After the senseless death of eleven-year old Ephraim Brown on July 22 in Toronto – caught in the crossfire of rival gangs – I received an email from Toronto Sun columnist Rachel Sa, enquiring whether street gang members operated with any semblance of a “code of conduct”.

It was a good question, given the brazen and utterly irresponsible action of the men responsible - and later arrested – for the death of young Ephraim. As I explained to Rachel, every society or subculture has a code of conduct that provides order for its participants, including the general society, the prison society and even the gangster society.

In her column, Ms. Sa quoted me extensively and highlighted that back in the late 80s and early 90s, when black on black violence in the L.A. area grew out of control, hip hop star Tupac Shakur penned The Codes Of Thug Life, purportedly designed to give order to the rise of gang violence and drug dealing. Certain immoral actions were made against the code and essentially became the “ethical code” of the street gang world. These codes were officially signed off on by leaders of warring Bloods and Crips gang sets at a peace treaty picnic called the Truc Picnic, in California in 1992.

Essentially, a watered-down version of these codes is known to many street gang members (see below), although it must be said that many do not live by the codes written by 2Pac (such as #7 – “slinging” means drug dealing, and we know that many street gangs in the country have young “pee wees” as young as 8 dealing crack and pot in urban areas).

Of these rules, the one most respected relates to being a rat. Much like the code of silence in traditional organized crime (like Omerta, for example), you don’t: a) snitch or act as witness to a street crime; b) even if you are a victim of a crime, you settle the score on the street, not through the criminal justice system.

Despite the view held by many that gang life lacks governance of any kind, there is more or less a fragmented code of conduct for street gang members. Some gangsters have standards, some do not, as was displayed in the Brown tragedy. Indeed, for many gangsters, these standards help them set themselves apart from another, perhaps less worthy or “honourable”, gangster. In this way, these standards, along with their propensity for violence, leadership qualities, criminal enterprise abilities and the like, allow a gang member to establish a reputation and standing on the street.

Here is Tupac’s Code of Thug Life.

1. All new Jacks to the game must know: a) He’s going to get rich. b) He’s going to jail. c) He’s going to die.
2. Crew Leaders: You are responsible for legal/financial payment commitments to crew members; your word must be your bond.
3. One crew’s rat is every crew’s rat. Rats are now like a disease; sooner or later we all get it; and they should too.
4. Crew leader and posse should select a diplomat, and should work ways to settle disputes. In unity, there is strength!
5. Carjacking in our Hood is against the Code.
6. Slinging to children is against the Code.
7. Having children slinging is against the Code.
8. No slinging in schools.
9. Since the rat Nicky Barnes opened his mouth; ratting has become accepted by some. We’re not having it.
10. Snitches is outta here.
11. The Boys in Blue don’t run nothing; we do. Control the Hood, and make it safe for squares.
12. No slinging to pregnant Sisters. That’s baby killing; that’s genocide!
13. Know your target, who’s the real enemy.
14. Civilians are not a target and should be spared.
15. Harm to children will not be forgiven.
16. Attacking someone’s home where their family is known to reside, must be altered or checked.
17. Senseless brutality and rape must stop.
18. Our old folks must not be abused.
19. Respect our Sisters. Respect our Brothers.
20. Sisters in the Life must be respected if they respect themselves.
21. Military disputes concerning business areas within the community must be handled professionally and not on the block.
22. No shooting at parties.
23. Concerts and parties are neutral territories; no shooting!
24. Know the Code; it’s for everyone.
25. Be a real ruff neck. Be down with the code of the Thug Life.
26. Protect yourself at all times.

Quick on the heels of Wednesday's tragic murder of 15-year old Toronto high school student Jordan Manners, local and provincial politicians renewed their calls for a complete ban on handguns.

Toronto's Mayor David Miller told CBC on Thursday that "handguns exist to kill people. That's why they are made," adding that cities would try to impose stricter controls if national governments failed to do so. Ontario Community Safety Minister Monte Kwinter lamented the Harper government's failure to enact a handgun ban as well, and Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty re-issued his appeal for a handgun ban and stiffer sentences for gun crimes at an Ottawa press conference.

When confronted with such an audacious act of street violence, our political leaders often issue convenient sound bite solutions. The Manners homicide is no different. While a call for a ban on handguns may make a good media headline, it demonstrates an utter naivety both with respect to how the underground trade in handguns really works, and on the efficacy of prohibitions against products where there is acute demand and ample supply.

