Good people of Scarborough-Agincourt, we give you Liberal Party candidate Arnold Chan. You should vote for him not so much for what Arnold has done - but for what the Conservative Party hasn't. To be precise, the Conservative Party hasn't behaved itself in the Toronto riding, which was formerly the domain of one Jim Karygiannis. This week, the ruling party circulated noxious flyers all over Scarborough-Agincourt, much in the way the Axis used to drop propaganda leaflets on advancing Allied troops. As in that case, the Tory propaganda is unlikely to defeat the Grit forces. [continues 507 words]
Hoffman Is Just the Latest Celebrity to Die Because of Addiction Celebrities are public figures who generally work hard to maintain a private life, but death tends to slam all the public doors shut. It's strictly a private affair for the friends and family left behind. Philip Seymour Hoffman was a hugely successful actor, and as such, was public property - for better or worse. Thanks to his work, a large audience of followers developed feelings of attachment and ownership about him. Double that for New York City, where people could see him on stage at the theatre or stand next to him in the grocery store. Now, since death belongs to the private realm, that's left a lot of people on the public side wondering what to do with their emotions. They tweet condolences. They write letters. They bring flowers and gifts to a makeshift shrine outside the building where Hoffman lived. [continues 527 words]
MP Sends Flier to Constituents Slamming Trudeau's Plan to Legalize Pot OTTAWA - The Tories are trying to smoke out some details about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana if his party forms government. Conservative MP John Williamson has sent constituents in his New Brunswick riding a flyer that slams Trudeau's policy, saying the "Liberals plan to sell marijuana in N.B. stores." "I'm trying to take Trudeau's argument to its logical conclusion," Williamson said Monday. "If the point is not to make marijuana available in stores, what's the point of legalizing it?" [continues 189 words]
Are corporations producing medical marijuana nasty or nice? Are they respectable or questionable? Do honest citizens want them in their neighbourhood? North Bay city council will have to answer questions like these and many others when a medical marijuana corporation decides to locate here. The federal government has ruled that medical marijuana users can no longer grow their own. Medical marijuana growing is being handed over to a few favoured corporations. March 31 is when the existing Marijuana Medical Access Program reaches an end. As of April, medical marijuana will be legally accessible only through producers licensed under the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations. It will be up to each municipality to decide where the grow-ops may go. [continues 229 words]
Shortly after being elected about 2 1/2 years ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told his cabinet that "Conservative values are Canadian values" and that the "Conservative party is Canada's party." You'd be hard pressed to see that in recent developments around social issues. Developments over same-sex marriage, safe injection sites, marijuana and most recently prostitution are moving towards progressive positions in the courts and in public opinion. The Conservatives, however, are fighting these developments. Harper's election platform in 2006 promised to revisit the legalization of same-sex marriage that was made legal under Prime Minister Paul Martin. A free vote in Parliament put an end to Harper's agenda, and today civil unions among same-sex partners remain a Canadian right. Canadian attitudes have long favoured this. [continues 437 words]
Learning from new U.S. laws Canadian policy-makers should keep a close eye on the recent legalizing of marijuana in two U.S. states before deciding on a direction in the pot debate now raging north of the border, a prominent American drug-policy expert says. Mark Kleiman, a professor with the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and an adviser to Washington State on the recent loosening of its pot laws, says it will be to Canada's "advantage" to take note of how Washington and Colorado deal with the legalization of marijuana - a recreational drug many consider to be potentially addictive and a health hazard - and to take note of the successes and the challenges experienced by both states. [continues 545 words]
Uh-oh, does someone have some 'splainin' to do? Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay is hinting the Conservative government might consider modernizing Canada's marijuana laws when it comes to possession of small amounts of pot. He told QMI Agency so in an exclusive interview this week. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing," he said, "but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," the nation's top justice official said. So far, so good- except ... Except, the same Conservative government, in a widely aired radio attack ad, made political hay this fall out of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for promoting legalizing and taxing pot. Listen, and you can still hear the worried-sounding parent in the ad- a school bell ringing in the background- as she wonders about the Grit leader's judgment. [continues 228 words]
