As April 20 fast approaches I would like to speak to parents of teenagers from a little different perspective. I am a professional woman who not only believes in the decriminalization of marijuana for adults, with all the same responsibilities that go along with the use of an intoxicant, but also a mother of two grown boys. I do not believe in any form of negative peer pressure, be it pot or alcohol, especially when it seems to be supported by our school system. Our high schools treat April 20 as national "skip day" and really look the other way when half of their classes show up. On this day, parents cannot expect their usual call letting them know their child is not in class. After one very bad experience with one of my sons, I made a point of knowing where my boys were (on April 20) and I encourage you to do the same. Mary Lane Winnipeg Maybe the teachers go with them. [end]
Re: "Marijuana Myths Abound", opinion page, The Stonewall Argus and Teulon Times, April 9, 2010. After reading Marijuana Myths Abound, the only part of it that I found of any real merit was the closing quote: "The best stress reliever, however, is a strong community - of family, friends and acquaintances. Love remains the elixir that unburdens us. Now there's an addiction we can all live with." Excellent quote, however the rest, I feel, is highly misinformed. Marijuana IS a gateway drug but not under the same meaning as it used to be. Marijuana, especially here in Manitoba, is easily laced with heavier drugs such as cocaine and crystal meth. Both of these drugs are highly addictive and can trigger an addiction in just one use. Crystal meth itself has the capabilities to kill a user in just one dose. So it is not that the use of marijuana leads to the use of other drugs, it is that marijuana use can be used in conjunction with these heavier, more dangerous drugs. This is the underlying problem with marijuana use. [continues 363 words]
Marijuana, not to put too fine a point on it, is illegal. Its possession and use is against the law. People used to go to jail for possessing small quantities of cannabis. That's rarely the case these days, at least in Canada; the United States is a different kettle of fish where the ever-feared marijuaniacs are reviled in some conservative states. Marijuana is a relatively benign drug, though still a drug that can cause harm. That said, there are many persistent, if patently false, claims about the evils of marijuana. One that seems to have some bite, in the law enforcement community predominantly, is that marijuana is a so-called 'gateway drug'. [continues 465 words]
Recession stoking movements across U.S. to legalize and tax pot THE voters of trendsetting California may well decide this November to legalize marijuana - there's a ballot referendum, and 56 per cent of Californians are in favour - and no doubt this would be great news for the munchie in-dustry, the bootleggers of Grateful Dead music, and the millions of stoners who have long yearned for an era of reefer gladness. Seriously, this is a story about how desperate times require desperate measures. Legalization advocates, including many ex-cops and ex-prosecutors, have long contended that it's nuts to keep criminalizing otherwise law-abiding citizens while wasting $8 billion a year in law enforcement costs. [continues 876 words]
In the grand scheme of things, marijuana policy isn't likely to bring about a change of government. Despite surveys showing a majority of Canadians approve legalizing possession of small amounts of pot, the law isn't changing any time soon. But that hasn't stopped advocates from pressuring the prime minister on the subject, nor has it prohibited, pardon the pun, Stephen Harper from sounding like an early-1900s social reformer trying to ban the demon drink. Marijuana prohibition was the hottest topic among the questions submitted prior to the PM's YouTube interview last week, and he was gracious enough to give an answer. [continues 271 words]
Altona Police Chief Perry Batchelor says the age of local drug users is getting lower all the time. "When I started here back in 1997, we were only doing drug presentations at the high school level, but now we're doing them at Parkside and West Park School as well." Batchelor says the department takes a proactive approach to drug awareness and prevention at the various schools by coming in and showing students drug samples, describing the contents and their harmful effects. "For example, we'll tell them about the poisonous ingredients used in making meth," he says. Those include Drano, brake fluid, ephedrine, lighter fluid and ammonia. "And people are purposefully putting these things into their bodies. The kids are always shocked when we tell them that." [continues 159 words]
