It's sad that we still have to warn people about the dangers of impaired driving; one would have hoped the message had been received loud and clear by now, but that is unfortunately not the case. In today's editions of our papers we look at the consequences of impaired driving, from the standpoint of a woman whose life was forever altered after being struck by a driver who was impaired, and from the perspective of a young man who killed one of his best friends after crashing a car while driving drunk. [continues 321 words]
Let the market decide how many licensed pot shops Toronto should have, some marijuana advocates told Scarborough Councillor Jim Karygiannis this week. Others, represented by the Toronto Dispensaries Coalition, proposed a set of rules (see sidebar) which include mandatory distances from schools and other dispensaries. Toronto Council's Licensing and Standards Committee, however, won't start talking about regulating dispensaries until at least October. In May and again in June, the group of councillors sent away representatives of the city's marijuana industry who wanted to set up some regulations. [continues 280 words]
The war on drugs may be nearing an end, but the war of words on drugs is just getting started. At last week's Toronto Council meeting, a debate on banning hookahs in Toronto business establishments couldn't go for long before hand-wringing questions about the implications of legalized marijuana would have on such a ban. Toronto's chief medical officer of health Dr. David McKeown told councillors again and again that the fulfillment of the Justin Trudeau government's promise to legalize the drug wouldn't have much impact on this ban one way or another. But that didn't stop the rhetoric. [continues 309 words]
Toronto's Board of Health is scheduled to discuss the pros and cons of safe injection sites at its Wednesday meeting. It will be looking at setting up a similar model as the one currently in operation in Vancouver - and possibly asking the provincial government to fund a pilot site in the City of Toronto. The recommendation to open a site is from a long-awaited report by Toronto Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown, which is a response to the city's eight-year-old drug strategy looking at the viability of such sites. [continues 277 words]
Wants Deed Holders To Pay Costs Associated With Investigations, Inspections Property owners that allow their homes to be used as marijuana grow operations in Toronto will face hefty fines from the city if council approves two new bylaws next month. Ward 39 (Scarborough Agincourt) Councillor Mike Del Grande has been working with city staff on the bylaws for the past two years. "Landlords or anybody that owns these places are going to be hit hard," Del Grande said in an interview Wednesday, noting that the bylaws were created in consultation with police, fire, public health, building, licensing and legal staff. [continues 428 words]
Five People Face First-Degree Murder Charges in Connection to 2005 Incident Five people have been charged with murder following a two-year investigation into the abduction and death of a 30-year-old man. Police believe Pei Ding Xu was murdered some time after his Jan. 24, 2005 abduction, but his body has not yet been found. "The investigation involves two rival Asian gangs in relation to marijuana grow houses that were operating at the time, in 2005, in the Scarborough area," Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux told reporters at a news conference at police headquarters. [continues 224 words]
Scarborough councillor Mike Del Grande is right on the money when he says council should use some of its expanded powers under the City of Toronto Act to get tough on marijuana grow house operators. While these grow operations taking place in homes in residential neighbourhoods seem to be on a relative decline in Scarborough over the past years, now is not the time to become complacent. Del Grande himself, the councillor for Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt, can take some credit for aggressively going after grow houses in his community. He helped make life difficult for the operators, and what was a flood of grow houses in the area three years ago has been reduced significantly. Over the past four years, 72 grow houses were busted in Ward 39. [continues 322 words]
'Start Testing The Water, Start Being Bold': Del Grande The city needs to take bold action in testing its powers under the new City of Toronto Act, according to a Scarborough councillor who's hoping his colleagues will use the new legislation to tackle marijuana grow operations. "Everybody is all excited about the City of Toronto Act. 'Oh look at all these powers.' And then everybody is timid to use these powers," Ward 39 Councillor Mike Del Grande (Scarborough-Agincourt) said Friday following the first meeting of the city's new licensing and standards committee. [continues 348 words]
