Chief Health Officer Believes Fewer Cases Of Hepatitis May Be Result

SUMMERSIDE - An expansion of the Province's needle exchange program has contributed, in part, to fewer cases of hepatitis C, health officials say.

In addition to its Charlottetown location, the Province has expanded the needle exchange program into three more areas since 2009 - Summerside, Alberton and Montague.

Although numbers for 2011 will only be compiled in January, P.E.I.'s chief health officer said early indications are encouraging.

"In 2011 to date, we've seen a bit of a decrease in the number of cases of hepatitis C. That's due to many things, but we hope partly due to the needle exchange program," said Dr. Heather Morrison.

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On the same day Charlottetown police arrested people for dealing drugs at city high schools, Jag Khalsa was at a conference talking about the consequences of drug use.

Khalsa is a pharmacologist with the U.S.-based National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NISA) and was at the Delta Prince Edward last week as a speaker for the Canadian Society of Addiction Medicine's (CSAM) annual meeting.

There are more than 200 million drug addicts worldwide and addictions cost the U.S. billions of dollars every year, he said.

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Video surveillance operations carried out by city police in and around Col. Gray and Charlottetown Rural High Schools between the end of September and early October have identified over 30 people who were using and/or supplying drugs.

Deputy Police Chief Gary McGuigan said earlier today that as a result of that operation eight persons are facing charges under the Controlled Drug and Substance Act. Two of those eight are not students.

The remaining persons will be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

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A Charlottetown store is hoping to cash in on what police are calling the pothead's version of St. Patrick's Day.

Wild Impulse is advertising what it calls a "4:20 special," which promises a rolling competition, discounts and, of course, cake.

Popular among tokers as a time to 'burn one down,' 4:20 has become a cultural symbol among marijuana users. One quick search on the Internet and you will find thousands of pages about its origin and the different ways people celebrate.

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Addict wants help but can't get into methadone program

When Jennica Warren went into a local store a few months ago, her only purpose was to steal a pair of sneakers.

The 21-year-old Summerside resident will soon appear in court to answer to a theft charge, but says she needs help.

Warren has been addicted to the prescription medication hydromorphone, better known as dilaudid, for the past four years.

"Everybody's ashamed of their addiction but the shame is over now for me, I don't care," she said. "If everyone in Summerside has to hate me for me to get better, so be it. It can't get any worse."

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If you follow the Summerside court stories in the news at all, you know many people are charged and convicted under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act each week.

Most in the justice system would agree that many other offences - ranging from theft to assault - occur as a result of drug use or the need to feed an addiction.

Some likely read the stories with a certain detachment or even derision of the person accused.

Many may even have a notion that the drug problem in Summerside, and Prince County in general, will eventually be solved through the court system.

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Did Mr. Jaffer receive special treatment or did he get a break that others before the court sometimes get?

Ontario justice officials should explain to Canadians why Rahim Jaffer got what many Canadians are calling a 'slap on the wrist' after cocaine possession and drunk driving charges against him were withdrawn and he was convicted of a lesser offence of careless driving. Such an explanation would benefit not only Canadians, but Mr. Jaffer himself.

Until Canadians are told why Mr. Jaffer got what even the judge himself called "a break", many will conclude the former MP and husband of a current cabinet minister simply got special treatment. That impression, in the court of public opinion, would dog Mr. Jaffer indefinitely, and left unchallenged, would only confirm suspicions that he and others with connections get a better deal when they find themselves before a judge.

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BEDEQUE - It's not common to want to be elected Opposition leader in the P.E.I. legislature.

But even though Bedeque's Caitlin Kimmet isn't a political figure, that's exactly what she asked for last weekend.

The 17-year-old Kinkora Regional High School student participated in the 22nd Rotary Youth Parliament last Friday and Saturday at Province House.

"I like to keep up on the news and politics but I'm by no means an expert," Kimmet said. "I wanted to be with the Opposition because they get to hold government accountable for everything they do."

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Attorney General Doug Currie says many of the issues that were foremost in his mind as minister of Health continue to be primary issues for him in his new post.

Speaking to the annual general meeting of P.E.I. Crime Stoppers Wednesday, Currie noted, for example, that in his former portfolio he was closely involved with the development of the P.E.I. Youth Substance Use and Addiction Strategy.

"In developing that strategy we were acutely aware that for approximately 60 to 70 per cent of youth who come into conflict with the law, substance abuse is either a direct or indirect factor in their offending behaviours," Currie said. "By that I mean that these offenders are either under the influence of alcohol or drugs when they commit their offence or they commit the offence to gain access to money for alcohol or drugs."

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Losing Community Policing Officer Contrary to Message of Police Chiefs Conference

Some delegates attending the 104th annual meeting of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police in Charlottetown this week must be scratching their heads as they grapple with the essential role of community policing in fighting crime. The theme of the conference is 'Creating Safe and Healthy Communities through Social Development,' meaning that today's policing executives need to focus on finding new ways of integrating police services with the communities they serve. Key sessions of the conference are focusing on proven community safety strategies.

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Law Enforcement Report Cites Illicit Drugs A Primary Criminal Market Spreading Across P.E.I., Canada

The 'Gentle Island' may be its theme, but Prince Edward Island is not immune to organized crime, says the commanding officer of the RCMP in the province.

