Facing a budget crisis, politicians want to cut the state prison budget. But how they want to do it is like cutting calories by washing down a dozen chocolate donuts with a diet Vernors. Michigan's bloated prison system is bankrupting the state. To fix it, the state must come up with better ideas than unplugging water coolers to save electricity. Locking up a record 51,500 inmates costs nearly $2 billion a year. That's about $5 million a day -- more than taxpayers spend on higher education. Michigan imprisons 40% more people than other Great Lakes states that have less crime, taking an extra $500 million a year out of the state's general fund. [continues 643 words]
The fight against Whitehorse grow ops suffered a setback this week. Cops, Crown prosecutors and others are going to be cursing territorial court Judge Karen Ruddy as some sort of liberal wank. This week, Ruddy issued an 83-page judgment on the admissibility of evidence collected by police investigating the high-profile Copper Ridge grow-op case. She turfed out a lot of the evidence. So much evidence, in fact, that it's difficult to imagine how the Crown can continue prosecuting its case, in which 4,500 marijuana plants were seized. [continues 1023 words]
Key Issues In Prince Albert Make For One Of Busiest Police Forces In The Province Crime in P.A. is too high says the police chief, but the force is making gains. Herald illustration by Brigette Jobin Prince Albert's police chief has said it over and over -- crime is too high in the city. Even though the local force has one of the highest rates of solving crimes in Canada, chief Dale McFee says there is never a shortage of new crimes to fight. [continues 575 words]
I'm writing about the outstanding letter from Edwin L. Stickney, MD: "Keep Clawson, stop the drug war" ( April 5 ). The so-called war on drugs was lost before it began. No matter how much money we throw down the drug war rat hole, we will never be able to nullify the immutable law of supply and demand. As long as people want recreational drugs and they are willing to pay a substantial price for the drugs, somebody will produce them and somebody else will get the drugs to the willing buyers. [continues 214 words]
It's easy to see why drugs like heroin, crystal meth and crack cocaine garner more fear and attention from parents than other substances. After all, they come with easy-to-vilify accessories. Needles. Makeshift pipes. Rolled-up dollar bills and razor blades. That's the stuff of gripping, sometimes gory movies. But several recent reports remind us that it's the drugs that sit benignly in the average Canadian's kitchen cupboard or bathroom cabinet that lead to the most grief-alcohol and prescription drugs. [continues 614 words]
The Government is right to send extra troops to Afghanistan, which needs all the help it can get. WITHIN days, 300 elite Special Forces troops will go to Oruzgan Province in southern Afghanistan. Later this year, 75 RAAF personnel will be sent to Kandahar to help with air-traffic control, followed by a helicopter contingent next year. The dispatch of extra troops to this long-troubled country, announced on Tuesday by Prime Minister John Howard, will double Australia's deployment to about 1000. Presciently but wisely, Mr Howard has warned of the dangers faced by the troops, who will be under Australian command as part of the International Security Assistance Force. "There is the distinct possibility of casualties, and that should be understood and prepared for by the Australian public," Mr Howard said. [continues 573 words]
After reading "War on drugs the modern-day Jim Crow" (April 2, Page B-5), I was compelled to write. Arianna Huffington wrote from a report by the American Civil Liberties Union that blacks make up 15 percent of drug users, but account for 37 percent of those arrested on drug charges and 74 percent of drug offenders sent to prison. She should know there is a difference between a "drug user" and a "drug offender." A drug user is normally a drug addict. A drug offender could instead be in possession of a controlled substance, selling illegal drugs or manufacturing drugs. Drug offenders usually supply users their drug of choice. If Huffington was to research the geographical areas that heroin, cocaine and meth arrive from, she would see that a lot comes from Mexico (which would account for more Latinos being incarcerated as drug offenders). [continues 56 words]
'Just Suddenly Overnight It Seemed Like A Ghetto' OTTAWA - You know you're in Ottawa when the first drug dealer you meet once worked on Parliament Hill. On a cold Friday afternoon, Raymond Lambert leans in his black leather jacket against the wrought-iron gate outside the Shepherds of Good Hope, a homeless shelter on the edge of the Byward Market, a short walk east of the Peace Tower. It's cheque day, so the crack business will be brisk: His regulars will have their personal-needs allowances, $4 for each night spent at a city shelter. Police and shelter staff call it the Personal Narcotics Allowance. On such days, Frenchy - as he is known to everyone, even police - can make $150 a half-hour. [continues 3649 words]
