A Regina man who launched - and lost - the first challenge to a Saskatchewan law that seizes property used in criminal acts contends the courts have given the province "a licence to steal." "Can you imagine having $50 worth of weed and you just bought a brand new $20,000 car - well then they should take it because the circumstances can't be any different," David Wayne Mihalyko said in an interview on Monday. He was reacting to last week's ruling by the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, which ordered him to forfeit his 1998 Chev Blazer, worth about $7,500. He was driving it the night he sold two of his prescription pills for $60. [continues 504 words]
PM Meets With Obama, Calderon WASHINGTON - Prime Minister Stephen Harper emerged from a "Three Amigos" summit Monday pledging to work with his counterparts on joint efforts to boost economic growth and trade, fight organized drug crime and promote energy development. And while he secured a public endorsement from U.S. President Barack Obama for Canada's aspirations to join negotiations in the proposed Trans-pacific Partnership, there is still no guarantee the U.S. and others won't demand stiff concessions from Harper. [continues 1105 words]
Three leading Canadian public-health physicians have added their voices to a growing campaign calling on the federal government to radically re-think its approach to the war on drugs. In an article published Wednesday in the journal Open Medicine, the chief medical health officers for B.C., Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia say the criminalization of drug users has proven to be "ineffective" and that mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offences represent a "complete departure from evidence-based policy making." [continues 463 words]
Thanks to more than half a million dollars in federal funding the Salvation Army will be able to assist women recovering from addiction. Capt. Robert Sessford said he couldn't be happier to be able offer the service in Regina. The Salvation Army Regina Waterston Centre is receiving over $500,000 in Homelessness Partnering Strategy funding to place women taking part in the Regina Drug Treatment Court program in a supportive residential facility. The two years of funding will go toward operating costs and the new women's program. [continues 405 words]
What exactly would a world with legal pot look like? About 75 years ago, parliamentarians sounded the alarm over an emerging "menace" - marijuana - that if left unchecked, could have "far-reaching, poisonous and demoralizing effects" on the country's youth, according to debate records. A front-page Globe and Mail article from 1937 said the "narcotic evil" had the potential to cause insanity and turn "quiet, respectable youths into raving murderers." How far we've come. Today, marijuana is accepted as a medical treatment. Stores peddle all forms of paraphernalia, from ganja party games to bong cleaners. And some groups are lobbying to end pot prohibition altogether. [continues 1017 words]
A newly passed federal crime bill might land more people in Saskatchewan's already crowded correctional facilities but it's too soon to know what extra spending might be required as a result of the law, Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan says. The Conservative government's omnibus crime bill passed in the House of Commons on Monday, prompting renewed calls of concern from Quebec and Ontario about the tab that provincial taxpayers will have to foot for the federal anti-crime initiatives. [continues 427 words]
Fatal for Man in Moose Jaw Tainted ecstasy linked to more than a dozen deaths in B.C. and Alberta has now proven fatal for a Moose Jaw man. It is Saskatchewan's first confirmed case of the deadly drug that's been laced with a highly toxic chemical, prompting a public alert Wednesday by the province's Office of the Chief Coroner and the Moose Jaw Police Service. "You're gambling when you're taking ecstasy," Chief Coroner Kent Stewart said in an interview. [continues 788 words]
Canadian border authorities seize millions of dollars worth of an addictive drug known as "khat" at airports each year, but police services say the market is limited for a niche drug that isn't commonly available on the street. Most Canadians go their whole lives without hearing about the narcotic leaf, but within Canada's African diaspora there are many devotees of this ancient plant. Khat has been chewed in the Horn of Africa and the lands surrounding the Red Sea for thousands of years. Known to induce euphoria - and a feeling of wakefulness in users - it is deeply ingrained in the cultures of Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Kenya and Uganda. [continues 501 words]
OTTAWA - The government's omnibus crime bill could put more aboriginals behind bars rather than addressing the source of high crime and incarceration rates among native Canadians, says the Assembly of First Nations. The AFN told senators reviewing Bill C-10, known as the Safe Streets and Communities Act, that it could override rules allowing courts to consider alternatives to incarceration for aboriginal offenders, rules the Supreme Court outlined in its 1999 Gladue ruling. Those rules have tried to deal with what the AFN argued were unique issues facing aboriginals that cannot always be addressed by the corrections system. The crime bill, the AFN argued, could remove more First Nations offenders from aboriginal rehabilitation programs. AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo said First Nations want to keep more of their offenders in aboriginal-run institutions where they can receive help from community elders and targeted rehabilitation plans. [continues 261 words]
Bob Rae can gripe about "evidence-based decision making" all he likes. The truth is that, on the big economic files, Conservatives are the party most consistently hewing to reason and common sense. It's why they keep getting elected. All of which makes their bizarrely irrational, ham fisted, counterproductive handling of justice and security all the more odd. What do Rob Nicholson and Vic Toews think they're achieving, beyond throwing occasional hunks of dripping meat to a social conservative base that, truth be told, is secure without it? Are they afraid the Charles Bronsons across the aisle will accuse them of being soft on crime? Here's a thought: Perhaps Tories should rather begin to worry that fair-minded Canadians from all regions may come to view them as demagogues. [continues 670 words]
