Barry Cooper's new DVD, Never Get Busted Again, which went on sale over the Internet late last month, will probably not sell very well outside the United States, because in most other countries the possession of marijuana for personal use is treated as a misdemeanour or simply ignored by the police. But it will sell very well in the U.S., where many thousands of casual marijuana users are hit with savage jail terms every year in a nationwide game of Russian roulette in which most people indulge their habit unharmed while a few unfortunates have their lives ruined. [continues 564 words]
AMHERST - A trial date has finally been set for a Maccan man who claims he was growing marijuana to help himself and 300 others with medical conditions, but it will still be months before Rick Simpson faces a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge and jury. In Supreme Court on Thursday, Mr. Simpson's two-week trial was slated to begin Sept. 10, 25 months after police raided his property and allegedly seized more than 1,200 marijuana plants. Mr. Simpson, 57, did not speak during the hearing, but lawyer Jim O'Neil indicated his former client would defend himself at trial. Mr. O'Neil did not say why he would no longer be involved in the case. [continues 274 words]
Patriquen Fined In 2005, Stephen Faces Proceeds-Of-Crime Trial Talk about a buzz killer. Two high-profile marijuana advocates were in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Friday fighting over a piece of land in Middle Sackville. Michael Patriquen and Melanie Stephen are in the process of getting a divorce, but he had also launched a civil suit against her, trying to prevent the sale of the Orchard Drive building lot she bought a few years after they were married in Jamaica in 1982. [continues 516 words]
At a meeting with The Daily News editorial board 18 months ago, Halifax Regional Police Chief Frank Beazley shared an experience from one of the town-hall sessions he holds in various neighbourhoods on a regular basis. This one was in north-end Halifax, and the main topic for discussion was a crack house on Bilby Street, which was a focal point not only for drugs, but also prostitution and even gunfire. At the end of the meeting, the chief found a note that had been left for him. [continues 241 words]
Early next month, neighbours will have one extra tool to help shut down that aggravating crack house or prostitution ring next door. The province's Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act will become law early in the new year. It allows neighbours to report properties being used for criminal purposes to a three-member provincial investigation team, who will look into the claim. If investigators find out that party house next door is actually selling drugs, sex or illegal gambling, they'll have the power to order the property owner or tenant to stop - or shut it down entirely. [continues 109 words]
Beazley Promises Police Will Be 'In the Faces' Of Rival Offenders Halifax Regional Police Chief Frank Beazley says he's going to make life as difficult as he can for anyone involved in metro's illegal drug trade in the wake of a series of violent incidents earlier this year. Beazley said his officers are going to be "in the faces" of the people responsible for a string of violent incidents earlier this year. "We're going to have a strategy that we're going to be in their faces and make it difficult for them," he said. [continues 320 words]
After she was diagnosed with HIV, lifelong drug abuser Pam Leedham figured killing herself would be the easy thing to do. She decided to take the hard route instead, fighting both addiction and disease, one affirmation at a time. "I am a recovering drug a There's this pamphlet. It's called HIV and Mental Health. And there are two happy white people on the inside back cover riding a red tandem bicycle. They're coasting along a sunny downtown street. And they are smiling; they are glowing, like they're in an ad for milk or toothpaste. The woman, on the back of the two-person bike, has her legs out straight in front of her and she's smiling right at the camera. It's like her whole body--her whole being--is saying Wheeeeeeee! [continues 3455 words]
It may be only a minor pot bust in an otherwise quiet Eastern Passage subdivision, but it has the principal of the local junior high school smiling. "I'm just thrilled," said Bernie MacIntyre, principal of Eastern Passage Education Centre after learning about Thursday's raid on a nearby house. MacIntyre has fielded, and passed on, a number of concerns from parents about drug use near the school. The home on Shamrock Court searched by police Thursday night is close to a well-used path leading to the school. [continues 254 words]
Organized crime in Nova Scotia affects your everyday life, says a new Criminal Intelligence Service Nova Scotia report issued yesterday.. "It affects your health and safety, your annual income and your taxes. It also affects your electricity bill, your car and home insurance and your credit card payment," reads the agency's annual report. Organized crime is mainly urban and centred in metro, but it also spreads out to rural areas. And there are connections beyond Nova Scotia's and Canada's borders. [continues 481 words]
Regarding your Nov. 27th editorial, hazardous marijuana grow operations are a direct result of marijuana prohibition. Legitimate farmers do not steal electricity to grow produce in the basements of rented homes. If legal, growing marijuana would be less profitable then farming tomatoes. As it stands, the drug war distorts market forces such that an easily grown weed is literally worth its weight in gold. Rather than continue to subsidize organized crime, Canadian policymakers should ignore the reefer madness hysteria of the U.S.government and instead to look their own Senate for guidance. In the words of Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that cannabis is substantially less harmful than alcohol and should be treated not as a criminal issue but as a social and public health issue." Policy Analyst Common Sense for Drug Policy Washington [end]
