The Result Of This Laissez-Faire Attitude Towards Drugs And A Narcissistic Idea That Parents Should Be "Cool" And Not Worry About Abdicating Their Responsibility As Parents Has Coincided With An Increase In Binge Drinking And Marijuana Use By B.C. Students. In a November, 2005 Maclean's Magazine article titled "Pass the Weed, Dad" writer Marni Jackson spoke with several families where parents and children smoke or used to smoke pot together. While startling, this revelation should not surprise the millennium generation, (as they prefer to be called) raised on tales of Woodstock and the good times had back in Mommy & Daddy's day. [continues 2556 words]
The Whistler-Pemberton RCMP are asking recreational hikers, cyclists and flyers to keep their eyes open for illegal marijuana grow operations in the area. Anyone who sees anything is asked to report the sighting of any illegal activities, and make note of the GPS coordinates if possible, and forward that information to the RCMP at 604-932-3044 or Crimestoppers. Last year tips led police to the seizure of several grow operations. Other agencies assisting in the project include the B.C. Forestry Service, B.C. Conservation, Stl'atl'imx Tribal Police and RCMP Air Services. [end]
At first I was optimistic that the Stephen Harper Conservative government might be a good thing for the country. Given its minority status after the last election, and the fact that the Liberals and one other party can bring about Canada's third national election in less than four years, I expected a humble, conciliatory government that works closely with other parties. You know, the kind of government they said they'd be during the last campaign. Turns out that Harper has about as much interest in working with other parties as he does in holding a civil discourse on the issues, which is to say he has no interest in this government but his own. Elected under the pretense of bringing integrity and accountability back to Parliament, Harper has so far been all swagger, all the time. [continues 803 words]
Silence equals death. This is not a column about AIDS, but about kids using heroin in a small town. But indulge me, there is a connection. Silence equals death was the battle cry of AIDS activists in the early '90s. Suddenly the love that dare not speak its name wouldn't shut up. It was everywhere. On TV, in magazines and newspapers and in people's minds awareness grew about the reality of living with AIDS. Why that catchall was so effective in motivating people to break silence is that it was true. Unless gays, lesbians and their allies spoke up about the need for more funding, the need to release experimental drugs and the need to recognize people with AIDS as people first, then more people were going to die. (For AIDS was at that time, as it continues to be in Canada and many parts of the U.S., a predominantly gay man's disease.) In breaking the silence, we would be giving life a chance even if we could not eradicate death. [continues 698 words]
Whistler Secondary Parents Decide Not To Bring In Sniffer Dogs After a passionate debate parents at Whistler Secondary have decided not to support random drug searches in the school. The debate was in part sparked by a call by some parents to introduce "sniffer" dogs as a way to help the school be free of illicit drugs and alcohol. Instead the parents at the Parent Advisory Council meeting Tuesday night decided to focus on educational initiatives to combat drug and alcohol use and to ensure the topic is addressed regularly. "We want parents to know that we are not trying to brush this under the carpet," PAC chair Manj Thind said Wednesday. [continues 727 words]
Whistler Resident Loses A Night After Slipped Potentially Lethal Drug April Solonyka's Whistler nights are much the same. After getting off work as the general manager of Elements at 10:30, she stops by to Maxx Fish, the pub where her partner Jim Button tends bar, chats with friends and locals until closing time and then heads home. But Tuesday, Jan. 10 was different because Solonyka has no memory of the night. She thinks someone slipped gamma hydroxybutyrate (GHB) into her drink. [continues 974 words]
RE: Weston backs Harper on drug sentencing (Pique online Dec. 5, 2005) One can only assume that John Weston is in cahoots with drug dealers and organized criminals. Why else would he support mandatory minimums? The more we "crack down" on drug dealers, the more profit they make. It drives the small-timers right out of the game, drives up the competition between the big ones we don't catch, and therefore increases the gun-violence. This isn't an opinion, it is a simple fact. [continues 101 words]
The son of a career RCMP officer, Paul Vadik always wanted to don the red serge. Watching his father and his father's colleagues working to insure that citizens of towns in rural Manitoba were safe was inspiring. "Seeing what my dad and his friends did gave me a sense of pride," said Corp. Vadik. Over the course of his 13 years on the force, he has worked in a gang unit investigating the Nanaimo Hells Angels, as an undercover officer in the drug unit and in property crimes. As the new full-time officer in Pemberton, he can add police escort to his job description. [continues 441 words]