We need to resolve ourselves to the fact that handguns are plentiful on Canadian streets, despite our country already having in place some of the world's most stringent handgun control laws. An outright handgun ban will not make a stitch of difference to their availability and probably not even to their price, and paradoxically might serve to stimulate further the illegal importation of small arms from the world's largest cache of handguns, the United States. If you are a street gangster, criminal or even a misguided youth who increasingly believes a gun is necessary for protection, intimidation or the commission of a crime, you will either buy one or rent one, irrespective of a handgun ban or existence of severe mandatory minimum sentences for carrying or using an illegal handgun.

Prohibitions simply do not work so let me be clear about this: unless we, as a country, are prepared to...

• inspect every land or sea-based shipping container entering our country (we currently inspect 2 to 3%);
• inspect every truck, car and other conveyance entering our country at every border stop (we currently employ random searching, but only a small fraction of vehicles are inspected);
• beef up border patrol along the world's longest undefended border, especially along smuggling hotspots like Akwesasne Mohawk reserve in Cornwall;
• inspect every package that is sent from the United States by air mail or courier to Canada (plenty of guns and ammo are sent this way);
• force the United States to locate the estimated several million handguns that started their life as an otherwise legitimate product but now call the underground economy home, and
• somehow reduce the growing street demand for firearms, recognizing that many youth who seek firearms are not deterred by severe criminal sanctions of any kind

...then a handgun ban is futile.

Rather than debate the merits of this quick fix legislative solution, let's spend our time dealing with the underlying causes of youth violence, gangs and the gun culture. This does not offer our esteemed politicians the same economy as a media message, but in the long run, is the only way we can prevent future tragedies like the one that befell young Jordan Manners.

Saturday marks the third week anniversary of my book and I couldn’t be happier about how well things have gone. The response from those working in and around gang issues has been great and media interest in the book and the issue of street gangs has been outstanding (thanks to my lovely and talented publicist, Barb Bower!), with coverage in over 20 media outlets and publications, with many more to come.

As a first-time author of a major non-fiction publication that deals with contentious issues, I have been anxiously awaiting the dreaded book review, preparing myself for the worst, but hoping for the best. Another author told me a year ago that when you write a book such as this, you essentially hang your butt out in the open, so prepare to be kicked! I was okay with that then, and I am okay with it now, because everyone is entitled to their opinion on street gangs. In fact, stimulating a debate was exactly what I set out to do in writing Young Thugs, because with debate comes engagement, and with engagement comes a broader response to gangs. About time.

Over the past three weeks, I have had the pleasure of reading two reviews of my book. While neither was an unequivocal endorsement of all my ideas, both were complimentary and never dismissive. The criticisms raised are fine by me, as I have sufficient strength of conviction to weather the storm and keep promoting my take on street gangs. To each his own I say, let the debate continue!

While I don’t object to criticism, I do object to factual misrepresentations of what I have written in my book. Bruce Owen from the Winnipeg Free Press wrote in his review that "where Chettleburgh loses some credibility is his sappy description of his visit to Winnipeg's North End, which describes as ‘Canada's shameful little secret’. The fact is there are shameful little secrets all over Canada, particularly in isolated First Nations' communities". On this point, I agree completely with Bruce. The thing is, what I actually wrote in my book in respect to North Winnipeg was that it was "just one of Canada's many shameful little secrets". We expressed an identical idea, yet I was accused of losing credibility.

However, the Winnipeg Free Press made good by publishing the "Have Your Say" letter below on May 14, a testament to their commitment to the key principles of journalistic integrity – accuracy, impartiality, truthfulness, fairness, objectivity and public accountability. For other newbie or aspiring authors, the lesson I would pass on is this: take the criticism "like a man" – it will strengthen you, broaden your perspective and make you more committed to your craft. But if a reviewer misrepresents what you say, especially a professional journalist, push back and hold them to the journalistic standards to which they have committed. Like the esteemed Winnipeg Free Press, trust that the Canadian media will set the record straight.

...

Mistaken attribution

Re: Street gang examination reads much like a textbook, May 6. In Bruce Owen’s review of my book, Young Thugs: Inside The Dangerous World of Canadian Street Gangs, he suggests I lose credibility because I singularly accord North Winnipeg with the status of “Canada’s shameful little secret,” and then goes on to state there are many other shameful little secrets all over Canada. However, a careful read of my book will show that I referred to North Winnipeg as “just one of Canada’s many shameful little secrets.” Since our opinions are therefore identical, the mistaken attribution is rather unfortunate. MICHAEL CHETTLEBURGH Markham, Ont.

