Money Fuels Co-Operation While some street gangs battle for turf, a share of the drug trade or because of hatred, there's a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" kind of harmony in some circles of Winnipeg's ever-evolving organized crime underworld. In an emerging trend, some groups who you'd think would be rivals associate with each other and act like business partners, primarily to bring large amounts of cocaine and other drugs into Manitoba for big money, according to detectives who monitor and police the activities of organized crime groups. [continues 296 words]
Re: Drug laws spark drug wars (Aug. 4.) I really enjoyed the editorial on how current gang violence will continue as long as current drug laws stay in place. In fact, we will most likely see it climb exponentially. There has been a war on drugs for decades now and I don't think anybody reading this can honestly say that there have been any improvements in the use and trafficking of drugs. All we have seen is more gang violence and the prisons filling up with non-violent drug offenders. It's time we started looking for new solutions to these problems because it's very clear that what we have now isn't working. Christopher Friesen Rosenort [end]
Re: An Inconvenient Truth (Aug. 1.) Hurrah for this excellent and clear eyed look at Winnipeg's drug scene! Decriminalization has been recommended for some time by many informed and thoughtful voices. Surely by now no thinking person can deny that the traditional enforcement methods of the war on drugs are not working and never will. Selling and promoting the use of drugs (other than alcohol, nicotine, and possibly marijuana) should remain illegal. In fact the penalties for this should be increased and these laws enforced vigorously. It is the seller-end of the market that has to be changed to decrease the criminals' vast profits and their need to develop new markets. [continues 270 words]
So it may be that the St. James businessman who snorts a little cocaine, the South St. Vital housewife who smokes a little weed, the Broadway boulavardier who likes his uppers or downers are responsible for the drug trade because they are the market. But as we know, and as history shows us, if that supposition is not entirely preposterous, it is mostly preposterous. Crime, like nature, abhors a vacuum, and it naturally fills one when it occurs. Prohibition attempted to destroy the market for alcoholic beverages; instead it simply created the organized crime syndicates that plague North American society to this day. [continues 441 words]
The economy seems to still be down. Stimulus options, packages and plans have been discussed, implemented and thrown away. But one, that's been over looked needs to be discussed -- the taxation and regulation of marijuana. This plant has been a medicine, recreational drug and spiritual plant for thousands of years. It has copious amounts of potential, from helping pain, lowering anxiety to even treating ADD or ADHD. Besides the limitless potential of its medicinal use, it also has a financial use. California's marijuana economy produces one third of the U.S' marijuana supply, estimated at $12 billion -- this is more than corn, wheat and cotton combined. [continues 66 words]
Five children were selling crack at 261 Austin St. and I didn't know who to call. A nice new grey car pulled up -- licence plate number noted. One of the kids pulled his hoody over his head and ran behind my car to sell his rock of crack. I yelled at the driver, a 30-something white guy, "I've got your licence plate!" He yelled a few obscenities at me and screeched away, his crack hit ready for the poor young girl in the seat beside him before he used her. [continues 421 words]
Narcotics Fuel Incidents Like Banquet-Hall Fatal Shooting A recent wave of gang-related violence -- including this weekend's brazen mass shooting and killing inside a Winnipeg wedding reception - -- is likely being fuelled by a growing demand for drugs by Winnipeggers who cross all ethnic, social and geographical boundaries. Police and justice sources say the general public probably doesn't realize the direct links between addiction and crime. Gang members are stockpiling weapons, settling old scores and running wild as they compete for big profits. The risks of being caught or even killed are simply seen by most as the cost of doing business. [continues 494 words]
Re: Flin Flon pot operation moves (July 22). The pot grown by Prairie Plant Systems is ground up (which oxidizes it), full of seeds and stem (making it worse to smoke), zapped with gamma radiation (which kills half the medicine), and stinks of chemicals (because it wasn't grown properly). It doesn't even look like pot -- it looks like the stuff you sprinkle on the floor to soak up puke. It is already paid for with taxpayers' dollars, but these Health Canada clowns still have the gall to charge sick and dying people $5 a gram for this mulch. Leave it to the federal government to screw up something that even stoners can get right. Where are they going to grow their next crop? Next to the Chalk River nuclear plant? [continues 174 words]
Re: 14-year sentence angers police leadership. The police and the public need to question why the police are doing no-knock raids for petty drug "crimes". When someone breaks into your house it is your right to protect yourself and your family. It would seem the police are more at fault for what happened than anyone. If they had simply knocked on the door and waited for this person to answer, no one would have been shot or scared to death. Just more collateral damage from the failed "war on drugs". Santa Cruz, Calif. [end]
News that Hwy. 75 funnels billions of dollars in international trade from Winnipeg to U.S. destinations is not something that would ordinarily cause alarm. Report causes concern But after a National Drug Intelligence Center report out of the U.S. suggested the highway was being used to funnel drugs and guns across the border, Manitoba's PC party has raised the alarm. PC Justice Critic Kelvin Goertzen referred to a recent sentencing of a Winnipeg man for smuggling guns into Canada in exchange for drugs, saying we shouldn't be surprised this kind of thing is happening. [continues 249 words]
IF there is one thing that Canadians do well, it is the growing and selling of marijuana. In hydroponic houses all across the country, people are producing world-class weed that is much in demand, not just in the domestic market, but in the United States as well. Unfortunately, and against all common sense, the business is illegal, but where governments can't cope, criminals can. And it seems clear now that the Canadian government can't cope. Its pilot program for the growth and sale of marijuana for medical purposes is in a shambles. Not only is the pot it produces inferior in quality to the stuff being grown in your neighbour's basement, even the private companies involved in the business can't make it work. Hudbay Minerals has just locked out pot-producing Prairie Plant Systems from the Flin Flon mine shaft where it grew the nation's supply of medicinal marijuana. Somehow, somewhere, the growing demand for medicinal marijuana will be met, we are told -- we're from the government and we're here to help you. This is yet another convincing argument for legalizing -- and privatizing -- the drug. [end]
