Why Advocates Say Marijuana Should Be Legalized

In his Torbay home, Mike Dawe slides open an end-table drawer, pulls out a Mason jar and rolls a joint.

There are no additives like tobacco. The marijuana - weed or pot as it is most commonly called - is grown by Dawe with an ardent dedication to craftsmanship.

As Dawe, a rail-thin man who stands an inch shy of seven feet, takes The Telegram on a tour of the basement of the house he rents, he apologizes, saying the current plants are not his best crop.

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On Thursday morning, news broke that Port aux Basques RCMP had seized a large quantity of marijuana and ecstasy from a house in Port aux Basques.

The story posted to The Gulf News website went slightly viral, at least in local terms, gathering over four thousand hits in a few hours. Few stories get that many hits in a week.

It shows the interest and the concern people have in our community about illicit drugs.

It's no secret that many in our society see marijuana as a relatively harmless recreation drug. Even some of those leaving comments on our web story said marijuana needs to be legalized while criticizing those who sell ecstasy. The federal Liberals passed a motion to legalize pot at their recent convention.

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Meet David Shea and you might notice the skin on his face and hands is taut and pale. It's not for lack of time spent outdoors, but because of an uncommon condition known as scleroderma - a chronic systemic autoimmune disease, mainly of the skin.

Up to 40,000 Canadians have the disease, which can make life very uncomfortable.

That's why the Grand Falls-Windsor native, who now lives in Halifax, promotes the use of medical marijuana to the public as well as to health professionals - not as a way to get high, but as a safe drug that can alleviate the symptoms of various diseases.

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A St. John's man had $1,500 of medical marijuana confiscated when he went to pick up a package at Purolator and was met by the RCMP instead.

Richard Oakley, who tested positive for HIV 25 years ago, moved back to the province from British Columbia three months ago to be near family.

He told The Telegram he received the first package since coming home without a problem from his designated grower in B.C.

But last week he kept trying to claim his second delivery of marijuana and marijuana-laced chocolates and Purolator told him to come back Monday. That's when he was met with the RCMP officer.

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Their kids need help and they're not going to wait for it anymore.

On May 28, The Telegram published a story titled "New drugs hit schools," describing issues around illegal drug use at the junior high and high school level. It was focused on the Northeast Avalon, but prompted response from parents and community group leaders in other parts of the province.

They said youth in their areas are not immune to addictions. The difference outside the Northeast Avalon, they said, is the same level of addictions services are not available to them.

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Illegal drugs flood Labrador West

An increase in wealth has increased another serious problem in Labrador West. Illegal drugs are flooding the community and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary has an uphill battle.

"We're into an economic boom here, so it's a lot of money flowing around," said RNC Cons. Bill Fitzgerald. "With the boom, you get the good and the bad, and unfortunately the drugs are a part of the negative side of it."

Cocaine choice

He said there's a wide array of drugs out there from ecstasy to speed to marijuana, but cocaine seems to be the drug of choice.

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"Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity."

- - John Emerich Edward Acton (1834-1902), English historian

When crime rates are dropping, what's a prime minister to do?

Why, introduce new "tough on crime" legislation, of course. Legislation that will see more inmates double-bunked and serving longer sentences and put more pressure on courts and correctional institutions.

How much will all this cost?

Well, it depends on who you ask, and when.

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One of the unsettling facts of life is that people often shift quickly between the feeling they have plenty of time, to the heartbreaking reality they have too little.

Consider this: A boy was out playing with his neighbourhood friends. He is about two years older than most of them, sort of like a bigger brother really.

They are playing with the kind of happiness that only comes in the first few days of summer break; the time when your body still feels like it should be in school. Your mind does a mental double take every 20 minutes or so reminding you that summer is really and truly here and no, you are not supposed to be doing anything else.

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Editor;

Junk food will kill many times more Canadians this year than all illegal drugs combined.

Drugs aren't the problem. Drugs do not possess magical powers that force people to do things.

It is our ridiculous, racist, arbitrary and wildly counterproductive prohibition laws causing the problems. And that is not an 'opinion', as this article was; it is backed by a century of science, history and common sense.

We live in a culture that glamorizes sex, fun, danger, thrills, law scoffing, risk-taking, rule breaking, power, wealth-acquisition and authority resisting. We advertise booze, fast cars, fast food, violent movies and video games and drugs of all kinds right on TV.

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Dear Editor,

The photos submitted to the news agencies by RCMP in St. Anthony were completely misleading and at odds with all principles of good community policing.

The police clearly targeted an innocent and good man, disrupted the lives of his family and defamed his business. This is a clear case of police projected over sensationalism caused to support their botched and ridiculous tear/raid on an innocent local man. Lyndon Hodge is a solitary northern Newfoundland man, known all his life by members of his community. He has been living a near Spartan but hardworking life in the community. He is running a decent business with the support of his family in northern Newfoundland.

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Parents attending a DARE graduation ceremony at Donald C. Jamieson Academy in Burin last week received a reminder from police.

The message was that they, too, must be extra vigilant in the effort to protect their children against the dangers of drugs and alcohol.

Students from Anita Piercey's and Margaret Ann Cleal's two Grade 6 classes were rewarded June 14 for the successful completion of the DARE - 'Drug Abuse Resistance Education' - program, instructed by Cst. Mike Martel of the RCMP's Burin Customs and Excise Section, with certificates and a party at the school.

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Another RCMP DARE program graduation in the elementary schools and a warning again from the police about 'drug usage' among youth on the Burin Peninsula.

Drugs with names like Percocets, Ecstasy, OxyContin, Crystal Meth and even prescription drugs - all obtained illegally - may sound foreign to many older people, but they're becoming a part of the regular jargon for young people.

Another term which arose at the Jamieson Academy DARE graduation - 'The Pit'. It's an area near Pearce Junior High in Salt Pond where youth hang out, and strange and wild things can be found strewn around on the ground.

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Every time the RNC or RCMP parade a haul of illicit drugs before the cameras to boast about the great job they are doing keeping Canadians safe from dope and dopers, we are reminded of the inanity, hypocrisy, foolishness, ineffectiveness and outright injustice of Canada's drug laws, even if the boastful displays of criminal loot reassure some people that the country's streets will never resemble those they see on TV cop shows.

The police, of course, are just doing their jobs, according to the instructions of the laws and the lawmakers of the land.

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Trinity Conception RCMP seize large quantity of marijuana in Heart's Delight-Islington

Thanks to some good police work there's less marijuana being sold on the Trinity Shore these days and two accused dealers are facing drug charges.

Last Wednesday, May 12, members of the Trinity Conception District RCMP seized a large quantity of marijuana in Heart's Delight-Islington.

"We're talking several bags and several pounds of marijuana," says Corporal Dale Foote of the Trinity Conception RCMP. "The street value of that could range anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000."

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An old Chinese proverb says, ""Laws control the lesser man; right conduct controls the greater one."" It is becoming harder and harder to distinguish who is the greater one. That old proverb needs to be turned on its head!

Let's take the Harper government, for instance. They're always talking about law and order and pound their chests about getting tough on those who break the rules. If the government makes enough rules and punishes severely those who try to break them it won't be long before we will have a perfect society, is their mantra.

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Don't Park Your Life 'At the End of a Marijuana Cigarette,' Ignatieff Tells Mount Pearl Students

After encouraging O'Donel High students to vote and help create a better country, it was Michael Ignatieff's reply to a young man's question about legalizing marijuana that drew the loudest and longest applause.

"If I had to tell you as a parent or as someone who has spent his whole life working with young people, the last darn thing I want you to be doing is smoking marijuana," the federal Liberal leader said.

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Unproclaimed 2007 Act Targeted Bootleggers, Drug Dens And Brothels

A controversial law targeting drug houses, brothels and bootleggers is dead in the water.

The Williams administration passed the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act, or SCAN, nearly three years ago.

But the law was never proclaimed.

And Justice Minister Felix Collins said Friday there are no plans to do so.

"At this point in time, there's no inclination to proclaim it because our priorities now have changed," Collins said.

"We've put significant investments into policing in the last couple of years, and that's where our priorities have gone."

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That an RCMP officer would fire with his handgun at a suspected drug dealer in a store parking lot, during business hours, highlights starkly just how wrong the approach of governments to illegal drugs is. The police are permitted to engage in a "war on drugs" and they find this a lot more thrilling than dealing with complaints about a burglarized summer cabin, a barking dog, boys spraying graffiti.

The police love drug cases and will say anything to keep the show going. In the 1960s, police claimed that there were hospital wards full of individuals whom the use of illegal drugs had reduced to "human vegetables." Now the police claim that marijuana is a "gateway drug" that pulls people toward the use of harder drugs which ultimately make derelicts out of the individuals.

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The proroguing of Parliament has been all over the news lately and whether or not you believe that Mr. Harper has the right to use the option to prorogue parliament the way he has, one thing is certain: He has not been on vacation.

With the appointment of five new senators, Mr. Harper has tipped the balance of the senate further towards the political right. Now, it's time to dust off some old plans.

You see, conservatives (and I mean conservatives in general, not just the political party) are a lot like communists. They're both obsessed with undertaking courses of action that have been proven to be ineffective (often highly ineffective) in the past.

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Dear Editor:

RE: Safety trumps privacy (Feb. 1, 2010 editorial)

"Sure marijuana is not even in the ballpark with crack cocaine, but it does fall under the illegal category making it difficult to justify its use."

I can think of about a dozen reasons to justify using cannabis. It has dozens of medical applications, and even when smoked, its benefits outweigh any dangers.

Also, chronic daily users don't suffer anywhere near the impairment that a casual user would. By that I mean, there are people smoking 10 joints a day and you would never know it to look at them, while other people are visibly impaired by just a few tokes.

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