A few weeks ago Scott Mills of the Toronto Police Service referred me to a man named Rick Osborne, a "reformed gang member" Scott suggested I ought to meet.

Not really knowing what to expect, I sent Rick an e-mail and a few days later we spoke on the phone and then met at a Newmarket coffee shop. To say I was blown away by Rick’s story is an understatement. Back in the 1970’s in Niagara Falls Rick got mixed up with the wrong crowd and one night, was injected with a "speedball" - a mixture of heroin and methamphetamine – by two men wanting to see a "virgin" react to his first high. For Rick, this unfortunate event began a two decade-plus downward spiral into the world of drug addiction, street and traditional organized crime gangs, violence and prison. For his many criminal transgressions, Rick spent twenty-three and a half years of his life in prison, shunted from coast to coast and placed in more than 30 different institutions.

For drug-addicted and gang-involved men, life expectancies are usually very short. But Rick somehow found a way while in prison to get clean, earn a degree from Queens University (which he, and not Canadian taxpayers, financed through the sale of his beloved Harley Davidson motorcycle), disavow his gang affiliations, and ultimately pay his debt to society, with his release from prison in 2001.

Rick has never looked back. Now 50-years old, with piercing blue eyes, massive tattooed-covered arms, a wonderful wife and a beautiful young daughter, Rick’s story of redemption is breathtaking. So too is his commitment to his current profession, speaking to young people across the country about the dangers of gangs and drugs through his charity, Truth 4 Teens.

In his school sessions, Rick does not preach or cajole. His approach is not a Scared Straight! one, nor does he sensationalize his story of redemption. Rather, he honestly portrays the world of gangs and drugs and relates his miserable time lost in the struggle on the streets and behind bars. Then he simply allows young people to take over and ask whatever questions are on their mind, which most often helps them appreciate that even good families produce troubled youth; that silly mistakes made early can have a lifetime of negative consequences and, that no matter how bad things seems, one can always turn around their life.

Rarely does someone of Rick’s background make it to the other side, then leverage that life experience for productive purpose. Rick is a testament to a saying I often quote to others who demonize gangsters and suggest they should be locked up for life: "often, a gangster is not as bad as the worst thing they have ever done". Rick did the crime and did his time, and perhaps in a perverse way, we as a society are better for it.

I count Rick as a friend and ally in the fight against gangs, and I urge you to support Rick and his essential work – make a tax deductible donation to Truth 4 Teens today.

A very wise man I know and trust – the "Giff", my senior editor Jim Gifford – both warned me and supported me several months back."Be prepared for the storm of controversy that will follow from these nine little pages," he said, referring to my chapter on drug reform. "But I support you, as this is a debate we must have."

If I truly understood in advance that 9 pages out of 276 would have created such a stir, I might have written 90 outlining my views on the weaknesses, and ramifications, of our current policy on illicit drugs! I would have deleted pages from the real meaty sections on prevention, parenting, targeted police suppression, urban and social renewal, and prison reform (which my critics often fail to mention that I write extensively about, as if my position is solely that drug reform is my solution to the problem of gangs). Too bad, because if I had written 90 pages on drug reform I would today be revelling in even more publicity!

Today’s Globe and Mail carried a review on my book entitled The gangs are all here, written by police officer, novelist and aspiring federal Conservative candidate (Scarborough Guildwood) Chuck Konkel. That a dual police service member and would-be Conservative M.P. would find little favour in my views about drug reform comes as no surprise to me. For him and others like him, it must indeed be a bitter pill to swallow. I appreciate Konkel’s criticism and his thoughtful counterpoints, and through this process, I am achieving exactly what I set out to do in this book: to propose ideas that stimulate debate and challenge conventional wisdom on gangs and gang-related issues (such as the huge drug trade) so that we can all become engaged in the fight against these scourges.

In his review, however, Mr. Konkel, who humorously suggests I must "live at Statistics Canada" because of my many fact-based arguments, falls victim to purposefully misrepresenting my ideas and the powerful pull of conventional wisdom. Konkel suggests I would legalize most drugs, when in fact the only thing I argue for is the immediate legalization of marijuana (page 232-233), with future policy decisions made based on the outcome of this drug’s legalization. Moreover, Konkel states that I "comment blithely that ecstasy is relatively harmless", when what I actually wrote was that if judged by its scientifically-proven pharmacological toxicity, ecstasy is not as toxic as another drug the majority of Canadians over 18 consume regularly, alcohol.