John Weston, the Conservative candidate in West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea-to-Sky Country, welcomed leader Stephen Harper's call for mandatory minimum prison sentences of at least two years for people convicted of serious drug offences. Harper, speaking in Burnaby Saturday, called for the mandatory minimum sentences for anyone convicted of trafficking, importing, exporting or manufacturing drugs such as heroin, cocaine, crystal meth and large amounts (over 3 kg) of marijuana or hashish. "Unfortunately, we can't take safe communities for granted anymore," Weston said in a release. "Our families are deeply concerned about the spread of drugs from inner cities to suburbs to even more rural areas, and a Conservative government will work hard to fight this scourge." [continues 106 words]
More Than 840 Plants Seized Police seized more than 840 marijuana plants and expensive hydroponic equipment from a grow-op in Pemberton Saturday. The operation was shut down when police executed a search warrant for 1468 Laburnum Street. Police would not divulge the street value of the seized marijuana. However, based on a conservative wholesale price of $1,500 a pound, with the average yield per plant exceeding three-quarters of a pound, the crop is potentially worth a minimum $945,000. [continues 613 words]
I was shocked to discover that Canada has joined the American war on drugs with the arrest and possible extradition of Internet pot seed dealer Marc Emery and two others in Vancouver. The entire thing seems very odd. Although I'm not a lawyer, my understanding of Canadian extradition laws are that a Canadian citizen can't be extradited if they face sentencing not in line with what they would face in a Canada. Certainly a minimum 10-year sentence for selling marijuana seeds far exceeds anything that they would face in a Canadian court. Considering the sales were made in Canada and mailed to the United States, shouldn't this be a case for the Canadian courts in the first place? [continues 466 words]
I was a bit surprised by the wrap-up to the article entitled "Pemberton drug busts up" in the July 14 edition of Pique Newsmagazine. After speaking about drug busts and marijuana grow-ops, Filipenko concludes by stating that Staff Sgt. "McPhail sees drugs and substance abuse as the primary issue in the community and he sees working as a community towards a closer relationship with the First Nations as essential to developing strategies on the social issues that challenge both communities." [continues 154 words]
Aggressive Driving A Bigger Issue Than Impaired Driving Drug busts are up and drunk driving is down in Pemberton. That's the findings of an RCMP report presented to the Village of Pemberton's mayor and council June 21. Technically a quarterly undertaking, the report covered the period from Jan. 1 to May 31 and compared statistics for the same time period last year. So far this year there have been 25 drug cases in the community, compared to 18 last year. However, clearance -- a term pertaining to the exhaustion or conclusion of an investigation -- has fallen from 78 per cent to 68 per cent. [continues 339 words]
G.D. Maxwell's March 10th column was right on target. Hazardous marijuana grow operations are a direct result of marijuana prohibition. Legitimate farmers do not steal electricity to grow produce in the basements of rented homes. If legal, growing marijuana would be less profitable then farming tomatoes. As it stands, the drug war distorts market forces such that an easily grown weed is literally worth its weight in gold. Rather than continue to subsidize organized crime, Canadian policymakers should ignore the reefer madness hysteria of the U.S. government and instead look to their own Senate for guidance. In the words of Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue." Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, D.C. [end]
I would like to urge both sides of the marijuana issue to stop using the deaths of four men to push their own personal agendas. I encourage you all to read the coverage. These men were brutally murdered in cold blood by a man who hated police officers. He was a ticking time bomb who participated in many forms of crime: he stole cars, illegally confined people, stole guns, manufactured moonshine, was found guilty of sexual assault and, yes, grew marijuana. He was feared by nearly his entire community and it was well known that he was a police hater. [continues 445 words]
Sea to Sky corridor drug scene usually plays role in large property crime cases Whistler and Squamish police have recovered several thousand dollars worth of stolen goods after raiding a Squamish apartment. "There were flat screen TVs, several high-end mountain bikes, snowboards, computers, and things that were obviously taken from cars," said Squamish RCMP Cpl. Dave Ritchie. "We believe it is all Sea to Sky stuff from businesses, residences and vehicles." Police are investigating more than one suspect but no arrests had been made at press time. [continues 701 words]
