I am always puzzled by the national media's focus on trivial issues and missing the more important challenges facing society and governments. Our society is being under-minded by substance abuse and very few people are talking about it. One in five Canadians (21.6 per cent ) has a substance or alcohol abuse problem. Substance abuse costs us $40 billion per year in Canada. Eighty per cent of federal offenders have a history of substance abuse issues. Six million Canadians are in recovery. Contrary to the solutions of the NDP and Liberals to legalize marijuana, because they say it is just a soft drug, studies found that 40 per cent of people that start using marijuana move on to harder drugs. [continues 320 words]
I am writing on a subject that I do not have personal experience with, nor am I an expert on. In fact, I have never used this illegal drug. I will be referencing people that are experts on the effects of marijuana regarding the health and social well-being of users. One of the problems our government is dealing with is the medical use of marijuana. Canadians can grow marijuana for medicinal reasons if the drug is prescribed by a physician and a growing permit is acquired. [continues 408 words]
I am writing on a subject that I do not have personal experience with, nor am I an expert on. In fact, I have never used this illegal drug. I will be referencing people that are experts on the effects of marijuana regarding the health and social well-being of users. One of the problems our government is dealing with is the medical use of marijuana. Canadians can grow marijuana for medicinal reasons if the drug is prescribed by a physician and a growing permit is acquired. The permit only allows the cultivation of quantities needed for the single user. Very few permit holders abide by the guidelines. In Abbotsford, in 70 per cent of the illegal grow operation busts by police, the producer does have a medical marijuana permit. [continues 373 words]
With just three months left in my term as mayor, I thought I should share with the community over the next few weeks some issues that I believe need to be resolved by future elected councils. The key to our social and economic success is hinged on keeping Salmon Arm a safe place for our citizens to live. People will move here and invest here if they feel Salmon Arm is a community of values. I believe, as a community, we need to be more supportive of the RCMP and we need to be more aggressive in making Salmon Arm drug free. Vandalism, domestic violence, and most criminal activity are propagated by the drug culture. If we do not insist on adequate laws, sentences and enforcement resources, we will end up living in fear as do many citizens in larger communities in B.C. [continues 202 words]
The scourge of drug abuse is an ongoing problem. Regardless of how determined we are to wipe it out, it persists by defying us. Because we have been conditioned to believe that people will conform from fear of punishment rather than relaxing the law we are faced with a reaction of resentment intended to control their private life style. The desire to break from the status-quo is understandable, as many of the arcane laws are made to serve a select number by restricting the majority. Thus the elite are protected from immoral or unethical behavior, not being exposed by the media, which they indirectly control. Because many of us (the younger generation in particular) become resentful, objecting to the traditional old ways, it only exacerbates the problem by being confrontational. The old theory of fight or flee has not as yet died. But it is weakening. It is understandable how many believe the only way to cure a sickness is literally to operate - cut it out. If there is no compliance or support with a rule or law by the majority, it fails on its own. [continues 229 words]
Regardless of how determined we are to wipe it out, it persists by defying us. Because we have been conditioned to believe that people will conform from fear of punishment rather than relaxing the law we are faced with a reaction of resentment intended to control their private life style. The desire to break from the status-quo is understandable, as many of the arcane laws are made to serve a select number by restricting the majority. Thus the elite are protected from immoral or unethical behavior, not being exposed by the media, which they indirectly control. [continues 305 words]
