Re: "Crooks get pot smart: Grow-ops smaller, but operators more stealthy," The Journal, Dec. 26. When I go to the grocery store for a plump spaghetti squash, I expect to pay full price because it's ripe. If I want to eat unripe squash, I have to grow my own and harvest early. If I were to purchase an ounce of cannabis, the price varies. But let's use the figure of $240 per ounce. This pot was grown from seed or more likely is a clone. [continues 112 words]
It's disgusting that some police officers consider busting marijuana cultivation sites as, in the words of an officer quoted in the article, a "game." One reason cannabis and its cultivation is prohibited is because law enforcement agencies and their unions lobby to perpetuate the luciferous persecution. Is that so they can play games? Millions of North Americans choose to use the relatively safe, socially acceptable, God-given plant; the most dangerous part of supplying the demand is police caging or killing growers. That's not a game; it's a sick discrimination which should end. Cannabis should be legalized and cultivation should be regulated. The law enforcement community should be working to stop crime and protect citizens, not playing games. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
In the Past Six Months, Addicts on Victoria Streets Have Found Access to Clean Needles Increasingly Difficult, Leaving Outreach Workers to Desperately Search for Ways to Prevent the Spread of Disease and Death. The Fifth in a Series of 10 Remarkable People, Places or Things VICTORIA -- In the past six months, drug addicts in Victoria have misplaced more than 60,000 needles, proving the city's needle exchange program is, increasingly, a misnomer. Since public pressure led to the closing of a long-time storefront exchange site in May, AIDS Vancouver Island has tried to fill the gap with a mobile service, where outreach workers on foot and on bicycles roam the streets trying to find addicts in need of clean gear. [continues 1195 words]
To the Editor, Re: Marijuana education must include all facts, Dec. 16. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education program is an important tool for North America's government-subsidized discrimination of cannabis users as Russell Barth discloses. Nearly every study, including government studies, indicate DARE is a failure and one reason is due to lies, half-truths and propaganda concerning marijuana. Whether or not DARE is effective at keeping youth away from harmful substances doesn't matter to police - it helps increase union dues for law enforcement agencies who cry when DARE programs are threatened to end because of things like budget cuts. Need proof? Read Budget Woes Kill Elgin's DARE Program at www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v08/n1139/a02.html Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
Tanking Ontario Economy Could See Bad Guys Flocking to Alberta For Richer Pickings Cops and criminologists are warning that a serious downturn of Ontario's economy could mean more organized crime for Alberta. "People go where there's money. If there's money here and it's disposable, someone's going to be looking for a piece of it," Sgt. Peter Ratcliff of the Edmonton Police Association said yesterday. "What that might look like, I don't really know." Criminologist Bill Pitt, however, has an idea of what that future may look like. [continues 457 words]
Staff at the detox centre in Red Deer have had to turn away about 600 people this year because they have been at full capacity. "This really speaks to the need for a treatment program here," said Colleen Markus, director of programs for Central Alberta Safe Harbour Society for Health and Housing. More than 500 people have been treated at the detox centre this past year. "The numbers are not surprising," said Markus. "We were expecting that based on the numbers we had when we were operating out of the temporary detox which only had a few beds. [continues 222 words]
Police Grab Drugs Worth $14.5M Discovered In Second Delivery Destined For Etobicoke Distributor Another $14.5 million worth of cocaine has been seized from a second ship in an operation dubbed Project Falcon - a major drug investigation led by Durham Region police, Canada Border Services Agency and the RCMP. The drugs were destined for Caribbean International Food Distributors, the same company police linked to another $40 million drug shipment earlier this week. The container was searched in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Dec. 24 by agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, acting on information received from Canadian investigators. [continues 256 words]
Dear Editor: Thanks for publishing Jerry Paradis' outstanding Dec. 17 column Doomed to Repeat History. The American led war on drugs was doomed from the very beginning. Regardless of the money put into the anti-drugs program, we cannot nullify the basic supply and demand law of economics. As long as people want to purchase recreational drugs and they are willing to pay a substantial price for them, somebody will produce the drugs and somebody else will get the drugs to the willing buyers. [continues 167 words]
At the core of The Wackness is a love story between a spoiled psychiatrist's stepdaughter and a pot dealer in New York City. That the protagonist and his mentor deal and puff marijuana is never made much of an issue and, why should it be? In 2008, popular culture just said yes. From the screen to the art world, literature to the hippies running the Amazing Race, everyone seemed to be getting irie, popular culture providing a bailout the government couldn't endorse. Even the Golden Globe Awards got high on amiable stoners. When James Franco earned a best actor nomination for his role in Pineapple Express, it was confirmed: Weed had officially become mainstream and Mary-Louise Parker's pot dealer had turned the suburbs' clocks to 4:20. Of course, there's a downside to all this toking. A B. C. study found that while drinking and driving was down, drug use among motorists had gone up. According to a December study by the Canadian Centre of Substance Abuse, while 8.4% of nighttime drivers tested positive for alcohol, 10.4% proved positive for drugs. Maybe when the most popular U. S. president-elect in memory admits he "inhaled frequently," and everyone's favourite film Slumdog Millionaire is soundtracked by the great M. I. A. song Paper Planes, there's a lingering effect when the smoke clears. "I fly like paper, get high like planes/ if you catch me at the border, I got visas in my name," goes the lyric to the M. I. A. song, which was played ubiquitously on both urban and rock radio. [continues 71 words]
