Re: Our View: Time to Rethink War On Drugs, Nov. 29 Capital News.

Who writes this drivel? If it was written to get a reaction, you certainly succeeded from this individual.

If written because it really is, "Our View," it is obvious to me that those responsible have ingested too much of the product they believe should be legalized and that alone should be sufficient evidence to negate the argument that more revenue for government wins the day.

More money in the hands of government does not convince me that we should legalize cannabis.

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Call off B.C.'s police from busting folks with pot for personal use, then lobby Ottawa to legalize and tax marijuana.

That's basically the three-year, two-step plan being pitched by decriminalization advocate Dana Larsen who's visiting the Cowichan Library Monday at 6 p.m., then Mill Bay's Kerry Park Recreation Centre Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Pivotal to Larsen's push - called Sensible BC - is the province's Sensible Policing Act.

It could order all B.C. cops to stop spending time or resources searching, seizing or arresting anyone for simple cannabis possession, explained the director of Vancouver's Medical Cannabis Dispensary.

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Health and harm-reduction services for those suffering from severe addictions and mental-health problems will be expanded and based out of two downtown Victoria hubs.

The Access Health Centre on Johnson Street and the Withdrawal Management complex (Sobering Centre) at Cook and Pembroke streets will reach out to about 100 of the most vulnerable people in downtown Victoria.

The plan includes case managers who will track clients even when they are in hospital or in jail and reconnect them with services ranging from clean needles to housing.

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A case against a Lower Mainland man accused of running a large marijuana grow operation on the outskirts of Prince George suffered a blow Tuesday when a provincial court judge threw out evidence obtained under a search warrant.

Judge Victor Galbraith ruled the search warrant invalid because it was obtained under an allegation of theft of telecommunication service while the actual charge should have been theft of electricity.

Although both offences are under the same section of the Criminal Code, and headed with the term "theft of telecommunication service" it's broken into subsections for two distinct offences - one related to electricity or gas and the other to telecommunications.

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Editor:

Re: Legalizing marijuana opens the door to host of social problems, Nov. 16 If marijuana were just decriminalized, then alcohol needs to be de-legalized.

Remember prohibition? Alcohol is a drug.

I have also worked in the field of alcohol and drug abuse, and am more than 28 years clean and sober.

Did Jim Stimson's family members overdose on marijuana? Did his sister die from marijuana? Is his son addicted to marijuana? I think not. The three separate car crashes resulted from alcohol abuse, not marijuana.

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As random drug-testing for oilsands workers is battled out in the courts, local employees are not likely to have to undergo that level of intrusion.

Currently, Suncor in court to put in place randomized drug tests for its Fort McMurray operations.

However, Encana, which employs a large number of people in the Peace Region, said that it does not plan to institute similar measures in this part of the world.

"Encana does not have random drug testing in place and we have no current plans to implement it," wrote Doug McIntyre, a spokesman for Encana.

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Dave Douglas has hosted two sales since October, and police seem to be okay with the way he handles it

High "medicine" costs to use marijuana from sanctioned Health Canada growers and the black market has frustrated a local man enough to start his own 420 Market in east Vancouver.

It's already been running once a month since October, pot activist Dave Douglas told 24 hours this week. His federal medical marijuana licence allows him to purchase a large amount daily - 20 grams - from a sanctioned grower. It's too much for him to use alone, so he sells it for about three-quarters of the black market price to licensees who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford it.

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Dana Larsen, who last year ran for the leadership of the BC NDP, is touring Vancouver Island over the next two weeks to promote the Sensible Policing Act, which would effectively decriminalize cannabis possession in the province.

Larsen will be speaking to supporters in Courtenay on Saturday December 8 at the Florence Filberg Centre, 411 Anderton Avenue from 7:00-8:30pm.

"The Sensible Policing Act directs all police in BC to stop spending any time or resources on searching, seizing or arresting anyone for simple cannabis possession," explained Larsen, who works as Director of the Vancouver Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary. "The lawyers at Elections BC have confirmed that this legislation is within provincial jurisdiction and suitable for a referendum."

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The union representing employees at two Elk Valley mines has filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia to try to stop Teck implementing a random drug and alcohol testing program.

The union said the program, brought in to effect on Monday, is unlawful and inconsistent with human rights privacy legislation. The parties are in arbitration, but according to the union there is no way to stop the program quickly without intervention from the court.

Teck said the new program will reduce injuries at work, but the union said this is unjustified, since fatalities and injuries are low at open pit mines in B.C. They said that insurance rates for such mines, which are based in part on injury rates, are lower than those of lawn bowling facilities.

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A Kamloops marijuana activist says a proposed change to the city's zoning bylaw goes too far in restricting the growing of medical marijuana.

While he initially told KTW he supported changes that would allow medical-marijuana growers to quietly set up shop in the city's industrial areas, Carl Anderson of the Canadian Safe Cannabis Society said he now has some serious concerns about the proposal.

Kamloops council decided last week to hold a public hearing on the bylaw amendment, which is intended to get medical-marijuana production out of residential areas.

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Re: Policing a 'perfect storm,' Nov. 23

How nice. CityTV decides to "entertain" us by showing the poor and the mentally ill desperately trying to survive in the dangerous environment of the Downtown Eastside and you decide to promote this sick freak show.

