U.S. Combat Vehicles Used in Pot Busts If you're going to wage war on drugs, you need to be outfitted like a warrior. That seems to be the rationale behind hundreds of police department requests for armored trucks submitted to the Pentagon between 2012 and 2014. The requests, unearthed in a FOIA request by Mother Jones magazine, shed light on how the war on drugs has directly contributed to the militarization of local police forces in recent years. Police departments can request surplus military gear from the Pentagon through the Department of Defense's 1033 program, which doles out hundreds of millions of dollars in military goods to cops each year. The equipment includes everything from underwear to office equipment to armored combat vehicles. After Ferguson, Missouri, when images of local cops training assault rifles on peaceful protesters from atop armored trucks flooded the airwaves, the program has come under increasing scrutiny. [continues 249 words]
The sixth annual PEACE EAST festival wants to clear the air on medical marijuana. Six years in, PEACE EAST keeps growing. The three-day outdoor festival in Middle Musquodoboit is Atlantic Canada's annual epicenter for cannabis consumers, advocates and caregivers to celebrate the tireless fight against the war on drugs. There's music, lectures, workshops and plenty of chances to get inspired. And, no, it's not just some hippie fest in the woods. "Well, you know what, it's a little bit of a hippie fest," counters Sherri Reeve-Enns. "There are hippies. I mean, they kind of popularized weed. You can't really avoid that." [continues 1663 words]
With Canada's economy mired in recession, with too many Canadians without a job and struggling to make ends meet, with the country's sick and elderly being forced to wait too long to receive adequate medical coverage, many Canadians are looking to Ottawa in hopes that their concerns are being heard. Unfortunately, with an Oct. 19 federal election looming on the horizon, the federal government has no time to focus on the problems facing Canadians. Instead, the Harper Conservatives would much rather roll out solutions to problems that don't exist. [continues 242 words]
Issue: Prime Minister Seems to Be Waging Campaign Based on Fear-Mongering. While it's far too early to predict precisely what this nascent federal election will be "about", it looks increasingly likely, judging from the conduct of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that the Conservative government seeks to wage a campaign based around fear. Harper wasted little time in the days following the election call casting himself as the lone hero who could protect us from the horrors of a "Netflix tax", which would, without a doubt, in the prime minister's mind, be introduced by a new government helmed by either Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau or NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair. [continues 531 words]
ISSUE: Prime minister seems to be waging campaign based on fear-mongering. While it's far too early to predict precisely what this nascent federal election will be "about", it looks increasingly likely, judging from the conduct of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, that the Conservative government seeks to wage a campaign based around fear. Harper wasted little time in the days following the election call casting himself as the lone hero who could protect us from the horrors of a "Netflix tax", which would, without a doubt, in the prime minister's mind, be introduced by a new government helmed by either Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau or NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair. [continues 526 words]
Four Reasons Why Law Enforcement Should Support Legalizing Law enforcement was designed to protect our communities, but marijuana prohibition=ADand the drug war as a whole=ADhas become an overbearing distraction towards the maintaining of public safety. Prohibition contributes to an overall decrease in public safety and misuse of valuable resources. Here's why law enforcement across the country and around the world are pushing for marijuana legalization: 1. MARIJUANA PROHIBITION FUNDS CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS Criminalizing a high-demand commodity only creates an illegal marketplace that generates wealth for individuals seeking to profit. If legalized, marijuana would create a legal marketplace and diminish illegal operations. Marijuana is often called the =93cash crop=94 by Mexican cartels, and legalizing medical marijuana access and recreational access in only a few states has already begun to weaken their cash flow. Nationwide marijuana legalization would devastate the enormous and lethal underground networks brought about by prohibition. [continues 278 words]
The United States does not have a justice system. If we define a justice system as a system designed for the production of justice, then it seems obvious that term cannot reasonably be applied to a system that countenances the mass incarceration by race and class of hundreds of thousands of nonviolent offenders. Any system that vacuums in one out of every three African-American males while letting a banker who launders money for terrorist-connected organizations, Mexican drug cartels and Russian mobsters off with a fine is not a justice system. [continues 523 words]
By any measure, prohibition has been one of the greatest social policy failures in Canadian history It's been 92 years since marijuana was made illegal, so why don't we say we gave prohibition a fair shot and try something else? This October, marijuana prohibition will be a federal election issue for the first time since 1923, when the substance was first outlawed. The onus is on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to make the case for extending prohibition into year 93 and beyond. [continues 724 words]
New Canadian Naval Unit Specializes in Pirates, Drug Dealers and Terrorists The high-speed boat filled with heavily armed sailors skims through the waves, then jams up alongside an unidentified ship that has entered Canadian waters. The sailors scramble to board the vessel and quickly fan out. One group searches cabins and passageways; another is confronted by a man with a pistol. The gunman ignores orders to drop his weapon as Canadian sailors train their C8 assault rifles on him. There is a crackle of gunfire and the man slumps to the deck, hit several times by bullets from three C8s. The sailors move past his crumpled body to continue searching the ship. [continues 939 words]
Secretary Narcotics Control spells out steps Interview Kaswar Klasra Monday, July 13, 2015 - Islamabad-Meet the man whom Nawaz Sharif led federal government picked up last year in November as federal secretary Narcotics Control tasking him to save million of Pakistanis from the brunt of Afghan drug. Sitting on an un-easy wooden chair and putting on black Shalwar Kameez, Pakistan's national dress, Ghalib A Bandesha looked fresh and well determined. Coming from Police Service of Pakistan, Ghalib A Bandesha's excellent service record and achievements as head of 'Federal Investigation Agency' prompted higher authorities to appoint him as federal secretary Ministry of Narcotics Control which deals with making policies to counter ever growing use of drugs by country's youth and transit of Afghan drug worth multi-billion US dollars from Pakistan through various routes especially air and sea. [continues 675 words]
