Increased Freedom And Choices Can Lead To Criminal Lifestyle

Jay Fewkes was just 13 when he smoked marijuana for the first time. He was trying to impress an older crowd, trying to "be the cool kid who fit in," he says.

His decision soon led him down a disastrous path. Marijuana took a back seat to other, more addictive drugs like mushrooms, acid and crystal methamphetamine.

Although the Baden teen had a factory job at the time, Fewkes soon found himself selling drugs so he could afford his new lifestyle.

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Pauline Beaulne, who says, "I wasn't arrested, I was rescued," in the Vincent Ball story of Oct. 15, may think she was lucky to be arrested but I wonder if she would think the same if she had been sentenced to prison.

It could easily have turned out that way and probations for drugs are notorious for revocation due to the fact that addiction's main symptom is relapse so she may yet experience this feature of modern drug salvation.

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Kudos to The Windsor Star and to readers like Glen Walker.

Drug education has come a long way since Programs like DARE were introduced to the youth of our communities many years ago.

Letter writer Ron Ricci needs to read the study entitled The Facts about Drug Abuse from the Drug Abuse Council 1980.

In this study it is proven that psychoactive substances have been available throughout recorded history and will remain so.

To try to eliminate them completely is unrealistic.

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Re: Maybe we can punish the pushers, Oct. 16.

Here is my contribution to the debate about the role of law enforcement in drugs policy that Kelly Roesler mentions. The role of law enforcement regarding any and all drugs should be restricted to arresting those who commit real crimes under the influence of a drug and enforcing the laws restricting access to these drugs by persons younger than 18.

Let's put an end to arresting people because they choose to ingest or sell certain drugs. There is no more justification for punishing those who ingest or sell certain drugs today than there was in the past for hanging witches or lynching people on basis of skin colour.

Alan Randell

Victoria

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Re: Murder rate falls, but violent crime on the rise, Oct. 17.

What I would like to know, because I think it would be most illuminating, is how many gun crimes are products or unintended consequences of drug prohibition.

These kinds of crimes are seldom random, but rather targeted assassinations: as drug dealers battle over turf or unpaid drug debts. This is how business is conducted in a context of prohibition - -- as it was also under alcohol prohibition.

But the government and law enforcement agencies never talk about prohibition-related deaths -- they talk about drug crimes and drug-related killings. In fact, they're not killing over drugs per se, but over drug profits -- which are a consequence of prohibition.

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This letter is in response to Sue McFadden's Oct. 18 letter, "Fighting abuse isn't exciting" regarding Brantford's street crime unit. Sue is interested in determining "why so much money is spent on undercover officers following people around 24-7, watching suspects running errands on the off chance that they might sell crack cocaine." Common sense and good judgment need to be applied to answer this question.

Not only are drugs a major contributor (not a cause) of crime, but they destroy the lives of the drug abuser and their associates.

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Once again we have Stephen Harper cracking down on drugs. This posturing as a solution to crime and drugs is more smoke and mirrors.

In one form or another, drugs have been around since the dawn of time. Some, like marijuana, are weeds and will be around forever.

Canadians, like Americans, are fed the information our governments want us to know.

Major crime organizations will do everything in their power to keep drugs illegal.

Tobacco and alcohol are kept legal, even though they kill millions. Both operations are motivated by one factor -- huge profits.

The debate over legal and illegal substances will go on forever and provides good material for political debate.

I get the feeling we aren't being told the whole story.

Windsor

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Marijuana Grown There Before They Moved In; House Declared Unsafe

When Jackie Lessard's young daughter began complaining of severe headaches and stomach pains, she made a doctor's appointment.

Various tests, including a CT scan, failed to turn up the cause of the 11-year-old's pain.

"She's always healthy, so I couldn't understand what was happening," Lessard said.

When her 10-year-old son's asthma medication seemed to no longer control his wheezing and watery eyes, the concerned mother made another medical appointment.

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Tuesday night's Throne Speech in Ottawa paid a lot of lip service to crime prevention, but without the necessary measures in place, the Conservative government's stance on crime has no real teeth to take a bite out of crime.

During the speech the Conservative agenda included furthering their efforts with a Safer Communities strategy to deal with the critical intersection of drug, youth and property crime, as well as strengthening the Youth Criminal Justice Act to ensure that young offenders who commit serious crimes are held accountable to victims and their communities.

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It's difficult to imagine now, but there was a time when politicians considered it unseemly to grandstand on crime. Policy oversight in the calm setting of a legislative committee was one thing, but no responsible leader would whip up fear, or leap at tragedy, simply to score a few points in the polls.

That understanding still holds in some European countries but in Canada it's gone and forgotten. Following the American lead -- beginning with the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater -- Canadian politicians gradually embraced the tactics of fear and loathing. What would have been considered despicable a generation ago - -- naming laws after dead children, using victims as campaign props - -- has become standard operating procedure.

