Few aspects of society escaped criticism when 220 Alberta teenagers gathered at the Hotel Macdonald for four days to discuss drug use.

The young, "predominantly clean-cut" attendees were taking part in the second annual Youth Conference on Alcohol and Drug Problems, sponsored by the Alcohol Education Association of Alberta, formerly known as the Association of Temperance Forces in Alberta. They found a double standard exists between their generation's use of drugs and the older generation's use of alcohol.

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Bud Business Booms. Patients Offered Fast-Track Marijuana Prescriptions

"Weed helped me because it heightens my mood, saving me from the harsh reality."

Kimberly Baird says that, at one point, she was swallowing 180 pills a day. The 31-year-old suffers from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis.

Her left hand and left ankle are both paralyzed; she relies on a wheelchair to get around. The pain comes in waves but it's debilitating when it hits - Metro's first visit to her Inglewood home had to be cancelled last-minute because Baird couldn't get to the door.

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Top cop says Supreme Court decision will aid police in drug trafficking cases

Edmonton's police chief is applauding a decision made by Canada's top court that allows police to conduct a limited search of cellphones during an arrest, but only under strict conditions.

In a 4-3 decision released Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled cellphone searches are allowed without a search warrant, but only if they're directly related to the arrest, could lead to the discovery of an additional suspect or could prevent imminent harm o r dang e r. Police also must maintain detailed notes of the search.

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Top court denies appeal of verdict in grow-op case

The Supreme Court of Canada has refused to hear an appeal of a lower court decision that returned a home used as a marijuana grow op to its owner after it was seized by the Crown.

The nation's top court announced the decision to deny leave of appeal to Alberta Justice and Solicitor General on its website Thursday and awarded legal costs to Heng Kiet Kouch, whose home was seized under the province's civil forfeiture legislation.

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Conservative Edmonton Sherwood Park MP Tim Uppal said he learned through news reports that his younger brother had been charged in a dial-a-dope operation busted by Edmonton city police.

"Yesterday, I learned through the media of charges against my brother," said Uppal, 40, Minister of State for Multiculturalism, in an email response on Wednesday.

"I have always spoken out against drugs in our communities," added Uppal, elected to the House of Commons in 2008 and appointed Minister of State for Democratic Reform in 2011 before his current 2013 appointment.

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Force Hopes Tech Will Be Ready For Use Come 2016

City police say the rollout of a new Breathalyzer for alcohol impairment has been smooth but are still hoping the feds will approve a companion device to help them smoke out stoned drivers.

Last year, law enforcement around the province transitioned away from the Intoxylizer 5000C, which was developed in the 1980s, to the Intox EC/IR II. The latter device provides the same level of accuracy when it comes to measuring blood-alcohol level and is a tad more user-friendly, according to Sgt. Rick Butler.

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Re: "Razing houses," Letter, Nov. 21.

I agree with Christopher Bennett that the Canadian government should be outraged regarding Israel's bulldozing of the family homes of Palestinian criminals who murdered their citizens, leaving the innocent occupants without shelter. I see no difference in Canada where the homes of convicted marijuana grow operators are seized by provincial governments under the pretext of financing law enforcement, leaving the innocent occupants and children without shelter. Here, also, we endorse a policy where the sins of one family member are carried by all of the family. In Israel, murder carries this punishment; in Canada, the growing of marijuana has the same result. Where is the outrage here?

Norma Higgs, Calgary

[end]

"A more rigorous screening mechanism makes you a less attractive employer," said Eric Adams, University of Alberta associate professor of labour and employment law. "Given that their Number One need is to hire and retain workers, I think there's an incentive to provide less front-end screening."

According to Petroleum Human Resources Council executive director Carla Campbell-Ott, there are more than 300 types of jobs available to a combination of skilled workers and labourers in the oil fields.

The wider energy sector, she says, is growing from its 2012 total direct employment level of 195,000 people to an expected 235,000 by 2022.

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Would legalization weed out the black market?

Albertans shouldn't be green with envy over Colorado's legalization of marijuana, a high-ranking law-enforcement officer from that state told a Banff conference Thursday.

Sgt. Jim Gerhardt, a drug agent operating out of Thornton, Colo., said the number of youth using marijuana recreationally is on the rise, the blackmarket supply of the drug may actually be expanding, and commercial providers are involved in a "parasitic" business model that relies on getting people addicted.

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Addiction is a terrible thing.

It impacts not only the person with the addiction but also their family, friends and the community. An addiction takes a financial toll, a spiritual toll, a moral toll and an emotional one.

That toll-taken leads to the biggest hurdle for addiction treatment and recovery - the discussions about how to approach it are hindered by moral, emotional, spiritual or financial objections.

This month Whitecourt jumped on board with a program created by HIV West Yellowhead intended to curb the spread of Hepatitis C, HIV and other blood-borne illnesses amongst those using needles to take drugs. It proposes to do this by providing free access to clean needles and supplies through a pharmacy.

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Chances are high that you have seen Health Canada's commercial, which is part of a marketing campaign to warn parents and young people of the dangers associated with the use of marijuana by teens.

The key message is that today's marijuana is much stronger than the stuff that was smoked 30 years ago, and it can have a particularly harmful impact on the still developing brains of teenagers. Obviously, that can translate into a lifelong problem.

