A renewed government focus on tougher drug laws in Canada is "insane," a U.S. expert told a conference on substance abuse yesterday.

Mark Kleiman, a professor at UCLA, was responding to an audience question about what advocates can do to counter moves by the Stephen Harper government away from harm-reduction programs, such as Vancouver's safe-injection site, towards longer jail sentences for drug crimes.

"I don't know what to do about insane policies except to identify them as insane," Kleiman told participants at the four-day Issues of Substance event at Edmonton's Shaw Conference Centre.

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Children, Guns Key

Lengthy prison sentences should be used on the worst drug dealers -- the ones who use children or guns to deal drugs --and should not be based mainly on the quantity being sold, says a U.S. expert on drug control policy.

"You want drug sentences to be based not merely on the drug that's being sold and the quantity, which is the fundamental basis for most drug sentencing both in the U.S. and in Canada, but on the conduct of the drug seller," said Mark Kleiman, who directs the drug policy analysis pro-gram at UCLA School of Public Affairs. He spoke yesterday to 950 delegates at the Issues of Substance conference in Edmonton.

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Turns out the Conservatives "tough on crime" bill is a "tough on so-called drug-crime." Americans are coming to the point where just about every last mile has been wrung out of the tough on drugs failure. I'm hoping Canadians are past that. Filling the jails in America has not stopped a single person from using drugs and left the trade in the hands of ever more ruthless characters hardened by the American injustice system. It's time for Canadians to seriously consider repealing prohibition to take back the streets from the drug criminals just like we did to alcohol criminals of the past.

Chris Buors

(The idea is to have fewer drug addicts, not more.)

[end]

Calgary police are still investigating a drug-related shooting in the city's northeast Friday evening.

A bleeding 18-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound burst into a home in the 100 block of Whiteridge Place N.E. looking for assistance shortly after 6 p.m. Police said the man had staggered to the home from a nearby school parking lot where his car was parked, but added they were unsure were the shots were actually fired.

"The indications right now are that this is a drug deal gone bad," said Calgary police Duty Insp. Keith Pollock.

Pollock added investigators had not determined how many suspects they were seeking.

The injured teen was taken to hospital in non-life threatening condition. The incident is still under investigation.

[end]

Tim Meehan's Nov. 22 letter ("Drug use put to test," suggests people are switching from pot to cocaine as a result of workplace drug testing. Your comment "That's a real stretch, Tim" was wrong. People ARE, in fact choosing to use cocaine, crystal meth and other chemically manufactured substances to escape being caught by drug-testing. Pot, while still illegal and harmful, does stay in your system longer and IS thus much more detectable. Needless damage is being done to individuals who are making bad decisions. It comes down to this: Assuming one of the substances will be chosen, would you rather see your son smoke pot, or snort cocaine? It seriously IS time to remove marijuana from workplace drug testing, or at least switch from urine-sample testing to mouth-swab testing. This would capture those "currently impaired" instead of catching those who were impaired two weeks ago last Saturday.

R. Curtis

(Makes sense.)

[end]

The stigma that people with drug addiction face was front and centre at the kickoff to National Addictions Awareness Week on Monday.

A front-page headline - 'A crackhead' - in Monday's Advocate was used for an article about Red Deer's new shelter program for the homeless. A man using the shelter was quoted in the article calling himself "a crackhead."

Kath Hoffman, director of health for Safe Harbour Society, which helped organize the Winter Inn shelter program, called the headline unfortunate.

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Cpl. Larry Wiltshire, might be the one who's naive (Drugs a Problem in Vulcan County, Nov. 14, 2007); it's not a drug problem, it's a drug prohibition problem. The original prohibition increased gangs, crime, homicide etc. and it only subsided when alcohol prohibition ended. Once alcohol prohibition ended, murder rates decreased for 10 years, and there is reason to believe that ending the sequel will produce the same results.

Further, cannabis (or kaneh bosm or marijuana) isn't a drug but rather a relatively safe God-given plant that should be re-legalized immediately.

Stan White, Dillon, Colorado

[end]

Lou is a crack addict.

On Saturday night, he was still wound up from his most recent hit, but thanks to a new program for Red Deer's homeless, he had a roof over his head.

He was too wide awake at 9 p.m. to be ready to settle down for the night at St. Luke's Anglican Church parish hall - Saturday's Winter Inn location - so he was happy to talk about himself and the circumstances that brought him there.

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With increased workplace drug testing, it's not surprising Alberta is experiencing a boom in cocaine use ("Cocaine use grows on the job," Nov. 17.) And in the debate about drug testing, it's important to consider the effects of banning off-duty marijuana use. As seen in the U.S. in the '80s and '90s, as drug testing took hold, most drug users subjected to testing switched to cocaine and meth from marijuana. Why? Pot stays in your system up to three months, while one can use crack on a Friday night and test clean Monday.

Tim Meehan

(That's a real stretch, Tim.)

[end]

A proposed bill that is widely expected to have survived its final vote in Parliament last week will, if passed, toughen up punishments for impaired drivers across the country.

