There are lots of numbers in the city briefing. But only one of them stops me cold. There's the estimated cost of addiction to the local economy ($243 million a year), the average number of homeless people on London streets (1,500), the number of available shelter beds (360) and the percentage of shelter users coping with addiction and mental illness (40 per cent). And then there's the number of homeless people who've died of an overdose this year: 18. [continues 643 words]
It will take about $15 million over five years -- some of it to set up safe drug injection sites -- to fix a growing drug problem in London's core, city staff told a council committee yesterday. About one-third of the money -- $1 million a year for five years -- would come from local tax dollars, the rest from federal and provincial governments, community services manager Ross Fair said. A study requested by council estimates there are about 1,500 homeless people on London streets, while only 360 shelter beds are available. About 40 per cent of shelter users have addictions and 18 homeless people have died of an overdose this year. [continues 353 words]
Kids Warned To 'Not Come Home' As four people were being gunned down in the crime-plagued Driftwood community -- one fatally -- parents were frantically warning their children not to come home after hearing bullets bouncing off houses, a frustrated homicide detective said yesterday. From casings forensic officers found, Toronto Police now know that more than 20 shots were fired last Tuesday at a backyard party in a townhouse complex southeast of Jane St. and Finch Ave. W., where young mother Rachel Alleyne was killed, Det.-Sgt. Pauline Gray said in an interview. [continues 225 words]
Drug Conviction Prompts Curve Lake's Decision Curve Lake resident and business owner Rick Hayes has been evicted from the reserve over a drug conviction, The Examiner has learned. Hayes, who owns Charlie's Bay Convenience Store - a gas and variety stop for locals and tourists - said the chief of the Anishinabek Police Service delivered the notice Thursday around 8 a.m. It said Hayes had 12 hours to leave the reserve because he was an "undesirable." "I'm totally disoriented. I don't know what I'm doing where I'm going," Hayes said from a friend's home north of the reserve yesterday. "I built a life and they took it away in 12 hours." [continues 709 words]
Re: What's Harper smoking?, Oct. 6. It's no secret that illicit drugs fuel organized crime and foster petty crime. They also undermine healthy families and safe communities across Canada. That is why the government is launching a new national anti-drug strategy that aims to prevent illicit drug use, treat those with illicit drug dependencies, and tackle the production and distribution of illicit drugs. This $63.8-million investment builds on existing programs worth $385 million. Our government recognizes that dealing more stringently with the organized-crime element is only part of the solution to the problem as it only tackles the supply of drugs. To be effective, we must also tackle the demand for drugs: this is why two-thirds of this new investment will be targeted towards prevention and treatment. Our government also supports and encourages the use of the drug-treatment courts to deal with low-level offenders who commit petty crimes or deal small amounts of drugs to feed their habits. Our approach is compassionate where appropriate and conversely tough where necessary. [continues 123 words]
Re: If Drugs Are Legalized, Related Violence Will End, Oct, 12 by Glen Walker. Imagine if we had no "drug-related crime." Imagine if our crime rate was a small fraction of what it is now. We once had such a situation in the U.S. Prior to the passage of the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914, the term "drug-related crime" didn't exist. Drug lords, drug cartels or even drug dealers as we know them today, didn't exist either. [continues 99 words]
In my English class, our teacher gives us time to read the newspaper during class. A couple days ago, I read an article that really struck a nerve with me.The article was about Stephen Harper's new policy about cracking down on drugs. There was a quote from Tory Cannovino which read: "That is a corner stone, because a lot of violence is related to drugs." The stupidity of that statement made me want to scream. The reason there is violence related to drugs is because drugs are illegal. When you make something illegal you create a black market. The only way to solve disputes in the black market is with violence. It is exactly the same as alcohol prohibition and that didn't work. When alcohol was illegal there was plenty of violence and when alcohol prohibition was repealed all the violence stopped. [continues 54 words]
A full-scale search of a south-side Thunder Bay home by police and hazardous materials specialists has turned up nothing that appears to make it an illegal drug lab. But the investigation is continuing and police aren't ready to say the Prince Arthur Boulevard home isn't a hazard. "The actual final conclusion won't be known for some time," Thunder Bay Police spokesman Chris Adams said Thursday. "It's probably safe to say the danger level has dropped quite a bit." [continues 614 words]
A longtime local OPP officer, now working in northern Ontario, is charged following a drug raid by the provincial police near Thunder Bay. Det.-Const. Lynn MacKay, who worked in London for years under her married name, Lynn Pretty, before joining the Nipigon OPP, was charged along with her boyfriend following an Oct. 5 raid on a house that netted $6,000 worth of marijuana. "Certainly, cases such as this are dealt with . . . in a very professional way to ensure the integrity of the investigation," said Sgt. Deb Tully of the OPP's northwest region headquarters. [continues 146 words]
Wearing shorts, T-shirts, mobile radios and heavy bullet-proof vests, a group of police officers is scouring a forested area off Brant Church Road. It's about an hour before dusk and they are wading through grass three feet high, ducking under branches and keeping their footing on rough, rocky terrain. They're looking for two Vietnamese guys who jumped out of a car they've been following all the way from Tim Hortons on Garden Avenue. It's a beautiful fall evening. The country air is clear and fresh. It's quiet. [continues 3629 words]