Politicians Can't See the Forest for the Hemp Leaves About three years ago, before he became the federal Liberal Party leader, MP Justin Trudeau took a puff on a joint as it was passed around a dinner party he hosted for old friends. The kids were away and nobody was the wiser until Trudeau revealed as much during a Huffington Post media interview this week. He has partaken a few times in his 41 years, but said he isn't "crazy" about it. [continues 639 words]
Public Health Physicians of Canada Want Government to Reconsider Bill C-65 The Public Health Physicians of Canada are adding their support to a growing push toward supervised injection sites. The organization, which represents more than 200 public health, preventative medicine specialists and physicians i n the country, called on the federal government on Thursday to reconsider proposed legislation, Bill C-65, that would make it "almost impossible" for public health agencies to offer supervised injection sites. Bill C-65 is an Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that experts say would put additional barriers towards opening more sites across Canada. [continues 170 words]
He was unlikely bait for a life of gang crime, and a cautionary tale for hundreds of students who had the chance to hear his story. Rick Osborne was a clean-cut teen in Niagara Falls when he was led to a residence, held down and injected with heroin. It was the beginning of a downward spiral into drug addiction, sexual abuse, cutting and initiation into an outlaw motorcycle gang by the time he was 17 as an enforcer to rob drug dealers. [continues 285 words]
Regarding John R. Hunt's column (War on drugs must be discussed, Nugget, April 18), there is a middle ground between drug prohibition and full legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. The success of the Swiss program has inspired pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands If expanded, heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. [continues 84 words]
Court reporting can be interesting and sometimes fun. I did it for nearly 30 years. I used to clean up the stories lawyers and police told in the men's washroom and take them home for my wife. It can also be stressful. Lawyers and judges can be nasty if you make a mistake. If some lowlife has the same name, or similar one, as some highly respected citizen who lives in the same area you must remember to make it very clear that one is not the other. The reporter may also be threatened by thugs who promised to beat him or her or by the influential resident who promised to speak to the bosses and have you fired. [continues 265 words]
OTTAWA -- A woman who's been waiting five months for an updated licence to use medical marijuana says the situation for patients is getting worse. Marie Tripp filed an application in August to change her licence after her doctor doubled her prescription for cannabis, and spoke to QMI Agency at the end of September about previous delays she suffered while getting renewals and changes for her licence. Tripp suffers from fibro myalgia, chronic fatigue and osteoarthritis, but doesn't use any painkillers other than marijuana. [continues 256 words]
Chalk up another victory in the war against drugs. Last week our highest court ruled the use of electricity-consumption data from a Calgary power supplier obtained without a search warrant did not constitute a violation of the Charter privacy right to be free from unreasonable searches. The immediate result of this ruling is the conviction of Daniel James Gomboc of Calgary on charges of producing marijuana and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Police suspected a grow-op in Gomboc's home after receiving an anonymous tip, speaking with neighbours, and conducting surveillance of the house. Thinking they didn't have enough evidence to obtain a search warrant, police sought information from the local electricity supplier, Enmax. They received information showing cyclical patterns of electricity use indicative of a grow-op of some sort. [continues 486 words]
OTTAWA -- Criminals running marijuana grow-ops in their homes should have no expectation of privacy, according to a Supreme Court ruling issued Wednesday morning. The case, involving Calgary resident Daniel Gomboc, split the highest court three ways as justices argued over privacy rights. Police attached a digital recording ammeter, or DRA, to Gomboc's home in 2007. The DRA provided police with a pattern of electricity use consistent with a grow-op. Combined with other observations police made of Gomboc's home, they obtained a search warrant and found hundreds of marijuana plants. [continues 269 words]
