Pubdate: Tue, 06 Dec 2005
Source: Central Peace Signal, The (CN AB)
Copyright: 2005 Central Peace Signal
Contact:  http://www.centralpeacesignal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2916
Note: Part 1

DRUG AWARENESS COORDINATOR SAYS DRUG BATTLE ON-GOING

The RCMP have a huge fight in front on them when it comes to drug abuse in 
the province.

Sgt. Ian Sanderson, who is the Drug Awareness Coordinator for the K 
Division of the RCMP, was in Grande Prairie last month to discuss the issue 
of drug use and what he sees as the latest fads out there.

Everything from marijuana to prescription drugs, to cocaine and 
methamphetamine have been identified as problems in society.

Although, Sanderson maintains that alcohol and tobacco are the two most 
destructive and powerful drugs in all of Canada. He hopes that the problems 
of alcohol and tobacco don't spread out to cause as many problems in other 
drug cultures. "I've yet to meet a meth user, or cocaine user or heroin 
user that didn't start with something else," said Sanderson, such as 
alcohol and marijuana. "But, that doesn't mean that everybody does."

The next largest group of drugs after alcohol and tobacco is marijuana. 
Sanderson noted that there are a lot of mixed messages out there involving 
marijuana, mostly in regard to the government legislation of 'legalizing' 
the drug. "If you were to survey most young people in high school today, 
they would tell you that not only is marijuana about to be legal, it 
already is legal in Canada," said Sanderson. "What kind of message are they 
getting when they can't possess a single tobacco cigarette without getting 
i.d.'d, but the newspapers are telling them they're going to be able to 
possess 30 grams of marijuana without having to worry about the police 
bothering them."

The marijuana of 2005 is not the same marijuana as the 1960's and 1970's. 
Back then, the potency of marijuana was only two to three percent.

Now, that number is between 12-15% potency.

In 2003, the Canada Drug Strategy program was funded with $258 million over 
a five year period, the first bit of prevention money for drug issues 
placed in 10 years in Canada. With that money, studies are being done on 
marijuana and the affects it has on society. One study, done in British 
Columbia, noted that 10% of all people killed in automobile accidents 
involved the use of some form of drug other than alcohol and 50% of those, 
it was marijuana.

When alcohol and marijuana is combined, those numbers rise significantly. 
Throw in Tylenol 3 with alcohol and marijuana and the numbers continue to 
rise. As a result, there is a bill currently before parliament to make an 
amendment to the Criminal Code to allow the police greater tools in the 
detection of people who are impaired by drugs.

The government's reform of the marijuana law will change the way which 
penalties are handed out by making possession of 30 grams or less a 
ticketable offense, similar to being in possession of open alcohol.

The amount the fine would be for this offense is currently in committee 
prior to third reading in the House of Commons. Although it is not set in 
stone, Sanderson expects the fines to be in the range of $250-$400 for a 
first offense. With that, is special circumstances where if certain 
conditions apply, the fine would automatically double, so the fines would 
be between $500 and $800. This includes the use and possession of marijuana 
in conjunction with the operation of a motor vehicle and in relation to 
children, like in school yards where children are present, the fines would 
double and would be subsequently higher in second and third offenses.

The police are pushing for a recommendation in the new law that would allow 
them to haul traffickers to court instead of just fining them for 
possession of under 30 grams, should they be caught in a school yard. They 
know that traffickers will be looking for loopholes such as the possession 
of under 30 grams, so this recommendation, if passed, would allow the 
police to take them to court and have them before a judge as they do now.

Medicinal marijuana misinformation

Sanderson is one of those who is not in favour of medicinal marijuana for 
those suffering from Multiple Sclerosis or cancer.

He said that for most people who are taking chemotherapy, marijuana 
actually inhibits the effectiveness of the cancer drugs and in other cases, 
it masks the symptoms and makes things worse than better.

However, he did note that there has been some benefit from all of this. 
"Health Canada recently approved a spray that is a derivative of marijuana 
that you don't get stoned from, but actually causes some relief of symptoms 
related to Multiple Sclerosis and that's a good thing," said Sanderson. 
"But just smoking dope is not really that good for you, particularly in the 
fact that you have to smoke it because people who are sick with cancer or 
HIV, are the worst people in the world to be smoking because they're 
already at risk for bacterial lung infection. It can actually impede their 
health rather than make it better."

The federal government is currently doing some clinical trials on the spray 
and some tablets that are actually synthetic marijuana.

It's kind of like super Gravol and it reduces nausea for chemotherapy 
patients, but they don't get stoned at the same time. "For some reason, 
people prefer to smoke it -- maybe that speaks to their addiction rather 
than the problem with the drug itself," said Sanderson.

This article is a first in a series of articles.

Next week's article on drug use will deal with chemical drugs.
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