A new national police organization that is meeting for the first time this week wants to stop Ottawa from softening Canada's marijuana laws.

The new 54,000-member Canadian Professional Police Association plans to use its increased clout to persuade federal politicians that loosening the laws is the wrong tack to take in the battle for the street, said president Tony Cannavino.

"The marijuana issue is very important," the former head of the Quebec Provincial Police Officers Association said Tuesday.

"It has a major impact on Canadian citizens, on families and on the security of communities."

The organization, created by the merger of the Canadian Police Association and the National Association of Professional Police, believes soft pot laws give up too much ground to organized crime.

"Organized crime is making huge, huge profits," he said. "They are selling drugs to our kids, to our brothers, to our families."

An intelligence report released last week suggested mobs and bike gangs are extending their reach across Canada in part through lucrative marijuana grow operations.

The police association, made up of rank and file municipal and RCMP officers, will get a chance to bend the ear of federal Solicitor General Wayne Easter on the issue when he addresses the meeting Friday.

Archived: Canada: New Police Association to Flex Muscle
More info about CPPA

They don't waste any time:

Open Letter to the Prime Minister of Canada Concerning Bill C-38: Decriminalization of Marijuana - CPPA

RESOLUTIONS

APPROVED AT THE 2003 CANADIAN ASSOCIATION OF POLICE BOARDS' ANNUAL MEETING FRIDAY, AUGUST 22, 2003

RESOLUTION 03-5: HOME GROWS & CLANDESTINE LAB OPERATIONS

WHEREAS hydroponics operations that are designed to grow and harvest marijuana continue to pose a significant problem, and

WHEREAS methamphetamine labs have now migrated into Canada from the United States and are becoming an overwhelming problem, and

WHEREAS cocaine continues to be a drug of choice and is synonymous with firearms and organized criminal groups, and

WHEREAS the vast majority of drugs are tied directly to and provide the fuel for gang activity resulting in disputes over customers and territory, many times culminating in homicides and serious injury,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Canadian Association of Police Boards present these concerns to the Departments of Justice Canada and Solicitor General Canada and that the Federal Government join with its respective Provincial and Territorial counterparts in developing harmonious strategies, including but not restricted to, joint forces operations, federal and provincial funding, standards, public education, and medical concerns.

A citizen response:

How ethical is it to use public money to lobby against the large number of taxpayers who don't support their call for tougher cannabis laws? Let's have a public inquiry, or direct democracy from a national referendum on the question. Canadians are not stupid. They are beginning to realize harm comes from prohibition - not cannabis, and how truly self-serving prohibition is to law enforcement - just ask Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). Unlike the rest of us, they have been there and done it too, so where is the tax-payers money for them to get their message across? The concerns of police that soft pot laws give up too much ground to organized crime, could easily vanish tomorrow if pot was regulated like wine or beer. Why do they not advocate for the best solution that would protect children and free pot-using Canadians instead of trying to victimize more? Despite the concern that organized crime is making huge, huge profits selling drugs to our kids, to our brothers, to our families; the police want it left in their hands instead of licensing distributors that would only sell to adults. Why? Why are law enforcement and organized crime on the same side - prohibition, while the majority of Canadians favour relaxing the laws? Why don't judges form a national lobby group to push for pot legalization so their court rooms aren't clogged with otherwise law-abiding citizens who they get tired of treating like criminals? Especially the ill. I hope the obvious desperation of the new Canadian Professional Police Association to maintain the status quo becomes their undoing. Debra Harper Cannabislink.ca Webmaster: Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP)