Is you son or daughter doing ecstacy? Has your best friend decided to try it "just once." Have you? Ecstasy use is on the rise in Altona, and local police say a recent possession charge is only the beginning.

Altona Police picked up an individual under the intoxicated person detention act, and through the course of the arrest learned the suspect was high on ecstacy.

The suspect was treated at the Altona Hospital and faces possession charges.

Sgt. Perry Batchelor said it was then they received indications that there was "a whole lot more" out there.

[continues 498 words]

A major player in the city's thriving cocaine trade was sentenced to 42 months behind bars Thursday for his role in a sophisticated drug operation.

John Joseph Devilla, 36, was led away in handcuffs in front of more than a dozen family members and friends who filled the small courtroom.

Defence lawyer Jay Prober was seeking a conditional sentence which would have allowed his client to remain free in the community.

Queen's Bench Justice Albert Clearwater said the message to drug dealers such as Devilla must be loud and clear -- prison is the only option.

[continues 112 words]

JUSTICE Minister Dave Chomiak essentially served notice in Tuesday's throne speech that provincial legislation that was supposed to hit organized crime in the pocketbook has been something of a bust. Police refused to enforce the Criminal Property Forfeiture Act. Rather than scrap his law, Mr. Chomiak intends to put public servants in charge of it.

Police should enforce law that is underpinned by rules of due process, not chase suspected bikers with legislation that skirts the rigours of the Criminal Code and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The forfeiture act requires no evidence that a crime has been committed in order to seize assets, just proof that the individual belongs to a gang. The biker then has to prove in a civil proceeding he has not amassed his wealth from crime. Reverse onus is offensive to the rule of law because it assumes the suspect is guilty. Even with the lower burden of proof, the law has never been used. Police are too busy chasing real crimes.

[continues 303 words]

Everyone feels a need that they try to indulge with something that makes them feel fulfilled, if only temporarily. Some are adrenalin junkies who push themselves in sports, while others choose to help those in need because helping others makes them feel good, too.

There can be many positive means, but there are also many destructive ones. Addictions to vices such as drugs, alcohol and gambling are at the opposite end of the spectrum. At best, they can affect a person's ability to function to their full potential at work and in their home. At their worst, they can lead a person into a life of crime and even death.

[continues 608 words]

A landmark study released in the U.S. this week should be required reading for everyone in Canada -- politicians especially -- who are under the mistaken impression that our prison system is working.

A study by the JFA Institute, a Washington criminal justice research group, shows that the number of Americans in prison has risen eight-fold since 1970, with little if any impact on crime but at a tremendous cost to taxpayers and society in general.

The report calls for a major overhaul of the American justice system, recommending shorter sentences and parole terms, alternative punishments, better help for released inmates, and decriminalizing drugs.

[continues 676 words]

TWO British Columbia men are seeking to have the richest highway drug bust in Manitoba history tossed out of court, claiming RCMP violated their rights by stopping their vehicle just west of Winnipeg.

Derek Laviolette and James Oddleifson are accused of possessing 46 kilograms of cocaine, which carries a street value of up to $3 million.

Their two-week trial began Monday with a motion to exclude all the evidence, based on what they claim was an illegal search and seizure.

[continues 410 words]

A Turtle River School Division trustee facing drug charges said he will attend Tuesday evening's board meeting, to prevent fellow trustees from kicking him off the school board.

"I intend on going," said Gilbert Soucy of Laurier.

Soucy has missed the last two regular school board meetings. Unless he attends the regular board meeting Tuesday, the board can declare his seat vacant.

Soucy said that he and his wife, Colleen Soucy, do not yet have a trial date, but declined to discuss their legal situation.

[continues 182 words]

ENFORCEMENT, prevention, harm reduction, and treatment are all needed to address the issue of drug misuse and drug addiction. I was therefore dismayed to see that our federal government had ignored harm reduction, one critical component, in its anti-drug strategy announced on Oct. 4, 2007.

Harm reduction programs and services are designed to address the harmful consequences of drug addiction where prevention has not succeeded and where treatment is either not available or has failed. Enforcement, prevention and treatment efforts cannot and will never achieve 100 per cent success.

[continues 450 words]

CP - A leading University of Calgary expert on the opium poppy is joining marijuana researchers underground in Flin Flon with the hope of finding new uses for heroin and pot.

Peter Facchini, a professor of biological sciences, has received a $650,000 federal grant to study possible medicinal and industrial purposes for the drugs.

Facchini's work is taking him deep underground to Canada's high-security medicinal marijuana plant in an old copper and zinc mine in Flin Flon, Man.

[continues 62 words]

THE director of the addictions unit at the Health Sciences Centre said she's seen a jump in the number of addicts seeking help for a drug nick-named 'hillbilly heroin' on the street.

Dr. L.M. Lee said in the last 18 months she's seen more patients addicted to OxyContin -- a strong narcotic painkiller containing oxycodone -- and other opiates, like morphine.

Lee estimated about two-thirds of the patients admitted to the HSC unit are addicts who got hooked during recreational use of opiates, often having sampled them at parties.

[continues 461 words]

A Manitoba school trustee has been charged with growing marijuana and possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking.

