Re: "Decriminalization of pot will disarm gangs," Sept. 26. I find this article and all those who follow this doctrine to be incredibly naive and disturbing. What is it that they think the criminals are going to do when the pot trade is legal and regulated? They are not going to retire and become productive citizens, but rather move on to more dangerous crimes, probably in the drug trade, by producing greater quantities of crack cocaine, homegrown methamphetamines and ecstasy, etc., to replace the relatively innocuous marijuana that they now fight over. [continues 146 words]
Municipal leaders were to vote Wednesday, Sept. 26 on a resolution calling for the appropriate level of government to decriminalize marijuana, as well research the taxation of it. The resolution was raised by the community of Metchosin at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, and suggests that B.C. is responsible for 40 per cent of all marijuana grown in Canada. The prohibition on pot is a failed policy that costs the province millions each year for police, court, jail and social services. [continues 211 words]
Heroin's popularity is surging in Lethbridge as city police try to get ahead of the trend. Lethbridge police are seeing monthly increases in street sales of the illegal narcotic and have a number of investigations ongoing in the wake of the city's first heroin trafficking conviction earlier this week, according to Staff Sgt. Wes Houston. Houston is the officer in charge of a police team that targets drug crime called the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) combined special enforcement unit in Lethbridge. He said police are concerned that the potent drug, which carries a high risk of overdose, is emerging as one of Lethbridge's main drugs of choice. [continues 307 words]
Health Canada has now made illegal the key ingredient in the drug known as bath salts, which took Owen Sound police by surprise earlier this year after five people were hospitalized within a 24-hour period after injecting or smoking it. It's a move the city's police department is applauding. "It's positive news for us for sure. If that substance shows up again, then we'll be able to take action," Owen Sound Police Services Det-Sgt. Mark Kielb said Thursday in an interview. [continues 420 words]
Marijuana aficionados have been trying to legalize pot through the back door in Oregon for years Marijuana aficionados have been trying to legalize pot through the back door in Oregon for years. With Measure 80, they're trying to do it as a Saturday Night Live comedy sketch. Don't let them. The Oregon Cannabis Tax Act is wrong for Oregon - and badly written to boot. To be clear, there are strong arguments for the legalization of marijuana as part of an overall national drug policy. Federal and state governments spend billions every year trying to enforce antiquated marijuana laws when that money should be spent capturing and prosecuting drug cartels pushing cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other destructive substances. But that's a topic for another day. [continues 406 words]
The legalization of marijuana has been a hot-button issue across the United States for decades. Some claim marijuana has virtually no detrimental effects. In fact, proponents say it's good for your health. Others say it not only removes inhibitions, it slows reflexes and kills brain cells. One thing's for sure: It costs millions of dollars to enforce penalties against those who grow, use and deal the weed. Motivated mostly by economics, 14 states have already voted to decriminalize the possession of marijuana. In Indiana, the effort, led by Republican state Sen. Brent Steele, is afoot. [continues 233 words]
Municipal leaders called for the decriminalization of marijuana at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention here Wednesday. "I'm absolutely thrilled. I think it's very important," said marijuana activist Dana Larsen, adding the vote sets the stage for a petition campaign to decriminalize possession and use of cannabis in B.C. In what pot activist Dana Larsen called an important step, municipal leaders from across B.C. called Wednesday for the decriminalization of marijuana. Opinions on the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention floor were clearly divided but, after about 30 minutes of debate, a clear majority of municipal mayors, councillors and regional leaders voted in favour of a resolution calling on appropriate authorities to decriminalize and research regulation and taxation of pot. [continues 451 words]
It's not a far walk from the site of Wednesday's big municipal pot party to one of the provincial capital's more surprising locations for a marijuana grow-op. Just last month, police busted a former bedroom furnishing store on busy Government Street in Victoria. In a commercial district usually known for its kitschy tourist shops, the cops instead found a large marijuana grow operation. But did I say surprising? Maybe not so much to the B.C. mayors and councillors who voted to abandon an unwinnable war on pot. [continues 388 words]
'I'm thrilled,' chief says of new rules Calgary Police Chief Rick Hanson is applauding the federal government's move to ban the key ingredient in the street drug known as bath salts, saying it allows officers to finally crack down on dealers. "I'm thrilled," Hanson said. "Too many people were selling it, they were bringing it into the country. This is going to allow us to take the steps that are necessary to endeavour to put a stop to the sale of that." [continues 376 words]
UNITED NATIONS -- Latin American leaders at ground zero of the war on drugs called for a new approach Wednesday, saying the current drive to crush powerful cartels has failed to reduce consumption. The presidents of Mexico, Guatemala and Colombia all spoke at the U.N. General Assembly of the need to find a new approach to the global war drugs. "The premise of our fight against drugs has proven to have serious flaws," said President Otto Perez of Guatemala, who in the past has advocated legalizing drugs to wipe out the profit motive for traffickers. [continues 170 words]
