Cops say drug scourge, trend-busting 2015 spike in thefts from vehicles downtown may be linked As crime drops in London, one offence is stubbornly bucking the trend in some areas of the city and defying its nationwide decline. Police believe they know what's driving that. Relentless reports of thefts from vehicles downtown seem to correlate with crystal meth addiction that's taking a heavy toll on the health of many Londoners, police say. "There appears to be a correlation between the increased use of crystal meth and the increase in these offences," police said in 2015 crime statistics presented to the police services board Thursday. [continues 581 words]
Half of Canadian voters believe people in jail for marijuana possession should be released and those with criminal records for pot possession pardoned, new polling shared with The Free Press suggests. That percentage rises among the young, the low-income, the highly educated, and, not surprisingly, the 47 per cent of survey respondents who've taken a few tokes themselves, the Forum Research survey found. The findings come as the clock ticks down on the Trudeau government's tricky election campaign vow to legalize marijuana, with legislation expected next spring. [continues 818 words]
London provincial hotbed for criminal charges The London area is running Ontario's highest rate of criminal charges involving the cheap street drug crystal methamphetamine, a just-released report shows. Bad as that is, police have already seized four times the amount of crystal meth this year as they did in all of 2013 - the year the data was collected by Statistics Canada. But though the numbers detail crime statistics, they point to an underlying addiction problem in this region that can be linked to years of job losses, stresses and mental health issues triggered by the last recession, say some observers. [continues 676 words]
METH Addiction, availability and difficult withdrawal symptoms add to problems Explosive growth in the use of the street drug crystal methamphetamine is causing havoc in London, with those who work with addicts saying the city isn't equipped to deal with the fallout. Easily produced, cheap to buy and easy to find, the drug has become such a problem that street outreach workers, police and public health providers all say a higher-level community response is needed. Just three years ago, only 3% of the people seeking help from the only drug withdrawal management centre in the city were fighting the demons of the crystaline drug that sells for about $10 a hit on the street. [continues 912 words]
Emergencies Soar As the Drug's Use Here Becomes Rampant Drug overdose calls to 911 in London are skyrocketing, with paramedics responding to more than three times the calls they fielded only two years ago, The Free Press has learned. Since January this year, paramedics have dealt with 251 drug overdoses - that's an average of more than two a day, and more than triple the number of calls during the same period in 2013. "Saddened" by the dramatic spike, the region's medical officer of health says the numbers prove London agencies need to start working differently and together to support addicts. [continues 611 words]
Since Health Agencies Began Giving Kits That Reverse Overdoses to Drug Users, They've Been Used Successfully Three Times. Jennifer O'brien Reports. Three lives saved. Saved, not by doctors, paramedics or police, but by peers - other drug users - of addicts suffering life-threatening overdoses. Three is a small number, but one that gives hope and momentum to organizers of a new program that aims to equip drug users with medication called Naloxone that can reverse a life-threatening overdose. Since city agencies started distributing Naloxone injection kits last summer, 49 drug users have received prescriptions along with training for the medication that works like an Epi-Pen for drug users and can save their lives. [continues 560 words]
Man, 23, and a Teenage Suspect Charged in Seizure of $360,000 of Cocaine and Marijuana It was the biggest bust ever by London police, but on the streets three bricks of cocaine doesn't amount to a "hill of beans," says an outreach worker. And maybe that's the problem. If taking three kilograms of cocaine and a press to make it into sellable bricks for $100,000 each off the market at once - as London police did in a seizure announced last week - doesn't make the stuff scarce, how big and how widespread is London's drug scene? [continues 403 words]
Distributed by the health unit, they can reverse overdoses caused by certain drugs The thing is, you don't want to call 911 when you're high. Even when a friend is dying of an overdose before your eyes - - sometimes especially then. Now, in a move asking drug users to be Good Samaritans - and, with any luck, save lives - the Middlesex-London Health Unit will send them home with personal injection kits that can reverse overdoses caused by certain drugs. "When you have drug users equipped to save lives, you have first responders out there all the time," said Henry Eastabrook, an outreach worker with the London Intercommunity Health Centre. [continues 555 words]