OTTAWA -- Canadian schools are getting a new resource to help keep kids off drugs. The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse is releasing guidelines for people who work in preventing teens from using drugs and getting addicted. The guidelines are aimed at schools and community groups, as well as groups who work with families on parenting skills. "What we're doing is not just airy-fairy," said Michel Perron, head of the centre. "It's about experts telling us how it is you should engage with young people. It's about practitioners who spend their days with young people allowing (for) these skills to be used in the schools." [continues 116 words]
Ontario's Court of Appeal rapped the knuckles of a Brampton judge Wednesday for saying the country's pot laws are insane" and jail sentences don't stem the tide of marijuana use. The appeal court said Judge J. Elliott Allen was bound by the law" and should have imposed a jail sentence instead of 12 months of house arrest on a Brampton marijuana producer. Judges aren't permitted to let their personal views colour their sentences, wrote Justice Michael Moldaver of the Court of Appeal. [continues 210 words]
Re: Senators play games with bill,Nugget, Oct. 9 The Tory policy of imposing mandatory minimum jail sentences for growing pot is designed specifically to increase crime. The lowest hanging fruit is the easiest to pick, so the cops will be busting the dorm-closet and backyard cottage industry growers first. This will leave far more business for the heavily financed and armed gang growers. That will cause increased violence, gunplay, and gang profits. Future governments will use this inevitable increase in crime to justify even more draconian laws, increased police funding, and the building of new multi-billion-dollar jails. The question should not be why is the Senate slowing this bill down?" The real question is what kind of monster would vote for this outrageously counterproductive bill in the first place?" Russell Barth Federally licensed medical marijuana user Nepean, Ont. [end]
One day after drawing the ire of Conservatives for tinkering with government justice legislation, Liberal senators are now picking apart another crime bill that cracks down on drug traffickers. Political wrangling over the bills raged yesterday, with Justice Minister Rob Nicholson fuming over proposed amendments and delays. He called on Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff to "show leadership" and urge his caucus members from the red chamber to pass the bill. "I've heard that again, they're playing games with this. These people are soft on crime and this is a huge mistake," Nicholson said. [continues 230 words]
St. Catharines - A rare case involving a woman who produced too much medicinal marijuana got even stranger Tuesday when she was sentenced to house arrest -- but chose jail instead. Judge Joseph Nadel ruled 42-year-old Hoa Vu could serve a 12-month sentence at home, after siding with defence lawyer Jeffrey Root who argued the case didn't merit jail time. But after hearing through a Vietnamese interpreter what conditions she'd have to follow, Vu opted for 90 days in jail--the sentence federal prosecutor Darren Anger wanted. [continues 117 words]
Re: Is U.S. high on pot legalization? (Nugget, May 12). It should be noted Health Canada (which manages the medical marijuana license department) has repeatedly, brazenly, violated court orders, and the whole program has been ruled unconstitutional by at least four judges. If the public knew what medical marijuana license holders already know about the Health Canada fiasco, the tide of public opinion would shift hard in favor of legalization. But public opinion should not even factor into this discussion, because the public is so miserably misinformed on this topic that their opinions are useless. Legalizing marijuana is simply the right thing to do, and all science and history supports this. Russell Barth Federally licensed medical marijuana user [end]
Canada has been terrified of liberalizing our drug laws for fear of angering Uncle Sam. But ironically, the United States is now closer to legalizing pot than we are. While the federal Conservatives in the Great White North are poised to bring in mandatory jail time for producing and selling illicit drugs, the sweet smell of drug reform is wafting across America. Wouldn't that be a weird buzz? Canada as the uptight, anti-pot zealot and America as the laid-back, rational progressive. [continues 502 words]
Something is wrong when millions of dollars are being spent by the Conservatives to clean up our nation's drug-infested prisons -- yet almost a quarter of prisoners either tested positive or refused to be tested for narcotics and booze in 2008. Figures released by Correctional Service of Canada show 7,613 samples were requested for random urinanalysis tests designed to detect cocaine, cannabis, opiates and many pharmaceuticals. More than 850 inmates refused the testing competely while more than 13 per cent of those who agreed tested positive for an illicit substance. [continues 243 words]