Regrettably for Mr. Konkel, he chooses to attack me specifically on the drug ecstasy, referring to a British expert who counted 394 deaths in the last decade due to ecstasy consumption. According to my "homeland" (Statistics Canada), we suffer 4,000 alcohol-related deaths every year in Canada, a country half the size of Britain, yet alcohol is a non-prohibited, socially accepted and taxed drug. It can’t just be me who sees this as a ridiculous paradox.

Borrowing a Konkel phrase directed to me in the review, his glaring "naive assumption" is related to another statistic he quotes in regard to the British study, of which in 42% of the 394 cases of death ecstasy was the "only drug mentioned". Mr. Konkel ought to consult with his police brothers and sisters who actually work the drug beat and ask them what’s in a typical ecstasy tablet sold to youth and young adults at raves and all-night dance parties across the country. Having studied this issue extensively, let me describe the stew of substances that Canadian police have discovered pressed into tiny colourful "ecstasy" pills by profit-hungry gangs, criminal syndicates and their ecstasy cooks:

• MDMA (the real ecstasy)
• GHB (date rape drug)
• Heroin
• Caustic soda (drain cleaner)
• Aspirin
• Codeine
• Dextromethorphan
• Ketamine (animal tranquilizer)
• Methamphetamine
• Ephedrine
• LSD
• Rohypnol
• PCP
• PMA (Paramethoxyamphetamine)

If you consume an ecstasy pill (a silly move, I might add, as I do not condone drug use) all bets are off in terms of what’s in it, so much so that my police contacts suggest that maybe as few as 2 to 3% of pills sold on the street are pure ecstasy and therefore are more likely to be combinations of the above substances. Indeed, many of the reported deaths associated with ecstasy in Europe and worldwide since 1995 were because gangsters made their pills with PMA, one of the most dangerous and toxic hallucinogens known to man.

Why, you wonder? Because of drug prohibition, the precursor chemicals for ecstasy production – MDMA – are tightly controlled by the government, therefore making ecstasy production expensive and risky. But since demand is unstoppable and profits so alluring, criminal organizations will make fake pills of virtually any composition, yet another disastrous consequence of drug prohibition. Because of our drug laws, we allow criminal organizations to determine, on their own discretion, what gets sold, to whom it gets sold, and where it gets sold. So while hospital ER reports may accord unfortunate deaths to" ecstasy", the reality is never so simple.

I am all for a debate on Canadian drug policy and its ramifications on the Canadian street gang situation. But the only way this debate will serve Canadians is by keeping it real. Let’s not misrepresent others’ words and perspectives. While we’re at it, let’s also not rely on conventional wisdom at the expense of the facts. Most important, let’s keep an open mind both to the sad reality that our "war on drugs" hasn’t been particularly effective, and that new approaches ought to be critically assessed rather than dismissed as naive.

Thanks, Giff, for indulging me in my cat amongst the pigeons, my nine little pages on drug reform.

Since 2001, I have had the pleasure of calling Tony “Pac-Man” Moreno friend, mentor and trusted associate (Tony’s work in South-Central L.A. inspired the Pac-Man character played by actor Sean Penn in the movie Colors, co-starring Robert Duvall).

For those not familiar with Tony, he is a 31-year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, and in my view, the most talented gang cop in the world today. While Tony is set to retire soon, his expertise is carried forward in a 2003 book I edited and published called Lessons From A Gang Cop. The esteemed police publication Blueline Magazine says the book is “more in tune with modern day policing than any book currently available”, and to date, Tony has sold 15,000+ copies of the book to people throughout North America.

While the title may leave one with the impression that it is a tome for police officers, the book is appropriate for anybody dealing with gangs – police, corrections officials, probations personnel, school teachers and administrators, social service workers and community leaders. The book does not focus on gangs, their origins or their criminal activities. Rather, it presents the key principles Tony believes are essential for the mental, physical and emotional well-being of front-line professionals dealing with gangs and fighting to make our communities safer.

To me and others dealing with street gangs in any manner, this $25 book is a “must-read” (I have no financial stake in this publication!), and you can get a copy from Amazon here.