Here is the deal, folks. Sooner or later, probably sooner, pot is going to be legal in Canada. All the signs are moving in that direction. Medical marijuana is already a reality and, despite the dire warnings of some, the sky did not fall and Canada did not turn into a cesspool of scum and villainy. In Niagara Falls Tuesday, city councillors scheduled a meeting to discuss regulations governing the growing, processing, packaging of medical marijuana in the city. Some residents are none to pleased with the idea. [continues 637 words]
Here is the deal, folks. Sooner or later, probably sooner, pot is going to be legal in Canada. All the signs are moving in that direction. Medical marijuana is already a reality and, despite the dire warnings of some, the sky did not fall and Canada did not turn into a cesspool of scum and villainy. In Niagara Falls Tuesday, city councillors scheduled a meeting to discuss regulations governing the growing, processing, packaging of medical marijuana in the city. Some residents are none to pleased with the idea. [continues 638 words]
Now that prime minister-designate Justin Trudeau has a majority government many people are excited about the possibility of legalized marijuana. You might eagerly anticipate a legal toke, but you're going to hate how the government will manage it, assuming pot is handled the same way as booze is in this province. Indeed, pot may well fall under the jurisdiction of the Marijuana Control Board of Ontario (MCBO), like the LCBO, and The J-Store, like The Beer Store. At the MCBO, as with the LCBO, prices will greatly exceed what you would pay for a baggie in Buffalo, NY once they legalize it there, as they probably will. [continues 472 words]
Cracking down on illegal drugs is the number one crime police deal with in Victoria, and cocaine continues to be the drug of choice on city streets. Every day, police come across dozens of people using cocaine or smoking crack. Use and trafficking of the drug has been steady throughout the years, forcing Staff Sgt. Connor King of the Victoria police strike force unit to think about long-term solutions besides just making arrests. "From the police perspective, we think one of the big solutions is education for young people and to prevent people from getting into using drugs in the first place," said King. "There's a lot of focus on harm reduction and we are in partnerships now with a lot of harm reduction service providers." [continues 373 words]
His indictment is barely a week old, but many of his former friends in organized labor and the cannabis industry have already buried Dan Rush. Rush, 54, was once the gregarious director of the United Food and Commercial Workers' national medical cannabis and hemp division; on Aug. 10, he was indicted in federal court on two felony counts of violating labor law. The lifelong union man - the first labor organizer to make a serious effort to bring the nascent marijuana industry on board in 2010 - is accused of selling out those same workers in order to pay off a debt. [continues 812 words]
Search Warrant Application Reveals Threats Against Bikers' Competitor Recent court documents allege a Vancouver-based pot shop kingpin has a lengthy criminal record, has been selling pot to 16-year-olds and claims to have been threatened by the Hells Angels. The information is contained in a police application for a warrant to raid Weeds Glass + Gifts at 2916 West 4th Ave. near Macdonald Street, which is run by Donald Briere. The revelation is the second this month that illustrates the involvement of organized crime groups in the pot dispensary business. [continues 938 words]
ONCE, as a staff sergeant of detectives, Bill VanderGraaf was a warrior leading Winnipeg's version of the war on drugs. Now, the retired former cop is the leading local voice on the decriminalization and regulation of street drugs. Pot in particular. So what happened to VanderGraaf between then and now? He is half an hour into an explanation of the journey to smoking joints as a way to help deal with a life and a career laced with psychological booby-traps when he says this: "Police work is always about doing things you don't necessarily like having to do. And the Morgentaler clinic was one of those investigations." [continues 848 words]
MHPS acknowledge hard times in the community mean crime and drug addiction will follow The Medicine Hat Police Service shares concerns with other provincial enforcement agencies that the economic downturn could spur greater violence by outlaw biker gangs and other organized crime groups. "In fact, we've already seen hints of that going on with some locals in town trying to control the drug trade," said Insp. Brent Secondiak, as those involved in the drug trade "try to monopolize the limited funds that are out there." [continues 540 words]
Say Outlaw Gangs Are Competing for Fewer Dollars in a Slowing Alberta Economy Police are concerned the downturn in the economy will result in increased violence in Alberta, as competing motorcycle gangs chase fewer dollars in the drug trade. In the past five years as the economy boomed, outlaw biker gangs "exploded" and spread throughout the province, said Insp. Darcy Strang of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams. But now, with the crash in oil prices, officers are worried those gangs will become more cutthroat to maintain market share. [continues 692 words]
This week Vancouver City Council approved a series of recommendations aimed at regulating the growing number of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city. It is a complicated issue, which is why we at the City of Vancouver have attempted to address some of your most frequently asked questions: Is the retail sale of medical marijuana legal in Vancouver as a result of council's decision? There is no legal regime for the retail sale of marijuana in Canada. People who need marijuana for medicinal purposes and who have a prescription may apply to Health Canada to obtain marijuana from a federally licensed supplier. [continues 528 words]
