ripped off were aware of who robbed them and when they were being released.When the police do something like this and laugh about how much hurt these guys are in for they have sunk to using the street to attain the justice they are unable to deliver.This is a cowardly act and is no better than hiring a hit man to eliminate someone they dislike.This is just another example of the twisted logic that is the drug war and the total lack of morality or human decency that exists under prohibition.