It's fairly light on scientific information, but it does encourage parents to get the facts from www.canada.ca/drugprevention and talk to their teens. The medical information is strongly supported by science - - just try Google, talk to a doctor or go to a teenage psychiatric ward to witness drug-induced psychosis that has destroyed young lives.

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Care for a Beer? or a Buzz?

A majority of Albertans now see marijuana as a legitimate recreational choice. And nearly 80 per cent favour its use for medicinal purposes.

That's the headline from the latest province-wide public opinion survey from the Citizen Society Research Lab in Lethbridge.

Growing numbers of Albertans agree with proposals to remove legal sanctions against marijuana "used for recreational purposes," says Lethbridge College political scientist Faron Ellis, who manages the research lab.

"It's a shift toward more individual choice," he says, as Canadians continue to reject excessive control by government or social pressure.

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The suicide of Cpl. Ron Francis was tragic, but to blame it on the RCMP is going too far. Francis was a police officer who blatantly, publicly and purposefully, broke the law in uniform, giving his employer no choice but to suspend him.

What would happen if employees everywhere in every line of work decided to drink or smoke marijuana on the job? Society would fall apart. I commend the RCMP for providing Francis with medical leave and counselling. The force's professional and sympathetic response to this sad event has been commendable.

It's his wife and four children who now suffer.

Nancy Marley-Clarke, Calgary

[end]

Users Urged to Stop. Deaths Elsewhere Should Serve As Warning, Say Top Narcotics Cops

Calgary police are reporting a major upswing in seizures of opiates, ecstasy, cocaine and other drugs so far in 2014, but they believe investigative efforts, not a spike in dealers, is likely behind the increase.

Seizure files involving meth, and heroin, in particular have nearly doubled from 72 cases to 142 and 25 to 47, said Staff Sgt. Tom Hanson.

The data he provided to Metro covered 2014 to the end of July, compared to the same time period in 2013.

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Big Year for Drug/Gang Fighting Cops

Members of the Edmonton Drug and Gang Enforcement unit (EDGE) have had a record-breaking year for seizures of marijuana, buffing agent and cash.

So far this year, police have seized 200 kg of marijuana, 27 kg of buffing agent and nearly $1.4 million in cash. The unit seized $1.3 million cash for the entire year last year and had 6.3 kg of marijuana at this time last year.

According to EDGE Staff Sgt. Carlos Cardoso, the increase in marijuana is due to a record-breaking seizure of 440 pounds last April. Prior to that, the last big marijuana seizure was approximately 160 pounds.

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He has walked alone through some of the most unsafe neighbourhoods in Calgary in hopes he'd be stopped by gang bangers wanting to know what he was doing on their turf.

That's when the unassuming Hieu Ngo would go to work. He would tell them his story, how he went from being a Vietnamese refugee tempted by street life to a University of Calgary associate professor whose research on gangs has produced a pivotal study entitled The Unravelling of Identities and Belonging: Criminal Gang Involvement of Youth from Immigrant Families.

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Re "Trudeau defends pot legalization (Jessica Hume, Sept. 12): Public Safety Minister Steve Blaney's comment that "unregulated, unlicensed grow-ops in neighbourhoods will make drugs more accessible and put kids at risk" describes perfectly the current situation.

Certainly there will be results available from the experiments in cannabis regulation from the U.S. If legalization "is an irresponsible policy that only puts dangerous drugs on our streets" one has to conclude the Conservatives will be banning those two other legal drugs, alcohol and tobacco imminently. Curious that it's just, well you know, foreign drugs that are prohibited.

Ross Reynolds

(Legalizing booze and cigarettes didn't stop the health problems they cause, nor end the problem of illegal cigarette smuggling. Neither will legalizing pot.)

[end]

Resource shortage, increased school enrolment strains RCMP school outreach program

Fewer resources, the opening of a new high school and a growing school population has led to the discontinuation of the DARE program for schools in Grande Prairie this year.

The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program has traditionally been offered to Grade 6 students through 10 weeks of classroom instruction from the Grande Prairie's RCMP school resource officer (SRO).

But following the transfer of Cst. Jennifer Fraser, who is in the process of moving to St. Albert, the Grande Prairie RCMP detachment is down to three SROs, forcing a re-evaluation of their priorities within the public and Catholic school districts.

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Efforts Should Focus on Reducing Demand, Not Trying to Curb Sales

The "war on drugs" has been waged for 40 years and by any objective assessment is very far from being won.

The growing realization of this fact is fuelling the gradual move seen across many countries to decriminalize some aspects of drug production, sale and use. We argue here that pretty much all efforts to stop the production, transport and sale of drugs are a waste of time and money.

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Oasis Head Hopes to Be a Pot 'Pioneer' In Alberta

Months after launching Alberta's only marijuana-prescribing clinic, Oasis Medical Centre hasn't become some hotbed for old-time hippies in tie-dyed shirts.

In fact, the data suggests quite the opposite - users are primarily male professionals in their early 40s suffering from everything from cancer to sleep disorders and long-standing pain.

The screening process is rigorous, according to doctor-in-training and Oasis partner Miles Nakaska. Patients first fill out a form online detailing their medical and treatment history - one word answers won't do. Next, it's a face-to-face meeting with him that can span nearly an hour.

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