Sutter, Dietz Educated In Vancouver

Darren Dietz and Lukas Sutter had a message for a group of students at Howard Coad Public School on Wednesday and it had nothing to do with hockey.

The two Saskatoon Blades players made a presentation to about 45 students in grades 6, 7 and 8 about the impacts of drug abuse.

The talk stemmed from a visit to Dietz and Sutter "" along with Brent Benson and Jake Trask "" made to Vancouver's East Hastings Street last month where they learned from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and interviewed recovering addicts, current addicts and prostitutes.

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The Starphoenix recently reported that the war on drugs has claimed an astonishing 45,000-plus Mexican lives in recent years, rivalling conventional warfare deaths in countries such as Afghanistan.

Undoubtedly most have been killed with U.s.-made guns, which are widespread in Mexico because illicit American arms are often traded for illegal drugs.

The war on drugs has been a complete failure, failing to stop the proliferation of illicit substances globally and empowering international criminal and terrorist organizations.

The vast majority of the world's heroin supply originates in Afghanistan, which is a recipe for disaster and cause for western intervention as long as an illicit market remains for the drug. Although Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has called for an end to the war on drugs, virtually no politicians or political parties in Canada or the United States share his position. Ottawa will spend billions on new prisons and law enforcement initiatives as a result of the new omnibus crime legislation. Yet all the money being spent on enforcement and prisons flies in the face of studies done by such diverse academic organizations such as the Cato Institute in the U.S., and public groups such as the Senate special committee on illegal drugs, which in 2002 called for a rethinking of Canada's drug policy.

More public figures should be advocating for regulation and taxation of drugs. It's a far better alternative to policies that have made the illegal drug trade one of the world's most profitable and vicious industries.

Nathan Holowaty

Saskatoon

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To the Editor,

Re: Trustee resigns to battle for record checks, Dec. 3.

I say it's worth $100,000 for Donna Allen to make a stand against incoming school trustee Bill Bard since he did not disclose his criminal record for growing marijuana.

This is not the kind of role model I want to see making decisions for school children. Despite the recent popular hankerings to see marijuana legalized, history has multiple examples to show that drug panaceas always have a negative side.

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Despite four former mayors of Vancouver and the current one, all calling for the decriminalization of marijuana, Nanaimo-Alberni MP James Lunney isn't impressed.

Sam Sullivan, Larry Campbell, Mike Harcourt and Philip Owen all called for the legalization of marijuana in a joint statement recently, citing growing gang violence related to the drug's prohibition. They were later joined in the call by current mayor Gregor Robertson.

In their letter, the quartet of former mayors said marijuana prohibition "is creating violent, gang-related crime in our communities and fear among our citizens, and adding financial costs for all levels of government at a time when we can least afford them," the letter said. "Politicians cannot ignore the status quo any longer, and must develop and deliver alternative marijuana policies that avoid the social and criminal harms that stem directly from cannabis prohibition."

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Re: Canadians want crime crackdown, by Rob Nicholson, Dec. 2.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson's letter is nothing more than another example of the Harper Conservatives pandering to base human instincts.

The Safe Streets and Communities Act is an ideologically based omnibus bill that flies in the face of current statistics. The minister's letter is disingenuous at best.

The bill before the house and passed because of the Conservative majority does not differentiate between the accused who is mentally challenged and those who are not. The proposed legislation has the potential to create hardened criminals out of young people who make the common mistake of experimenting with marijuana.

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When parents and educators preach to teens about the perils of drug abuse it often fosters curiosity.

Armed with this information, seven Vancouver Police Department officers developed a program 14 years ago that exposes teens to the raw side of drug addiction by immersing them on the streets of the Downtown Eastside for an afternoon.

The intent is that students will then report their experience to classmates and peers.

VPD Const. David Steverding is a member of the volunteer-run Odd Squad Productions Society that runs the program. His niece attends Saint Thomas Aquinas High School in North Vancouver. This fall, Steverding approached the school's administration to gauge their interest in participating in a pilot project for North Shore schools. They bit.

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Re: 'Proof is out there about harm from marijuana' (Daily News, Dec. 3)

Ms. Bruce's letter is somewhat disingenuous.

I wonder whether she actually read the research papers she cites and whether she understands the implications of them. In their study, Caspi et al specifically state cannabis is "not a major cause of schizophrenia" and that "a historical rise in cannabis use would not necessarily produce an observable increase in the prevalence of psychosis."

The study does say that cannabis "might be associated with earlier onset of psychotic disorders" and thus "policy should discourage adolescents' access to cannabis." Ferguson and Boden similarly extrapolate that limiting youth access plays a role in overall societal success later in life.

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The writer of the letter about being convinced about legalizing marijuana really does not understand what is really necessary to grow good bud.

Marijuana can be cultivated very well without using large amounts of electricity or producing mould in the house. It is only those that are producing large amounts of marijuana for illegal sale that have those problems.

If the marijuana was legalized, us seniors could grow a few plants for our own use and sell the excess to make a little extra cash on the side to subsidize our shrinking pensions.

By legalizing marijuana, people would be able to grow their own without fear of the law and those resources, now used to chase and prosecute the law breakers, could be used for better protection of the citizens of the country.

Kamloops

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33-year-old Hodson was threatened before

A former Vancouver police officer convicted of dealing marijuana was stabbed in the neck at an Abbotsford prison on Monday night.

Peter Hodson, 33, who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and three counts of breach of trust, was sentenced to three years in federal prison in September.

