By Two & Out

PETERS: We need to take a new approach to the drug trade before more bystanders die

Feb 22, 2019 | 11:30 AM

ALMOST EXACTLY A MONTH AGO, we asked in this space why we can’t have a nice, peaceful drug trade.

This was just a few days after a double homicide RCMP told us was related to the drug subculture.

The reaction was swift and dismissive from many in the public sphere: “It’s just rats killing rats. Who cares?”

…with a couple of extra epithets thrown in for additional dehumanization.

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Now even those who like to dehumanize criminals have good reason to care.

RCMP have reversed course on their initial messaging that the public need not be concerned, as the whole thing was targeted.

Police now say one of the victims, Rex Gill of Penticton, was an unintended target.

It was a case of mistaken identity.

Gill’s friends and family have been talking about his virtues ever since he died, as one would expect of any murder victim – drug-entrenched or not.

But those virtues are set in a different context now that we know Gill was just a guy out for a smoke, and there is no reason to believe he was up to anything nefarious.

Switch gears slightly to a recommendation this week from the BC Centre on Substance Use, that heroin be legalized and regulated as a response to the opioid crisis.

One possible impact of legalizing and regulating heroin might be to defuse some of the potential violence inherent to the drug trade.

It’s a big if – but will things be worse than they are right now?

Worse than Kamloops motel guests gunned down while enjoying a cigarette, minding their own business?

As the adage goes, we can’t keep doing the same thing, expecting different results.

That’s madness.

If we ascribe any value to the lives of drug users and innocent bystanders — never mind drug dealers — then our society needs to take a new approach to regulating the drug trade. 

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.