Tackling violent crime (especially gang-related violence) with legislation might be a noble goal, but anyone who thinks that's what the Conservative Party's new crime bill will do is sadly mistaken.  Here's an Albertan view on the subject that describes this 'wishful thinking' well.

http://calgaryrants.blogspot.com/2009/02/tory-crime-bill-will-not-get-shot-down.html

Here's what really bothers me about this opinion:  "I am no expert, but feel that Canadians need to speak up and get tougher on organized crime before these organizations grow and get out of control."

Hmmm.  Gangs are already here and in many ways are 'out of control'.   It's also pretty clear that the writer (who IMO is expressing a typical Canadian opinion) is certainly no expert.  Rather, he is completely ignorant of the root causes of the problem.

Many studies have shown the folly and waste of money involved in a heavy-handed, incarceration-based approach to crime.  Here's just one:   http://www.jfa-associates.com/publications/srs/UnlockingAmerica.pdf

Even though a child can tell you about the gang warfare that resulted from America's last failed experiment in prohibition (think Al Capone et al.), the Conservative Harpies would have us believe 'getting tough on drugs' by implementing mandatory sentencing for even minor offences (a policy that has failed miserably in the US) is the answer to solving gang crime.

Here's what I think.  I think the Conservative's crime bill will be welcomed with great cheers by the Hell's Angels, the Banditos, the Zetas, the Tongs, the Mafia and every other minor gangster in Canada.  We will soon be having discussions like this....

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/03/20093519328243356.html

...with the Americans and maybe we can look forward to this sort of nonsense ....

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-texas-profiling11-2009mar11,0,2572041.story

...going on in Canada.

As the Christian right, the War on Drugs, incarceration-based corrections policies and unbridled free-marketeerism are all in the process of being discredited elsewhere in the world, it's good to see that the Conservatives remain committed to their approach of adopting every failed idea they can lay their hands on.

And we won't even mention the embarrassment that is Stockwell Day.

It's absolutely true what you say about *some* drugs, Mr. Heremeutical....

Here's what some New York Times article said that I read recently:

"An analysis of autopsies in 2007 released this week by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission found that the rate of deaths caused by prescription drugs was three times the rate of deaths caused by all illicit drugs combined."

and

"The report’s findings track with similar studies by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, which has found that roughly seven million Americans are abusing prescription drugs. If accurate, that would be an increase of 80 percent in six years and more than the total abusing cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, Ecstasy and inhalants."

The link to the article is:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/14/us/14florida.html

I wonder if Steven Harper has heard of this study?