May 17, 2005
THE BEST JOBS ARE RESERVED FOR THE NATIVES
Drug dealers mostly Canadian born, not immigrants, new study says (Brad Badelt and Darah Hansen, Vancouver Sun, May 16th, 2005)
Vancouver residents should stop blaming Central American immigrants for drug trafficking in the city and realize it's a homegrown problem that can't be deported or arrested away, said Kash Heed, a Vancouver police department inspector and author of a groundbreaking new study on street-level drug trafficking.Conducted as part of his masters degree studies at Simon Fraser University, Heed's study paints a picture of the average drug dealer on the Downtown Eastside as a Canadian-born man between the ages of 23 and 45, and a repeat criminal offender who supplements his drug income with a welfare cheque.
Heed said his findings debunk the popular image of the Vancouver street-level drug dealer as a Honduran "millionaire."
It is the first in-depth study of Downtown Eastside dealers. Heed, formerly head of VPD's drug section and a police officer with 27 years' experience, said he pursued the topic because he wanted a better understanding of who was dealing drugs in the city, and why they were involved in trafficking.
For 18 months, Heed profiled 600 street-level drug dealers arrested on the Downtown Eastside between 2001 and 2002.
"Of the 600 people arrested, no less than 469 were actually Canadian citizens -- a finding that runs contrary to public belief," Heed reports in his study.
In an interview, Heed said the findings will come as a surprise to many "who, at that time, were saying, 'It's not our problem -- we inherited it from outside of Canada'."
In the second installment of Road Trip, Bernard-Henri Levy’s tracing of de Tocqueville’s footsteps (June, Atlantic), he remarks how so many immigrants to Europe arrive with a huge sense of entitlement, while immigrants to the States expect, and are expected, to sweat and sacrifice for a generation. In ethnically open societies like the U.S., Canada and Australia, we really do want immigrants to succeed, but we can become nativist and ethnocentric pretty fast if we think it is happening too quickly.
Posted by Peter Burnet at May 17, 2005 6:34 AM"a groundbreaking new study on street-level drug trafficking.
I don't purchase my Glenlivet from a Scotsman or my Stolichnaya from a Russian. They get a masters degree for this?
Posted by: Pat H at May 17, 2005 8:48 AMBut were they born in Canada??? Or just citizens?
Posted by: Sandy P. at May 17, 2005 10:54 AMOf the 600 people arrested, no less than 469 were actually Canadian citizens
So over 21% of drug dealers aren't citizens, and this supposedly shows that it's a home-grown problem? Well, kinda. But if less than 21% of Canadian residents aren't citizens, it shows that a disproportionately large percentage of drug dealers are non-citizens.
Posted by: PapayaSF at May 17, 2005 1:15 PMSandy: No way to tell, but based on many informal observations outside criminal courts and legal aid offices, I'd bet native-born.
Papaya:
That only works as a national statistic. I'd be very surprised if downtown Vancouver wasn't at least 21% foreign-born, probably significantly more.
Posted by: Peter B at May 17, 2005 1:51 PMThe point is that they are only researching street-level dealers. People tend to buy personal-use quantities of drugs from people in their social sphere or from local thugs (see HBO's "The Wire"). If the researchers take a step or two up the supply chain for cocaine or heroin, they'll find the foreigners. In Canada, Pot and methamphetamine are homegrown drugs that are currently produced and supplied locally, but, as governmental regulations restrict access to the ingredients necessary for the production of meth, it too will be supplied by Mexico.
Posted by: Pat H at May 17, 2005 2:40 PM"Canadian Drug Cartel" or "Canadian Drug Syndicate" just doesn't sound the same. It brings up mental images of geezers packed into buses, for one thing. And don't even try to figure out what "Candian Mafia" would look like.
You're right Raoul. Our crooks aren't nearly as mean, ugly, scary and lethal as yours. Indeed, they are wimps beside yours. Congratulations.
Posted by: Peter B at May 17, 2005 10:22 PMPerhaps, but yours seem have taken control of your only national political party and your government, and as Belinda What's-her-name's buyoff shows, they ain't gonna ever let go.
(And why, in today's B.C. provincial election, is the selection between the Left (Liberals), the Far Left (NDP) and the Wacko Left (Greens). What happened to the Conservatives, or is that a stupid question when it comes to B.C.?)
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at May 18, 2005 12:39 AMWhen it comes to B.C., no question is a stupid question.
Posted by: Peter B at May 18, 2005 6:14 AM