Program's Success Relies On Public, Organizations: Miller Toronto's Crime Stoppers program received 6,876 tips last year that led to 530 arrests, 2,994 charges laid and $23.6 million in drugs seized. Those figures were released during a news conference at police headquarters Wednesday at which Mayor David Miller unveiled a proclamation declaring January as Crime Stoppers Month. "Crime Stoppers is a partnership between the police, the community and the media, and its incredible success is due to the continued support from residents and organizations," Miller said. "When concerned people watch out for each other and report crimes to the appropriate authorities, we all benefit." [continues 275 words]
Re: 'Agincourt weeds out grow houses,' News, April 28. Where are the sons and daughters of our police chiefs, judges, politicians and newspaper editors to obtain their marijuana if not from a neighbourhood grow house? Are they supposed to approach the local chapter of the Hells Angels or grow it in mummy's or daddy's garden? Of course not. If marijuana prohibition is anything like alcohol prohibition was in the U.S., many of our "leaders" are being paid protection money by the growers to leave them alone. Enough. Let's legalize all drugs. Alan Randell, via e-mail from Victoria, B.C. [end]
Politicians Say Aggressive Tactics Are Paying Off Aggressive tactics are paying off in the battle against grow houses in Agincourt, local politicians say. Two years ago, police raids on marijuana growers were common on some of the short, looping streets of Ward 39 Councillor Mike Del Grande's neighboruood in northwest Scarborough. In 2004, two grow operations were shut down on Elmartin Drive, for example, and three on New Forest Square. But after the grow house problem became an issue in the 2003 municipal and 2004 federal election campaigns, politicians took a get-tough approach they believe convinced most growers to move on. [continues 456 words]
Drug Recognition Expert Says Level Of Impairment Can Change Rapidly Impaired driving is synonymous with alcohol, but police warn drugs, including some prescription medication, could affect your ability to operate a vehicle safely. "Close to 60 per cent of our population is on meds," said Const. Sylvie Guay, a drug recognition expert with Toronto Police. "It's a huge issue. ... The more the population goes on taking these prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs and driving, the more we have problems," she explained. [continues 234 words]
A sweeping new city drug strategy that aims to make drug use safer while targeting preventive and enforcement resources received the backing of the city's policy and finance committee. Mayor David Miller said the strategy's 66 recommendations take a multi-pronged approach to addiction - particularly crack cocaine and alcohol - and treats it as a public health issue. "The question is, are we going to treat addicts as human beings and people, as sons and daughters and parents?" he asked. "If they've got an addiction, they need help, they need a hand up and that's what it's all about." [continues 267 words]
I disagree with police and municipal politicians that we have an out-of-control gun problem in the GTA. What we have is an out-of-control illegal drug use problem. Using guns is a convenient and effective way for drug dealers and gangs to mark or claim their territory - hence business. The fact that the shooters and their victims are often known to police should tell you something. Drug dealers and users are not going to report a ripoff to the police for an illegal transaction - so they enforce the police's law and order. There wouldn't be drug dealers if there were no drug users. If you get rid of the users, you get rid of the dealers and the use of guns. This is the issue that should be addressed by the lawmakers. Dan Hemphill [end]
Toronto's board of health overwhelmingly backed a bold new strategy for dealing with the city's chronically addicted drug users setting the stage for a potentially heated debate at city council this week. The strategy's 66 recommendations include studying the establishment of safe injection sites similar to those in other cities, handing out pipes to crack addicts and offering council's support of a move to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The board's approval came despite concerns from residents mostly in the downtown area, who fear their communities will become home to safe injection sites. [continues 214 words]
The hydroponics business is getting caught up in the illegal grow-op business and it's unfair, according to one worker. An employee who has been working in the hydroponics business for 14 years and didn't want his name or the name of the business used, said it's worse than ever. "It seems to have more of a bad rap lately," he said. "The RCMP thing (where four Mounties in Alberta were killed) had an effect." People hear this and paint a broad brush, he said. [continues 431 words]
About 25 people gathered at the Scarborough Civic Centre Monday to voice their opinions about why substance abuse is increasing in the city. The evening event was the first in a series of townhall meetings to help the city identify causes of substance abuse, and develop a drug strategy based on four components: prevention, harm reduction, treatment and enforcement. "It is important for the premier city of the country to effectively deal with drug abuse," Ward 27 Councillor Kyle Rae (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) told The Scaborough Mirror. Rae is one of five city councillors across Toronto leading the initiative. [continues 488 words]
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's clandestine lab team seized drugs with a street value of more than $40 million Wednesday after executing three search warrants in Scarborough. According to the RCMP, an operational synthetic drug lab with enough chemicals and ecstasy powder to produce about 50,000 ecstasy pills was discovered in a home on Todd Road northwest of Sheppard Avenue and Brimley Road. At two public storage units located in undisclosed industrial areas in Scarborough, police found sufficient chemicals to produce more than four million ecstasy pills. [continues 244 words]
Actions Of Scarborough-Agincourt MP, Councillor Have Local Police Concerned MP Jim Karygiannis (Scarborough-Agincourt) is unapologetic about his practice of canvassing the streets of his riding for suspected marijuana grow houses, despite the fact that police say the politician is putting himself and investigations at risk by doing so. "I'm working with the police and working with the stakeholders to get rid of these," Karygiannis said. "They've got some concerns and I understand their concerns and I will keep on working with all the stakeholders." [continues 612 words]
The murder of four RCMP officers by a marijuana grow-house operator in northern Alberta is both a tragedy and a reminder to citizens and politicians that the drug industry is deadly. Scarborough is home to the bulk of grow-ops in Toronto. Lots Of Grow Ops That means Scarborough is twice as likely to make the headlines as all the former municipalities combined when an event similar to what happened in Alberta occurs in Toronto. Within a two-minute walk from my Bridlewood home are four former grow operations. [continues 257 words]
The murder of four RCMP officers by a marijuana grow-house operator in northern Alberta is both a tragedy and a reminder to citizens and politicians that the drug industry is deadly. Scarborough is home to the bulk of grow-ops in Toronto. Lots Of Grow Ops That means Scarborough is twice as likely to make the headlines as all the former municipalities combined when an event similar to what happened in Alberta occurs in Toronto. Within a two-minute walk from my Bridlewood home are four former grow operations. [continues 253 words]
The shooting deaths of four RCMP officers in Alberta highlight the dangers of marijuana grow operations, an escalating problem in this city, says interim Toronto Police Chief Michael Boyd. "It's an issue that definitely needs to be dealt with, and we have been working with our political leaders, working with our fellow police leaders trying to address this issue, this growing concern," he told reporters Friday during a news conference at police headquarters. "The sense that I get is that most Canadians do not understand. When they hear about marijuana grow, they think cannabis. They don't really concern themselves with the real issues that we see, and the dangers, and the health and safety issues not only to police officers dealing with this but to young children who in many cases are living in this kind of environment." [continues 243 words]
The Toronto Police Services Board and Mayor David Miller came out on opposite sides of the thorny issue of whether or not to require some police officers to submit to drug testing last week. The police services board voted late Thursday to hold off on a March 1 implementation of the plan just long enough to review a detailed policy on how the drug tests will be implemented. They did so after hearing objections from the Toronto Police Association, who have maintained that asking police officers to submit to the tests is a violation of their human rights. Retired judge George Ferguson recommended the drug testing as a part of sweeping reforms designed to root out police corruption, and showed up at the board meeting to reiterate his position. [continues 341 words]
Toronto Crime Stoppers received more than 5,000 tips that led to 474 arrests and 1,808 charges being laid last year, a record-breaker for the crime-fighting program. The tips in 2004 also led to more than $31 million in drugs being seized, according to officials. Callers to the program's 24-hour hotline, 416-222-TIPS, remain anonymous and are eligible for a $2,000 reward. There was $77,800 approved last year for rewards. "It was a very rewarding year for the program. The number of tips and arrests are way up. The program is working," said Toronto Crime Stoppers chair Lorne Simon. "People are getting the message that Crime Stoppers is an alternative to going to the police with information about a crime." [continues 145 words]
