Just wanted to connect the dots from your Tuesday cover story, Million-dollar Hells bust, and your editorial, $2 million within reach. The RCMP found and displayed bundles of the $4 million in cash, "some of it mouldy." This drug money is still money and needs to go somewhere. The media have influence, why not carry out a poll asking readers if the money should stay with the RCMP or go to the United Way? You may have other creative ideas, too. [continues 72 words]
In a Huffington Post article titled, Marijuana legalisation: More 100 college professors express support for Colorado's legal plot measure, published online on August 28, 2012, Matt Ferner reports that: "The more than 100 professors represent many different fields of study from law, health, economics and criminal justice from various universities around the nation including some professors from CSU as well as former colleagues of President Obama's during his time as a professor at University of Chicago Law School." Fermer continues, as he cites a professorial source: "... 'The time has come to take a more rational approach to marijuana policy,' Thomas Ginsburg, University of Chicago Law School professor, said in a statement. [continues 1400 words]
Property is being stolen, homes are being broken in to and brazen crimes, including armed robberies, are taking place not only Summerside but across P.E.I. The crimes, said Summerside Police Service Chief David Poirier, are the direct result of increased drug use and desperation by those addicted to get money for their fix. This week, Ryan Wendell Cornish, of Summerside, was sentenced to six months behind bars for breaking into two city homes and stealing more than $10,000 worth of items, from rolled coins and a bicycle to a flat screen television. [continues 773 words]
Acquittals Spark Calls for Enforceable Standard Like Blood-Alcohol Limit The recent acquittal of a Saskatchewan driver on impaired driving charges - even though she admitted using marijuana before hitting the road and bungled a number of coordination tests - is raising questions about the ability of law enforcement to go after drugged drivers. Some advocates say that Canada's drug-impaired driving laws introduced in 2008 are deficient and that federal lawmakers should move to adopt drug-intake thresholds similar to the 0.08 blood-alcohol limit. [continues 641 words]
With cannabis linked to a drop in IQ points in adolescence, one would expect all those people claiming to want to protect our youth, to be calling for the immediate removal of prohibition, and replace it with an adults-only regulation. It is proven that teens can obtain cannabis easer than getting alcohol or tobacco. This is because both alcohol and tobacco are regulated, thus are policed. Cannabis is policed through prohibition, which is a known failed design. With police removing no more than 10 per cent of cannabis available, it is costing over $50 million annually. [continues 114 words]
When proponents and users of medical marijuana gathered in Deering Oaks Park Saturday for the Atlantic CannaFest medical cannabis festival, it wasn't the last word in Maine or the Northeast about a form of medicine that advocates say is gaining acceptance. "It's such a big change in just the past few years even, seeing the wide mix of people openly talking about this and not being afraid of a plant, the communication; more and more people are growing and seeing the actual therapeutic benefits," said Hillary Lister, an advocate for medical marijuana use through Medical Marijuana Caregivers of Maine, a trade association. [continues 630 words]
If last year's gang assassination in Kelowna wasn't enough to remove the blinders from your eyes, perhaps this week's major drug bust is. Kelowna is not the sleepy little vacation hollow it used to be. We live in one of the biggest centres for organized crime and the illicit drug trade in Western Canada. And when it comes to marijuana production, the Okanagan is Ground Zero in a massive international criminal network. Pot grown here pays to bring every other drug under the sun into our community. And unless municipal leaders allocate the resources necessary for effective enforcement, it's only a matter of time before there are more killings and we see the advent of designer drugs like bath salts on our streets - along with the gruesome toll they take on the addicted. [continues 116 words]
The weekend take-down of top members of the Hells Angels leaves a vacuum that organized-crime groups are jockeying to fill. Police allege eight men in Kelowna and elsewhere in B.C. were growing pot in the Southern Interior and preparing to buy 500 kilograms of cocaine from crime groups south of the border. The arrests send a warning that organized criminals should expect similar raids. "There's a number of projects ongoing in the area," RCMP Supt. Bill McKinnon said Tuesday. "We've got more good stuff coming." [continues 597 words]
The implementation of New Jersey's Compassionate Use Medical Marijuana Act is long overdue ("Patient registry for medical pot gets under way -- First of Jersey's six dispensaries to open in Montclair next month," Aug. 9). While there have been studies showing that marijuana can shrink cancerous tumors, medical marijuana is essentially a palliative drug. If a doctor recommends marijuana to a cancer patient undergoing chemotherapy and it helps him or her feel better, then it's working. In the end, medical marijuana is a quality-of-life decision best left to patients and their doctors. [continues 94 words]