Magic of the Muses: RCMP

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Saturday, November 14, 2015

#Pot or not?

Canada's current government, a Liberal majority elected a few weeks ago, had the legalization of marijuana as a plank in their election platform.

This past week, the Prime Minister's Office released a letter from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to his cabinet ministers mandating goals for each government department. The Justice Minister is mandated to: "Along with Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale and Health Minister Jane Philpott, Wilson-Raybould will also create a federal-provincial-territorial process that will lead to the legalization and regulation of marijuana." http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liberal-crime-justice-reform-1.3317891

Here is my letter outlining my opposition to the legalization of cannabis that I emailed today to Canada's Justice Minister with a copy to my MP, the Prime Minister, and the Leader of the Opposition. Please note: For my safety, I have redacted the names of the criminal gangs and identifiable groups that I mentioned in my letter to the Members of Parliament.

Subject: Opposition to cannabis legalization‏

Hon. Jody Wilson-Raybould

Justice Minister

I wish to outline my opposition to the legalization/decriminalization of marijuana and none of it has to do with the effect the drug has on a person’s physical and/or mental health. I will leave those arguments to those with expertise in that area.

My expertise lays in the area of gangs and the illicit drug trade. I am a volunteer with XXXXXX, a crime novelist and speaker, and a psychiatric nurse and journalist by training.

I feel compelled to jump into the fray on this issue because of my passion for youth and my desire to thwart the power of criminal gangs who prey on the vulnerable and make huge coin doing so.

In brief, here are my objections:

Legalizing marijuana (pot) will be legalizing a major money-making product of dangerous and violent criminal gangs, most notably the XXXXXXXXX. It is not likely they will give up their hold on the production and distribution of this lucrative and ‘safe’ side of their business. Nor is it likely they will pay taxes on it, guarantee the safety of the product, or refrain from adulterating it with addictive substances (as our regular tobacco companies are known to have done.

Unlike Prohibition where the violent gangs dissipated once alcohol again became legal, there are no legitimate businesses experienced in pot production and distribution able to take over the trade. The XXXXXXXXXare the experts in this and are well prepared, financed and set up to continue plying this product when it becomes legal. They would have no need to give it up. They would have little to no competition and they possess the full power necessary to stifle anyone who does want to compete. (Gang wars and gang violence—they do it now, legalizing the product won’t stop that!)

The Okanagan, the Niagara Peninsula—former fruit orchards now taken over by vineyards as the wine industry took hold. We must consider if we want to see our wheat and canola fields replaced by lucrative hemp crops.

How much money, time and resources do we want to spend to ensure Canadian citizens have a safe and secure supply of recreational pot? What makes sense here? If taxes on pot are expected to offset the expenses of monitoring and regulating the pot industry, we must consider how compliant we believe the gangs will be in submitting taxes due. Will private individuals growing pot feel compelled to monetarily contribute to the safety of the industry? How involved will XXXXXXXXX be in the production and distribution? XXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXX

Hydroponic operations not done properly pose many risks, most notably electrical and mold issues. If pot is legal, will we be able to shut down unsafe production?

Profits from pot will undoubtedly continue to be used by gangs to finance illicit activities (illegal arms trade, human trafficking, cocaine trade, computer crimes, etc.). With legalization of pot, we will have no way to interrupt this flow of dollars to the dark side which could result in an increase in these illegal and often violent activities.

To provide Canadians a safe, secure, legal supply of recreational pot we will need to use tax dollars to finance:
continuous and ongoing inspection of production to ensure it is being safely done.
continuous and ongoing inspection of the product to ensure there are no harmful or addictive additives.
enforcement of sales to ensure pot is not being sold to our youth.
creating, enforcing, maintaining a system of taxation of pot.
creating new laws to address issues such as sales to minors, the use of additives, safe production, acceptable marketing and distribution, taxation, impairment; and providing ongoing enforcement of such laws.

These expenses do not include costs that may arise from dealing with health issues or social problems arising from the predicted increase in pot use should it be legalized ( http://www.cbc.ca/1.3312151), or costs associated with increased illicit gang activities.

Once again I must ask, how many taxpayers’ dollars and how much time and resources does the Government of Canada want to invest in providing Canadians with a safe and secure supply of recreational marijuana?

When considering the legalization issue, I strongly recommend you collaborate with the RCMP's drug and criminal gang experts to ascertain the validity of the risks mentioned above and take their advice very seriously.

