The organization of crime, trafficking of alcohol, extortion, bribery, assault, and murder were examples of the types of crimes committed during America’s Pr

ohibition Era. This bears a resemblance to the types of crimes occurring today arising from the prohibition of marijuana in North America. Violence is an inevitable part of the production, trafficking and distribution of narcotics. The marijuana trade has become big business, sophisticated and organized. It is undoubtedly the greatest mala prohibita offence occurring in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. Specifically, in 2000, 44 percent of the marijuana cultivation incidents reported by police agencies to Statistics Canada occurred in the province of British Columbia (Statistic Canada, 2004). Furthermore, in 2001, major Canadian law enforcement agencies seized close to 1.4 million marijuana plants, a six-fold increase since 1993 (Statistic Canada, 2004). Based on the seizures and average yield per plant, the current annual production is estimated to be about 800 tones (Statistics Canada, 2004). Two primary factors contributing to the persistence and growth of this crime include low risk due to relatively lenient sentences and high profitability.

Secondary prevention may also be another effective strategy for preventing crime. Specifically, secondary prevention focuses attention on areas that are at high risk. For example, in the movie entitled, Restoring Justice, an old building where there was a high incidence of crime was renovated to make criminal activities less rewarding and appealing. The changes lead to a decrease in the crime rate within the building. Specifically, more attention needs to be placed on youths living in Vancouver’s Eastside than youths in North Vancouver because Eastside youths have a greater exposure to drug related activities.

Individual-Level Strategies are programs that focus on addressing existing deficits that may place individuals at risk of involvement in criminality. For example, in one program called “Wrap Around” which was specifically formulated to place the client (children and youth) at the centre of the intervention and tailor a range of supportive services.

Some critics suggest that opportunity reduction does not prevent crimes, but instead displace crime and increase fear. For instance, the RCMP study showed that marijuana growers in the province of Quebec have moved their grow operations to remote regions where the risk of detection is lower. Moreover, the most common criticism of opportunity reduction strategy is that too much emphasis is placed upon reducing opportunities for crime, and ignored the causes of crimes. For example, Sacco and Kenney (2002) stated that opportunity reduction strategies do not address the root causes of crimes, they perceived short term benefits at best”.

Edwin Sutherland's concept of differential association argues that criminal behavior is learned in small groups (Sacco and Kennedy, 2002). Another theory asserts that certain criminals are born into environments that tend to generate criminal behavior including extreme poverty or minority groups (Sacco and Kennedy, 2002). These theories could be used to explain the type of individuals who commit the crime of supplying and distributing marijuana. A countering theory suggests that since only some people surrender to environment influences, additional factors must be considered. For instance, Strain Theory could be used to explain the motivations of the individual who does not come from an economically disadvantaged background yet still becomes involved with the lucrative drug trade. Although hereditary physical and psychological traits are generally ruled out as independent causes of crime, psychological states are believed to determine an individual's reaction to his environment. The arguable value of the consumption of marijuana is due to its anti-depressant properties. Moreover, psychologists consider crime to result from emotional disorders stemming from childhood experience (Santrock, 2003). The consumption of marijuana could be expressions of personality disor

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