I'm at a loss. Confused, saddened, outraged, impotent, and thoroughly, utterly pissed off. The parade's movin' at warp speed and I just don't know which bandwagon to jump onto. In a country where so few violent murders are committed each year we couldn't produce even a single deck of Scumbag Murderers playing cards, four Mounties are gunned down in a single incident by a lone town bully from Deliverance, Alberta. In a country where the only thing more maddening, time-consuming and bureaucratically drawn-out than getting a permit to buy a hunting rifle is waiting in line for an MRI, a nutbar with a long history of arrests, threatening behaviour, and weapons violations has an arsenal on his farm in Deliverance because the police, criminal justice system and his don't-touch-our-guns neighbours just can't figure out a way to deal with him, despite the federal government having burned through a billion tax dollars to institute a scandalously ineffective gun registry. [continues 1069 words]
Pemberton council has passed a bylaw aimed at weeding out marijuana grow operations and in the process, it has reduced the rights of rental tenants in Pemberton. The bylaw is similar to one the Chilliwack council pioneered and which has had a huge impact in stopping grow operations in that region. The Chilliwack bylaw is effective because of changes that were made to the Residency Tenancy Act, or RTA, which allows the landlord to legally inspect the spaces they rent periodically. The bylaw places the onus on landlords to ensure that there are no marijuana grow operations in their places. [continues 174 words]
Snowboarder To Join Hockey Legends, Other Olympians In Induction Ceremony It was Feb.8, 1998, at the Olympic Games in Nagano, where Whistler's own Ross Rebagliati claimed the first gold medal ever awarded for snowboarding. It was an exciting giant slalom race, with Quebec's Jaysey Jay Anderson in front of the pack after the first run, and Rebagliati securely in eighth place. Mark Fawcett, the favourite to win the medal, blew out a binding on his snowboard on his first run, and would have to watch the race from the sidelines. [continues 558 words]
Staff Sergeant Norm McPhail says he would like to see the research on marijuana and violence. He can find the report "Psychoactive Substances and Violence" by the US Department of Justice at http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/govpubs/psycviol.htm In summary, the report states that the only drug with any real connection to drug-induced violence is alcohol. The violence associated with illegal drugs is primarily "systemic". That is, it is a result of the system of prohibition that creates a lucrative criminal market. [continues 164 words]
Re: Marijuana candidate brings home cannabis cafe debate, (Pique Sept. 17, 2004) Self-proclaimed marijuana "expert" RCMP Staff Sergeant Norm McPhail offers the usual official spin to defend marijuana prohibition: marijuana might or could be as harmful as alcohol, therefore marijuana should remain prohibited. This kind of drunken logic is what the Supreme Court of Canada presents, as legal scholarship, to defend marijuana laws against Charter of Rights challenges. Obviously, marijuana laws do not protect the public's order, health, or safety, but rather placate the Americans' zeal for their failed drug war strategies. This continued subordination of Canadian rights and freedoms in the interest of foreign relations is unconstitutional and demands the invocation of the Not-withstanding Clause contained in our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The only real solution though, is total legalization, but I won't hold my toke waiting for it to happen. Peter Yunge-Bateman, North Vancouver [end]
RCMP Says Research And Education Needed Before Legalization Is Considered The debate surrounding the Da Kine cafe might be raging in Vancouver, but former Marijuana Party candidate in Pemberton's riding is ensuring the ramifications of any decision will be felt well outside the city limits. Norm Siefken has been a candidate for the Marijuana Party in the Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon riding, which includes Pemberton and D'Arcy, during the past two federal elections. He also owns a cannabis-seed business in Vancouver. [continues 1306 words]
Building A Better Drug And Alcohol Strategy The first step to recovery is admitting the problem. Pemberton and Mount Currie have recently recommitted to this first step and have gone further by offering up potential solutions to the area's substance abuse problems. Recent meetings of both the Pemberton Healthy Communities Committee and the Pemberton-Mount Currie Drug and Alcohol Task Force have generated numerous suggestions to address this issue. Everything from creating citizens' patrols of well-known outdoor drinking areas to employing an approach similar to the City of Vancouver's Four Pillar approach has been brought forward. [continues 2527 words]