It's a cool September evening and a car is hitting speeds of up to 140 km/h along Highway 403, heading towards Brantford. Following the car are police, who make their move after the driver takes the Wayne Gretzky Parkway exit, and heads into the city. The evening's calm is interrupted by flashing lights and a siren from an unmarked police car. The cars come to a halt. Police officers, one in uniform and several others wearing shorts and T-shirts, pounce on the suspect's vehicle. Less than 30 seconds later, the driver and a friend are pulled out and cuffed. [continues 2780 words]
Re: Harmful impressions, Oct. 10 The federal government's proposed drug strategy simply will not work. It smacks of a strategy driven by hype, emotion and political expediency. It will do nothing to reduce the use of drugs in this country. Can we not learn something from our southern neighbours about a failed drug strategy, a strategy that dates back to the 1970s? Or are we slow learners -- or simply don't care! The most punitive, draconian drug laws in the western world have not stopped the flow into and the use of drugs in the U.S. "Say no to drugs!" -- what a joke. It's about time we start treating drug addiction for what it is, namely a public-health problem. Costly incarceration and political grandstanding have never and will never work. Emile Therien, Ottawa [end]
TORONTO -- Police in Niagara region are warning parents to speak with their children about the dangers of trying jimson weed after three teens ingested the poisonous plant and had to be rushed to hospital. Police have not been able to speak with the three boys, aged 14 to 17, who remain in critical but stable condition, after arriving in a Hamilton, Ont., hospital early Sunday morning, in "unresponsive and incoherent states." Also known as Datura, thorn apple, stinkweed or angel's trumpet, jimson weed is popular among teenagers for its easy access and has been linked to at least two deaths and dozens of overdoses across Canada in recent years. [continues 214 words]
Is Barrie Farmer's Hemp Oil The Key To The Future Of Ontario Agriculture? "Rope, not dope" was my slogan some years back, when I was involved in a successful campaign (yes, we do win some battles) to legalize industrial hemp in Canada. My eye was on the 25,000 industrial products hemp was thought to offer, a farm-friendly, pesticide-free, green source for everything from clothing to rope to paper to plastic. It never occurred to me that food would be first out of the gate once the plant was legalized. [continues 892 words]
That Stephen Harper minimized the role of harm reduction in his new drug strategy, while continuing to promote old and disproved criticisms, shows just how misunderstood the harm-reduction model still is. The prime minister invoked a familiar non-answer to a question about harm reduction at his press conference last week. He's all for "harm reduction," he suggested, in the sense that treatment, prevention and enforcement all reduce harm. Yes, those things are all good, but "harm reduction" refers to programs such as needle exchanges, methadone clinics and alcohol management -- programs that contain the addiction problem and reduce the spread of disease. [continues 450 words]
The list of poisonous plants in Canada is long. Nowhere on these lists can we find cannabis. The list of Canadians killed by alcohol would probably require a few thousand pages. Tobacco would probably need more. But nowhere in the historical medical record is there a single case of death from cannabis. This information is easy for the Harper government to ignore when it gets lobbied by industries that compete with cannabis. Cannabis could serve a third of our medicinal needs if simply allowed. As industrial hemp it has far too many uses to list here -- at least 25,000 (and I've read as high as 50,000). That list should be respected. Bruce Codere Fox Creek, Alta. [end]
Plant Blamed For Two Deaths TORONTO -- Police in Niagara region are warning parents to speak with their children about the dangers of trying jimson weed after three teens ingested the poisonous plant and had to be rushed to hospital. Police have not been able to speak with the three boys, aged 14 to 17, who remain in critical but stable condition, after arriving in a Hamilton hospital early Sunday morning, in "unresponsive and incoherent states." Also known as Datura, thorn apple, stinkweed or angel's trumpet, jimson weed is popular among teenagers for its easy access and has been linked to at least two deaths and dozens of overdoses across Canada in recent years. [continues 267 words]
3-Teen Overdose Latest In String Of Incidents Police in Ontario's Niagara region are warning parents to speak with their children about the dangers of trying jimson weed after three teenagers ingested the poisonous plant and had to be rushed to hospital. Police have not been able to speak with the three boys, age 14 to 17, who remain in critical but stable condition, after arriving in a Hamilton, Ont., hospital early Sunday, in "unresponsive and incoherent states." Also known as Datura, thorn apple, stinkweed or angel's trumpet, jimson weed is popular among teens for its easy access and has been linked to at least two deaths and dozens of overdoses across Canada in recent years. [continues 92 words]
A Nipigon provincial police officer has been suspended following the seizure of more than $6,000 worth of marijuana in a bust at a Nipigon-area residence early Friday. OPP said Thunder Bay detachment drug enforcement section officers executed a search warrant at the home and during the search seized dried marijuana, marijuana plants and hydroponic growing equipment. The two occupants of the home were arrested and charged in connection with the search and seizure, police said. Lynn MacKay, 47, and Kenny Byram, 28, are charged with production of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance. [continues 60 words]
Re: Anti-drug strategy launched, Oct. 5 Does Prime Minister Stephen Harper really believe that an American-style war on drugs would reduce drug use in Canada? Maybe he needs to check the facts. If it were not tragic it would be amusing to compare drug use in the United States, where tens of thousands of police and civil servants owe their jobs to the drug trade, with drug use in the Netherlands, where marijuana is tolerated. According to the pamphlet Q & A Drugs, A Guide to Dutch Policy, published by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2002 and available from Dutch consulates, in 1997 32.9 per cent of Americans 12 years and older, but only 15.6 per cent of Dutch in the same age group had used cannabis at least once. Nine per cent of Americans but only 4.5 per cent of Dutch had used cannabis in the year before the survey. More than 5 per cent of Americans but only 2.5 per cent of Dutch had used cannabis within a month before the survey. [continues 194 words]
Inside Ontario
