City council no longer condones criminal activity - finally!

So Rick Chiarelli managed to table a motion to end the controversial City of Ottawa crack pipe distribution program on July 11th. An overwhelming majority of City Council supported the motion, killing the program once and for all. Or did it?

It seems that a number of community groups are falling all over each other, vying to pick up where the City left off. Some of these groups will likely look to the City to fund the program, thereby defeating the vote's intent.

I was always taught in school that nobody was above the law. It didn't matter if you were a famous movie star, a hockey player, a politician or a so-called "community leader" - the law was equally applied to everyone.

It seems that this edict largely is true... most of the time. It seems that if you are really famous or have tons and tons of money in your bank account, the application of the law might vary a little in your case. For example, while nobody can be certain "beyond a reasonable doubt" whether OJ Simpson did it or not, it seems that it was "more likely than not" that he did - the burden of proof was eventually met in a civil case. Odds are decent that had it been you or I who had been charged with OJ's crimes, we would have been criminally convicted. He was acquitted because he had virtually unlimited resources available to hire a defence team.

That's the exception to the "nobody is above the law", right? Well... let's look at section 462.2 of the Criminal Code of Canada. Under this section, it is stated that it's a summary conviction offence to import, export, manufacture, promote or sell instruments or literature for illicit drug use. OK, so it's not a super serious (or indictable) offence to "promote or sell instruments for illicit drug use" but if I were to try and start up my own little business promoting and selling crack pipes, how long would I last on a street corner?

Not very long, I suspect.

The law might have decided to turn a blind eye on the City of Ottawa's actions, all in the spirit of "public health promotion". Statistics that show that there are more crack smokers in Ottawa as compared to when the program had yet to launch, and in addition, these crack smokers actually consumer more illegal drugs (including crystal meth, something I'm sure the left leaning councillors and bureaucrats hadn't intended when making crack "safer" to consume) as compared to the pre-launch months and years.

I'd just love to know how more people smoking more crack (and meth!!) can be a "healthy" or "positive" outcome of this so-called public health program. It's gone. Let it die a peaceful death, councillors.

If we have to raise taxes every year - that's another story for another day - let's raise them for the greater good of all the citizens of our grand city, not the crack heads and meth addicts.

And obey the law of the land, eh?! The criminal code applies to all of us!