Dear Editor:

RE: Safety trumps privacy (Feb. 1, 2010 editorial)

"Sure marijuana is not even in the ballpark with crack cocaine, but it does fall under the illegal category making it difficult to justify its use."

I can think of about a dozen reasons to justify using cannabis. It has dozens of medical applications, and even when smoked, its benefits outweigh any dangers.

Also, chronic daily users don't suffer anywhere near the impairment that a casual user would. By that I mean, there are people smoking 10 joints a day and you would never know it to look at them, while other people are visibly impaired by just a few tokes.

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There's nothing black and white about whether mandatory drug testing should or should not be practiced in any workplace.

When any drug significantly alters a person's physical and/or mental state, many would argue a user poses safety risks in many work environments. Every employer has a strict responsibility to eliminate any and all risks to safety.

Not many would be shocked to learn a manager sent home an employee who showed up for work reeking of alcohol-whether it's stale or fresh. It's pretty well an acceptable assumption the individual is under the influence of the drug (alcohol) and poses a risk to him/herself and to coworkers as well.

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I would like to take this opportunity to say hello to everyone and to introduce myself. I am the new drugs and organized crime awareness coordinator for Labrador.

I come to this new position after serving 16 years in front-line policing. I have worked in many areas of the province including three communities along the Labrador coast.

Having lived and worked in many different parts of the province I have come to realize that while every community is unique in its own way, every community also has its similarities.

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Neither IOC nor the Steelworkers' Union are backing down when it comes to a new drug-testing policy announced in early December.

A spokesman for IOC says it's a vital step in the company's continuing safety efforts.

The president of the union says it's an unnecessary policy, and could further deteriorate an already-strained relationship between workers and management.

"We don't condone alcohol and drugs in the workplace, but we want to confirm that everything is done in a respectful manner, and right now things aren't done in that way," said George Kean, president of United Steelworkers Local 5795.

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RCMP Presentation Focuses On Drug Abuse

Information presented at Lewisporte Intermediate on Dec. 3 by Lewisporte RCMP and guest presenters shocked many parents who attended.

Corporal Ann Noel of Drug and Organized Crime Services spoke to those in attendance on various drugs in the community and expressed concerns relating to teenagers abusing over the counter and prescription medications.

"The teens are gaining access to over the counter pills in stores, homes and at school," she said. "Normally, when we think about drugs we think about Johnny on the street corner selling a bag of marijuana or a bunch of pills, but unfortunately the whole thing is changing. It's our little Sarah or Johnny at home who are jumping into the medicine cabinet."

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Through a series of amendments pushed by local senator George Baker, a Conservative government bill aimed at cracking down on drug traffickers has likely been killed.

Bill C-15 passed its third reading in the Canadian Senate on Dec. 14. The bill would create mandatory minimum sentences for people caught trafficking controlled substances.

The bill had received unanimous support in Parliament, and will now be sent back there after passing in the Senate.

"It won't become law," said Senator Baker. "If they approve the bill with the amendments we enacted, it will remove the bills affect on what (the Conservatives) call the small-fry."

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Through a series of amendments pushed by local senator George Baker, a Conservative government bill aimed at cracking down on drug traffickers has likely been killed.

Bill C-15 passed its third reading in the Canadian Senate on Dec. 14. The bill would create mandatory minimum sentences for people caught trafficking controlled substances.

The bill had received unanimous support in Parliament, and will now be sent back there after passing in the Senate.

"It won't become law," said Senator Baker. "If they approve the bill with the amendments we enacted, it will remove the bills affect on what (the Conservatives) call the small-fry."

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Editor;

This is truly an unjust world when you can go to prison for life, for sending seeds to another country; but if you send troops, you get a Noble Peace Prize.

Do we really need a foreign government stepping in and disciplining one of our citizens, for something as trivial as selling seeds on the internet?

As a nation, we should be ashamed of the way we have treated Marc Emery.

The man has paid his taxes, given to charity and helped untold thousands of medical marijuana users. It disgusts me the lack of attention the media is giving this issue.

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Dear Editor:

The time has come to legalize marijuana, tax it, and create a few hundred thousand jobs. Marc Emery is currently waiting to see if we will let the US extradite him, to face a possible life sentence for selling seeds on the Internet.

Forty-four per cent of Canadians have admitted to smoking weed, leading to the obvious conclusion that millions of Canadians currently possess marijuana seeds.

If you mailed a couple seeds to your friend in the US in a Christmas card, should you face a possible life sentence in prison?

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Is Methadone The Only Option For Addicts?

In Newfoundland and Labrador, there are two main ways to come off opiod drugs if you're hooked - taking methadone or going cold turkey.

Barry Hewitt, program manager of the Recovery Center, Opioid Treatment Clinic and Terrace Clinic, says the cold turkey method is probably the hardest way to come off drugs like OxyContin, heroin and other narcotics.