North Bay's big drug bust last week is a small example of what's going on in Nipissing District. An undercover agent managed to sweep up almost 50 people with a small pile of cash, a few guns, stolen property, pain killers and moderate amounts of cocaine and pot. A lot of small-timers will now have to snitch on each other, a lot of lawyers will get busier and the void will be filled by a few enterprising low-lifes. [continues 584 words]
Trial Begins In 2006 Drug-Debt Shooting North Bay is a great place to earn a living if you're a drug dealer. It's a message that came out of the first day of a trial looking into the fallout between dealers that led to a near-fatal shooting at a Cassells Street residence in 2006. Money is available, especially at the end of the month, with one dealer saying he could rake in up to $2,000 daily, the trial heard. [continues 383 words]
The Anishinabek Nation is taking significant steps in eliminating illicit drug abuse, trafficking and associated organized crime in their 42 First Nations across Ontario. Grand Council Chief John Beaucage has announced the framework for the War on Drugs strategy that was declared by the Anishinabek Nation Chiefs-in-Assembly last November. We will eliminate the drug problem on First Nations," Beaucage said. Our leadership and communities are fully committed to the war on drugs. This is another significant step in re-claiming our own jurisdiction and eliminating a difficult barrier to wellness, community healing and ultimately, our nationhood." [continues 385 words]
Grandparents remember when they sent their children to school and never worried about drug dealers. Parents today in big cities and small towns are concerned their children will be persuaded to experiment with mind-altering substances. The War on Drugs has dragged on since the Vietnam War. To ease the pain and horror of jungle warfare, many American soldiers turned to marijuana. Many remember pictures of soldiers smoking pot through rifle barrels. Since then, drugs have permeated society. Canadians like to think the drug culture flourishes more south of the border, but there is no lack of evidence that importing and distributing illegal substances is a big Canadian industry. [continues 362 words]
The Anishinabek Nation is taking significant steps to eliminate illicit drug abuse, trafficking and associated organized crime in its 42 First Nations across Ontario. Grand Council Chief John Beaucage has announced the framework for the War on Drugs strategy declared by the Anishinabek Nation Chiefs-in- Assembly last November. We will eliminate the drug problem on First Nations," said Beaucage. Our leadership and communities are fully committed to the War on Drugs. This is another significant step in reclaiming our own jurisdiction and eliminating a difficult barrier to wellness, community healing and ultimately, our nationhood." [continues 311 words]
Property Crimes Up Compared To 2007 Police are blaming the drug trade for a rise in break-ins and property crimes in the city compared to last year. Break-ins are up about 47 per cent to 115 from 78 as of the end of May this year compared to the same time in 2007, while property damage has jumped 35 per cent to 221 from 164. While it's difficult to pinpoint why crime rates fluctuate, North Bay Police Service Chief Paul Cook attributed the increase to street-level drug trafficking and people stealing to support their addictions. [continues 232 words]
Father of Man Who Died After Being Tasered Speaks Out The father of a Delhi man who died after being Tasered by police says he wants to know why they had to kill him. Noel Marreel said his son, Jeffrey, 36, was a constant heartache" haunted by a drug addiction and in and out of jail, but never difficult with police. Why did they have to kill him?" asked Marreel. He's been arrested before and he's just walked out with police. He never gave them trouble." [continues 465 words]
Crime Stoppers Celebrates 20 Years Near North Crime Stoppers is celebrating 20 years of anonymous calls and catching criminals in the North Bay area. The tips line has brought in 11,160 crime tips that led to 1,330 arrests since its inception in 1988. Jean Lemieux has been working as the police co-ordinator for six years and said his most memorable case was a drug bust a number of years ago when $4,000 worth of marijuana was seized after a tip was called in anonymously. [continues 328 words]
Letter writer Bill Taylor (Readers Views, Monday) would likely support the army doing a house-by-house search for drugs given that is the equivalent of locking down a school for a drug search. Worse, implying that kids who experiment with pleasure drugs are somehow dirty is repulsive to say the least. Teen smoking has been going on for a couple of hundred years and no one unleashed the dogs on school children over that deadly habit. But that was when the state was our servant and not our moral master like it is today. [continues 296 words]