Police found a clandestine laboratory in a Scarborough home following an investigation into an ecstasy manufacturing operation in Markham. York Regional Police said they made a surprising discovery on Wednesday while executing a search warrant at a Markham home. Expecting to find a marijuana grow operation on Glenbourne Park Drive, police instead located a fully operational ecstasy manufacturing operation. Four men from British Columbia have been charged. As a result of the investigation, a search warrant was executed at a home on Shallowford Court, southeast of Midland and Steeles avenues, where another clandestine lab was located. [continues 157 words]
A proliferation of marijuana grow houses in the city - specifically in northwest Scarborough - has city councillors considering new ways to combat the new urban menace. Monday, the city's planning committee backed a set of new weapons to employ in their battle most of which would require sweeping legislative changes at the provincial and federal levels and greater co-operation with police. "We have to take action," said committee chair Gerry Altobello (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest). The committee is asking the city to go to the senior levels of government to get more power for property standards and health inspectors who could then use building safety and public health concerns as grounds for entry to shut down the illegal operation. [continues 447 words]
They are taken care of like children - given just the right amount of water, heat and ventilation. That's how Det. Gary McQueen, head of 42 Division's major crime unit, describes the cultivation of marijuana plants, a growing problem that takes place in dozens, if not hundreds, of Scarborough homes and businesses. "They're the babies, and they grow up," he said of the plants. Police have dismantled 112 grow operations in the division so far this year. The most recent takedown happened Tuesday night in an industrial building with three large rooms at 50 Skagway Ave. southeast of Brimley Road and Eglinton Avenue. [continues 612 words]
A Scarborough councillor has been forced to curb plans to expose marijuana grow-op houses in his ward by posting large notices in front of them. Ward 39 Councillor Mike Del Grande (Scarborough-Agincourt) said that media coverage of what he wanted to be a test project has forced him to rethink his strategy, but he remains determined to rid his north Scarborough ward of the "cancer" that is grow houses. "This is not a casual event, this is very well orchestrated and it's epidemic and it's basically cancerous," he said of the 28 known grow-ops that have been shut down by police in the past year. [continues 366 words]
Driver of car, 32, shot as undercover officers attempt to make arrest at local gas station The province's Special Investigations Unit is appealing for witnesses as it continues to probe the death of a man who was shot by a Toronto police officer at a Scarborough gas station Thursday night. The civilian agency, which investigates whenever there is a serious injury or death involving police, has assigned eight investigators to the case. The shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. at the Petro-Canada station at the northeast corner of Victoria Park Avenue and Ellesmere Road. [continues 415 words]
More than 16,000 marijuana plants with a street value of $16 million were seized during a police investigation that began in January. Toronto Police said the investigation focused on a network of people they allege are associated with two retail outlets: Caesar's Garden Centre at 584 Gordon Baker Rd. in North York and Jade Garden Trading at 335 Nuggett Ave. in Scarborough. Police allege members of this network were involved in the setting up of grow operations and were providing people with equipment, expertise and in some cases marijuana seedlings. The organization was also receiving and distributing the final dried marijuana product, police said. Also seized were $150,000 cash and 56 kilos of dried and packaged marijuana. [end]
What began as a routine vehicle stop in Scarborough last Friday, ended with the largest seizure of ecstasy in Canada, police say. Const. John Linney of 42 Division was on patrol in the Sheppard Avenue and Shorting Road when he spotted a van being driven with an expired licence plate validation sticker around 2 a.m. After stopping the van, a bag of powdered ecstasy was found inside, and the driver and passenger were arrested, police said. During an investigation, the drug squad executed search warrants at a Markham home and a storage facility in Scarborough. That resulted in the seizure of 161 kilos of powdered ecstasy, 42 kilos of liquid ecstasy, 177 grams of heroin, 380 kilos of sassafras oil, a chemical precursor of ecstasy, 45 gallons of other chemical precursors of ecstasy and $6,000 cash, police said. [continues 421 words]