Hodson's lawyer Vince Michaels said another inmate stabbed his client in the neck with a piece of glass.

Michaels said Hodson is in stable condition in a penitentiary hospital following surgery at Royal Columbian Hospital.

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Holdout School Trustee Skipped Swearing-In

Jamie Brennan, the newly elected chairman of the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district board of trustees, believes personal feelings concerning incoming trustee Bill Bard are behind a high-profile incumbent's refusal to be sworn in.

Donna Allen received 7,405 votes to finish in the middle of the pack of trustees during the Nov. 19 civic election but she did not show up to be sworn in Monday at the district's administrative office on Wakesiah Avenue.

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Apparently, the most important issue for school trustee-elect Donna Allen is ensuring that all school board candidates undergo criminal record checks. It's so important to her, in fact, that she's refusing to be sworn in as a trustee unless the province changes the rules on this.

Allen's action seem to be a rather cynical stunt in an attempt to get her own way. And it's pricy one. A byelection to replace her will cost taxpayers about $100,000.

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What is it about Vancouver and its determination to make pot smoking a regular activity, like drinking coffee? This is a city where construction workers are occasionally seen standing in circles, sharing a morning toke. Nothing like getting ripped before setting to work on a dangerous building site. Such as the one two blocks from the office tower where I work. But hey, it's just grass.

Just ask the four former Vancouver mayors who waded into matters well beyond any local jurisdiction, penning an open letter last month that demanded the end of marijuana prohibition in Canada.

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The new Canada-U.S. border agreement to be formally unveiled Wednesday will include, among other measures, enhanced tracking procedures for persons entering or leaving the country by air, land or sea.

It is bound to be denounced in some quarters here =96 and already has been as reports of the negotiations emerged =96 as a sellout of Canadian sovereignty and an un-Canadian infringement on privacy rights for the sake of easing access to U.S. markets, even though in that respect it offers some commendable provisions.

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Over 500 New Prison Spaces Slated for Manitoba

As the federal government's bill C-10, aka the Safe Streets and Communities Act, is poised to make its way to the Senate, opposition of the omnibus crime bill shows no sign of slowing down.

The bill is currently in its third and final reading in the House of Commons, before going to a final vote on Monday.

On Nov. 25, Justin Pich=E9, an assistant professor of sociology at Memorial University, gave a lecture at the U of M via Skype titled =93Building Our Way Towards Safer Communities? Prison Capacity Expansion and the Need for an Alternative Approach.=94

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An Upper Hainesville man has lost his appeal of a marijuana-possession conviction after a Court of Queen's Bench judge rejected his argument he had a valid medical letter of support to have and use the drug.

Todd Terrance LeClair was found guilty late last year of an Oct. 19, 2009, charge of possession of marijuana.

The charge arose after police executed a search warrant at his home and found 215 grams of bud marijuana and 1,300 grams of low-quality pot, or "shake."

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Re: the editorial Mr. Harper's marijuana pipe dream (Dec. 2). There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls.

Separating the hard- and soft-drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition.

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There can be no illusion about the enormous costs of the Harper government's tough-on-crime agenda -- locking more people up for longer periods will add tens of millions of dollars more every year to the tab. Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, in fact, has estimated all the government's new measures combined, including the elimination of double credit for pre-sentence jail time, will cost billions more annually.

Attorney General Andrew Swan's demand now for more cash from Ottawa to share the cost of legal aid that will rise when the federal omnibus crime bill is passed is a sign of poor strategy. Manitoba's NDP government has been leading the charge for many of the amendments that will get tougher on criminals. Negotiating costs ought to have been part of the lobby early.

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I respond to John Noakes who wrote a thoughtful, inquiring letter (published Nov. 28), regarding harms from marijuana grow-ops in residential neighbourhoods.

There are two types of grow-ops; mom and pop operations to supply the growers and perhaps to share with a few friends, and commercial grow-ops designed to extract maximum dollars from the black market. The house Mr. Noakes described which blighted the area was no doubt the latter type.

Let us imagine how legalization might change this; the best simile is beer. There are huge commercial breweries which mass produce a fairly good product which satisfies most drinkers, some micro or cottage breweries which produce specialty beers, and there are home brewers who brew for their own consumption and to share with a few friends.

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Nov. 28 I was greeted by a page of letters in the Vancouver Sun concerning marijuana prohibition plus a letter here by John Noakes questioning legalization as it pertains to grow ops degrading houses and neighbourhoods.

This is a very real worry. Grow op houses tend to develop unhealthy mould that is difficult and sometimes impossible to eradicate. Being illegal, they attract unsavoury types, and overloaded electrical circuits increase fire hazards.

However, with legalization, the growing of marijuana would swiftly move outdoors for the simple reason that it is much cheaper than burning megawatts of electricity and it produces better pot.

Marijuana would simply become an agricultural crop.

Westwold

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Re: "Drawn-out cocaine case ends with 10-year sentence," Nov. 26.

Judge Paul Dohm imposed a sentence, in his words, "on the higher end of the range."

According to the Criminal Code, the high end of the scale is "life in prison" for importing or trafficking in cocaine. A life sentence in Canada is 25 years, which to me appears to be only a half life, but it might be a deterrent to drug dealers if it was imposed.

Ajitpal Singh Sekhon will be out in much less than 10 years.

I will gladly pay more taxes to see him and his ilk locked up for life.

Ted Cameron

Colwood

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