"It's not deadly. You won't die," he says. "You start (feeling symptoms after) about 24 hours. It gets worse around Day 3: a lot of sweats, dancing leg, aches and pains ... not many people stay (at the recovery centre until they completely detox)."

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Is methadone good medicine or just another opiate for addicts?

Even though he takes methadone every day, J.J. says he's been clean for more than two years.

And most treatment programs would agree with that assertion.

But even the people who prescribe and distribute methadone know it's not a panacea.

Methadone became part of addictions treatment in this province earlier this decade in response to a widespread abuse of OxyContin and other opiates and the crime wave that followed in its wake.

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Why Do We Need A Methadone Program Anyway?

First in a three-part series examining the effectiveness of the province's methadone treatment program for drug addictions

The first time J.J. tried to detox, he thought he was going to die.

"The sickness is probably comparable to somebody's last few days of cancer," he says, describing constant diarrhea, vomiting, muscle aches, joint pains and cravings.

As he came off heroin in the Vancouver Harbour Light, J.J. didn't know he'd start using again.

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Last month, Newfoundland's Memorial University reviewed and revoked its zero-tolerance policy on drugs because many students found the policy unfair, according to the MUN student union.

Last winter, while walking down the stairs of one of the 14 residences on the MUN campus, a female student who was active in the Memorial community and respected by her peers dropped a marijuana joint that she was planning to smoke off-campus. This joint was worth approximately $4.

Under MUN's zero-tolerance policy for drugs, this girl was kicked out of residence.

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It's great to hear that the West Coast's "Prince of Pot," Marc Emery, attracted over 300 attendees while visiting St. John's.

His message is strong and positive: it is time to legalize marijuana and remove the criminal element, making it legal for anyone to grow and use marijuana who is at or above the age of consent.

And how, by removing archaic laws that continue to prohibit the free use of this wondrous herb, we would free up multiple billions of dollars currently being eaten up by police agencies around the globe in an effort to stamp out a relatively harmless plant.

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They said, "Slow down! I see spots!"

The lines on the road just looked like dots.

. From "Hot Rod Lincoln," by Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

The cops have apparently decided to start taking speeding seriously. "Police cracking down on speed demons," said a headline in Tuesday's Telegram.

On behalf of the handful of Newfoundland drivers who adhere to posted speed limits - or, at least, close enough to them to evade detection by radar guns - I'd just like to say thank you, and it's about time.

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Politics/Legislation Urges End To Prohibition Against Marijuana Use

Cannabis culture supporters came out to Bannerman Park in big numbers Wednesday to bid farewell to Marc Emery, also known as the Prince of Pot, before he's sent to the United States this fall to face marijuana charges.

Emery, who's doing a cross-Canada tour before being sentenced in the fall to what is expected to be five years in a U.S. prison, said about 265 people gathered in the park to hear him speak.

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Police Paying Cash To Drug Users, She Claims

A capital city lawyer says the use of confidential informants by police is "absolutely out of control and unchecked," in St. John's.

Defence lawyer Averill Baker made the comment to The Telegram this week while speaking about the case of her client Matthew Arsenault, who's facing weapons-related charges.

After stepping off a DRL bus near Paradise on June 28, the 26-year-old Arsenault, another man and a woman, were arrested at gunpoint by a team of officers.

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He Worries That People Will Turn To Harder Drugs As A Result

The weed supply is waning.

"Marijuana (has been in short supply) four or five times in the last year," said Ron Fitzpatrick of Turnings, a community organization that helps drug addicts turn their lives around.

Fitzpatrick said the paucity of pot is due, in part, to a police crackdown on drugs - several recent high-yielding drug busts have included a lot of marijuana.

He said young police recruits are hip and smart and the drug force is "fantastic."

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ST. JOHN'S - The weed supply is waning.

"Marijuana ( has been in short supply) four or five times in the last year," said Ron Fitzpatrick of Turnings, a community organization that helps drug addicts turn their lives around.

Fitzpatrick said the paucity of pot is due in part to a police crackdown on drugs - several recent highyielding drug busts have included a lot of marijuana.

He said young police recruits are hip and smart and the drug force is " fantastic."

"Police, especially the RNC, are getting ... good at cracking down on the drugs, nailing drug dealers, finding stashes and grow-ops," Fitzpatrick said.

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Dear Editor:

I read with reat interest, your editorial, Drugs, Amusement Parks and Exotic Countries, as I did the letters from Mr. Alan Randell and Mr. Russell Barth, and I must side with their more progressive approach.

They see our current zero tolerance approach fuels prohibition. George Boom Boom Chuvalo may have been the toughest heavyweight in the sport, but like a just-say-no position on kids and drugs, times are different and the way we handle our children and drugs must change for successs.

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