Londoners seek immunity for those calling for help from the scene of an overdose Fewer people would die of drug overdoses if their friends could call 911 without fear of being charged with possession, users say. It's why a group representing London drug users has launched a petition urging legal immunity to those calling for help from the scene of an overdose. So-called "Good Samaritan" legislation - in effect in 14 American states - would bolster death-prevention efforts underway in London, said Tracy Law of the London Area Network of Substance Users. [continues 392 words]
Neighbours are grateful five derelict houses that have been the scene of drugs and prostitution are to be torn down today Five derelict houses that have brought nothing but drugs and prostitution to a stretch of London's east end are to be torn down today. The city-ordered demolition on Dundas Street East can't come soon enough, say neighbours who live and work near the homes between Egerton Street and Kellogg Lane. "Everyone is feeling relief. It's terrible -- crack cocaine, prostitution, just terrible," said neighbour Margie Veitch. [continues 284 words]
Pot Bust: Medicinal Use or Drug Trafficking? Released on bail after a drug bust of a so-called medicinal marijuana centre in London, three men vowed yesterday their story will come out. "There's always two sides to every story," Pete Young, 36, owner of the Organic Traveller and a director of the London Compassion Society, said as he left the courthouse. Also charged in the weekend police raid was Rob Newman, 45, an HIV-positive man who was thrust under the media spotlight more than a decade ago after he lost his wife and young son to AIDS. [continues 552 words]
The increase in marijuana grow houses in London is jeopardizing the lives of firefighters, a platoon chief says. "The danger in these places is you have a building where people are doing subversive activities that require more heat or more energy," London platoon fire Chief David Van Dijk said. "But it's makeshift, it's not done up to code and it generates a lot of potential for electrocution. "We are not in the position to sit and check out a residence for a while," he added. [continues 307 words]
Highly-Addictive Methamphetamines Are Making A Dangerous Resurgence, Police Say. A highly addictive drug popular in the 1970s is making a dangerous comeback in the area, police are warning after the biggest speed seizure in more than six years. Provincial police charged two men and were seek a third yesterday, after finding two kilograms of methamphetamines in a makeshift laboratory on a Thames Centre farm. The drugs would be worth about $80,000 on the street, said Det. Sgt. Brad Durfy outside the farm on Heritage Road, northwest of London. [continues 421 words]
A day after Ottawa introduced its new marijuana law, a lower court ruling on Canada's pot laws lit up the London courthouse yesterday -- with drug charges stayed against dozens of people. In a day unmatched in any other court in Ontario, a federal prosecutor stayed charges against more than 80 people facing counts of possession of less than 30 grams of pot. "What happened in London is unusual because there were a number of charges put over (for months) en masse," said Jim Leising, a Justice Department official responsible for drug prosecutions in Ontario. [continues 396 words]
Larry Finnemore will serve his 90-day sentence on weekends. A London man was sent to jail for 90 days yesterday for running a pot warehouse out of the home he shares with his wife and two children. "You've got to walk away from this," said Superior Court Justice Peter Hockin, looking straight at 24-year-old Larry Finnemore. "If there is a second trip here, it will be a long one (with) substantial jail time. "Do you get it?" [continues 229 words]
Ten people face charges after raids on a farm drive shed and two apartments. Ten people face drug charges after police shut down two Perth County labs used to produce the street drug known as speed. "This is a pretty big deal," said Perth County OPP Const. Glen Childerly. "We are really happy to get this off the streets." Childerly said Wednesday's takedowns involving a Monkton- area farm drive shed and two apartments may have closed the only methamphetamine-producing operation in Perth County. [continues 282 words]
TORONTO (CP) - Ontario's highest court has declared the law prohibiting the possession of marijuana unconstitutional and has given Ottawa a year to amend it. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Monday that Canada's marijuana law fails to recognize that people who suffer from chronic illnesses can use pot as medicine. As a result, the court ruled that if Ottawa does not clarify the law within 12 months the law prohibiting marijuana possession in Ontario will be struck down, which could eventually lead to similar challenges across the country. [continues 601 words]