The upside for jailed Vancouver longshoreman Jason Cavezza is that his job is waiting for him when he gets out of a U.S. prison later this month Metro Vancouver longshoreman Jason Cavezza has had a rough few years. He was arrested in Cancun, Mexico on May 31, 2008 while on his honeymoon with his now ex-wife. His father died during his seven months in a rat-infested Mexican prison awaiting extradition to the U.S. on felony drug charges. [continues 1614 words]
Hells Angels bikers, other gangsters and convicted international smugglers work as longshoremen handling the 1.5 million containers that flow annually through Port Metro Vancouver More than two dozen of the longshoremen unloading container ships on the docks of Metro Vancouver are Hells Angels, their associates, other gangsters or people with serious criminal records, a Vancouver Sun investigation has found. The infiltration of gangsters and criminals into the port workforce is perpetuated by a longtime employment practice that allows existing union members to nominate friends, relatives and associates when new jobs become available. [continues 2762 words]
Hells Angels and others with criminal connections have a long history working at Canada's major ports, a Vancouver Sun investigation has found More than two dozen of the longshoremen unloading container ships on the docks of Metro Vancouver are Hells Angels, their associates, other gangsters or people with serious criminal records, a Vancouver Sun investigation has found. The infiltration of gangsters and criminals into the port workforce is perpetuated by a longtime employment practice that allows existing union members to nominate friends, relatives and associates when new jobs become available. [continues 2094 words]
Law Enforcement: The Gate Keepers Said to Be Support Club of Hells Angels A support club for the Hells Angels has set up in Stratford. The Gate Keepers, who have chapters from southwestern Ontario to the Maritimes, have been in Stratford "for months" and have leased a Downie Street building, Stratford Police Chief John Bates confirmed. "It's something we're aware of and we're taking appropriate steps to investigate and monitor this situation," he said. "Members of that organization have made their presence known in Stratford for months now, and we believe some of them are from the London area." [continues 332 words]
In-Depth Ottawa Study Reveals They Defy Many of Our Cliched Assumptions An in-depth study of gang members in Ottawa, based on jailhouse interviews that took two years, is full of surprises and shattered cliches. Carleton University sociologist Katharine Kelly spoke at length to 16 gang-involved young men for Life Course of Youth Gang Members, which was published in October 2011. Their candour was striking. "They didn't look like typical gang members that you find, particularly in the U.S. literature," Prof. Kelly said this week. "They often came from really good families and they were actually supporting those families in a variety of ways. "So, that was staggering." Among the eye-openers: 10 of the 16 attended church services regularly or occasionally. [continues 666 words]
Evidence From Search of Barn Where Hells Angels Member Lived Tossed Because No Warrant Issued KITCHENER - A judge has reprimanded Waterloo Regional Police for illegally searching for guns in a barn where a Hells Angels member occasionally lived. Justice Gerald Taylor made it clear in a ruling that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects everyone - even members of outlaw biker gangs. "The charter does not just apply to law-abiding citizens," Taylor wrote in the ruling that threw out all of the evidence from one search in a high-profile guns-and-drugs case against biker Frank Strauss. [continues 667 words]
In the 1980s and '90s, a lucrative and well-organized drug-smuggling network spanning Mexico, the U.S. and Canada had northern beachheads in a handful of small farming towns in southwestern Ontario and southern Manitoba. These communities were also home to tens of thousands of Old Colony Mennonites, a deeply conservative branches of one of Christianity's most traditional sects - similar to other pacifist and agrarian-based societies like the Amish or Hutterites. Ironic then, that it turned out they were the drug smugglers. [continues 820 words]
Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey was right to criticize a gang task force for setting up a potentially dangerous drug bust in the middle of the afternoon in a well-used city park. In fact, the operation did turn violent, with the suspect drawing a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol when uniformed officers arrived. Joseph Valverde was then shot dead by an officer. It's unfortunate that this suspected drug trafficker lost his life, but the incident could have been worse. What if the gunfire that erupted in a parking lot near Overland Pond Park had strayed and hit other people who were merely enjoying the park or riding on the nearby bike trail? [continues 77 words]
Colorado has done it, so why can't we? Why can't we take one foreign state's measures and enact them federally in Canada. After all, marijuana legalisation in Colorado doesn't seem to have created any great waves. I'm sure when the prohibition on alcohol ended, we didn't have a rash of drunk drivers and alcoholics either. It takes time for the effects of measures like this to be seen. Yes, there are some immediate effects - such as an increase in tax revenues. But when it comes to other effects, studies are split. Some say Colorado teens are less likely now than before legalisation to be smoking marijuana. But other studies show that not only are they more likely to partake, they are also less likely to consider marijuana a harmful drug. [continues 687 words]
