Police chief says intervention, education key to tackling problem For the first time under Chief Clive Weighill's tenure, crime in Saskatoon is going up. This city has the highest murder rate in the country and thefts and break-ins are spiking. The StarPhoenix sat down with the city's police chief to talk crime and what's next for 2017. Q The rise of methamphetamine is well documented in Saskatoon. You've said it's a main contributor to the city's crime rate. How are you going to combat it? [continues 745 words]
Police chief blames drug gangs for near doubling of cases A dramatic spike in home invasions in Saskatoon is contributing to the city's nation-leading crime rate, according to Saskatoon's Police Chief Clive Weighill. Home invasions where people are home when burglars break in have nearly doubled since 2009. Police say there were 154 home invasion cases in 2009. In 2014 that number spiked to 301 before dipping down to 276 in 2015. "Since 2009 it's almost doubled. I know that is a scary term when we are talking about home invasions," Weighill said at a police board meeting last Thursday. [continues 659 words]
Saskatoon's police chief says police forces across the country are charging fewer and fewer people with marijuana possession as legalization of recreational use looms. "Police right across Canada, I think, started to back off on the charges for minor possession," Chief Clive Weighill said earlier this week. After a spike in possession charges in 2013, Saskatoon has seen a steady decline in the number of people charged with possession: the number dropped by 27 per cent between 2013 and 2014, then by 10 per cent from 2014 to 2015, according to Statistics Canada data. This year, however, pot possession charges have remained nearly the same as last year. As of this week, slightly more than 190 people have been charged so far in 2016, according to data from city police. [continues 240 words]
Addictive Drug Partially to Blame for Increase, Says Police Chief An influx of crystal meth in Saskatoon is helping fuel the city's crime problem, according to police chief Clive Weighill. "It's driving a lot of our property crime, our break and enters our thefts," he said. Saskatoon again has the worst crime rate in the country and Weighill said the deadly and highly addictive drug is partially to blame. Last year, Saskatoon police laid 108 charges for crystal meth possession - double the 54 laid in 2014 and the 22 laid in 2013. [continues 458 words]
Group to consult with provincial, municipal leaders about regulations A Saskatchewan law professor will be one of the people deciding how pot will become legalized in Canada. The federal government is launching a task force to study the legalization and regulation of marijuana, after committing to introduce legislation on the legalization of pot in the spring of 2017. University of Saskatchewan law professor Barbara von Tigerstrom is among the people the government has tapped to help guide that process. "It's a daunting challenge but a really important one," von Tigerstrom said after the task force was unveiled. [continues 294 words]
Some Prince Albert city councillors are balking at a suggestion that legalized pot could help reduce binge drinking in the city. The city released it's "alcohol strategy" this week, a culmination of years of work to document and offer ways to combat problems with underage and binge drinking. However, some are taken aback by the report's suggestion that legalized pot could help curb chronic alcohol abuse. "I personally have concerns," Coun. Rick Orr said. "I think it's another one of the items that we have to deal with from a community addictions point of view." [continues 455 words]
Some Prince Albert city councillors are balking at a suggestion that legalized pot could help reduce binge drinking in the city. The city released its "alcohol strategy" this week, a culmination of years of work to document and offer ways to combat problems with underage and binge drinking. However, some are taken aback by the report's suggestion that legalized pot could help curb chronic alcohol abuse. "I personally have concerns," Coun. Rick Orr said. "I think it's another one of the items that we have to deal with from a community addictions point of view." [continues 456 words]
Lane Britnell says the Saskatoon police ruined $2,000 worth of his legally obtained marijuana extracts following a raid of they city's only medical marijuana dispensary. The former employee of the Saskatchewan Compassion Club says when police returned cannabis extracts that were seized from his home during raids last October, he found that most of the cannabis products were ruined. "I would say 80 per cent of it was destroyed or rendered unusable," Britnell said. His lawyer successfully applied to have a judge order police to return the cannabis seized from his home during the Oct. 29 raids, he said. [continues 330 words]
Saskatoon's police chief says the Liberal government needs to clarify Canada's marijuana laws to combat serious misunderstandings about the legality of the drug. "The police aren't anti-marijuana," Chief Clive Weighill said. "But we are in a situation right now that is a very grey zone." Weighill said despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's election promise that pot will be legalized for personal use, smoking, growing and selling weed in Canada is still against the law. Weighill, who is also president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, said the government needs to offer clarity to people - especially those who believe that because of the election promise, the drug is already legal. [continues 421 words]
