Legalized use of marijuana is on the doorstep as the federal Liberals have started the legislative process in earnest. Bills introduced on Parliament Hill last Thursday will establish the legal parameters for the production, sale, distribution and possession of marijuana. Now, with marijuana to be fully legalized by Canada Day in 2018, there needs to be great care taken by the Liberals to craft legislation that not only provides serious consequences for the sale of the drug to minors, but also for using marijuana and driving. [continues 347 words]
Mailing Pot to MPs Won't Have the Desired Impact Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has promised to legalize marijuana, we just don't know when. The marijuana advocates must feel like he's taking too long for their liking given the recent stunt by pot activist Dana Larsen, who sent a special package to the 184 Liberal politicians, including MPs in Durham and Northumberland. The manila envelopes sent to the MPs contains his and illustrator Patrick Dowers' new book Cannabis in Canada, the Illustrated History - as well as a gram of medical-grade marijuana. [continues 312 words]
To the editor: Re: 'Are you kidding me?', letter to the editor regarding Cannabis Day, durhamregion.com, July 11, 2011. The letter writer is terribly misinformed about cannabis and its medical use. Talk to Ben Fudge. He is an Oshawa man who can hardly move because of his medical condition. He requires cannabis for pain relief and just to have a somewhat normal life. He is not just "masking his symptoms with a great big buzz", he is getting real pain relief. Does the letter writer live with pain? Does the person know how much pain can ruin one's quality of life? [continues 58 words]
Police Receive $116,000 Grant From 'Robin Hood' Fund WHITBY -- Durham police are getting new gadgets to help fight local crime and it's being paid for by the criminals themselves. On July 6, Ontario Attorney General Chris Bentley was in Whitby at police headquarters to announce a $115,750 grant for Durham police, which comes from proceeds of crime seized by police. The proceeds include cash as well as money earned from the sale of property such as cars and real estate. [continues 492 words]
Mullen Park Needs More Lighting And Security To Deter Drug Deals, Parties, Says Resident AJAX -- An Ajax man is so fed up with problems at Mullen Park he showed up at a recent Town council meeting with a garbage bag filled with debris picked up by local mothers at the neighbourhood park. Mullen Drive resident Patrick Doyle offered to show councillors the contents, but Town officials took his word the bag was filled with condoms, feminine hygiene products, liquor bottles and various other objects left behind by partying teenagers. [continues 639 words]
Repeat Offenders Next Focus Of Force AJAX -- As one enforcement initiative wraps up, the Durham Regional Police is getting ready for another. "We have some significant issues and we're working very hard. Last fall, we were given the green light by Regional council to use our surplus on extra patrols, to target parks, gangs and youth," Deputy Chief Chuck Mercier told Ajax councillors. The $500,000 "made a significant difference. It's intelligence-led policing. Let's not chase crime after, let's chase criminals beforehand," Deputy Chief Mercier stated to council's general government committee on Thursday. [continues 591 words]
Recalls Home Invasion Terror WHITBY -- A key Crown witness was overcome with emotion Thursday as he recounted what he described as a life and death struggle with several masked men who stormed his south Ajax home in a robbery attempt. Donald Newell said he fought desperately with the men, who invaded his house in an apparent attempt to steal the marijuana he was licensed to grow for medical reasons. "I've had these people ruin my life for two years," said Mr. Newell, his voice breaking and tears coming to his eyes after about a half hour on the witness stand in Superior Court in Whitby Thursday morning. [continues 351 words]
PICKERING - Monique Goudet moved to Pickering to get away from the violence and illegal behaviour of her neighbourhood in Toronto - she now feels her children aren't much safer in Glendale. "I came to Durham to get away from Markham (Road) and Eglinton (Avenue) when I heard a gunshot...I moved from one ghetto to another," she said. Ms. Goudet was one of about 60 residents who came out to share their concerns with Durham Regional Police Chief Vernon White at a town hall meeting Wednesday evening. Most of the people in attendance were from the Glendale neighbourhood near Liverpool and Kingston roads who wanted to discuss the concerns they have with people drinking, and doing and selling drugs in the Pine Creek ravine. [continues 438 words]
The long-simmering standoff that is "The Police versus Hells Angles Motorcycle Club" is defined, it seems, by a continuous and uneasy siege, each side eyeing the other with loathing and distrust. This ongoing impasse is punctuated on occasion by events not unlike eruptions from a restless volcano. Such an event occurred last week, when police in Durham and across the province arrested 27 bikers on charges ranging from drug trafficking to conspiracy to commit murder. Operation Tandem, 18 months in the making and carried out with the assistance of an informant from within the Hells Angels, dealt the bikers a blow; although the HA is a powerful organization with tentacles extending around the world, full-patch members and high-placed officers are not that numerous. In Oshawa, the arrest of five members, including the chapter president, was seen as a significant strike by police. [continues 228 words]
The new Conservative government in Ottawa is right on track in hinting they'll not pursue the previous administration's plans to decriminalize marijuana. In fact, they should go one step further. Legalize it. This is not a plea to liberalize attitudes towards the use of the drug so much as a suggestion legalization may help to fight, if not eliminate, the criminal activity that surrounds it. When it comes to pot, there are certain undeniable truths. First is this: People have always smoked dope and they always will. The second is that the value of marijuana, like petroleum and other tightly controlled substances, is directly affected by the quantity available and the demand for it. [continues 277 words]