Turtle River School Division trustee Gilbert Soucy and his wife Colleen Soucy were allegedly running a grow operation busted by police late last month.

They appeared in Dauphin court earlier this week, RCMP Sgt. Line Karpish said Wednesday.

He said both have both been charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking, and with production of cannabis.

Their case has been remanded to Oct. 30, a court official said from Dauphin.

[continues 336 words]

Five Asian immigrants arrested after they were found working on a massive rural dope farm did not know they were breaking the law, a judge has ruled.

The five accused were among 28 Asian immigrants arrested in October 2005 after RCMP seized nearly $20 million worth of weed from a farm near Sundown, a small southeastern Manitoba community near the Canada-U.S. border.

The accused -- all free on bail -- were charged with production of marijuana and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

"I am satisfied that all five accused were ignorant that the plant that they were harvesting was marijuana or some prohibited substance and as a consequence did not have the requisite knowledge for either offence," ruled Justice Deborah McCawley in a 20 page written decision.

[end]

It's A Crime That These Criminals Go Unpunished

THE new neighbours didn't seem like the drug-dealing type.

They looked like clean-cut, respectable kids with nice vehicles. Heck, even their mom -- a short native woman -- was there to pitch in on moving day. She had a fancy vehicle, too.

They were just young men; maybe students on their own for the first time. But after a few days, the truth was obvious.

I was painting my house and I couldn't help but notice the constant procession of people going next door, and leaving less than a minute later. No time for small talk.

[continues 595 words]

Re: Don't fight war on drugs and Users don't want treatment, Oct. 6 letters.

Letter-writer Ben Morris obviously hasn't got a clue what drugs are all about. He states "drug users are not criminals." Perhaps he can explain exactly how it is a person can support a habit costing anywhere from $100 to $1,000 a day without being involved in crime?

In the very next letter, Chris Buors claims "restoring humanity's natural right to use whatever substance a free man may choose to cure whatever it is that ails him would do a lot more good than ruining the lives of another million people by criminalizing them for their drug-using sins."

I, along with many others, wasn't aware that using marijuana, cocaine or heroin would cure diseases. I'm sure the medical profession would be very interested in Mr. Buor's "findings."

P. Zurawel

Winnipeg

(Recreational drugs do a lot more harm than good.)

[end]

IN the context of Conservative party thinking, the anti-drug strategy unveiled by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Winnipeg on Thursday was a fairly reasonable one.

It did not, as had been widely speculated in the eastern media, target users. Rather, it holds out a helping hand to them, offering both assistance and solace. It does not close the door on safe injection sites for drug users, such as the one that exists in Vancouver, although it does not open it any wider either. The Tories had planned to close that site, but Health Minister Tony Clement, in the face of protests, rendered the issue moot by granting it a six-month extension to allow for further research just days before Mr. Harper's announcement.

[continues 277 words]

Re: New anti-drug plan, Oct. 5.

Though I applaud the PM for promising money for treatment and prevention programs for users and young people who are or have taken drugs, I must dispute putting money into any enforcement of drug laws.

No matter how many millions the government puts into the drug war, they will lose and lose big. A drug dealer could make thousands of dollars a day for a few hours of work and he always has the clients and if that person is arrested, another person will take his place. The amount of wealth a drug dealer could gain is enough for him or her to take the risk.

[continues 114 words]

Re: PM unveils anti-drug strategy, Oct. 5.

While the prime minister is to be commended for funding drug prevention and treatment in his recent announcement regarding drug policy, his emphasis on greater enforcement and sentencing is nothing short of madness -- that is, doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different result. This approach has failed for far too long. When will he realize that the only reason organized crime profits so much from the drug trade is because of such misguided policy? Only when the drug issue is treated as what it is, a health problem as opposed to a legal one, will any progress be made in dealing with it.

Winnipeg

[end]

Focus on Both Prevention and Enforcement Welcomed

EXPERTS hailed the federal government's anti-drug strategy Thursday, saying it's a balance between tough law enforcement and compassion for young drug users.

Some, however, gave the strategy little chance of succeeding, saying the strategy's attempts to change social attitudes towards drugs were misguided.

And amid the reaction to Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement, there was also disbelief that this was the same politician who had built a reputation on viewing illegal drug use largely as a criminal issue.

[continues 572 words]

Point Douglas Residents Try To Push Dealers Out

Alena Feldman knows what it's like to have a house of horrors in the neighbourhood.

Until one month ago, the Point Douglas resident and mother of two lived in fear of the crack house next door.

She and her husband found needles in their backyard, dodged raw sewage dumped onto their sidewalk and cleaned up garbage thrown onto their side of the fence.

Then the Point Douglas Residents Committee took action and -- with the help of police and the provincial government -- shut the ramshackle operation down.

[continues 390 words]

The best part about Prime Minister Stephen Harper's announcement in Winnipeg yesterday to crack down on drug peddling and drug abuse was that it didn't include free crack pipes or "safe" injection sites for users.

Harper will take some heat from do-gooders who believe giving drug addicts tacit approval to take drugs is a good thing.

He will be criticized for not having a so-called harm reduction strategy that funds programs like free crack pipe kits for addicts -- like we have in Winnipeg -- and government-sanctioned injection sites, like they have in Vancouver.

[continues 438 words]