As 2015 draws to a close, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix sat down with police Chief Clive Weighill to talk about everything from the controversies around carding to the possibility of legalized marijuana. Q What was the overall crime picture like in Saskatoon in 2015? A We had a very tough time in March and April. We had about 16 or 17 shootings and a few homicides. The city was really heating up, but things seem to have calmed down and plateaued now. Our guns and gangs unit really made a big difference, I think, doing a lot interventions with the gangs and stopping a lot of the violence as a result. [continues 796 words]
Touted As Life-Saving Tool, Naxalone May Soon Be Available in Drugstores In principle, I am in favour of increased access, but the devils are in the details. A Saskatoon addictions expert says he is cautiously optimistic after news that a lifesaving anti-overdose drug could be available in Canadian pharmacies without a prescription by early to mid-2016. "In principle, I am in favour of increased access, but the devils are in the details," Dr. Peter Butt said. Naloxone is an "anti-overdose" drug that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose from drugs like morphine, fentanyl, heroin or methadone. [continues 337 words]
SASKATOON - Users of fentanyl and other powerful opiates in Saskatoon will soon have access to anti-overdose kits that could prevent fatal overdoses. Naloxone is a so-called "anti-overdose" drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose from drugs like morphine, fentanyl, heroin or methadone. Marie Agioritis's son Kelly died of a fentanyl overdose in January. While there are no guarantees, she says the kits could have prevented some of the overdose tragedies this city has seen in recent years. [continues 367 words]
Protesters upset over last week's raid of the Saskatchewan Compassion Club have set their sights on Saskatoon's mayor. The group gathered outside city hall Wednesday, many of them holding signs that read "Don Atchison makes me sick." "It's discrimination in every sense of the word," said Kelly Anderson, a compassion club member who is legally prescribed marijuana. Anderson and others say Saskatoon's mayor is out of touch with the rest of the country. Cities in B.C., for example, have issued business licences to marijuana dispensaries that, like the Saskatchewan Compassion Club, operate outside the medical marijuana regulations set up by Health Canada. [continues 268 words]
It was the first time in his life Brad Christianson truly feared going to jail. He was 23 years old on the cold January morning when he walked into court, knowing his fate was sealed. By that time in his young life, Christianson was no stranger to incarceration. He was first locked up when he was 12, after pulling a pocket knife on an older kid. This time around, he was truly frightened. This time, he wouldn't have the protection of his gang to see him through the hard days ahead. [continues 945 words]
Naloxone Can Reverse Drug Effects Users of fentanyl and other powerful opiates in Saskatoon will soon have access to anti-overdose kits that could prevent fatal overdoses. Naloxone is a so-called "anti-overdose" drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose from drugs like morphine, fentanyl, heroin or methadone. Marie Agioritis's son Kelly died of a fentanyl overdose in January. While there are no guarantees, she says the kits could have prevented some of the overdose tragedies this city has seen in recent years. [continues 368 words]
A national champion pole vaulter and former Huskies star living with Crohn's disease was one of the four people arrested during a raid on Saskatoon's only medical marijuana dispensary. Friends and loved ones say Lane Britnell benefited greatly from his prescribed medical marijuana and that he does not deserve to go to jail. "It's done amazing things for him," said Lauren Taylor, a close friend. Britnell was an elite university athlete, but even as he was winning his second consecutive national gold medal at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport track and field championships in 2012, the autoimmune disorder was beginning to take its toll. [continues 396 words]
The recent police raid on the Saskatchewan Compassion Club set off a war of words between the club's operator and police. The case against the dispensary's owner and the club's employees is still before the courts, but on Tuesday Saskatoon police issued a news release in "an attempt to clarify public statements" made by the medical marijuana dispensary owner. The police maintain that Mark Hauk and three others were dealing drugs when they sold marijuana to patients at the unregulated storefront dispensary. [continues 445 words]
SASKATOON - Police say the people operating Saskatoon's only medical pot dispensary are criminals. "They are drug traffickers," said Saskatoon police Insp. Dave Haye. Police shut down the Saskatoon Compassion Club on Thursday, arresting four people associated with the club. The dispensary had been providing marijuana to people with medical licences since August. Although police maintain the club was acting illegally and selling the drug outside of Health Canada's regulations on medical marijuana, clients who frequented to storefront dispensary were devastated by the news. [continues 606 words]
Four charged with trafficking at store Police say the people operating Saskatoon's only medical pot dispensary are criminals. "They are drug traffickers," said Saskatoon Police Insp. Dave Haye. Police shut down the Saskatoon Compassion Club on Thursday, arresting four people associated with the club. The dispensary had been providing marijuana to people with medical licenses since August. While police maintain the club was acting illegally and selling the drug outside of Health Canada's regulations on medical marijuana, clients who frequented the storefront dispensary were devastated by the news. [continues 599 words]
