Drugs Rule the Gangs

Gangs have long been a part of the wild side, the bad side in many major Canadian cities. Made up most of the time through cultural and ethnic similarities, there are gangs of every race and heritage: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian. Remember the Italian Mafia? The cultural background of the individual is, of course, not the problem. The race of the individuals in the gang is not the problem neither. The common denominator to that problem is DRUGS.

Many Provinces have gang injunctions laws. However, drugs have long been a problem all over Canada, as well as other countries and drugs do not care about what is legal or following the rules. The typical activities of practically every gang are buying, selling and using illicit drugs.

Governments are trying to clean up the streets. They are not going after young men (and women) to get attention or for the money. Canada will try everything it can to get kids to break free of drugs and straighten up their lives.

We hear about drive-by shootings. We hear about fights between rival gangs. We hear about initiations and rape. Do all these crimes have drugs in common 95% of the time? At the heart of nearly every shooting, every fight, every traffic stop involving gang members, the trail leads back to something related to illicit drugs: a bad drug deal, a fix gone wrong, robbery, nearly all are found through legal investigations to have ties to drugs.

Mr. Cool down the street is not that cool; he is just convinced he is because of the drugs taking over his body and brain. Getting all hot and bothered over a snub or sign of “disrespect” only shows that Mr. Cool himself is the one disrespecting, well, himself. How may you ask? Because drugs so control him that while he thinks he is the gang leader or the drug lord, he is, in fact, the yes-man to the real leader: Drug Addiction itself.

In the end, though, we should remember that gang members are people too, and the court of law and justice department recognizes this. Court-ordered drug rehab and therapy are usually delegated when drugs are factors that led the young man down that rocky road. Do you know what would be cool about Mr. Cool then? After he goes into the drug rehab center, he turns around and helps other kids and fights the growing problem of gangs. That would be the right thing to do. The truth is that Gangs do not rule the streets; drugs rule the gangs.