AN OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR PHILIP OWEN, HEDY FRY MP, AND THE VANCOUVER POLICE:
"LET'S STOP THE REAL CROOKS!"
The deaths of at least nine Vancouver drug-users this week underscore the immorality and futility of police actions such as the recent raid on Hemp BC.
Forced by law to buy their drugs from violent criminals on the black market, instead of from an established storefront operation such as Mr. Emery's, a considerable segment of our population is being marginalized. They are deprived of protections we take for granted. They must live outside the law and can fall prey to assault, robbery, or death by contaminated product. They pay inflated prices to cover the salaries of thugs and hit men. Many turn to crime, prostitution, or harder drugs as a result. They live and die in the shadow of Hepatitis and AIDS.
Even the police seem well aware of this. On last night's radio, I heard a police spokeswoman urge drug users to buy only from dealers they know and trust.
But our officials speak out of both sides of their mouths, … because only last week they were busy trashing the premises of a respected member of this community and arresting his staff. During that same week, 13-year old girls were being sold as slaves. Shotgun-wielding thugs were invading homes. Teenagers were being beaten up and knifed in back alleys in broad daylight. And people in our city were being murdered.
Are we crazy?
Let's leave peaceful and honest establishments like the Cannabis Café alone. Let's get the police … and the law … focussed on violent crime. Then, and only then, our families be safe at night.
Any other course of action is criminal.
Paul Miniato
Delta, B.C.
December 24, 1997
Published Letter to the Vancouver Sun
In every war, children are caught in the crossfire. The War on Drugs will be no exception. Last weekend in Abbottsford, we were lucky. Next time we may not be. How many kids will be killed before we declare a truce in this unwinnable armed conflict.
War is no way to foster public health and "right behaviour". Never has been.
Ask the kids.
Paul Miniato
Delta, BC
Unpublished Letter to The Editor
In "Beef, not pot, triggers police house raid" (Vancouver Province Jan.5/99 page A10), the "evidence" leading to the mistaken raid consisted of an alleged "smell of marijuana, heavy condensation on the windows, ... a large indoor fan, and bags of fertilizer." Let me get this straight: if you're a backyard gardener who cooks in a poorly ventilated kitchen, don't burn the soup or a gang of "heavily armed men" may burst through your front door.
We're creating a police state in our misguided attempt to use the law to foster public health, morality, and rationality. Something stinks here.
And it ain't the pot.
Paul Miniato
Delta, BC
Copyright Paul Miniato 1997-1999.
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Last Updated: 02-Mar-1999