Liberal Convention Debates Marijuana

Buried amidst the hype and hoopla of their leadership race, but not entirely unnoticed in certain smoke-filled quarters, federal Liberals seem to have finally grasped that marijuana is a growth industry in Canada.

A contentious "pie-in-the-sky" resolution was presented to the convention's social and justice workshop calling for legalizing marijuana under eventual provincial administration. The resolution also suggested that existing "compassion centres" could be incorporated into Health Canada and there be a general amnesty and destruction of criminal records for the 1.5 million Canadians convicted of simple marijuana possession since 1923.

[continues 218 words]

Erika Dyck Illuminates the History of LSD Research in Canada and Why It's Making a Come-Back

Once upon a time in the early 1950's, before the youth counter-culture of the 60's, before the world knew Timothy Leary, and before the CIA funded experiments here in Montreal, there was a small Canadian prairie town that remained unaware of the excitement and scientific intrigue that awaited it.

Somewhere else in the world, psychiatrists were searching for a way to understand the mentally ill and the nascent field of psychoparmacology seemed to offer them a new perspective. This is how the then innocent drug lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), found its way into the unsuspecting town of Weyburn, Saskatchewan.

[continues 611 words]

Secrecy Was Paramount. Now Come Searches, Interviews And Prep For Hundreds Of Cases

Who knew?

The RCMP invested four years and the help of more than 1,000 police officers, border guards, customs officials, prosecutors and others in yesterday's crackdown on organized crime and drug running in Montreal.

A bonus would be heightened public awareness of organized crime and its impact, said Chief Superintendent Derek Ogden, director of organized crime and drug operations for the RCMP.

The Mafia operates below the radar and is less visible to the public than street gangs, Ogden noted.

[continues 321 words]

Quebec Crime Family Alleged To Have Lured Airport Workers, Customs Agents

MONTREAL - It was a Quebec-based crime family with a transnational reach, one that infiltrated Montreal's Pierre Trudeau International Airport, bribing a federal customs agent and luring Air Canada and food-service employees into its cocaine smuggling plots.

Another customs agent was also bribed in an operation to bring cocaine by train from the United States. Other trafficking schemes brought cocaine from countries such as Colombia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti or Venezuela.

[continues 726 words]

It is commendable to stop citizens from driving while honestly impaired ('New legislation takes aim at druggy drivers,' The Chronicle, Nov. 15), as long as citizens who use cannabis (kaneh bosm/marijuana) 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 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, Co.

[end]

Carter Foster, Matthew Lambert, Michael Small and Lloyd Bainbridge, four men from the tiny island of Grand Manan in New Brunswick, got a salutary lesson from a jury last week in the difference between thuggery and good citizenship.

It's sad that the lesson was needed in the first place, of course, and sadder still that many of the men's fellow islanders appear to have learned nothing from their neighbours' fate, but the rest of us can be reassured the 12 ordinary men and women on the jury in St. Andrew, N.B., were not so easily hoodwinked.

[continues 442 words]

Federal legislation designed to make it easier on police to catch drivers under the influence of illegal drugs is welcome and overdue, said Montreal police Station 1 Cmdr. Michel Lecompte.

"My one comment was it's about time," he said, adding the new legislation will allow police to continue to impress upon motorists the importance of being sober and safe on the road.

"I still remember the '50s and '60s, at Christmas, everybody used to go get drunk at parties and take their cars, but times have changed with the increasing deterrents for drunk driving. Today, (Station 1 police) hold 15 to 20 different operations every year. It's a different world now," he said.

[continues 395 words]

It's being billed as a heart-to-heart talk with parents about what their kids are saying about drugs.

The Comite d'action des citoyens en securite publique (CACSP) and the Securete du Quebec are co-hosting an informal information session at the St. Lazare Community Centre on Tuesday, Nov. 28 at 7:30 p.m.

"The goal is simple," says CACSP moderator Gilles Boudreau. "Our objective is to try to sensitize parents on what is being told to their kids in schools by the SQ, Liberte de choisir and other groups - - and what those groups are hearing back from the kids."

[continues 201 words]

Montrealers can sympathize with residents in Toronto and Edmonton as both those cities find themselves grappling with a sharply increased number of gang-related killings.

By the time Quebec's notorious drug wars were over, more than 160 people had been killed. That murderous toll included 11-year-old Daniel Desrochers, who died after being hit by shrapnel from a car bomb while he was playing outside his home.

The idea that anyone, no matter how innocent, no matter where they happen to be, can get caught in the crossfire of gang warfare is deeply unsettling.

[continues 494 words]

In North End. Pilot Project Gets $500,000 Grant

In the world of street gangs, elementary and high schools often serve as recruitment centres.

Gang members troll schoolyards, seeking vulnerable candidates as young as 10 or 12 to serve as future drug runners or underage prostitutes.

The key to warding off a youthful transgression that can end up ruining a life is to demonstrate that better choices exist, police say.

"We try to give children the tools and the self-confidence so that when gang members approach them, they'll know what to do," said Montreal police Constable Stephane Eid, who has worked on anti-gang programs for the past six years in the Bordeaux-Cartierville borough in north-end Montreal.

