Criminologist Defends
Constable’s Call For Legal Marijuana:
"Alcohol and tobacco much more harmful than cannabis."
See Criticism Of Prohibition By
Vancouver Constable Gets National Coverage,
Partly Thanks To Chief’s Censorship: 2 Articles
and
Vancouver
Constable Calls For The Legalization Of Marijuana Over Objections of Chief!From the Vancouver Sun
sunletters@pacpress.southam.ca
http://www.vancouversun.com/
April 30, 1998
By Neil Boyd, Professor, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser
University
I can understand why Vancouver Police Chief Bruce Chambers didn’t want Constable
Gil Puder to speak at the Fraser Institute’s conference, Sensible Solutions for the
Urban Drug Problem. The chief clearly wants to preserve the status quo; leaders of large
bureaucracies have an understandable desire to protect their territory.
Gil Puder is a former member of the Emergency Response Team, a decorated veteran of the
drug wars. An expert in police use of force, he doesn’t exactly look or act like a
bleeding heart liberal. In 1984 he had to shoot an addicted bank robber; 10 years ago he
lost a friend and colleague, killed by a cocaine trafficker during a police raid.
He has been a front line drug warrior and he’s understandably frustrated by the
violence, the contradiction and the hypocrisy: among other things, the officers who drink
their beers, smoke their cigarretes and happily take the pot smoker to court.
It’s not a recipe for honest and equal treatment of
Canadians, particularly when all credible research indicates that alcohol and tobacco are
much more harmful to health than cannabis.
And trying to force police officers and others to keep quiet is even more disturbing;
it is only through open and civil debate that we will be able to resolve our differences.
The constable’s speech took courage and commitment.
The Fraser Institute helped advance our understanding of the problems. Is it possible
any politicians are listening?
Supported