We’re faced with the strange double standard of two of the most pernicious drugs, alcohol and nicotine, being easily available and profitable to government, yet marijuana is vilified and fuels organized crime. The increasing para-militarization of the police. The growth of for profit prisons. The bullying by the US of other world governments in an effort to enforce their view of morality. The ever burgeoning number of oppressive laws. I could go on and on about the very problematic issues surrounding this topic.
But by the same token, I’m also not comfortable with crack being sold from a house in a residential neighbourhood, right by where the school bus picks up and drops off kids. The prohibition of it means there is no real control and it also means that violence has a tendency to swirl around. There is a house close to where I am that I was honestly surprised to find out is indeed a crack house. Nothing that obvious about it. But being involved in the local community council I get to find all this out. The weird thing is that the house has been busted on more than one occasion. Yet the same people are back soon thereafter, doing the same thing again. Yeah, that War on Drugs is a real success.
Neighbours in the very near vicinity have been waging a subtle battle of their own against this place. (And it’s honestly not me.) They’ve been watching the comings and goings of their customers, taking photos and recording license plate numbers. Someone has gone around and spray painted on mail boxes in the neighbourhood the address and what goes on there. Someone also went around and put up posters exposing the goings on and descriptions and license plate numbers of the customers. I saw one tactic recently that made me laugh out loud though. The crack house had put up an election sign for a candidate and someone had editorialized it.
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