The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal says an Estevan area man, who had a licence to grow and use marijuana, was not a victim of police entrapment. Allowing a Crown appeal, the province's top court directed that Darcy Germain, 43, be convicted of two counts of trafficking and sent him back to the lower court for sentencing. Germain was one of 28 people charged in December 2009 as part of a lengthy investigation targeting drug trafficking in Estevan and area. But unlike most of those accused, Germain had a medical licence allowing him to produce and use pot for his chronic pain. Acting on an anonymous tip that Germain was selling his homegrown pot out of his Alida home, two undercover operators showed up one day in November 2009 and made a buy after requesting some "green." [continues 362 words]
Campaign Informs Users of Consequences Not so long ago, Myles Murphy popped "E" caps like they were candy. He and his two buddies would pool their money to buy 21 ecstasy pills during the week from a dealer in school or on the street. Then on the weekend, they'd steal away to someone's basement and throw "mini-raves" for themselves, glow sticks and all. "I couldn't stop, right? It became just something I needed, I liked," said Murphy, who was introduced to the drug in Grade 9 at a party with a bunch of older kids. [continues 1119 words]
REGINA -- There needs to be more done to help lower the HIV rates in Saskatchewan, according to Ann Livingstone, one of the founders of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. Livingstone was in Regina on Thursday to talk to University of Regina students about the HIV rate and how it relates to issues such as homelessness and intravenous drug use. "It is one of the hazards in the daily life of the drug user," she said. "The thing we know about epidemics is that once you get a population with a certain level of HIV, it is extremely difficult to bring those numbers down, because you need to have no mistakes. This is urgent for sure." [continues 429 words]
A young guy with short, blond hair sits in a room, clad in a black sweater with a short, striped tie thrown casually over his shoulder. Under fluorescent light, his face angled to the left, he talks matterof-factly about his experiences living on the streets of Regina. "I was about 13, struggling with my sexuality, not fitting in at school and I met some male prostitutes," he says with a slight shrug of the shoulders. "It just felt like we had something in common." [continues 300 words]
Leading Thunderbird Lodge the youth treatment centre, in Fort Qu'Appelle, has been changing lives. The centre opened its doors in 2007, the goal was to focus on spirituality and culture. It has evolved over the years, but culture has remained a key component. Michael Tyance, a former client of the centre, is happy such a place exists. Originally from Thunder Bay, Ont., the now 20-year-old took a chance and travelled to Saskatchewan to seek treatment for his addictions. [continues 368 words]
In the wake of a rash of deaths linked to the street drug ecstasy in B.C. and Alberta, Saskatchewan RCMP has issued a warning in hopes of heading off any problems here. No such deaths have been reported in Saskatchewan to date, RCMP said. However, knowing that drugs don't stop at provincial or international borders, RCMP in this province opted to issue a public warning. "Just like people, drugs can be pretty transient - so best to err on the side of caution," RCMP spokesman Sgt. Paul Dawson said. [continues 375 words]
Street Drug Is 'Cheaper Than Alcohol' Sam's workday usually starts late in the afternoon as Vancouver's aggressive partiers begin looking for a way to chemically enhance their fun. Most nights of the week, a host of twenty-and thirty somethings call Sam's work phone throughout the evening and into the early morning looking for ecstasy and cocaine. Despite recent headlines about the deadly PMMA-laced ecstasy pills, Sam's phone still rings with clients searching for a good time. [continues 1170 words]
A Canadian frigate has helped recover a sunken narco-submarine packed with cocaine from the Caribbean Sea floor. The midget sub - discovered more than 900 metres under water - was stuffed with 6,700 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $180 million U.S. "We made meaningful contributions to this operation, while working with several different nations and their government agencies to keep illicit drugs off North American streets," said Cmdr. Jamie Clarke, commanding officer of HMCS St. John's. [continues 279 words]
Saskatchewan's largest First Nation has been banishing drug dealers and others for decades, with three more facing exile next week. "They were causing a lot of problems in the community," Lac la Ronge Indian Band Chief Tammy Cook-Searson said Friday. "It's for the safety of the community." The issue of banishment made headlines nationally after the council of the Samson Cree Nation in Alberta passed a resolution approving the practice, but Saskatchewan First Nations including Fishing Lake, Cowessess, Mistawasis and others have been doing it for years. [continues 496 words]
OTTAWA - The RCMP is preparing to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to send police officers to Phoenix for three weeks of training where alcohol and drugs feature prominently and a bar is a hotel requirement. The Mounties are planning six workshops - each three weeks long - in the sun-soaked Arizona city between April 2012 and March 2013 to train a few hundred RCMP, provincial and municipal police officers from across the country on recognizing and testing drug-impaired drivers. Police say there's currently a dearth of officers in Canada with expertise in spotting and catching drug-impaired drivers. The RCMP, which administers the training of all Canadian police officers on drug recognition, says Phoenix is the teaching hot spot and best place to find high drivers in mass quantity. [continues 271 words]
