The Harper government, fresh from botching its alleged pander to the libertarian wing of the Conservative party with its voluntary census plan, appears to be having no problem steamrolling over the libertarian wing's sensitivities on crime. In back-to-back performances this week, two Cabinet ministers invoked harsh tough-on-crime motives that show the Tories' concern about individual rights to be a fleeting interest compared with their enthusiasm for escalating the bonkers American war on drugs, gambling and sex. [continues 1196 words]
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico-Two Americans were driving back to El Paso, Texas, last December after an afternoon across the border in Ciudad Juarez. A few blocks from the border, they were surrounded by Mexican army trucks and pulled from their Dodge Ram. Mexico's military says it found two suitcases full of marijuana in the cab of the pickup truck. Two soldiers later testified that they drove the two Americans to a military compound on the outskirts of town, questioned them briefly, then turned them over to civilian authorities. The Americans were charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell. [continues 2797 words]
More and more are popping the painkiller OxyContin to take the edge off their violent lives When gangster Dennis Karbovanec walked into a Surrey high-rise in October 2007 and shot three people in the head, he was addicted to the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin. And when his former Red Scorpion gang-mate Anton Hooites-Meursing played a role in the same Surrey Six murder plot, he was also struggling with an addiction to the pill police say is akin to "prescription heroin." [continues 2000 words]
Last week, Quebec police departments busted five "compassion clubs" that were selling "medical marijuana" to anyone with a doctor's note - -but that's just a whiff of what's going on elsewhere. I was in California recently, the loosest U.S. state for marijuana laws, where 1,000 "compassion clubs" were operating legally while I was there. Sometimes it was hard to believe my eyes. On the famed boardwalk at Venice Beach, I passed the "Kush Doctor's Marijuana Club," a beachfront store with a long lineup beside a big sign saying MEDICAL MARIJUANA AVAILABLE HERE! As thousands of bikers, bladers and tourists streamed by, bikini-clad "nurses" handed out "Kush Doctor" pamphlets and shouted: "Get your legal pot here!" Meanwhile, police just sauntered by. [continues 702 words]
'EASY RISER' ACTOR WAS A SCREEN REBEL He Was a Maverik Who Careved Out His Own Niche and Appeared in 115 Films Dennis Hopper, the maverick director and costar of the landmark 1969 counterculture film classic "Easy Rider" whose drug- and alcohol-fueled reputation as a Hollywood bad boy preceded his return to sobriety and a career resurgence in the films " Hoosiers" and "Blue Velvet," died Saturday. He was 74. A longtime resident of Venice who also was known as a photographer, artist and collector of modern art, Hopper died at his home of complications from prostate cancer, said Alex Hitz, a friend of the family. [continues 2044 words]
Mexico and Canada have a lot more in common than their shared $25-billion annual trade and awkward relationship with the elephant in the middle. They also serve as the economic and physical battle grounds for the demonstrably failing U.S. war on drugs. And while the carnage in Mexico gets more press, the violence also exists in places such as Abbottsford, B.C., Montreal and even Winnipeg, where it has taken the form of shooting children. To his credit, Mexican President Felipe Calderon acknowledged this week the challenges he faces because of the war. In the 21/2 years since he called in the army to deal with drug lords, crooked cops and corrupt officials, between 14,000 and 17,000 Mexicans have met violent - -- often gruesome -- deaths. [continues 593 words]
In the 60s hippies fled to the backwoods of northern California to grow pot. There they have been joined by growers of 'medical marijuana' - available with a doctor's recommendation - as well as by Mexican drug cartels. With cannabis now its largest cash crop, the state will soon vote on whether to legalise it fully - and even Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is thinking the enormous tax revenues might just solve his budget deficit... 'When I see that, it's like looking at a shed full of cows. I see a whole lot of work," says Jim Hill, opening the little gate into his humid greenhouse in which a forest of marijuana grows, and from which a pungent, heady scent exudes at gale force. [continues 4920 words]
Winnipeg police say the recent local collapse of the Hells Angels has created a toxic environment that has the city on the verge of a biker war. "Tensions are extremely high ... Violence is imminent," a veteran police officer with extensive knowledge of the organized crime scene wrote last month in newly released court documents obtained yesterday by the Winnipeg Free Press. Police explain in detail why they believe the relative calm of the past few months is about to be broken -- including evidence of gang members stockpiling weapons in preparation to take out their rival "by any means necessary." The document was used to obtain a search warrant for a home in the city's East Kildonan neighbourhood, where a loaded handgun was found hidden in a backyard last month. [continues 311 words]
Criminals are becoming more creative in their quest to hide marijuana-growing operations, say police and an expert in the clandestine drug trade in B.C. Underground urban bunkers housing thousands of pot plants were raided in Nanaimo when police swarmed five properties in one day last month. Nanaimo RCMP will not say if the sophisticated operation has links to organized crime, but criminologist Darryl Plecas says pot is one of its largest funding sources. Police are exploring that possibility as they continue the investigation that led to the arrest of six people. [continues 813 words]
A full-patch member of the Hells Angels who pleaded guilty to trafficking in large quantities of drugs should walk free, his lawyer argued yesterday. In December, John Virgil Punko, a member of the East End chapter of the notorious motorcycle gang, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic in 50 kilograms of methamphetamines and five kilograms of cocaine. Prosecutors said Punko should be jailed for 16 years, reduced to 13 years, five months, after so-called dead time, or pre-sentencing custody. [continues 257 words]
The problem: A power vacuum in the Montreal Mafia. The solution: Social networking. Nicolo (Nick) Rizzuto was gunned down in Notre Dame de Grace last week. His untimely passing suggests a degree of organizational disarray in organized crime. As you read these words, old men in grey fedoras are sipping espresso in as-yet-unfirebombed cafes and discussing what can be done to restore the decorum that is good for business. But time may have passed them by. Holy Paolo Violi, it's 2010. Stakeholders in criminal enterprises, notably the drug trade, include street gangs, bikers and enough of the vestigial West End gang to ensure a Point St. Charles brogue is still the working language of the port. [continues 487 words]
