I welcome this question. I have a different approach to the problem. I believe the only way to fight criminal organizations is to take the money out of crime. There is no other alternative, because if you just arrest them and put them in jail, they put on their account the possibility of spending time in jail, but what they do not like is the idea of losing their money.
Many provinces in this country have introduced new legislation using civil remedies. In Italy they are using these laws, but only after a criminal conviction can you start the procedure of law application and seize and confiscate proceeds of crime. In some provinces in Canada we don't need to have a criminal conviction because you can use simple remedies. Ontario passed a law allowing the government to seize and confiscate proceeds of crime.
Also, I think we are notorious around the world because we have a lower risk of prosecution and detention compared to other countries. I think our judicial system is a joke, because the only way to deal with the criminals is to make a deal with the criminals. I mean this in the sense that we are bargaining down sentences in order to avoid the cost of a long trial.
I have some concern with the definition of drug trafficking because the definition of drug trafficking is a consensual crime without visible victims. I disagree. I think when people are selling drugs they are merchants of death. They are selling death and addiction. They are making a lot of money. I spent a month in Colombia and I learned that a kilo of cocaine in Colombia costs $1,500. With one kilo of cocaine you can make 4.5 kilos and then the one gram of cocaine costs $50 to $60. So there is nothing that has a bigger margin of profit than drug trafficking.
So if they are running these types of activities they should pay. They should be convicted and spend time in jail. We should be looking at working camps. We should be looking into real rehabilitation. What we are doing in our Club Med detention centres is we are putting those people together and increasing the synergy among them.
So what we should do is introduce a new strategy to fight the criminal organizations. I hear many things that don't make sense.
If you really want to learn about organized crime, you should invite people who are aware, those in the witness protection program, people who have experience in criminal organizations, who can tell you that drugs are the major source of income. They can tell you so many other things that only those people are able to tell you.