You might not agree with him, but Norm Siefken is the kind of guy that has an uncanny ability to make you laugh. Rather than go door knocking with a handful of pamphlets, Siefken, who is the Marijuana Party candidate in Chilliwack-Fraser Canyon, the riding which includes Pemberton, arrived in Whistler with a car full of signs he personally paid for, two bags of weed, a bong and his "campaign" stethoscope. Siefken is colourful character, a huge man with a totally outlandish style. He is a headline waiting to happen, because he talks openly about things that would make many politicians cringe. And while his party might be known as the "one policy party", Siefken has a learned opinion on a variety of issues. [continues 736 words]
Whistler's Three Schools May Be In Line To Get A Full Time Police School Liaison Officer. RCMP Cst. Michelle Nesbitt told the Myrtle Philip Parent Advisory Committee meeting this week, "that there was a chance that a full time position is going to be created." The PAC overwhelmingly approved the idea and voted to send a letter of support to the RCMP. Nesbitt, who is currently the Community Policing Officer, already spends time in the schools with the DARE program and others. [continues 343 words]
Neither the Coast Garibaldi Health Authority nor the Whistler/Pemberton RCMP have any statistics involving the use of date rape drugs, but both acknowledge that it is going on. Most events aren't formally reported, and the ones that are often lack proof - both common date rape drugs, GHB and Rohypnol, are all but impossible to detect more than eight hours after they enter the blood stream. Pique Newsmagazine received a report of three suspected cases in the last six weeks through a friend of the victims. Two of the girls were taken to a hospital in Squamish, according to the report, and one made it home with the help of a friend. [continues 365 words]
Findings on Alcohol and Drug Use Shock Many Parent Advisory Council meetings have been dominated over the last few weeks by concerns surrounding a youth survey done earlier this year. The survey questioned kids in Grades 6 through 12 about attitudes toward school, community, home and peers, and their use of alcohol and other drugs. Some of the findings, while no different from the results of other surveys done in B.C. and across Canada, were shocking to parents. One parent at Whistler Secondary's PAC meeting this week said he was so concerned he spoke to his kids at length and told them he was prepared to leave the community if they thought it was a problem. [continues 501 words]
This letter was addressed to Health Minister Anne McLellan and Justice Minister Martin Couchon. "Marijuana is harmful and will remain illegal," what an inane thing to say. Booze and cigarettes are legal so I guess they are not "harmful" since they don't really cause you to misbehave or die. I read a letter once (in a newspaper) where a woman said she had seen lots of fights break out in bars but the only time she'd ever seen a bunch of pot smokers come close to fighting was when an argument developed over what to order on their pizza. [continues 106 words]
Community workers strive to educate kids on dangers of substance abuse The results of a new Lower Mainland drug and alcohol study are mirrored in Whistler, said a community youth outreach worker. "I think the usage is quite high for our young adults between the ages of 18 and 24," said Greg McDonnell. And kids as young as 12-years-old are already experimenting with alcohol and marijuana. But McDonnell and others are working in the schools and in the community to make sure kids, parents and others understand the risks of this type of behaviour. [continues 784 words]
Have You Heard? The War Is Over! The Canadian Senate, that moribund public patronage trough for aging political bagpersons and defeated politicians, has sung its own song of freedom, its own redemption song - Don't Bogart that Joint My Friend, Pass it Over to Me. Who'da thunk. The Senate, our Senate, obviously hiding balls the size of cantaloupes all these years, comes out puffing, calling for the legalization of cannabis. Not some namby-pamby, don't-ask-don't-tell, half-measure, turn a blind eye decriminalization, but outright, trot down to 7-11 for a pack of smokes legalization! Breathtaking. [continues 1061 words]
Well, they might still not smoke marijuana in Muskogee - who cares? - but if so, it must be about the last place on earth. The Killer Weed is enjoying a high, so to speak, a renaissance of reefer, a bounty of bud. Roll another one... just like the other one. The war on drugs is over - drugs won. Consider the evidence. The obsequious Tony Blair announces before all Parliament a policy to stop Bobbies busting Brits for simple possession of pot and hash. He reckons the cop resources of the country are better employed ferreting out hard drugs. Okay, one step forward, one back. But at least it?s a step. Ya gotta walk before you run. [continues 1057 words]