The mandate of the police to serve and protect, the emphasis being on the protection of life. The Charter of Rights states we will be equal before the law, and will enjoy equal protection and benefit of the law. However the learned relics in our hallowed halls of justice do not see it that way. They would rather forget about protecting the clean kids and give questionable ones free entry into our schools. Considering the tragedies that have taken place in schools and other places of learning, to muzzle the drug-sniffing dogs in this day and age is foolhardy. [continues 80 words]
Local School Searches Won't Likely Continue A ruling by Canada's top court has put the leash on the use of police dogs to randomly search for drugs at local high schools. North Bay police Chief Paul Cook said a protocol allowing principals to call in drug-sniffing dogs to search their schools will likely be terminated following Friday's Supreme Court of Canada ruling that both a random high school search in Sarnia and one at a Calgary bus terminal were unlawful breaches of privacy. [continues 720 words]
Re: No legalized pot, but safe injection sites, Nugget, Feb. 9. Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party want more safe injection sites, a program that has failed in more than than 36 countries (National Post, May 9, 2007). This program allows addicts to safely inject themselves with their own heroin. Is this the only help we can offer addicts, to keep them addicted, which means no hope, no future? The current data in Canada shows that use of cannabis by the Canadian public over age 15 is 14 per cent. For all other illegal drugs, prevalence remains from 0.5 to three per cent. [continues 118 words]
Health Minister Tony Clement will announce the Conservative government's anti-drug strategy this week with a stark warning: "The party's over" for illicit drug users. "In the next few days, we're going to be back in the business of an anti-drug strategy," Clement told The Canadian Press. "In that sense, the party's over." Shortly after taking office early last year, the Conservatives decided not to go ahead with a Liberal bill to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana. [continues 59 words]
A provincial court judge muzzled a drug prosecutor from having a say as a city man was sentenced for running a marijuana grow operation in a Thelma Avenue home. Federal Crown attorney Alain Perron objected to a fine, and said probation is even worse. But Ontario Court Justice Louisette Duchesneau-McLachlan took the unusual step of placing the pot producer on probation for two years without hearing the Crown's recommendation. A decision is usually made after both sides have had a chance to make a submission. [continues 99 words]
Decriminalization of marijuana will not happen in our lifetime. Not at this rate. Liberal Senator Larry Campbell restated his preference this week to regulate and control pot just as alcohol production and distribution is governed. Then "tax the hell out of it," Campbell urges, with revenues rolled into underfunded priorities like health care. Too much is spent on enforcement and justice with too little gained, he rightly said, although many people would agree it would be a waste of time trying to control something people can grow in their backyards. [continues 293 words]
Program Highly Successful In 06 The North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit board of directors learned Wednesday that heroin addicts are finally getting the message and turning in their dirty needles. The health unit's decade-old needle exchange program, which gives addicts clean needles and other drug paraphernalia in exchange for dirty equipment, reported an 89 per cent return rate on the needles it gave out in 2006. That figure, the highest recorded for the health unit, is up substantially from previous years. [continues 269 words]
Local Grade 5 students will learn about the dangers of drugs and alcohol at Memorial Gardens this week as the Racing Against Drugs program returns to the city. The interactive program, which kicks off today and runs until Thursday, includes various presentations by community partners about drugs and alcohol abuse prevention. The program, developed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, also features a large race track to help demonstrate the importance of staying in control. The program is sponsored and organized by a local steering committee which includes the RCMP, Ontario Ministry of Transportation, North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, area school boards, North Bay Fire Department, North Bay Police Service, Nipissing chapter of MADD and North Bay Focus. [end]
Respected people of Helmand," the radio message began. "The soldiers of the International Security Assistance Force and the Afghan National Army do not destroy poppy fields. They know that many people of Afghanistan have no choice but to grow poppy. ISAF and the ANA do not want to stop people from earning their livelihoods." It was such a sensible message it almost had to be a mistake, and of course it was. The message, written by an ISAF officer and broadcast in Helmand province last week on two local radio stations, was immediately condemned by Afghan and American officials from President Hamid Karzai on down. [continues 764 words]