'Disabled' OTTAWA - An Ottawa police officer who stole crack cocaine is fighting to get his job back--and his lawyer says the case raises an important issue around the responsibility of police to accommodate officers who suffer from the "disability of drug addiction." Lawyer Kenneth Jull, who is representing former con-stable Kevin Hall, has formally filed notice of motion for leave to appeal a recent court ruling that struck down the officer's attempt to be reinstated. The notice says that Mr. Hall's case calls for "important judicial interpretation" regarding the duty of a police force to accommodate officers who suffer from the "disability of drug addiction." [continues 206 words]
Heavily Fortified Hangout Seized By Police Offers Rare Look At Hells Angels If the walls could talk, they'd be in a witness protection program. The squatty, red-and-white Hells Angels clubhouse at 487 Ortono Ave. in Oshawa, was once one of the toughest-to-enter addresses in the Greater Toronto Area, until heavily armed police barged in and seized it in September 2006. Back when it was run by the bikers, if you wanted to get inside, you had to pass under security cameras and hidden listening devices, and be granted entry by someone on the other side of a steel-plated, windowless door. [continues 781 words]
Grow-ops Smaller, But Operators More Stealthy In a year that saw two record-sized marijuana grow-ops found in Calgary, police say the illegal operations are actually getting smaller and the people running them better at hiding their telltale signs. On Dec. 10, a police raid found 2,600 plants with an estimated street value of $3.25 million, the largest in the city's history. It was only on May 9 that police made their previous record, after discovering plants worth $3.05 million. [continues 554 words]
An Ottawa police officer who stole crack cocaine is fighting to get his job back -- and his lawyer says the case raises an important issue around the responsibility of police to accommodate officers who suffer from the "disability of drug addiction." Lawyer Kenneth Jull, who is representing former constable Kevin Hall, has formally filed notice of motion for leave to appeal a recent court ruling that struck down the officer's attempt to be reinstated. The notice says that Hall's case calls for "important judicial interpretation" regarding the duty of a police force to accommodate officers who suffer from the "disability of drug addiction." [continues 168 words]
A lawyer representing an Ottawa police officer who stole crack cocaine for personal use has formally filed notice of motion for leave to appeal a recent court ruling that struck down the officer's attempt to be reinstated to the force. The notice, filed by lawyer Kenneth Jull, states that Const. Kevin Hall's case calls for "important judicial interpretation" regarding the duty of a police force to accommodate officers who suffer from the "disability of drug addiction." The notice states that the divisional court erred in law in several areas of its decision released this month and that "judicial consideration and interpretation of the duty to accommodate is a matter of significance in the areas of employment law, labour relations and human rights throughout the province and the country." [continues 386 words]
In a year that saw two record marijuana grow ops busted in Calgary, police say the illegal operations are actually getting smaller and the people running them are getting better at hiding their telltale signs. On Dec. 10, police raided a house at Weston Place S.W. and found 2,600 plants with an estimated street value of $3.25 million--the largest in the city's history. It was only seven months earlier that police set their previous record when they entered a house on Patterson Crescent S. W. and discovered plants worth $3.05 million. [continues 558 words]
Residents of the Old City Quarter are getting a health clinic that includes a needle exchange on Franklyn Street whether they like it or not. This issue is not about the clinic itself. No one, since this issue first came to light earlier this month, has raised an objection to the clinic itself. We all acknowledge and agree on the importance of providing health care to those people on the street and managing contagious diseases. Where this process goes wrong is on the lack of consultation by the Vancouver Island Health Authority. According to Mayor John Ruttan VIHA admitted during a meeting on Monday they failed on that count. [continues 547 words]
Crystal methamphetamine is a stimulant produced in labs from ingredients readily available in drug and hardware stores. It is becoming a drug of choice among teens because it is easily to find and inexpensive. It may be ingested, snorted or smoked. The latter gives an instant high. Users report a high level of energy, absence of fatigue and enhanced performance - hence its street name, speed. Problems associated with using crystal meth may include paranoid and violent behaviour, nervousness, distractibility and difficulty focusing and remembering. [continues 386 words]
The Oceanside Star wishes to apologize for and retract the Dec. 11 editorial 'Drug houses make for bad neighbours.' The editorial stated that the house in question was the residence of Geoffrey Cross, who was murdered Dec. 6. The police have since stated that the house on Riley Road was not the residence of Cross but that he resided with his mother. The extent of Cross's involvement with the drug house or the two men charged in his murder remains to be determined. The Star apologizes to Cross's family and friends and thanks them for communicating their concerns to us. [end]
A public alert has been advised in Alberta as cocaine has been sold that is laced with a dangerous substance that can harm an individual's immune system. This condition is called agranulocytosis and can be fatal. The substance used was probably a cutting agent and has been linked to Levamisole, a chemical compound developed to treat intestinal worms in humans and animals. Some symptoms occurring are a fever or other signs of infection, skin abscess or lung infection that develops rapidly should also be treated immediately. Kathleen Shannon, Prevention Worker, Fort Alcohol and Drug Counselling Services [end]
Bruce County councillors were shocked to learn Bruce County is now rated as the number one area in the province for crystal meth use. Social services director Terry Sanderson described crystal meth as a growing problem that devastates families and destroys the health of users. Southern Bruce and Grey counties, including Walkerton and Hanover, west toward Kincardine and east to Durham has been identified as a crystal meth problem area. Drug use is growing, Sanderson said, because the drug is cheap and easily manufactured. Crystal meth has the same devastating impact on users and their families as the drug 'speed' did in the 1970s. [continues 189 words]
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