The XXXXXXXXX are an extremely powerful gang--don't underestimate its power.

Sincerely,

Eileen Schuh, Author
DISPASSIONATE LIES
FIREWALLS
FATAL ERROR
Schrödinger's Cat
THE TRAZ

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/fs-fd/org-eng.htm

Did you know...Cannabis generates more revenue for organized crime than cocaine does? Excerpt from the RCMP Report on the Illicit Drug Situation in Canada — 2009 "Cannabis continued to be the most commonly used illicit substance in Canada, with domestically-produced marihuana providing a source of considerable profit for Canadian based organized crime. Next to marihuana, cocaine generated the most revenue of the illicit drug commodities." http://publications.gc.ca/site/archivee-archived.html?url=http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2011/grc-rcmp/PS61-14-2009-eng.pdf

#Pot or not? has been brought to you by:

THE BACKTRACKER SERIES

http://www.amazon.com/The-Traz-BackTracker-series-ebook/dp/B007JW8RMA/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1349893442&sr=1-1&keywords=the+traz

"Cops vs bikers on the Alberta prairie...oh, and throw in a 13-year old girl."

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

THE TRAZ -realism and credibility

I had lots of fun creating the Alberta Police Service and the Northern Alberta Police Detachment which figure prominently in my BackTracker series. In real life, my home province of Alberta doesn’t have its own law enforcement agency but is policed by Canada’s world-renown Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). So, as you might guess my police agency, although fictional, is largely based on the RCMP.

I did take liberties in designing my police force. In THE TRAZ and FATAL ERROR, the Alberta Police Force operates both in the cities of Edmonton and Calgary and in rural areas, whereas in fact, Alberta’s major cities have their own separate police forces. But that isn’t too much of a stretch since the RCMP has a sweeping national and international mandate, often works in tandem with the Edmonton and Calgary Police Services on criminal investigations, and its K-Division headquarters is situated in Edmonton.

The description of the building that houses the Northern Alberta Police Detachment is roughly based on the RCMP Detachment in my home town of St. Paul but contains elements from other detachments. The uniforms I describe are pretty generic and sound like police uniforms across North America. However, for the sake of a great story, despite the fact my police aren’t RCMP, the famous, flashy red serge RCMP dress uniform just may appear at someone’s wedding in the yet-to-be released Book III of the series.

I could have designed my police service to more closely resemble the RCMP, or in fact become the RCMP, but for several reasons I chose instead to create one of my own. I've always enjoyed studying the people, underlying beliefs, relationships, and paradigms that drive organizations. It was an enjoyable, empowering excerise to create my own police service, staff it, and set it in motion.

Doing so also gave me flexibility in my story-telling. The policies, procedures, and lingo in my series can differ from that of the RCMP without ruining the credibility of the story. It also allows me to adapt my writing to suit my targeted young adult readership. For example, I can create realistic dialogue without feeling compelled to use and explain the unique phrasings, codes, or abbreviations used by the RCMP.

The main reason for creating my own police force, however, rests mostly with the kind of person I am. I hold an incredible respect for the men and women in law enforcement and wanted to do everything possible to ensure the less-than-stellar things that my characters say and do, don't reflect poorly on the RCMP or any individual within its ranks.

Over the years I've enjoyed many conversations as well as business and social relationships with RCMP officers, some of them family and some friends, and I didn't want to risk feeling I'd betrayed any confidences. It's not that I've been privy to law enforcement secrets, but officers have shared stories, expressed opinions, and given me behind-the-scene glimpses into the workings of a police detachment. At times, they've revealed their emotional natures, their dreams, frustrations, and regrets. Although none of the situations or the officers I portray in my novels are based on real life,creating my own police service establishes that fact implicitly.

Despite the liberties I've taken with the design of my police force, realism shines through. For half a century, I’ve followed crime stories in the news, read crime novels and true crime books, watched crime shows, and enjoyed conversations with police officers and others involved in the justice system. It is these experiences, coupled with my volunteerism with the RCMP, that adds the depth, flavour, credibility and colour to my characters and my story-telling.

My officers are mainly young men and women, still learning about themselves and about life and at times lacking confidence and knowledge. As in real life, their errors often come under the scrutiny of the media, can be judged harshly by their bosses and peers and, alas, sometimes prove fatal.

But, you’ll love them anyways.

Book I in the series THE TRAZ is on special for a limited time through Amazon. Get the School Edition eBook for only 99₵ / £0.77 and the first edition paperback for $8.99 / £5.86