Police in Scarborough's 42 Division are using their latest marijuana grow operation investigation to launch an initiative to inform residents about the illegal activity. A billboard sign was placed in front of the house at 93 Darby Court, near Sewells Road and Morningside Avenue, while police cleaned out the marijuana and related items. "We have a sign that we're going to place on the front lawn of any marijuana grow house that we investigate in 42 Division to let the neighbourhood know what we're doing here," said Supt. Tony Warr at a press conference held yesterday in front of the house. [continues 486 words]
Re: 'Take back our neighbourhoods,' Editorial, May 19. In our corner of Scarborough, we have our share of life's flotsam and jetsam, trying to hustle drugs, sex and whatever to the borderline youth who could fall either way. I and everyone I know want these borderline cases to fall on the right side of the law and want to do what we can to help to get the bad influence off the streets. We are merchants in a small plaza in Guildwood and we have watched in dismay as more and more of the drugs and gangs have moved into our area. [continues 384 words]
Police Encourage Malvern Area Residents To Enjoy Community Senior Toronto police officers met with Malvern residents Wednesday night following a string of raids aimed at a Scarborough gang that led to 500 charges against 65 people. "We have hopefully dismantled a violent street gang, but I must caution you that we have also created a void in the criminal underworld and that there will be those rushing to fill that void, 42 Division Supt. Tony Warr told about 100 people at Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute on Tapscott Road. "Our job now, yours and ours together, is to ensure that the void we have created is filled by good, honest, hardworking members of the community." [continues 263 words]
Toronto's Crime Stoppers program set a new record last month, generating 603 tips and paying three $1,000 rewards for information leading to arrests in high-profile cases. The rewards were paid after tips led to arrests in a murder, a major marijuana grow operation and a case involving the sexual abuse of a four-year-old handicapped girl. Tips about the grow operation resulted in six arrests and police identifying four houses where marijuana was grown. Investigators estimate the value of the marijuana seized from the homes to be $2.3 million. [continues 170 words]
Local man named as head of international drug smuggling ring by RCMP officials Police say an international drug ring headed by a Scarborough man collapsed early Wednesday morning. The Greater Toronto Area Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit (CFSEU) in partnership with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency and scores of local forces in Canada and the United States arrested 170 people in connection with the ring. At a press conference held in Etobicoke Wednesday, police said the network was responsible for the production of ecstasy and marijuana in Canada -- after importing the powder from Holland, then distributing the drugs in the United States and laundering money. [continues 445 words]
A Toronto councillor's dream for a safer city is one step closer to reality. Rookie Ward 37 Councillor Michael Thompson's (Scarborough Centre) action plan to deal with drugs, gangs guns and violence received the backing of the powerful policy and finance committee Thursday afternoon. It was referred to city staff for a full report on how its ideas can be integrated into what measures the city is already taking on crime prevention. "We have a major problem in the city," said Thompson. "Guns, gangs, drugs and violence are a major cancer in our city. We should make public safety a top priority." [continues 553 words]
Teen columnist Sue Bedford, suggesting that using the plant cannabis leads to hard drugs use is especially misinformed, since that claim has been debunked years ago. Cannabis prohibitionists are as a whole misinformed relying on what is false to perpetuate caging their brother for using a plant, which God gave and said was good on literally the first page of the Bible. As a cannabis activist and obedient Christian, ending the policy of caging people for using a plant is an important issue whose time has come. Stan White, Dillon, Colorado [end]
Re: 'To toke or not to toke, that is the question,' Teenbeat, Jan. 7. I was dismayed to read the Teenbeat column because it repeated the oft-disproved lie of the gateway theory. The theory is that cannabis use leads to hard drugs. The truth is readily available and even if the facts are unavailable, a little logic and thought on the part of the writer would have shown the gateway theory for the pack of lies it is. About 50 per cent of young people have tried cannabis. About 0.2 per cent of the population uses hard drugs. If the gateway theory was true, many more would progress. That they do not is the obvious refutation of the lie. [continues 184 words]