To the Editor, Re: Editorial, Need for a Plan That Works, Nov. 27 Albert Einstein once said, "The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this." It appears that in addition to increasing the crime rate and giving a monopoly on a product used by ten percent of Canadians to criminals our fundamentalist Conservative government is also doing their best to lower your property values. [continues 80 words]
To the Editor, Re: Editorial, Need for a Plan That Works. This vulgar anti-pot propaganda piece should never have been printed. Was the editor huffing glue, or what? "... society doesn't need more mind-ravaging substances around." Since when is marijuana a mind "ravaging" substance? It has none of the effects of other drugs, and has in fact, been used as medicine for 5,000 years at least. Since she quit pharmaceuticals and turned to cannabis four years ago, my epileptic wife's mind has never worked better. She went from 60 seizures a year to just two. Call that "ravaging?" [continues 116 words]
Injection Sites Needed in Halifax, Health Worker Says A row of gleaming, stainless steel booths sit in a sterile room where addicts can safely inject their drug of choice. This is North America's first legal, supervised injection site. Dr. Michael V. O'Shaughnessy shared slides and stories about the Vancouver facility, Insite, with a small group of health professionals and AIDS activists in Halifax on Monday. "After they inject, they hang around, have a coffee; we have to make sure they come down a bit before they leave," he said in the meeting room at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. [continues 408 words]
To the Editor, Of course the first part of the editorial is true. Our society needs a real plan, not some last century racist crusader's ill-conceived and hijacked into existence legislation, designed to oppress certain people. The article wanders into well-worn, untrue, prohibitionist rhetoric at the end when the words "mind ravaging drug" are used. There is no evidence that marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol, but safer. The entire eight-decade debacle and growth of organized crime, social disorder and danger to Canadians was due in the first place to the abdication of their duty to the citizens who elected these representatives to make good laws. There was not a word of discussion or debate. It was just a "great political idea" snuck in under the radar screen. Much like Harper's quick end run around the Bloc, it was one person's "great solution" to a non-existent problem. Klaus Kaczor Vancouver [end]
At one time it was a huge nuisance to law enforcement officers, but in past years marijuana growing has turned into big-league crime that potentially costs lives. Experts are reporting a boom in the illegal activity that poses a danger to both police officers and the public in general. Not only do these operations pose a serious fire and health risk to neighbours unknowingly forced to breathe in potentially harmful mould spores, some are heavily guarded by booby traps and armed thugs, police officials were reported to say in a recent article from The Canadian Press. [continues 231 words]
There's Been a Big Change in the Way Drug Addicts Are Getting Their Fix in the Cities. No longer are the streets strewn with heroin addicts. They've moved on and now prescription drugs are the way to go. The drug of choice is known as Killers, OC, Oxy, OxyCotton or Oxy80 - a reference to the ever-popular 80 mg tablet. These round pills come in a variety of dosages and in capsule or liquid form. They're prescription drugs and sold legally in Canada but drug abusers remove the sustained-release coating to get a rush similar to heroin. They chew the tabs, crush them for snorting, or boil the powder for injection. [continues 157 words]
One out of 20 military personnel at CFB Gagetown have either tested positive for illegal drugs or admitted to using them, Defence Department data released Thursday shows. Cmdr. Denise Laviolette, department spokeswoman, said that's "a lot less" than reported last month by Maritime media outlets. In fact, Fredericton's Daily Gleaner ran a story stating between 16 and 18 per cent of soldiers tested at the base were caught with drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin in their system. Some reports were as high as 25 per cent, she said. [continues 387 words]
To the editor, It is commendable to stop citizens from driving while honestly impaired (Impaired law has to be backed with reliable testing, The News, Nov. 16), as long as citizens who use cannabis responsibly are not targeted for simply having trace amounts of THC in their body. Just like responsible alcohol consumers having alcohol in their body may pass impairment tests, so too should cannabis consumers. Discriminating against responsible cannabis users able to walk the line is unacceptable.This is important since various jurisdictions in North America, have attempted enacting laws targeting citizens with any trace amount of THC in their body as being impaired, yet is not a clear case of impairment. Stan White Dillon, Colorado [end]
To the editor, Re: Pictou Landing residents want police to tackle drug crimes. When one considers that junk food will kill many times more Canadians than all illegal drugs combined, it is puzzling to see the residents of Pictou Landing making drugs such a high priority. Air pollution will kill more people than drugs, as will car accidents caused by booze, and diabetes. But then, "the drug epidemic" is a sensational news item, and a longtime favourite of politicians seeking votes, and police officers seeking funding and power. [continues 105 words]
New Glasgow - There's A New Law Enforcement Team Coming To Town. Its focus: drugs and organized crime. The seven-person integrated anti-crime enforcement unit will have members from all four local municipal police forces and the RCMP, said New Glasgow Police Chief Lorne Smith. Originally, the county's police forces made a proposal to the province for a four-person drug squad. With even more members, the unit can also focus on organized crime and criminal intelligence, said Smith. [continues 111 words]
Inside Nova Scotia