North Bay Hospital ER Sees Spike In Drug-Related Illness Teenagers, stay-at-home moms and nine-to-fivers are not what people picture when they think of cocaine users. But one doctor is warning that people who use cocaine as a recreational drug are getting more than they bargained for with what appears to be bad batches of coke circulating in the area. "It's shocking to see a perfectly healthy teen come in (to the emergency room) and see the family discover that he has cocaine-induced physical damage that may or may not heal," said Dr. James Truong. [continues 380 words]
Re: Editorial, How much is too much (April 12) dealing with police costs and some officers of varying ranks earning $100,000 a year. Let's consider a few facts. When an officer is assigned, through necessity to spend hundreds of hours in investigating and gathering evidence, and working 12 hours or more a day, week in and week out, it doesn't take too long to hit $100,000. Some of this service is paid at time and one half. [continues 206 words]
The cost of policing in North Bay is continually rising. We learned recently 13 members of the North Bay Police Service earned more than $100,000 in 2006. A new contract and overtime costs are driving the budget higher and municipal taxpayers are reeling with tax hikes almost triple the rate of inflation. At the same time, the police board tells the public crime is declining in the city. Police Chief Paul Cook told the board Tuesday most criminal categories are down, with the exception being theft over $5,000 and drug offences - many are charges for simple possession of marijuana, a relatively innocuous substance that at one time was going to be decriminalized. [continues 258 words]
Last week, even before the Senlis Council released its latest survey on the situation in southern Afghanistan, the Canadian defence establishment was already circling the wagons. A flurry of e-mails was dispatched to the mailing list of the Conference of Defence Associations (CDA), alerting its members to the fact previous Senlis Council findings "have been less than positive about this mission." Presumably, in the eyes of the CDA, the publishing of negative assessments automatically damages the credibility of the independent Senlis Council. [continues 662 words]
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is gearing up for an election and Canadians are going to hear a lot about crime and punishment. None of the Conservatives' proposed crime control laws have been passed in the year since the party assumed power. The Tories are busy "greening" themselves lately, but what's been billed as a "mini throne speech," Harper has been out stumping his platform - tax cuts, tough crime laws and warning that without his party in power, Canada would be "a country where the streets are ruled by guns, gangs and drugs." [continues 395 words]
$7,500 Paid Out To 15 Callers Chalk up another 33 people arrested and charged thanks to tips to Near North Crime Stoppers last year. "There were no major records set in the past 12 months but it was still a busy time," said Jean Lemieux, Crime Stoppers co-ordinator for the North Bay Police Service. More than 550 tips were received, Lemieux said, and in addition to those people charged, more than 150 files are open and under investigation thanks to those tips. [continues 296 words]
Barry Cooper's new DVD, Never Get Busted Again, which went on sale over the Internet late last month, will probably not sell 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 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 816 words]
Toronto - As fire chief in the city of Niagara Falls, Ontario's new Fire Marshal garnered a reputation for helping police tear down marijuana grow operations through his aggressive approach to fire prevention. Although he says he is taking aim at fire hazards, not drugs, Patrick Burke is expected to have an impact on grow ops and drug labs across the province when he steps into the provincial role today. "All we're interested in is the correction and prosecution of blatant fire code violations," says Burke, who served with the Windsor fire department for 34 years before becoming chief in Niagara Falls in 2002. [continues 256 words]
OTTAWA (CP) -- The federal Conservatives have brought in legislation to crack down on drug-impaired drivers - by resurrecting a plan first advanced by the Liberals, adding heavier fines and jail terms, and calling the result a Tory initiative. The bill, tabled Tuesday by Justice Minister Vic Toews, would also tighten laws against driving under the influence of alcohol, changing the rules of evidence to make it harder to challenge breathalyzer tests in court. The main focus, however, is on those who get behind the wheel while high on marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine or a variety of other drugs. [continues 257 words]