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Re: Legalizing drugs would only add to our problems.

Mr. Ricci should check his facts -- the violence in downtown Windsor and every other city in Canada is due to alcohol consumption, not alcohol trade. Violence in the days of alcohol prohibition was due to illegal alcohol production and trade. Exactly the case with drug prohibition today. Gun and gang violence would end if drugs were legal because killing the drug trade kills the funding for things like gangs and guns.

Violence would also decrease if people had a choice between consuming alcohol or marijuana.

J. Mills,

London

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Cassells Accused Of Breaking Rules In Talking To Media

Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair denied allegations yesterday he was trying to muzzle whistle-blower Sgt. Jim Cassells over his charges police brass tried to sweep evidence of corruption by drug squad cops under the rug.

Cassells, a key member of the RCMP-led task force which investigated allegations of drug squad corruption, was on the witness stand at his own disciplinary hearing yesterday. He faces allegations that he broke police rules by talking with the media.

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Hawkesbury merchants plan to stop selling marijuana bongs, drug pipes and other accessories at the request of police, even though it's legal to do so.

The decision comes after a town hall meeting last week when store owners agreed with Hawkesbury OPP that they were aiding drug use by selling the paraphernalia, especially to youth.

"We had a choice to be part of it or not. There are a lot of drugs in Hawkesbury and we don't want to be part of it," said France Desjardins, co-owner of Varietes Desjardins.

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Re: Maybe we can punish the pushers, Oct. 16.

In her opinion article, Kelly Roesler is willing to examine Stephen Harper's war-on-drugs policy approach. But Mr. Harper wants to come across as a tough guy with his government's crackdown on criminals when he said, "if you sell drugs, we'll punish you." Suppliers do no not drive markets: consumers do.

We can look at the U.S., with its astronomical prison population and still exorbitant drug, crime and violence problems, to see evidence that attempting to reduce crime by cracking down on drug dealers is preposterous in both theory and practice. In most jurisdictions, convictions are usually for petty dealers: the big fish are too smart to get caught or can afford good lawyers if they do. And every bust of a dealer is a job opening for another venture capitalist to step in and fill the market void.

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West Grey council has asked municipal staff to come up with suggestions on how to deal with houses that have been used for indoor marijuana grow operations.

Amendments to Bill 128 give municipalities the option to enter an agreement with police, who would notify the municipality of a house that's been used for a marijuana grow operation. The municipality would be bound to inspect the building and take what action is authorized by law to make it safe for further use.

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Even when it was above 30 C outside, Bonnie always wore a hoodie.

That's the kind of thing you do when you're living the life of a crackhead and owe people money. You have to lie low when you've ripped people off.

Bonnie, 31, did a lot of that during the three years she was a crackhead. That's how she survived.

"I robbed people," she says when asked how she supported her habit. "I'd sell them junk and when they called back I'd tell them I gave them the wrong bag.

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The former head of a Toronto police drug squad that is facing criminal charges of corruption has retired from the force while the legal proceedings against him and five other officers moves on slowly before the courts.

While Staff Sgt. John Schertzer, 50, declined to comment as he waited for pre-trial arguments to continue at a University Ave. courthouse yesterday, his lawyer had plenty to say.

"He didn't resign. He retired after a career of 32 years," said John Rosen, who then criticized a media report about the "resignation" as typical of how the media has "mischaracterized ... unfairly portrayed" Schertzer in a "negative light over the years.

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Re: If drugs are legalized, related violence will end.

While it is to be commended that Glen Walker and his classmates are reading current events in the newspaper, they must also be reminded that reading any media story must be approached with critical-thinking skills.

His assertion that legalizing drugs will eliminate related violence and stating that "the stupidity of the statement," by Tony Cannovino, made him "want to scream" leaves one to wonder about his own motives for wanting drugs legalized.

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Pauline Beaulne has something to say to the police officers who raided her home and busted her for drug trafficking - thanks.

"They busted into my home... and charged me with several counts of trafficking," Beaulne, 40, says. "I spent a couple of days in jail and, when I was there, I prayed to God that if I could ever get out of this mess I'd never go back to using again."

That was in February. Now, more than eight months later, Beaulne is still clean and determined not to go back to the life of a crack-cocaine user. And she believes she has the Brantford police street crimes unit to thank for it.

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'If you are addicted to drugs, we'll help you, and if you sell drugs, we'll punish you," Prime Minister Stephen Harper claimed recently in launching his drug strategy. The statement and the plan were met with a wave of derision from opposition parties, newspaper editorials and columns, and much of the general public, judging from an influx of letters to the editor.

There he goes again, they moaned, lamenting Harper's "ideological" decision to emphasize law enforcement as part of a multi-pronged strategy that includes treatment, education and prevention.

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