Police Warn Users Drug May Be Mixed With Household Cleaner AJAX - Cocaine diluted with high levels of a household cleaner may have played a part in two deaths in Ajax recently. Durham Regional Police suspect the tainted cocaine may have played a part in the deaths of two young men found in different parts of Ajax, spokesman Dave Selby says, adding the deaths occurred about a month ago. Information gathered by the police drug unit that a cleaner, such as Comet, may have been mixed in cocaine and sold. Cocaine is regularly diluted, or 'cut', with cornstarch, sugar, talcum powder or other drugs, such as procaine, an anesthetic, to increase the volume and profit margin. [continues 95 words]
Police Entered Grow Op Before Warrant Obtained WHITBY - Cops responding to a vicious dog call saw the door to a residence wide open and detected the smell of marijuana wafting out of it, a Superior Court judge heard Wednesday. Durham Regional Police Constable Jim Zaphiropoulos testified that he was informed by officers already on scene of the possibility that a marijuana grow operation was inside when he arrived at 650 Highview Rd. in Pickering on the evening of April 20, 2003. [continues 490 words]
Police found hundreds of marijuana plants WHITBY - A defence witness has testified that he saw police break into a Pickering house in which a marijuana grow operation was later found. The evidence, from municipal animal control officer Scott Gibb, appeared to contradict versions of events provided by Durham Regional Police officers, who have told Superior Court Justice Barry MacDougall that the door of the home stood wide open as they watched two vicious dogs disappear through it. Police have testified the door was insecure and would not latch, leading them to believe someone may have broken into 560 Highview Rd. on April 20, 2003. Officers have pointed to the presence of the dogs in the house, and their suspicion that someone may have been inside with them, as grounds for entering the house without a search warrant. [continues 412 words]
It was an activist's delight: more than 30,000 pot plants growing inside the former Molson brewery in Barrie, some budding within the same giant steel vats that produced buckets of beer. When police raided the site earlier this month and discovered a full-fledged marijuana farm brimming room-to-room producing an estimated $100-million worth of the weed, they not only opened the doors on the largest indoor grow operation in Canadian history, they also fired up talk about the federal government's current marijuana-reform legislation and the proliferation of pot in this province. [continues 360 words]
What do Homer Simpson, Woody Harrelson and Bill Clinton all have in common? They have all done the forbidden dance with Miss Mary Jane. Marijuana is getting more publicity and is becoming a pop-culture phenomenon thanks in part to the recent talks in Parliament Hill over Canada's recreational drug of choice. As most already know, the few sweet months of THC-toking freedom have come to an abrupt end, thanks to the Ontario Appeal Court, which decided Oct. 8 that Canada's marijuana laws be restored to their former glory. [continues 417 words]
What Exactly Is The War On Drugs, Anyway? 'The war on drugs' is the buzzword forefather of today's popular 'weapons of mass destruction,' but at least we vaguely know what the latter catchphrase means. The war on drugs, on the other hand, seems to be an ongoing struggle that makes little progress (unless you cite the occasional arrest on 'COPS' a great leap forward towards ridding the world of substance abuse). Who is the enemy in this war? Is it the pathetic cousin who borrows money from every relative and always paws at his nose, or the stereotypical image of the Columbian drug lord slitting throats and exploiting the naiveties of our wholesome youth for his debauched benefit? [continues 358 words]
Durham Police, CAS Probe Case In Which Two-year-old Ingested Ecstasy AJAX -- Durham Police and child-protection officials are investigating after a two-year-old girl apparently accidentally ingested a small amount of liquid ecstasy. The child was unresponsive when she was rushed by her 37-year-old mother into emergency at Ajax and Pickering Health Centre about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. Hospital staff were told she was suffering from possible poisoning after ingesting a small amount of ecstasy, a street drug that can be deadly to users. [continues 211 words]
To the editor: It is unfortunate for the city of Oshawa as to what is transpiring regarding the proposed methadone drug treatment clinic in the downtown, and regarding the closure of our marina. There is no doubt there is a need for such a clinic, which offers the treatment of the synthetic drug methadone for the abuse of illicit or prescription drugs, and for those afflicted with chronic pain syndrome. However, the proposed location in the heart of the downtown, at Simcoe and Athol streets, is most inappropriate. No matter the need for the clinic, in the proposed site it will carry a very negative image, and such an image is the last thing Oshawa's downtown needs, particularly in light of City council's efforts to revitalize the downtown. There is no reason why the City and the private owners of the clinic could not locate a better site for this service, in a mutually satisfactory outcome. [continues 210 words]
I've been a medical journalist for 27 years. It's made me a terrible skeptic, but for good reasons. I've seen too many distortions of the truth in medicine. I've seen too many colleagues sit on the fence rather than take a stand on controversial issues. I've seen too many fight the use of painkillers when they could ease the agony of dying cancer patients. Above all else, I've seen too often a complete void of common sense. [continues 698 words]