The number of people murdered in the drug war in the United States is larger than the death toll of our military in Iraq and three times greater than the death rate of our soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Mexican drug cartels kill more people than ISIS and they proliferate mainly in the United States - killing teens and adults indiscriminately. The U.S. is on the verge of legalizing pot in many states. Why not all? In fact, why not legalize the sale of all drugs and tax them? [continues 177 words]
Legalizing it would cut police and court costs and generate revenue It's interesting, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court of Canada's decision expanding the definition of medical marijuana, to take another look at those parody-level attack ads the federal Conservatives released last month. You must know them by now - the goofy vignettes in which a panel of serious managers talks about potential hires, including Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau (we're about to "hire" a prime minister! Get it? Get it?!?!). Conservative attack ads fascinate me, because I'm convinced they're really bad on purpose, like the old Canadian Tire guy ones or any Tim Hortons radio or TV spot ever. It's all part of the strategy to get people talking about them. "Eeeuuchhh, did you see that idiot talking about how he ate the bowl? Anyway, I kind of want some chili in a bread bowl. You in?" [continues 708 words]
Despite dire predictions to the contrary, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has led Canada in a mostly centrist direction during the nine years he has stood at its helm. In many ways this has served the country well and brought it together during some difficult times. But every so often, the Conservative government disappoints even those who are inclined to view it favourably by digging in its heels and holding a rigidly doctrinaire position on the smallest of issues. This happened twice in the past week. First, the government said it would be introducing legislation to ban veils that cover the face, such as the niqab, during citizenship ceremonies. This is in direct defiance of a Federal Court ruling against a government policy that had required the covering be removed as the oath was taken. [continues 336 words]
A North Coast Proposal Is Aimed at Ensuring That Marijuana Growers Are Regulated Like Any Other Sector WILLOW CREEK, Calif. - The parking lot at the golf course began filling by evening - a procession of raised trucks coated in backcountry dust, an aging red Honda with a "Forever Stoked" bumper sticker. But the 150 or so visitors hadn't come to this Humboldt County hill town to play a round. They were marijuana growers, seeking to learn how to do the right thing for watersheds increasingly strained by the state's epic drought. [continues 1556 words]
Bills Tell Justice Not to Meddle Congress' openness toward marijuana use continues to grow, with the House voting Wednesday to prevent the Justice Department from meddling in states that allow medicinal use of the drug and signaling growing support for even broader protections of legalized pot. The chamber voted to lay off medical marijuana, 242-186, for the second year in a row, and a bid to stop meddling in states that allow recreational use fell shy of a majority. Both votes showed support has grown. [continues 690 words]
Depending on who's talking, a 20-acre hemp farm about 10 miles south of Grants Pass is either the harbinger of a new industry that could help save rural Oregon - or an existential threat to local marijuana farmers just as they're anticipating boom times. Hemp, the non-intoxicating version of cannabis sativa, has long been a big part of the marijuana culture, celebrated for its wide variety of uses and status as a fellow victim of federal prohibition. But now that both hemp and marijuana are coming out of the legal shadows in Oregon, they're suddenly in conflict - and state legislators may be about to side with the much more well-established marijuana industry. [continues 904 words]
We've all seen videos of Third World "police" in combat gear putting down demonstrations by physically assaulting protesters, turning heavy equipment and tear gas on them, or shooting into crowds. That's what makes the recent events in Baltimore all the more disturbing. This time the "peace officers" in military combat gear, brandishing military-grade weapons and perched on armored military vehicles, were ours. No one knows what the Baltimore protests will look like in the coming days, though the criminal charges filed against six police officers in the homicide of Freddie Gray may have a calming effect. But the recent violence there and elsewhere has brought long-overdue attention to an important national development that had all but been ignored: the militarization of our police. [continues 541 words]
As rightly concerned and upset as we are about the fatal injuries Freddie Gray suffered in police custody, we ought to be just as concerned about the body count that existed prior to his death and has been on the rise ever since (there have been roughly three dozen homicides in Baltimore since Gray died, not counting the many wounded). We have come to accept daily community violence as background noise. What's going on, and what can be done? Sadly, every city and region has well-established lines of distribution of illegal drugs and narcotics. Addicts need their drugs once or several times a day, and there's a global network established to satisfy that craving. It starts overseas, where opium and cocaine are processed and then sent to virtually every community and street corner in the U.S. The billions of dollars spent to buy drugs are funneled back to the drug cartels via financial mechanisms that would rival a Wall Street investment bank. [continues 649 words]
The upside for jailed Vancouver longshoreman Jason Cavezza is that his job is waiting for him when he gets out of a U.S. prison later this month Metro Vancouver longshoreman Jason Cavezza has had a rough few years. He was arrested in Cancun, Mexico on May 31, 2008 while on his honeymoon with his now ex-wife. His father died during his seven months in a rat-infested Mexican prison awaiting extradition to the U.S. on felony drug charges. [continues 1614 words]
Hells Angels bikers, other gangsters and convicted international smugglers work as longshoremen handling the 1.5 million containers that flow annually through Port Metro Vancouver More than two dozen of the longshoremen unloading container ships on the docks of Metro Vancouver are Hells Angels, their associates, other gangsters or people with serious criminal records, a Vancouver Sun investigation has found. The infiltration of gangsters and criminals into the port workforce is perpetuated by a longtime employment practice that allows existing union members to nominate friends, relatives and associates when new jobs become available. [continues 2762 words]
