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Letters to the editor: Pot Bust
By Hempology | August 6, 2002
Published in THE TIMES COLONIST, Sunday, August 4th, 2002
Police search violated rights of passengers
Re: “Police dogs sniff out pot on ferries,” Aug. 1.
Our legal rights as Canadians have once again been infringed upon by the law enforcers/dictators
of this nation. What I do not understand is who is supposed to enforce our rights as citizens
and taxpayers?
It clearly states in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that “everyone has the right
to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure.”
West Vancouver Police Sgt. Bob Fontaine states, “It was the most non-invasive way of trying
to detect any drugs on the ferry.
“I think you might see this will happen again in the future.”
While Fontaine calls it non-invasive, I call it a blatant invasion of my rights as a
Canadian citizen.
The next time I ride the ferry I will be on the car decks ensuring that my rights aren’t
violated again because obviously there’s no one else out there defending us.
– Scott Stilling, Victoria.
Ferry operation a waste of resources
Re: “Police dogs sniff out pot on ferries,” Aug. 1.
Operation High Seas? In Active Pass? So this is how the money is being spent. At the very
least, we, as citizens, should expect to see our finest rounding up some Hells Angels, or
perhaps and Asian drug ring, but, as usual, all they managed to reel in were two or three
poor schmucks from Lasquiti Island and Lantzville who are probably just trying to eke out a
meagre, peaceful living far from the madding crowd.
If we have to have a police state operating on the ferries, while they’re at it, couldn’t
they at least check for guns, boozed up drivers, guys on the lam and the like?
When will we learn and stop blindly following U.S. with their fanatical, hopelessly outdated
approach towards marijuana, a bengin and gentle drug that has never once in recorded history
caused an overdose, a drug that should be studied and utilized for its already widely known
beneficial medicinal values.
The fact is, prohibition is not working,a nd never has worked, and the sooner we stop spending
good money (and men and dogs) after bad, the better.
– Jennifer Field, Victoria
Other crimes must have been solved
Re: The recent use of polcie dogs and officers to find and arrest cannabis users aboard
B.C. ferries.
There’s good reason to celebrate this massive violation of individual privacy rights without
any probable cause; for it sends a signal to the public that all violent crime has officially
been vanquished, and break-ins no longer occur, that the very real problem of hard-drug use in
B.C. has been addressed.
Surely, these crimes must have been solved: missing children and women must have been found;
rapists and child molesters must be a thing of the past, if we can actually spare a dozen
(that’s right, 12!) officers to enact searches on cannabis users.
We must have completely taken care of the threat of domestic terrorism if we can actually
pull an RCMP officer from the Vancouver International Airport in order to walk a dog around
a floating parking lot.
Surely, we must have solved all other crimes against individuals and society if arresting
three people for carrying cannabis has become our highest policing priority.
Otherwise, in light of the very real crimes that may have been committed while these
officers were busy impinging on all of our freedoms, one would have to conclude that such
a horrendous violation of our civil liberties, and such a huge waste of police time and
resources, is totally unjustified. So, hurray … right?
– Philip Lucas, Victoria
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