Teen Beat The basement is dimly lit and nondescript rock music plays softly in the background. Typical teenager Johnny is surrounded by a group of equally average friends who are talking and laughing, possibly sipping on generic brand pop or munching chips from plastic containers. Suddenly, it happens: Cool Kid enters stage left. Johnny is still talking innocently to Perky Blonde Girl when Cool Kid approaches, reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out: (ominous organ music plays) a joint. "Hey, Johnny, want some? Everyone's doing it." [continues 514 words]
Police are urging residents to be on the lookout for any suspicious activity in their neighbourhoods after gunfire erupted outside a marijuana grow house in northwest Scarborough early Sunday. "This is an organized crime gang war," Staff Insp. Gary Ellis, unit commander of the homicide squad, told reporters Wednesday morning when he revealed that a weekend murder on Wellpark Boulevard was the result of a gunfight between competing gangs. Ellis warned that Toronto could become like Chicago in the 1920s when organized crime gangs were shooting up the streets fighting one another unless the country's "lax legislation" on marijuana is addressed. [continues 752 words]
Tackling issues like bullying and drug use among high school students isn't an easy task. But a group of pupils at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute are rising to the challenge in an effort to improve safety at their school. About 20 students meet every Thursday at lunchtime to talk about how they can create a safer environment at the Guildwood Parkway school. The students are participants in the ESP (Empowered Student Partnerships) program, a joint initiative involving the Toronto Police Service, the Canadian Safe School Network, city council, ProAction and Toronto school boards. [continues 795 words]
Drugs, discrimination and the police themselves top the list of things that make young people feel unsafe in their communities, according to a survey conducted by a Toronto task force. The survey, which was released last week, spoke to young people in four communities considered to be at-risk: Jane and Finch, Regent Park, Malvern in Scarborough, and Parkdale. According to the survey, which was conducted last year by a subcommittee of Toronto's Task Force on Community Safety, 79.8 per cent of the 1,254 respondents said they felt safe in Toronto. More females said they felt unsafe than males. In general, youth in two neighbourhoods - Jane-Finch and Regent Park - were more nervous than others. [continues 150 words]
Local women recovering from substance abuse will soon be able to access a parenting and relapse prevention program close to home. The Scarborough OASIS Addiction Recovery Society is partnering with the local office of the Salvation Army Homestead to offer a new program for women, which is slated to begin in January. "We wanted to offer something different," said Leslie Bernard of Homestead during a recent interview at the OASIS office on Eglinton Avenue. She said the joint project will include a parenting group, which will run for two mornings a week, and a relapse prevention program, which will be held during two afternoon sessions each week. [continues 508 words]
Scarborough Addiction Services Group Celebrates First Year With New Programs Access to addiction treatment services in Scarborough is beginning to improve thanks to a community partnership created to address a shortfall here. The Scarborough Addiction Services Partnership recently marked its first year in operation by celebrating the development of seven new addiction treatment services. "All of the addiction players in Scarborough always recognized there was a need to bring more addiction services to Scarborough," said project manager Felix Munger. He added the organizations never had the funding to expand services until the ministry of health and long term care approved a pilot project last year. [continues 466 words]
Re: 'Police seize $3.5 million in marijuana,' News, June 5. Lost amid the barrage of grow-ops, raids remains the fact that prohibition vitalizes the black market because it enriches organized crime. It is incomprehensible why any government -- who could take effective measures to remove the profit factor from grow operations by either reclassifying cannabis or removing it from the Controled Drug and Substances Act entirely -- doesn't. Some would have you believe that if the government moves in the direction of a liberal cannabis initiative, it will send out a message that it condones its use. It will not; government will simply be recognizing there are more effective means it is prepared to initiate to better cope with the reality of cannabis usage in contemporary society. Wayne Phillips [end]