According to area MP Rob Merrifield it's only a matter of time before the Tackling Violent Crime bill becomes law.

The bill is a combination of five other proposed crime bills that were introduced in the last session of Parliament. Combined together, the new bill has been declared a confidence motion. This means, once it's read for a third time in the House of Commons, MPs must vote favourably, or see the government fall and an election triggered.

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One of Hinton's RCMP officers has a new role and she's bringing back an old program.

Earlier this year, RCMP Const. Deanna Alford took over a new position within the Hinton detachment -- she is now a community services officer.

"In my mind, the community services officer is a position that allows for a greater ability to get out there and be face to face with the public," she said.

The new role is more preventative in nature than the traditional role of a police officer in the community, which is enforcement.

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Crack cocaine and crystal meth may scare parents, but it's alcohol, tobacco and marijuana that are doing the most harm to young people, say experts.

National Addiction Awareness Week, which runs until Saturday, is a reminder for parents to talk to their children about drug use, said Cheryl Houtekamer of the Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission.

"There's a small likelihood they (young people) will run into crystal meth, but we know almost for certain they will run into alcohol and tobacco," Houtekamer said.

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ABBOTSFORD - Two homes used to house large marijuana growing operations were the first in the community to be seized under the province's Civil Forfeiture Act, Abbotsford Chief Const. Ian Mackenzie said Thursday.

The department's drug squad found almost 4,000 pot plants at rural homes on Simpson Road and on Willet Road recently.

The houses were sold, mortgages paid off and $230,000 paid to the B.C. government under the act.

"We recognized early on that this new law would be a great tool for police to hit back at organized crime," said Mackenzie in a news release.

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The same day that news of two house fires - one beginning with an explosion - at marijuana grow operations in Alberta surfaced, RCMP Staff Sgt. Ian Sanderson was in Grande Prairie, talking about the far-reaching effects of the drug trade and organized crime.

"It's absolute," Sanderson said of the connection between drugs and organized crime. "There's no doubt that 100 per cent of drug activity is run by organized criminal activity.

"In many, many different ways. It's not just the drug that sells, it's the other type of activities that are used to fund drug activity or make additional profit relating to the drug activity."

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Just a day after the federal government unveiled legislation to impose mandatory prison terms for drug trafficking, the province's highest court quashed a trafficker's conditional sentence and sent him to prison.

In the decision released Wednesday, the Alberta Court of Appeal said Nathan Randy Sawatsky, 26, was "an unqualified recipient of a conditional sentence."

Justices Peter Martin, Ged Hawco and Sandy Park, in accepting Crown prosecutor Bob Sigurdson's argument, substituted a 31/2-year prison term for the sentence of two years less a day that was to be served primarily under house arrest.

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Is there really not very much willingness in the community to learn more about potential drug-abuse problems?

Monday night's informational evening, hosted by Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission, drew only four interested people.

AADAC personnel, rather optimistically, said if such seminars help only one person, they are worthwhile.

Certainly, that is true, as if even one of those four people in attendance can spot a potential problem with their child before it is too late, that is a big positive.

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A drug treatment court for addicts will continue operating for at least one more year after city council approved spending $250,000 in 2008. The court, which has been running as a pilot project in the Salvation Army Centre of Hope, allows judges to send drug addicts who commit non-violent crimes for rehabilitative treatment instead of jail.

"It makes sense," said Mayor Dave Bronconnier, who, along with Ald. Druh Farrell, brought forward the request during budget talks Monday. "We are looking at people who have chronic dependencies on the street that are costing the city -- the taxpayer -- in some cases $150,000 to $200,000 for one person."

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$2.25-Million Research Project Hopes To Blend Plant Fibres With Plastics

For centuries, humans have found practical uses for hemp, weaving it into items such as rope and clothing. Now the Alberta Research Council wants to tighten those bonds by determining more cutting-edge uses for this versatile plant.

A new two-year, $2.25-million project hopes to find ways to blend Albertagrown hemp fibres with locally produced plastics to create more sustainable materials.

The research council is well placed to do this work because it has spent the last decade working on biofibres and bioindustrial products, said John Wolodko, the council's biocomposite program leader.

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Number Of Stressed, Affluent Albertans Abusing Drug In Workplace Continues To Rise

Prosperous, stressed-out Albertans are increasingly abusing cocaine in the workplace, says an official with the province's drug abuse agency.

As the percentage of its clientele struggling with cocaine continues to rise, Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) prevention consultant Ron Beach said the drug's impact at the workplace has also worsened.

"Circumstances are ripe when you have affluence, shift work, people working alone or far from home," said Beach, adding there's been an increase in the number of employers seeking AADAC's help in dealing with cocaine.

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A handful of parents showed up at Highwood High on Tuesday night to learn about the drugs their children might be exposed to every day.

"This is just the first of five or six session this year," said RCMP Const. Krista Woods, D.A.R.E co-ordinator.

Tuesday's session was about illegal drug use: what parents could look for in their children and how to minimize the risk of them getting involved in drugs.

"The sessions are just for adults -- it's geared for parents, caregivers, and legal guardians," Const. Woods said.

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