An Altona Parent Told Trustees He Was Frustrated With W. C. Miller`S Response To His Son`S Drug Use A parent told the Border Land School Division board that after he found marijuana in his son's room, he requested that staff at W.C. Miller search the youth's locker where more was found. Police were called and the youth was suspended from school for five days. The parent was assured that as part of the process, his son would receive counseling at the school, but two weeks after his son returned to school, there still hadn't been any mention of it. "I was surprised that there is no program in place in school for marijuana use. We took action. I had my son charged with possession and also let him know I contacted the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM). I'm determined my son won't become another victim." [continues 687 words]
Winnipeg police say the recent local collapse of the Hells Angels has created a toxic environment that has the city on the verge of a biker war. "Tensions are extremely high ... Violence is imminent," a veteran police officer with extensive knowledge of the organized crime scene wrote last month in newly released court documents obtained yesterday by the Winnipeg Free Press. Police explain in detail why they believe the relative calm of the past few months is about to be broken -- including evidence of gang members stockpiling weapons in preparation to take out their rival "by any means necessary." The document was used to obtain a search warrant for a home in the city's East Kildonan neighbourhood, where a loaded handgun was found hidden in a backyard last month. [continues 311 words]
Prisoners incarcerated for crimes against society think they have "rights" let alone the "right" to have needles for injecting drugs? And paid for by taxpayers? Criminals are in prison for rehabilitation, not to continue doing what got them there in the first place. They are there to reflect on where they went wrong and learn how to set themselves on a narrow but straight path and reintegration into a moral, law-abiding society. Prisoners have the "right" to shut up, do their time constructively by utilizing programs taxpayers have so graciously allocated to them. [continues 57 words]
With all the news about crime and the lack of punishment in this country, this ludicrous idea of supplying syringes to convicts is the icing on the cake. So, Mr. John Q. Scumbag gets arrested for possession of drugs, or some other crime related to his drug use, and by virtue of some unexplained miracle he receives a prison sentence. His punishment is to be provided with enough free needles to continue his illegal behaviour while in prison, at our expense? If that weren't bad enough, we now have a whole prison full of whacked out convicts for the guards to deal with on a daily basis. Not to mention the potential jail-house weaponry that these idiots could devise with an unlimited supply of syringes and down time. If there were ever a recipe for a riot, this one fits the bill. Darroll Di Stasio Winnipeg Who dreams up these dumb ideas? [end]
Call For Clean Syringes In Prison As 'Right' Is Absurd A new report on the evils of dirty needles among drug users in Canadian prisons says taxpayers should provide inmates with clean syringes because it's their human right to have access to them. The report is called Under the Skin and was penned by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. It offers no solutions on how to turn off the pipeline of drugs into federal penitentiaries and provides no advice on how to more effectively treat drug addicts behind prison walls. [continues 482 words]
Drug charges rose by a significant 27 per cent in the North Eastman region last year, Lac du Bonnet RCMP announced this week. Staff Sgt. Glen Reitlo said the region's drug problem is not getting worse - the increased number of charges is due to increased enforcement. The Lac du Bonnet detachment now has an officer dedicated to investigating the region's drug problem. Recent high-profile drug arrests have included a major grow-op bust last October. Police executed a search warrant under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act on the former home of the Elma Hotel. Two suspects were taken into custody and over 700 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, as well as grow equipment, was seized. [continues 148 words]
Re: 'Dubious prediction: Dancing PM,' Greg Weston, Jan. 3. You forgot the crime agenda, Greg. The Tories will get their crime bills passed and that will cause a huge surge in jail building. A U.S-style, for-profit prison system is what the Harperites wanted, and that is what they will get. We will need 12 to 15 brand new billion-dollar jails to house all of the pot growers the government promises to jail. Then we will need to spend about $2 billion every single year to keep those jails full and maintained. Serves us right for electing Harper in the first place. We deserve every bad thing that happens to us. But on the bright side, CanJail Inc. will create many jobs for guards and staff, and since a large number of men under 30 will be in jail, they won't be categorized as "jobless". That will cause the "unemployment" numbers to drop even more. ( Maybe he'll bring back capital punishment next. ) [end]
