Pretty much everyone will attest that drugs are a scourge on our society.
Every day, drugs have devastating effects on millions of people around the world, including here in Prince George.
They ruin the lives of the people using the drugs and their families, as well as the lives of families who become victims of drug users and dealers.
Since Jan. 1, local RCMP and the Drug Task Force have seized more than 7,000 marijuana plants, 60 pounds of cropped and bagged marijuana, and shut down several grow ops around the city.
They have also seized other hardcore drugs, guns, shotguns, rifles, crossbows and other gang and drug-related weapons and paraphernalia.
But still it goes on.
Recently, four people were arrested after forcing their way into a home, where one of the assailants held a semi-automatic handgun to the head of the homeowner.
Later, one of the accused, Nathan Alcide Marshall was found shot to death in a garden on Hemlock St.
Shortly after his death was announced, postings started to appear on Facebook saying what a wonderful guy Marshall was.
He will be remembered as a "great guy with a "kind heart and gentle soul," one comment said.
Another comment said, "He will always be remembered as a very caring and compassionate young man."
We hardly think these words should be associated with someone who was facing 10 charges related to offences stemming from his alleged involvement in the Jan. 4 home invasion on Quince Street.
After all, Marshall was charged with break and enter with intent to commit a crime, robbery with a firearm, possession of a firearm, disguise with intent, possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition, possession of stolen property, pointing a firearm, forceable seizure of a person, uttering threats, and assault.
Drugs are out of control in our society, yet the powers that be use the guise of harm reduction to provide free needles to these people, so they can perpetuate their habit, instead of court-forced mandatory treatment in a facility like Baldy Hughes.
We now have a safe injection site in Vancouver, and if we don't watch out, we will also have one here somewhere down the road.
After all, Prince George chief medical officer Dr. David Bowering thinks it is a good idea, and Dr. Evan Wood of the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS has called for the creation of inhalation rooms where addicts can go to smoke crack, unmolested by police.
A former RCMP officer sent an e-mail to The Citizen recently, stating that if a person is caught with drugs within a five-block radius of the Vancouver safe injection site, the RCMP are obliged to escort that person to the safe injection site.
That is like saying to an armed robber, "Hold on a minute. Let me make sure you have proper ammunition in your gun before you rob that convenience store.
Do you have your Balaclava?
Good.
Oh, don't forget your gloves so you won't leave any fingerprints.
OK, now you can go and rob the store. But don't worry, taxpayers will pay for someone to keep an eye on you to make sure you are safe while you rob the store, and make sure you do it properly."
Drugs are a curse on our society, and the sooner we treat them as such, the better we will be and the sooner we will get rid of them.
Drug users need treatment for their addiction and society needs to stop being "kind" and "gentle" and "compassionate" when dealing with them.
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