I'll bet my pension CityTV will never mention that most of the harm done by illegal drugs is because the damn stuff is prohibited.

Alan Randell

[end]

Editor:

I don't know what Glenn Driedger has been smoking, but he should change to cannabis and come to grips with reality (Faith Today, Nov. 22 Times).

The Dutch consume cannabis in levels much lower than Canadians or US citizens. Any increase he notes when it semi-legalized was a short-term phenomenon, just as it will be in our countries when it is re-legalized.

Dutch teenagers are much less likely to use it because the forbidden fruit syndrome has been removed and they think cannabis is something boring that old hippies do.

People like Glenn are afraid of reality and the earth we live on.

The rest of us don't need to be saddled with their fears and phobias.

Dave Lane

Santa Cruz, Calif.

[end]

Editor: Re: Faith Today, Nov. 22. It's interesting that you use The Netherlands as your example for what could go wrong if we relaxed our laws on cannabis since the Dutch have between one half and one quarter the usage rates as we do in Canada, depending on what drug we are talking about.

A quick check of Wikipedia found that the percentage of Cannabis users in Canada is 12.4 per cent and in the Netherlands the cannabis usage rate is 5.9 per cent.

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Editor:

Regarding Mr. Driedger's opinion regarding legalizing cannabis and the growing numbers of calls for changing our policies concerning cannabis(Times, Nov. 22).

A person totally loses all cred-ility to me when they compare using a recreational drug to robbery or murder. Now using drugs or alcohol may not be wise, may lead to problems that do affect others but we cannot police so-called crimes where all parties consent. Nor is it likely you would find 50 per cent of the population in favour of decriminalizing activities that produces actual victims. If someone is murdered, there is a victim. If someone is robbed, they call the police. If someone sells someone else a bag of pot, both people generally leave satisfied; there is no complaint to the police. Laws that attempt to make consenting activities illegal fail to curtail such activities and cause people to disrespect the law.

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I read with interest Evan Wood's opinion (Vancouver Sun, Nov., 3, 2012) of a new drug, unavailable in Canada that could aid in the battle against addiction. While I would love to be able to support the notion that Vivitrol (naltrexone) will be a huge asset in the fight against addictions, I am highly skeptical.

In my experience as executive director of Edgewood, one of North America's most respected addiction treatment centres right here in British Columbia, we have yet to find anything that is as effective as well-structured, long-term, abstinence-based residential treatment. No pill, injection, short-term detox or therapy-of-the-month has had any lasting benefit for the majority of substance-dependent people and their families suffering from this disease.

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I know - I've been there and done that

My solution these days does not come in a pill form. It comes in acceptance. In action. What I've been doing for 24 years.

I didn't wake up. I came to. Usually abruptly. Panicked. Terrified. The first five minutes were always the worst. Where was I? Who is that person beside me? Is anything broken? Where's my wallet? Where am I supposed to be? I need water. I smell like a brewery. What did I do with my car?

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Vancouver's legal supervised injection site for drug addicts

IT'S just after 7:00 am but already a group of men and women stand shivering in the chilly Vancouver air, but it's not only the frigid Canadian weather and spending the night outdoors that has caused the shakes. These are drug addicts anxiously waiting for the doors of Insite - a safe and legal drug injecting facility - to open.

This facility, operated by the Portland Hotel Society with partial government funding, provides drug addicts with all the sterile paraphernalia needed to inject illegal substances - such as heroin - in a safe environment where they are monitored by the staff to prevent them overdosing.

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Now that neighbouring Washington state and Colorado have legalized marijuana, Ottawa can no longer claim Canada must uphold marijuana prohibition in order to maintain good U.S. relations.

In 2002, the Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs concluded that marijuana is relatively benign, prohibition contributes to organized crime, and law enforcement efforts have little impact on patterns of use.

Consider the experience of the former land of the free and current world leader in per capita incarceration.

The United States has double the rate of marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana is legally available to adults.

The only winners in the war on marijuana are drug cartels and shameless tough-on-drugs politicians who've built careers confusing the drug war's tremendous collateral damage with a comparatively harmless plant.

Robert Sharpe MPA Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington, DC

[end]

Re: "Date set for D.A.R.E. (Drug Addiction Resistance Education) tribute" - published Nov. 17 on castlegarnews.com

It would be of interest to Castlegar readers to know on what basis you have determined the D.A.R.E. program to be "highly successful."

The opinions of the RCMP members that are being paid to promote the effectiveness of their own program, does not provide any evidence that the program is actually accomplishing the goals that it upholds, namely, "working with school children to equip them with the information and skills they need to make safe and responsible choices," "As these children grow to be responsible citizens, they will lead healthier and more productive drug-free lives."

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Society Hopes to Build, Run Home for Addicts at Murdo Fraser Park

A Vancouver-based non-profit is proposing to build a nine-bed women's addiction recovery house for the North Shore.

The Turning Point Recovery Society of B.C. held an information meeting for residents living near the site of the proposed house at the very north tip of Lloyd Ave, past Highway 1 on Monday night.

Turning Point, which has run four other recovery houses in Richmond and Vancouver for the last 30 years, is hoping to build and finance the home on land it will lease from the District of North Vancouver, according to Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn chairman of the North Shore Substance Abuse Working Group.

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