A 14-year prison sentence given to convicted cop shooter Daniell Anderson underscores the need for sweeping changes to Canada's parole system, the heads of Winnipeg's police service and police union say. Reacting to yesterday's sentence, police Chief Keith McCaskill and Winnipeg Police Association president Mike Sutherland aren't pleased Anderson is eligible to be freed by the National Parole Board years before the sentence expires because such a move wouldn't make the term meaningful. "If the 14 years meant 14 years, we'd be satisfied," Sutherland said at a press conference. [continues 257 words]
Officers Wanted Longer Term For Cop-Shooter Senior Winnipeg police executives are calling for tougher parole requirements after learning police shooter Daniell Anderson could be back on the streets in less than five years. The 24-year-old was sentenced Tuesday to 14 years behind bars after seriously wounding three officers who executed a drug search warrant at his home. However, he will be able to apply for parole after serving just one-third of his sentence. Queen's Bench Justice Doug Abra rejected the Crown's bid for a 20-year sentence and a requirement that at least half of it be served before Anderson can apply for early release, calling that "excessive" and without any legal precedent. Abra also said Anderson's request for a seven-year sentence was too lenient considering the "outrageous facts" of the case. [continues 645 words]
But He Could Be Out After Third Of Sentence Daniell Ian Anderson has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for a drug raid shoot-out that seriously wounded three police officers. The Crown had recommended Anderson be sentenced to 20 years in prison and that he serve half his sentence before being eligible for parole. The defence was seeking a sentence of seven years. Justice Doug Abra ordered there be no change in Anderson's parole eligibility, meaning he could be released on day parole after serving just one-third of his sentence. [continues 416 words]
With Winnipeggers arguing mightily over whether or not Daniell Anderson is getting the prison sentence he deserves, the more pressing issue is not the time he's been given but how much of it will he actually serve. Throwing him in prison is one thing but there's bigger fish to fry when it comes to keeping criminals like him behind bars so that they are legitimately punished. It's a no-brainer that he should stay behind bars for a very long time. But this is Canada's infamous parole system we're talking about. The folks at the National Parole Board act like they've never heard of the term do the crime, serve the time. [continues 349 words]
Company President Blames Uncertainty Over Expansion Plans Flin Flon is gone from pot. Citing failed negotiations with Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting, Prairie Plant Systems, the growers of medicinal marijuana in an underground mine for Health Canada have pulled up stakes and moved the operation elsewhere. Brent Zettl, president of the Saskatoon-based biotechnology company, said it was trying to negotiate increasing the capacity of the Flin Flon facility and long-term access to the mine. The mine is scheduled to be closed in 2012 or possibly earlier. [continues 416 words]
Flin Flon Has Lost Its Title As Canada's Medical Marijuana Capital. Prairie Plant Systems, the Saskatoon-based company contracted to produce a supply of medical marijuana for Health Canada, left the city June 30 after producing pot in an underground mine there for the better part of a decade. The company did not return a call seeking comment but a spokesman for Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting, which rented out part of its Trout Lake mine for the grow operation, confirmed the deal with PPS has ended. "Our understanding is they moved to another location to accommodate Health Canada's need for them to move to a larger facility," he said. A Health Canada spokesman would not say where the operation has moved "for security reasons." [end]
Point Douglas has had its problems but in the last two years, in response to the appeals from grade 5 and 6 kids at Norquay School, the community has taken back its streets from drug dealers. Point Douglas has over 100 anonymous people who keep an eye around their own homes, watching for crack dealers, gangs, ganglets and other stuff that degrades a community and report it on a phone line we call "Powerline." As a result, we have had our share of drug busts and gang arrests in partnership with the police and Manitoba Justice. [continues 837 words]
Canadians must be proud when they reflect upon our accomplishments as a nation, except when we consider the recent UN report announcing we have achieved pre-eminent status as the world's leading exporter of illegal drugs such as methamphetamine and ecstasy. Canada is also renowned among the criminal element for having the some of most comfortable prisons, along with one of the most lenient judicial systems in the civilized world. I'm not sure why we as a nation have decided to promote an environment that actively encourages criminal behaviour or does absolutely nothing to discourage it. [continues 429 words]
So Antonio Maria Costa, the United States "Drug Czar," is urging Canada to take proactive measures against the illegal manufacture of amphetamines. Apparently, Canadian gangs have become the leading suppliers of amphetamine-related drugs to the United States. Perhaps Mr. Costa should reconsider his position. Six years ago, when a USAF plane, in error, bombed and killed four Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan, we learned that amphetamines are routinely issued to American combat pilots. Surely Mr. Costa should be asking why it is that amphetamines are illegal for the general public but legal for soldiers armed with rockets and bombs. For a quarter of a century, the U.S. has been waging a "war on drugs" that has done nothing to reduce drug use but instead has created criminal empires that have destabilized countries in every continent of the world (OK, excluding Antarctica). During the Vietnam War, an American officer was reported to have said: "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." The supporters of the "war on drugs" seem to believe that in order to save civil society, they must first destroy it. One would hope that rational people would consider other alternatives that, while imperfect, would be less disastrous. John K. Collins Winnipeg [end]
Inside Manitoba
