Calgary's police chief said his officers haven't changed their approach when it comes to marijuana, despite a slight dip in pot-related crimes being reported in 2016. Numbers released yesterday by Statistics Canada show Calgary's police-reported crime declined significantly last year, unlike other major Canadian cities which mostly saw an increase. Alberta also saw a drop in the homicide rate, with 17 fewer homicides in 2016 than 2015. Calgary's crime rate was down 1 per cent from 2015 numbers, which Chief Roger Chaffin called 'encouraging.' [continues 137 words]
A Texas girl whose family moved to Colorado to use medical marijuana to treat her intractable epilepsy is among those suing Attorney General Jeff Sessions over the federal cannabis prohibition. Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the federal government should be able to prosecute marijuana use and distribution in states that have declared it legal. An 11-year-old Texas cannabis "refugee" has joined a retired NFL football player, an Iraq War veteran and two others in a lawsuit challenging beleaguered Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the federal government's stance on medical marijuana. [continues 795 words]
Instead of overlooking the true issue of drug addiction in Chatham-Kent and participating in the stigma that surrounds it, our community must be proactive. Now is our opportunity to help individuals suffering from drug addiction and prevent needless overdoses while simultaneously protecting public health. Last year in Canada there were 2458 opioid related overdose deaths (two every day in Ontario), all which were preventable. Some readers may turn a blind eye to this statistic and argue, "who cares?" and "better for the rest of us". My question for those people is, when did we lose our sense of community? When did we become so individualistic that our judgment of others has clouded our ability to feel empathy? [continues 383 words]
Colby Wilde and Lacey Christenson welcomed their third child into the world on April 9 at Utah Valley Hospital. The doctors, nurses and medical staff eventually cleared out of the room, giving the parents a few moments alone with their new daughter. Unlike most new parents, they did not hold the newborn child, overcome with emotion. Instead, Wilde quickly crushed pills of Suboxone, an FDA-approved drug used to treat heroin addiction and withdrawal, police say. He moistened his finger and dipped it in the resulting powder. Then he stuck his finger in his daughter's mouth, smearing it along her tiny, tender gums. Though she had been in the world less than half a day, the baby, like thousands others in the United States, was already addicted to opioids. [continues 907 words]
Of the $8.65 million in illegal drugs the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) pulled off of Alberta's streets, well over half of it was marijuana. "Marijuana remains highly profitable for organized crime," said Insp. Dave Dubnyk with ALERT. "It's traded for other drugs, used for financing illegal enterprises." According to information in the 2016-17 ALERT annual report, investigators seized $5.4-million worth of marijuana last year. Dubnyk said while ALERT officers may not be specifically targeting marijuana, it is often discovered during other investigations involving illegal drugs and organized crime. [continues 251 words]
Heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs remain widely available throughout Ohio, often at bargain prices, a new state report reveals. If that isn't bad enough, the quality of the drugs is "is really good, too good. We've lost 12 friends in the past year (to overdoses)," said one respondent in the just-released Ohio Substance Abuse Monitoring Network Report. The semi-annual statewide report of drug availability trends is done by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services. [continues 409 words]
'MOLLY' Scientists, public health experts and volunteers working with them have started to show up at music festivals, concerts, raves and other public gatherings where illicit drugs are frequently used. Equipped with special chemical testing kits, they help attendees test pills and powder for purity in real time so people can make better informed decisions about whether to take them. The practice - more common in Europe than in the United States - is controversial, and the debate has been similar to the early days of needle-exchange programs in the 1980s. Proponents argue harm reduction. They say people are more likely to reject taking drugs to get high if the substances do not contain what they think they do, which reduces the risk of overdose and other harmful effects. Critics say such programs implicitly encourage the use of illegal drugs. [continues 580 words]
MJPS call recent arrests a success, but more work still to be done Crystal methamphetamine isn't a newcomer to the Friendly City, but it does seem to be getting better acquainted with it. "It's a drug that's much more available than it was even five years ago," Cpl. Kevin Pilsworth of the Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) said on Thursday. "In the past few years, we've really seen it make its way onto the map in Moose Jaw." [continues 478 words]
Two sites in the Vancouver region have become the first in Canada to receive federal approval to allow users to snort or swallow drugs while under supervision. Until now, supervised drug-consumption sites have been limited to injection drug users. Two sites have been operating in Vancouver for more than a decade, while others have recently received approval in the Vancouver area, Montreal and Toronto. The two sites approved to expand services to non-injectable drugs are in Surrey, south of Vancouver. The public SafePoint supervised-consumption site, located on what's known as the "Surrey Strip," opened three weeks ago. The Quibble Creek Sobering and Assessment Centre began offering supervised consumption for clients one week ago. [continues 565 words]
I t was terrific to see leaders from Surrey RCMP and the Surrey School District offer parents such common-sense advice this week about the drug crisis afflicting our communities. School Superintendent Jordan Tinney and Assistant Commissioner Dwayne McDonald urged parents to talk to their kids about the extremely high level of risk posed by street drugs these days and not to assume that their little darlings aren't experimenting with them. The warning came a few days after Provincial Health Officer Dr. Perry Kendall made a similar plea, noting that 19 B.C. teenagers have died of overdoses since January 2016 and concerned that teenage drug use may rise soon with year-end parties and summer concerts. [continues 637 words]