Randy Robar made the comments on Friday as law enforcement agencies from the Criminal Intelligence Service of Canada released the 2009 Report on Organized Crime in Canada during a news conference in Charlottetown.

The illegal drug trade continues to be the primary concern for law enforcement agencies across P.E.I.

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I will remember a terrifying sound forever. It was a wretched scream. The scream of a girl just before her boyfriend's car collided with an oncoming tractor-trailer.

This girl was soon to be the victim of impaired driving. Her boyfriend had gotten in his car with her while under the influence and lost control of the vehicle.

His life was spared. Unfortunately, the girl died immediately upon impact.

This was only a sound clip I heard during a presentation a few months ago at school. Norbert Georget a former paramedic from Saskatchewan gave the presentation on impaired driving and drug and alcohol abuse.

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Sleepy Hollow Jail Faces Overcrowding, Especially On Weekends

CHARLOTTETOWN - Sleepy Hollow isn't so sleepy these days, it would seem.

The Charlottetown jail has been seeing steady increases of inmates over the past several years, which has been causing overcrowding and security concerns.

That's why tenders are about to close on a 100-square-foot unit soon to be constructed adjacent to the current jail facility, with an adjoining pedway to connect the two units.

This new unit will create an additional 48 beds and will create a separate space for lower-risk inmates who only serve intermittent sentences -- known as 'weekenders.'

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Will P.E.I. get a long-term residential treatment facility for young people struggling with addiction?

The Island's youth substance use and addiction project co-ordinator says it's too soon to say.

"We are not able to answer that... because we need better programming in the province to indicate that need," said Rod Stanley.

Government identified two main priorities for its youth addiction strategy with input from public consultations, an advisory committee and several working groups.

Stanley explained two main gaps were found: the need to beef up prevention, education and early intervention in communities and a day-treatment program.

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On April 1, a program that for five years literally helped save lives of injection drug users on the Island will cease to exist.

AIDS P.E.I. is getting out of the needle exchange program.

It's not by choice; the non-profit organization can't afford to keep it going.

AIDS P.E.I. approached the Province for $40,000 to defray program costs and to hire a full-time administrator. The request was denied.

Now, the few remaining syringe kits are being handed out and officials at AIDS P.E.I. are left with the task of informing clients they'll have to go elsewhere for clean, safe needles.

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The Province's decision to start its own needle exchange program, rather than fund one operated by AIDS P.E.I., deeply concerns Mark Hanlon.

The AIDS P.E.I. executive director fears injection drug users that rely now on the "harm reduction" program for sterile syringes will be intimidated, even fearful of using a government-run service.

"They trust us but they may not trust the government," said Hanlon. "Now what happens with those people? Is the government honestly prepared to handle an influx of people with HIV or hepatitis C?

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The New Criminal Intelligence Service Bureau Should Foster Better Information Sharing Among Police Agencies.

P.E.I. police agencies have fired a warning shot across the bows of organized and major crime elements on the Island. The warning is clear: take your sleazy business elsewhere. Otherwise you will be tracked down and prosecuted. There is nowhere to hide anymore.

Provincial police agencies launched P.E.I.'s Criminal Intelligence Service Bureau on Wednesday, described as the final link in a national law enforcement network committed to combating organized crime. We are the last province to connect into this link, which co-ordinates a provincial bureau with a national organization dedicated to fighting major and organized crime. Criminals are getting a lot smarter on how to avoid detection and police have to respond accordingly.

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The Province has announced plans in its recent capital budget to invest $2.5 million in a facility for youth at risk, earmarking $500,000 in 2009-2010 and $2 million in 2010-2011 for such a facility.

One official says the money be used to establish a 30-bed facility to provide a host of services for youth. Services could include psychology, psychiatry, mental-health services, addictions and education.

But just what exactly the project will include has yet to be determined. Planning is said to be in the initial stages and decisions yet to be made.

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Potatoes are not the only things growing on Prince Edward Island, according to an article in a Boston alternative newspaper.

The weekly Boston Phoenix says in a feature article that what it calls "Pot Edward Island" is a haven for marijuana growers, fuelled by inexpensive electricity from Quebec.

Writer Alan Earls says that beneath the island's bucolic image of golf courses, white sand beaches and red clay roads, there is a gritty rural backwoods full of hopped-up criminals.

The province is "the fertile centre of an underground marijuana explosion," opines one headline.

Mr. Earls cites a 2008 government survey that nearly half of the province's high school and middle school students use drugs and notes that so far in 2008 the RCMP have seized 2,608 grams of marijuana, almost double the amount in 2007.

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Prince Edward Island's Anne isn't the only thing that's green, according to an article in a Boston alternative newspaper.

Writer Alan Earls charges that "Pot Edward Island" is a haven for dope growers and that inexpensive electricity from Quebec fuels its grow-ops.

"Canada's most picturesque province is surprisingly also the fertile center of an underground marijuana explosion," opines the sub-head for the feature-length piece.

In the weekly Boston Phoenix, Earls writes that beyond the "Pollyanna disposition" of Anne of Green Gables, "islanders have discovered another way to smile through the summer and avoid the blues during the bleak local winters."

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