Easy or not (editorial: Legalizing Pot Not That Easy, Dec. 26), it's time to do whatever it takes to legalize and regulate the extremely popular, God-given (see the first page of the Bible) plant, cannabis (marijuana). Cannabis prohibition has not done anything productive and has only caused problems at every facet. A sane argument to perpetuate the plant's prohibition doesn't exist. It's simply a government-subsidized jobs programs for prohibitionists. Ending cannabis prohibition is one of the most important issues of our time. Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
Dear Editor: More than $100 million worth of electricity is stolen from B.C. Hydro every year, with much of it stolen to power marijuana grow-ops. As an honest B.C. Hydro customer, it makes me more than just a little unhappy to know that people are stealing electricity. It makes me even more unhappy to know that the cost of all that stolen electricity gets added to the hydro bills of honest B.C. Hydro customers like you and me. [continues 189 words]
An editorial in the Vancouver Province: What is going on in the Lower Mainland? We're supposed to be enjoying a season of peace and goodwill. Instead, we've been hit with a string of five tragic and seemingly pointless homicides. The strong suspicion is that at least some of these killings are related to our region's violent underground drug trade, which continues to thrive, despite repeated police warnings. Why do so many Lower Mainlanders become involved in this deadly business? [continues 175 words]
Logical Objections Valid But The Need To Save Lives Should Take A Higher Priority; The Sites Should Be Opened Soon The Tremblay administration has given conditional support this month to the city getting its first legal druginjection site - a clean, well-lighted place inside of which drug users could shoot up cocaine, heroin or anything else, with a nurse on hand to supervise. Indeed, city hall wants three - count 'em, three - such sites. Plus, for good measure, a large van could travel around the city offering the same service to a less mobile clientele. [continues 668 words]
Sea To Sky Health Officer Supports Legalization Movement It has been one of the most debated issues in the country and this past week the legalize marijuana movement got some added support with the Health Officers' Council (HOC) of B.C. saying now is the time for legalization. As an organization made up of public health physicians, the HOC's endorsement of a new report by the community health and wellness group, Stop the Violence B.C., adds an educated voice to the side of marijuana legalization proponents. One of those voices is Paul Martiquet, medical health officer of the Sea to Sky region for Vancouver Coastal Health. [continues 551 words]
Doctors, mayors, politicians, police and over 50 per cent of the population know marijuana must and will be legalized and regulated. A sane or rational argument to perpetuate one of North America's worst policy failures in history doesn't exist. Cannabis prohibition causes increased hard-drug addiction rates, crime, erosion of human rights, contempt for laws and does nothing productive. Nothing. It's time to remove the obstacles (read politicians) that stand in the way of ending the historically discredited war against the God-given plant. Right now, cannabis is regulated by the black market and until that changes, crime rates will only increase. Ending cannabis prohibition is one of the most important issues of our time. Stan White, Dillon, Colo. [end]
The World Drug Report 2011, published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, shows that the rate of deaths where drugs were the primary cause, per million of population aged between 15 and 64, was 16 times higher in the U.S. and eight times higher in Canada than it was in Holland. The U.S. approach to drug use is highly punitive, the Canadian approach is somewhat less punitive, while the Dutch approach prefers harm reduction. Similarly, the percentage of the population (15 to 64) who use cannabis annually is 13.7 per cent in the U.S., 12.6 per cent in Canada, but only 5.4 per cent in Holland "" in spite of the fact that Dutch citizens can openly enjoy cannabis in coffee shops. [continues 128 words]
Years ago, the famous group The Beatles sang "oeLet it Be" "" code words for running from our problems by smoking marijuana which they termed "oeMother Mary." Now, thanks to some people here, we can be assured of enduring indifference to any pain or anything else through "oeMother Mary" "" medicinal marijuana. A new brave clinic has opened its doors for "oesuffering patients," who can claim a need for this marvelous miracle for self-induced Nirvana "" complete indifference to whatever is, or may be happening, to us or around us. [continues 132 words]
What is going on in the Lower Mainland? We're supposed to be enjoying a season of peace and goodwill to all men. But instead, we've been hit with a string of tragic and seemingly pointless homicides. In four days, four people have died in separate shootings in Surrey and Langley. A fifth was gunned down Dec. 14 in Vancouver. The strong suspicion is that at least some of these killings are related to our region's violent underground drug trade, which continues to thrive, despite repeated police warnings. [continues 207 words]