I realize Christmas season is upon us, but let's keep things in perspective. Frank Ostrowski may or may not be a murderer, but everyone agrees he was an active drug dealer. His conviction kept him from selling drugs to addicts and young people for 23 years. Who knows how many would have died from his services during that time period? If we wish to give thanks, give thanks to the justice system, flawed as it may be from time to time, for keeping him incarcerated for that time. Winnipeg [end]
Re: Dope activist spared jail time (Dec. 22). First, the headline does no good for anyone. I expect headlines like that from the other paper. Please try to understand, for people suffering debilitating diseases, it is not dope, it is medicine. Like Grant Krieger, I have multiple sclerosis. My type is called primary progressive and there is no treatment or drugs available to halt it or alleviate the pain. The only relief I get is from the cannabis I buy from a compassionate club. My doctor will not sign the forms to buy marijuana from the federal government. I am told it is crap anyway, so my feeling is good riddance to it and the federal program. I have never had the feeling that anyone in Ottawa really cared about my situation anyway. [continues 157 words]
Portage-Lisgar Member of Parliament Candice Hoeppner slammed the Liberal-dominated Senate for making amendments to a Conservative anti-crime bill. Hoeppner said the amendments, made by the Senate's Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee, have weakened the bill and undermined the intent of it. "Our focus and our goal was to crack down on drug traffickers," Hoeppner said of Bill C-15 just prior to her annual Tea with the MP event in Portage la Prairie Dec. 18. Under the legislation, persons found guilty of trafficking who also had previous drug convictions would have received a minimum one-year prison term. [continues 458 words]
Canada's criminalization of marijuana, ramped up under the Tory government of Stephen Harper, continues to be undermined in the very places that backstop the Criminal Code -- the courts. This week, a judge found a man who openly sold pot to people in need of pain relief was guilty of a victimless crime. With no one hurting, no one at risk for Grant Krieger's crime, Queen's Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg slapped him instead with probation. In fact, the judge reflected, it seemed that Mr. Krieger was doing his clients a favour. All who came to the pot advocate, himself suffering with multiple sclerosis, found a ready source of quality weed, and would get it free if unable to afford the natural source of pain relief. [continues 193 words]
A medicinal pot activist convicted of drug trafficking acted "purely out of compassion" and not for his own financial gain, a judge said yesterday. Grant Krieger "felt that, but for him, his clients would be forced to suffer without relief or to resort to obtaining the product on the street," said Justice Shaun Greenberg. Krieger, a 55-year-old Calgary man, was convicted in Winnipeg last year of drug trafficking in connection with a 2004 incident in which RCMP pulled him over in Headingley and seized about one pound of marijuana and $3,925 cash from his vehicle. [continues 184 words]
No Real Victims, Judge Tells Court A Manitoba judge has cut a break to a medical marijuana crusader found guilty of trafficking pot to numerous clients across Canada. Grant Krieger received a suspended sentence with nine months of probation Monday -- a far cry from the jail sentence he feared he might receive and predicted would kill him. "Mr. Krieger is not like most of the drug offenders we sentence in this court," Queen's Bench Justice Shawn Greenberg said. "While Mr. Krieger's actions were illegal, many, perhaps most, would say they are not immoral. Indeed he has no real victims." [continues 470 words]
Re: 'What's their plan?' Tom Brodbeck, Dec. 13. Why are tax dollars being used to fund a group committed to the legalization of hard core drugs? The John Howard Society is a collection of misfits who have been running interference on law and order by advocating for criminals and their lawyers. If they want to take that position in public that's their right and they are free to do so, but we are not obligated to pay for it. Use your head for a change and cut their funding Harper, or do you secretly agree with them? Barry Banek Winnipeg Misfits? We don't agree. [end]
Inside Manitoba
