NO CONNECTION BETWEEN DRUGS AND OTHER CRIMES

Is there a connection between drugs and crime? One person who read
last week's editorial posing that hypothesis says because The
Spectator showed no empirical evidence, hard facts or interviews with
experts, the conclusion that drugs and petty crime are related can't be drawn.

That's fair and we apologize for making that assumption. Although it
is true that possessing, selling and buying illegal drugs is . well .
illegal. The Canadian Criminal Code can back that up.

Every point in the editorial was discussed prior to publication with
an RCMP officer in drug enforcement, with 18 years' experience in the
Annapolis Valley, and he agreed about the supposed link between drugs
and petty crimes.

Unfortunately, his experience and knowledge is not proof so it must
be discarded. Also, 30 years of covering literally thousands of
crimes as a journalist is not proof enough either that drugs and
petty crimes are connected. A journalist is not an expert witness and
we apologize for suggesting such a thing.

To all those hundreds of people who have suffered break-ins and
thefts in Annapolis County, we retract the suggestion that in any
instances drug use was a factor. Perpetrators may just as likely have
hockey card addictions, mortgage payments to meet or oil bills to
pay. Drug use should not be considered a crime motivator any more
than should the aforementioned.

The reason sentencing judges send petty criminal after petty criminal
to drug rehabilitation programs is anybody's guess. Would it be wrong
to speculate that their crimes and drug use are related?

The editorial also suggested there is a drug problem in Annapolis
County, but supplied no proof of that. In consideration of that lack
of published proof, consider Annapolis County a drug-free zone until
evidence to the contrary comes to light. This should be good news to
the police and a weight from their shoulders.

Officers can spend their time in other pursuits and ignore a problem
that may or may not exist. Addictions counselors can turn to other
things such as gambling and alcohol problems if, in fact, any exist.
Schoolteachers can get back to regular curriculum and stop warning
youngsters about the dangers of a hypothetical problem that everyone
thought was real.

The whole point of the editorial was that people personally know drug
addicts and drug dealers. If the community as a whole were to take
action against petty crimes they would be taking action against drug
use and drug dealing. Sadly, or fortunately, depending on how you
look at it, we provided no proven connection so the editorial was
construed as misleading.

Still, we have to ask: why do the police keep saying drug use and
petty crimes are connected? We think they might be linked somehow.