Login / RegisterVictoria cop David Bratzer targets war on drugs with school board candidacy
A Victoria police officer who believes that the war on drugs is a bad trip is taking a break from his duties as a cop.
David Bratzer is stepping out of uniform for a while because he’s running for a seat on the school board of Greater Victoria.
A member of the international group Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Bratzer launched his election campaign on September 15.
His campaign theme: “Schools Not Prisons.”
Bratzer’s news release reads in part:
David Bratzer has served Esquimalt and Victoria as a police officer for the past six years. In 2006, he graduated as class valedictorian and top academic student from the Police Academy at the Justice Institute of BC. In 2008, he became one of the first serving officers in North America to call for an end to the failed War on Drugs. In 2009 and 2010, he testified against “tough on crime” bills in Ottawa before the Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs.
The campaign will highlight opportunities to improve public education for all students while reducing their risk of contact with the criminal justice system. For example, he is scheduled to make a brief presentation at the next school board meeting regarding the district policy on Substance Abuse. The policy has not been updated for nineteen years and during this time enormous progress has been made in the field of evidence-based drug education. This public meeting is scheduled for September 19th at 7:30pm in the Tolmie Board Room at 556 Boleskine Road.
Many use drugs to self medicate mental health conditions that politicians refuse to give enough resources to deal with.
The smallest number of drug addicts and alcoholics I've seen who have ADHD in peer reviewed clinical journals is 20%
http://www.addcoach4u.com/addandaddictionsartic.html
and I've seen and blogged about much larger percentages
21-45% of prisoners in jail have ADHD 15 peer reviewed studies show
http://adultaddstrengths.com/2011/01/12/adhd-and-crime-ignore-now-jail-l...
Yet only 8% of kids and 5% of adults have ADHD. The UK screens for ADHD in Jails, BC and Canada do not.
Both VPD reports on mental health and crime underestimate because they totally ignore ADHD. Not mentioned at all in both document.
The BC govt shut down the only public adult ADHD clinic in BC after a year long wait list and it's still closed. http://adultaddstrengths.com/2011/05/09/bc-premier-christy-clark-im-abso...
Would you support reopening the BC adult ADHD clinic and treating adults with ADHD with medication instead of them self medicating with pot, crack and crystal meth? And screening for ADHD in BC rehabs which currently do not?
If we don't just swollow ever pill the pharmesutical industry feeds us.... a 500 billion dollar industry per year. Do you realize how many people are addicted to pharmesuticals. When you wheeled a profit of $500 billion a year you become the law, You lobby congress, drop hundreds of millions in to White House. Put laws in place that protect your interests build jails etc... think hard now!! Would it be in the interest of a $500b industry to have the publicl growning there own medication for FREE in there own private garden. Hmmm. I watched a documentary recently in which a Harvard medical professor ie "a doctor of the highest order" was being interviewed he was ask a simple question: Is there any one drug that can treat as many ailments as marijuana .....his answer was simply... No!! Decriminalize marijuana take the criminal element out of the equation Put pressure on the hard core drug dealers. Drugs such as herion, cocaine, crystal meth those drugs destroy lives.We don't need more jails we need to prosecute individuals for Real crimes!!!