Just a day after the federal government unveiled legislation to impose mandatory prison terms for drug trafficking, the province's highest court quashed a trafficker's conditional sentence and sent him to prison. In the decision released Wednesday, the Alberta Court of Appeal said Nathan Randy Sawatsky, 26, was "an unqualified recipient of a conditional sentence." Justices Peter Martin, Ged Hawco and Sandy Park, in accepting Crown prosecutor Bob Sigurdson's argument, substituted a 31/2-year prison term for the sentence of two years less a day that was to be served primarily under house arrest. [continues 353 words]
Cannabis remains the most widely used drug in Europe, but cocaine abuse rose sharply last year despite record amounts of the drug being seized, an annual report by the EU drugs agency said Thursday. Heroin use and drug injecting were declining, the report said, but the number of drugs-related deaths remained high at 7,000-8,000 people in the EU's 27 member states and Norway in 2005, the last year for which data is available. [continues 220 words]
In an effort to change the channel from the revolting Taser death of Robert Dziekanski at the hands of the RCMP, the Conservative government has rolled out three consecutive days of crime-fighting announcements. Judging by the public furor over the Dziekanski tragedy, the Polish immigrant's fatal 50,000-volt police welcome to Canada didn't exactly leave average folk yearning for more law-and-order this week. No matter. Stephen Harper's spin department apparently couldn't wait to roll out the Conservatives' new mantra for all things crime and punishment -- "deterrence and denunciation." [continues 439 words]
Is it actually legal for a governor to order the by-passing of a county prosecutor, as Gov. Douglas did with Windsor County Attorney Bobby Sand? Or can the governor just do whatever he or she wants in regard to county attorneys and their decisions? If so, then what is the point of continually trying to pretend that we are actually a democracy? As a previous letter-writer in the Times-Argus on the same issue said, "Windsor County prosecutor Bobby Sand has opened the door to finally have an open, science-based discussion about "drugs" and "drug" policy in our state." That person is right. Marijuana does far less harm than cigarettes, for instance, which are still legal, and which kill tens of thousands of people every year (my mother was one of last year's statistics, dying of lung cancer caused by a lifetime of smoking cigarettes) and cost the states excessive amounts of money to care for people with long-term illnesses that cigarettes cause. Yet, cigarettes are legal, while marijuana is considered an illegal and dangerous drug worthy of jail sentences and criminal records for its users. After all, cigarette makers do have more lobbying clout than marijuana growers or importers. [continues 57 words]
Illegal drug use in the EU may have stabilised for the first time in a decade, but cocaine use continues to increase, according to the 2007 Annual Report on the State of the Drugs Problem in Europe, launched today by the European Monitoring for Centre for Drug Addiction and Drugs "This year's report brings good news in that the use of cannabis and heroin may have stabilised in Europe and that the EU is better equipped to tackle illegal drug problems than a decade ago as a result of EU and national drug strategies coupled with more investment in drug prevention and treatment. However, the high levels of drug-related deaths and worrying increase of cocaine use in some Member States underlines the necessity for continued European cooperation to stop the criminals behind the large-scale production, trafficking and sale of illegal drugs" said Vice-President Franco Frattini, Commissioner responsible for Freedom, Security and Justice, in response to the publication of the EMCDDA's (European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction) 2007 Annual Report [continues 266 words]
One Fifth Of Convicts Become Hooked On Drugs While Behind Bars, The Telegraph & Argus Can Reveal. The Home Office has been forced to admit the shocking numbers - an estimated 15,000 based on 75,000 of the prison population being male - after questioning from Shipley's MP. Home Office minister David Hanson said research suggests nationally one in five men - and fewer than one in ten women - who had used at least one of six drugs (cannabis, heroin, illicit metha-done, amphetamine, crack and cocaine) reported first using one of them in prison. [continues 344 words]
TEACHERS from across Hampshire heard one mother's harrowing experiences of her twin sons' drug addiction at a special conference on substance misuse and other issues which can affect young people. The conference, hosted by the PRISM Network, was entitled Scratching the Surface' and took place at the Potters Heron Hotel in Ampfield last Wednesday, (November 21). This year the conference had a special focus on self-harm and bereavement as well as providing information and workshops on substance misuse. It was aimed at raising awareness of services available for young people and enabling teachers to offer specialist support to young people. Many of the teachers who attended the conference are the first point of contact for pupils looking for advice about drugs and other issues. [continues 414 words]
Morgana Glass thought she had big problems at age 15. When she got hooked on crystal meth, those problems got a lot bigger. The former army cadet and soccer player was sitting on the floor of some guy's basement one night when she realized life had become as bad as it could get. "I didn't live anywhere, I didn't own anything and I was just released from the cop shop," said Glass, 21, in an interview. "Now I'm getting my life back together, working every day, striving to go to university and have a family. I work really hard at that every day." [continues 495 words]
The Operations Director of the National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDEA) Mr Ousman Sanneh has sternly warned Gambian youths to stay away from drug usage and drug trafficking, emphasizing that drugs are dangerous to the health and wellbeing of a person. The NDEA Operations boss issued the strongly worded warning in a speech delivered during a meeting held at the Governor's office in Central River Region yesterday. Highlighting the dangers of drugs, Mr Sanneh noted that drug use causes mental disorder and has other harmful social effects. [continues 88 words]