[continues 303 words]

Students Have Mixed Feelings About Role

When a pair of Dawson College students were hauled into a security guard's office for fooling around with hashish, they had no idea their detention would help cut short a killer's rampage.

Sean and Albert, who did not want their real names used, were the subject of the "unrelated matter" Montreal police have said brought a squad car to the school just as Kimveer Gill cut down his first victims on Sept. 13.

[continues 444 words]

Professed His Loyalty To Biker Gang At Hearing

A longtime member of the Hells Angels has been denied statutory release from prison because of his loyalty to the biker gang and because he is alleged to still be doing business while behind bars.

Claude Giguere, 45, was one of several Hells Angels arrested in Operation Springtime 2001, the police investigation that shut down the gang's elite Nomads chapter.

While he wasn't a member of the Nomads, Giguere was, and still is, a member of the gang's Trois Rivieres chapter. He was snared in the 2001 roundup because investigators found evidence he purchased large quantities of cocaine and hashish from the Nomads' highly organized drug-trafficking empire.

[continues 283 words]

Judge Orders Woman into Psychotherapy to Break Decades-Old Cocaine Addiction

Anne-Marie Peladeau says she is "well therapy-ized" after seeking every form of help for her longtime drug addiction.

Yesterday, a Quebec Court judge told her to give it one more shot with psychotherapy as he released the daughter of the late media mogul Pierre Peladeau from jail.

The 41-year-old woman pleaded guilty this week to four theft-related charges, one of obstructing justice and another of attempting to obstruct justice. Other charges, including assaulting a police officer, were dropped.

[continues 297 words]

No politician ever lost votes by promising to "get tough on crime." Stephen Harper's proposal to get tougher on repeat serious offenders does meet a legitimate public concern about slack sentences. But the Conservative government's planned new "three-strikes" law is too hard a blow to the ancient doctrine that liberty should not be curtailed pre-emptively.

It's important to remember that this might be merely virtual legislation. All three opposition parties are likely to balk at the idea that some criminals should have to prove they will not offend again. This would allow the Conservatives to campaign as the anti-crime party, but it would also mean the bill is not likely to pass.

[continues 416 words]

Interim Service to Address Substance Abuse, Drug Decriminalization

If you are going to do drugs, SSMU won't judge -- it just wants you to do them safely.

The Harm Reduction Centre (HRC) is an interim SSMU service that will give students the low-down on substance abuse this fall, before being considered for status as a full-time club.

The Centre aims to educate students on substance abuse and safer substance-use, as well as lobby for the revision of national and international drug policy.

[continues 396 words]

The academic year is back in full swing, and Students' Society executives are for the first time facing oversight of their actions from SSMU Council. Two notable summer projects have come up so far, the Harm Reduction Centre (HRC) and the Flying Squad. Both are still in the larvae stage, and there are many details that remain to be worked out concerning their structures before they can be given full approval. The Harm Reduction Centre deserves a chance to work out its kinks. The Flying Squad does not.

[continues 633 words]

New Campus Service For Safer Drug Use

The Students' Society has developed a new service to provide resources for drug and alcohol education as well as activism on drug policy.

SSMU's Harm Reduction Centre aims primarily at ensuring the safe use of drugs and alcohol among McGill students, said Floh Hera-Vega, vice president clubs and services. This will include hard drugs, such as heroine and crack cocaine, as well as marijuana and alcohol.?

HRC is based on the premise that "if people are going to do something, one should give them the tools to do so safely," Herra-Vega said.

[continues 670 words]

Closes Book On Biggest Hash Plot

Two more men involved in importing a record-breaking amount of hashish from Pakistan were sentenced yesterday, closing the book on a plot involving four members of the West End Gang, a boat and $225 million worth of drugs.

Sidney Lallouz, 57, was given 61/2 years for his role after pleading guilty to conspiracy to import drugs and trafficking. Andrew Toman, the 24-year-old son of the plot's kingpin, was sentenced to two years in a federal penitentiary. Both men are not allowed to own weapons for 10 years after their release.

[continues 197 words]

Kids Being Recruited into Crime, Mayor Says

Montreal police will receive $6 million from the provincial government to help fight street gangs.

The funding - part of a package that will also see community groups receive $1.2 million for youth programs - was announced at a news conference yesterday by Premier Jean Charest, along with Public Security Minister Jacques Dupuis, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay and Montreal police chief Yvan Delorme.

"Street gangs are not a phenomenon unique to Montreal," Charest said, acknowledging many North American cities have them. "But they are a problem in Montreal."

[continues 225 words]

Among 20 Arrested Is First Minor To Ever Be Charged In Quebec With Gangsterism

In their biggest investigation of organized crime, Longueuil police have dismantled a major drug trafficking ring, arresting more than 20 people, including the first minor in Quebec to be charged with gangsterism.

The drug ring operated out of most of the city's boroughs and in Brossard with street-level dealers selling at restaurants and bars, Chief Inspector Marc Rodier said. On a good night the ring - which police called the Garco organization - was able to make 100 transactions involving cocaine, crack and marijuana.

[continues 398 words]