A U.S. Border Patrol agent pleaded guilty Thursday to smuggling backpacks he believed contained drugs across the border. Appearing in a federal courtroom in San Diego, Noe Lopez pleaded guilty to attempted distribution of methamphetamine and attempted distribution of cocaine. He faces a possible minimum sentence of 10 years for each of the two counts and a maximum penalty of life in federal prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 8 before U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw. Lopez, a 10-year Border Patrol veteran who worked out of the Imperial Beach station, was arrested Dec. 14 as a result of a two-month undercover sting. [continues 213 words]
I just heard Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer on the news discussing our gang problem, killings and crime in Fresno. He then mentioned marijuana as the drug gangs use. That might be true, but why do we rarely hear about the huge methamphetamine problem in Fresno from Chief Dyer, Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims and the local media? Methamphetamine is being imported, made and sold widely in Fresno and surrounding areas. It is sucking the life out of our communities. Methamphetamine is the problem, not marijuana, which is legal in California. Apparently it's easier to advertise "cracking down on crime" by using our tax dollars to bust growers/dealers of this legal plant. [continues 98 words]
MANILA - Every morning before dawn, Rosario Perez checks to make sure her sons are still alive. The three brothers, all in their 20s, sleep at the houses of friends and relatives, moving regularly, hoping that whoever may have been assigned to kill them won't catch up with them. They are not witnesses on a mob hit list, or gang members hiding from rivals. They are simply young men living in the Philippines of President Rodrigo Duterte. "How could I not send them to hide?" said Ms. Perez, 47, after peeking in on two of her sons and phoning the third. "We can barely sleep out of fear." [continues 1213 words]
'The new reality': Fentanyl test strips and naloxone kits are part of the mix Vancouver Island music festivals are stepping up harm-reduction measures with fentanyl test strips, more naloxone kits and outreach in light of B.C.'s drug overdose crisis. "If you're a festival organizer, it's imperative to have this on your radar. This is the new reality," said Emmalee Brunt, communications manager for the Tall Tree Music Festival. The festival takes place in Port Renfrew from June 23 to 26 and is expected to draw about 3,000 people. [continues 715 words]
Local school boards may bring 'opioid antagonist' into schools to deal with possible overdoses Local school boards are considering following their neighbours and potentially bringing naloxone into local schools in the face of the opioid overdose crisis. On Tuesday, the Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario announced the overdose kits would be placed in all of its schools, located in the easternmost counties of Ontario and including the cities of Brockville and Cornwall. "We hope that these kits will never need to be used, but in the event that they are needed, the naloxone will help to buy time for someone experiencing an opioid overdose until first responders arrive," William Gartland, the board's director of education, said. [continues 1000 words]
Under federal law, anyone convicted of selling just five grams of methamphetamine-the weight of a nickel-is subject to a mandatory five-year prison term. Get caught buying or selling a second time, no matter how many years after your first offense, and you will be subject to a 10-year mandatory prison sentence. Ms. Mac Donald may pretend that mandatory sentences are reserved for the likes of El Chapo, but the truth is mandatory sentences are more often used against low-level offenders. Ninety-three percent of people who receive federal mandatory minimums played no leadership role in their crimes. There are lots of minnows and few sharks. There are simply no studies that show mandatory sentences reduce drug crime. Every dollar wasted on mandatory minimums is one that would be better invested in proven anticrime strategies like hiring more police officers and expanding substance abuse treatment. Kevin Ring President Families Against Mandatory Minimums Washington [end]
The article Needles the cause, cure (May 23) postulates possible reasons for higher rates of HIV and hepatitis C virus in London. As an organization that advocates with and for people who inject drugs ( PWID), we note that, while unsafe injection practices may be a potential driver of these increased rates, it is probably not the only influence. There are multiple social and systemic influences that may not only contribute to the increase of disease, but also contribute to overall diminished health of those who inject drugs. [continues 404 words]
The article Needles the cause, cure (May 23) postulates possible reasons for higher rates of HIV and hepatitis C virus in London. As an organization that advocates with and for people who inject drugs (PWID), we note that, while unsafe injection practices may be a potential driver of these increased rates, it is probably not the only influence. There are multiple social and systemic influences that may not only contribute to the increase of disease, but also contribute to overall diminished health of those who inject drugs. [continues 404 words]
More U.S. workers are testing positive for illicit drugs than at any time in the last 12 years, according to data coming out today from Quest Diagnostics Inc., one of the largest workplace-testing labs in the nation. The number of workers who tested positive for marijuana rose by 4%, while positive results for other drugs also rose. The increases come against a backdrop of more liberal marijuana state laws and an apparent resurgence in the use of drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine. [continues 546 words]
A safe-injection site could be coming to Medicine Hat. Though still early in the process, HIV Community Link executive director Leslie Hill says this is something communities around Alberta could be seeing over the course of the next year or so. "Right now we have a researcher in Medicine Hat working on creating a survey to get to drug users," she said. "We are doing this in response to a rise in opioid use across the province and we are trying to be proactive with this." [continues 562 words]