No one wants to live in a home with a shady history. But how can buyers be confident their new dream home isn't damaged by an illicit past like a drug lab? Citizens have a variety of tools to keep them from being burned by a marijuana grow operation. A host of problems can arise from growing illegal marijuana indoors. High humidity causes toxic mould to grow in the walls. Re-wired electrical systems illegally bypass the hydro meter, and can create fire hazards. A home's structure is often damaged by holes cut for equipment or rotted from the heat. Harsh chemicals can make the home unlivable. [continues 418 words]
Re: 'Pot regulation makes sense' (Daily News, Nov. 30) There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin. [continues 75 words]
Grow-Ops Targeted, Legal or Otherwise Mission RCMP are warning people who grow medical or illegal marijuana that they and their plants may be targets of organized crime, or "grow rips." "We really do believe it's an organized group of individuals targeting all types of marihuana grow-ops in Mission. We're concerned because we've observed a growing level of violence during grow rips," said RCMP Cpl. Sharon Siluch. Criminals are prepared to use force in order to subdue occupants and steal the pot crops, she said. [continues 273 words]
A complaint of police misconduct by a woman strip-searched for drugs in the washroom of an Abbotsford gas station has been dismissed by a police complaints adjudicator. The woman alleged the three officers were guilty of "abuse of authority" under the Police Act for "oppressive conduct" toward her for "intentionally or recklessly searching" her, according to the adjudicator William Diebolt's report. The complainant was stopped by the officers on Aug. 15, 2009, after a prisoner they were transporting recognized her in another vehicle and suggested police would find drugs in her car because he had bought drugs from her before. [continues 290 words]
The coalition of health and justice experts Stop the Violence is right in saying that the war on drugs has been a dismal failure. In British Columbia especially, marijuana is so easy to get, the fact it's illegal is laughed at by those who indulge. Millions of dollars that could have been spent on things like health care or education have been spent fighting the illegal drug trade. The coalition says the federal government's omnibus crime bill is a step in the wrong direction, and we have to agree - do we really want our prisons filled up with otherwise law-abiding kids who get busted with minor amounts of dope? [continues 116 words]
Lost Their Teen Daughter to Drug on Dec. 22 An Abbotsford family struggling to cope with the tragic loss of their teenage daughter at Christmas is warning other parents and teens of the dangers of ecstasy. Seventeen-year-old Cheryl McCormack died on Dec. 22 after taking ecstasy. She and three other teenage girls were at a sleepover a few nights earlier, where all four friends took an ecstasy pill to lose or man-age their weight, said Abbots-ford police. [continues 393 words]
The Health Officers of B.C. is among groups backing a call for the legalization of marijuana as public policy healthier than the status quo. A new report by the Stop the Violence B.C., a coalition of health, academic and justice experts, was released Thursday to demonstrate the failure of current anti-drug policy. It uses government-funded data to show that cannabis trends are thriving, despite decades of huge cash injections to law enforcement agencies in both Canada and the U.S. [continues 530 words]
Four of Vancouver's former mayors joined voices recently to call for an end to the prohibition of marijuana. Their call was echoed this week by the province's medical health officers in their own statement of support. The Citizen asked northern civic leaders if they also supported this idea. After all, according to their worships Sam Sullivan, Michael Harcourt, Larry Campbell, and Philip Owen, the reason to kill the criminality of cannabis is to take the money out of the massive black marketeering of the stuff by wealthy and ruthless B.C. gangs. [continues 1158 words]
The way the government handles marijuana usage is not only ineffective but has become a public health issue and leads to organized crime having control over a vastly profitable enterprise, the effects of which are being felt in many cities, including Prince George. Stop The Violence BC, a group made up of criminologists, law enforcement officials and public health officials, released a report showing the link between organized crime and the sale of marijuana this fall and followed up with another report this week about how the drug is having a detrimental effect on public health and safety because of the laws surrounding it. [continues 368 words]
Health: Province Plans to Limit Travel Subsidies to 18 Months for Patients Attending Daily Clinics SAINT JOHN - Craig McInnis spends about $210 every month to make the daily journey from his home near the Saint John airport to Prince Edward Guardian Pharmacy to take his dose of methadone. He arrives at the clinic, tucked away at the back of the pharmacy, sits on a chair and waits. There isn't much to look at on the walls, except for shapes cut from bristol board, posted to remind patients how to behave: be respectful, leave pets outside and if you come without a way to pay for your dose, you don't get your drink. [continues 645 words]
Dear Editor: Re Stoners need a better argument, In My Opinion, The Record, Dec. 9 What a breathtakingly appalling column. 1. It is not only "stoners" who oppose the prohibition of marijuana. I do. The Senate does. Three former mayors of Vancouver do. And many, many more except that Matthew Claxton is too damn lazy to do any research on the issue. In any event, resorting to demeaning name calling such as this has no place in a supposedly respectable publication. [continues 150 words]
Inside Canada