Last week, the Mexican Navy nabbed one of the world's biggest drug kingpins, a man said to be responsible for billions of dollars in drugs flowing into the United States and for tens of thousands of deaths. Score one, you might say, for the war on drugs. But in a speech at Elmhurst College earlier this month, U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, one of our nation's most distinguished jurists, called it "absurd" to criminalize the sale or use of marijuana and questioned whether even cocaine is all that dangerous. [continues 513 words]
Sonoma County sheriff's officials, still sifting through reports and findings from a massive raid on home marijuana gardens in southwest Santa Rosa, said Thursday that authorities yanked a total 1,150 plants weighing more than 15,000 pounds in Wednesday's daylong operation. Ninety-six pounds of processed marijuana, worth about $2,000 a pound on the street, also were confiscated, Sonoma County Sheriff's Lt. Dennis O'Leary said. The total value of the pot seized likely exceeded $2.5 million by that accounting. [continues 168 words]
Re: Sept. 23 article, " Film spies on final rest of capos." Mexican cartel violence is a direct result of drug prohibition. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The U.S. drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. Taxing and regulating marijuana, the most popular illicit drug, is a cost-effective alternative to never-ending drug war. As long as marijuana distribution is controlled by drug cartels, consumers will continue to come into contact with hard drugs such as methamphetamine, cocaine and heroin. Marijuana prohibition is a gateway drug policy. Robert Sharpe Arlington, Va. [end]
Mainstream B.C. stood up in public Wednesday and moved the marijuana debate much closer to decriminalization than ever before. The resolution passed at the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention in Victoria is the clearest indication yet of how far the "get tough with criminal pot smokers" stance has eroded. More than 500 delegates considered a motion that declared the status quo a failure and urged decriminalization of marijuana, coupled with research on regulation and taxation. After a passionate debate, they passed it by open show of hands. It was endorsed by such a clear margin - probably 60 per cent plus - they didn't even bother to count the votes. [continues 655 words]
' Growing chorus of voices' want change but Prime Minister Stephen Harper remains opposed B. C. municipal leaders voted Wednesday for a resolution that calls for the decriminalization of marijuana, but they're facing a major hurdle: convincing Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government to change the law. Harper has said previously he's not interested. But former B. C. attorney-general Geoff Plant urged delegates at the Union of B. C. Municipalities earlier this week to join a "growing chorus of voices" across Canada to show the prime minister that across the country, "people are calling for change." [continues 570 words]
The main ingredient in bath salts, a mind-altering, synthetic drug, is now illegal. MDPV has been added to Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, putting it the same category as heroin and cocaine, federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Wednesday in Ottawa. "This means it's illegal to produce, sell, import or possess MDPV unless it is authorized by regulations, which will make it harder for people to deal, or manufacture, these so-called 'bath salts,'" Aglukkaq said. [continues 332 words]
Re "Jim Crow 2012" by Jeff vonKaenel (SN&R Greenlight, September 13): The drug war has been waged in a racist manner since its inception. The Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 was preceded by a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment. Opium was identified with Chinese laborers, marijuana with Mexicans and cocaine with African-Americans. Racial profiling continues to be the norm, despite similar rates of drug use for minorities and whites. Support for the drug war would end overnight if whites were incarcerated for drugs at the same rate as minorities. The drug war is a cultural inquisition, not a public-health campaign. [continues 95 words]
Re: Fix B. C.' s ' drug problem' by legalizing marijuana, Opinion, Sept. 21 There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls as provided for by BC's Sensible Policing Act. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. The marijuana plant is relatively harmless; marijuana prohibition is deadly. As long as drug cartels control marijuana distribution, consumers will come into contact with sellers of hard drugs like cocaine, meth and heroin. Marijuana prohibition is a gateway drug policy. Robert Sharpe Common Sense for Drug Policy [end]
Prescription Drug Abuse Drops Among Young People Prescription drug abuse in the USA declined last year year to the lowest rate since 2002 amid federal and state crackdowns on drug-seeking patients and over-prescribing doctors. Young adults drove the drop. The number of people 18 to 25 who regularly abuse prescription drugs fell 14% to 1.7 million, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported Monday. In 2011, 3.6% of young adults abused pain relievers, the lowest rate in a decade. [continues 503 words]
Experts at Odds About Effect Lifting Drug Laws Will Have on Crime B. C. municipal leaders will vote Wednesday on a resolution that calls for the decriminalization of marijuana, with some experts saying a prohibition on pot is a failed policy that has cost millions of dollars in police, court, jail and social costs. But a leading criminologist and two police officers - from Canada and the U. S. - argue lifting the prohibition will have little effect on reducing organized crime or the black market in marijuana. [continues 604 words]
