Dealing with the impact of marijuana legalization is expected to be one of the year's biggest challenges for the Cornwall Community Police Service, according to Chief-designate Danny Aikman. "Obviously there is a lot of attention being paid the legalization of marijuana and the impact that will have on municipalities as well as police forces," he said. The Cornwall police are concerned their costs could increase because of the change in the law, and Aikman said just because possession will be legal, doesn't mean enforcement efforts can be stopped. [continues 509 words]
AKWESASNE - If the community gives the go-ahead, Akwesasne could be the only place with a dispensary for recreational marijuana near Cornwall when it becomes legal this year. At its monthly meeting in January, a video of which is posted on YouTube, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) ran the idea past its members looking for feedback. It was made very clear during the presentation the MCA would not pursue the idea if the community is not in favour of it, but Grand Chief Abram Benedict argued the impending legalization of marijuana presents the First Nation with an incredible business opportunity. [continues 641 words]
The federal government's long-awaited legislation to legalize the recreational use of marijuana was finally tabled in the House of Commons on Thursday. The pair of bills layout the groundwork for how legal cannabis use will be regulated and introduces a variety of new criminal offenses for things such as driving while stoned and selling to minors. Much of the fine details, such as how it will be sold and how old users will have to be to purchase it, is being left up to individual provinces to decide. [continues 825 words]
TIMMINS - So far this year, the Timmins Police have charged 20 people with simple possession of marijuana, despite the fact that for the past 12 months a federal government has been in office promising to legalize recreational use of pot. But the police are just enforcing the law, which says marijuana is still illegal. The federal government, however, has ignored calls from the opposition to decriminalize it while the country works on figuring out how to regulate, tax and sell it. So in the interim, nearly two dozen Timmins residents have faced criminal charges for something the government doesn't believe should be illegal. [continues 1142 words]
TIMMINS - An effort is being made to cut off the flow of illegal drugs making its way into Moose Cree First Nation. The First Nation announced Wednesday it will be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of its own money to pay for two additional police officers and their equipment to begin working in the island community for the next year to crack down on drug trafficking. The additional officers will be sent to Moose Factory from the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service (NAPS) but according to the force they will be regular-duty officers, not drug enforcement officers. [continues 429 words]
MOOSE FACTORY - An effort is being made to cut off the flow of illegal drugs making its way into Moose Cree First Nation. The First Nation announced Wednesday it will be spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of its own money to pay for two additional police officers and their equipment to begin working in the island community for the next year to crack down on drug trafficking. The additional officers will be sent to Moose Factory from the Nishnawbe-aski Police Service (NAPS) but according to the force they will be regular-duty officers, not drug enforcement officers. [continues 425 words]
Recreational use of marijuana has been illegal in Canada since 1908, but this has never really stopped people from using it. According to a Statistics Canada study released this past spring, half of all Canadian men and a bit more than one-third of women have used marijuana before. At the same time, however, the widespread availability of marijuana has allowed 30% of youth under 18 to use it as well. That data is self-reported, which has a problem of respondents giving what they believe is the socially acceptable answer, so the number of people using marijuana is likely higher than that for both adults and minors. [continues 702 words]
Three of 4 candidates running in T-JB support decriminalizing marijuana. Recreational use of marijuana has been illegal in Canada since 1908, but this has never really stopped people from using it. According to a Statistics Canada study released this past spring, half of all Canadian men and a bit more than one-third of women have used marijuana before. At the same time, however, the widespread availability of marijuana has allowed 30% of youth under 18 to use it as well. That data is self-reported, which has a problem of respondents giving what they believe is the socially acceptable answer, so the number of people using marijuana is likely higher than that for both adults and minors. [continues 702 words]
Smiley-faced cookies are returning to local Tim Hortons coffee shops next week to help raise money for the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program. It is a program which members of the Timmins Police Service and Ontario Provincial Police will once again be conducting with students in local schools starting next week. The Smile Cookie campaign has been a fundraising initiative in Timmins since 2003, and in that time it has raised $160,000 for the DARE program. This year, local police officials are hoping to raise another $8,000 from cookie sales. [continues 267 words]
Police: Parents Fill Dante Club for Presentation It appeared many people in Timmins were ready for a frank discussion about the drug use and addiction issues going on within their community. And that's what the people who filled the main ballroom at the Dante Club got on Tuesday evening during the first Straight Talk on Drugs dinner, which was organized by the Timmins Police Association. Although police frequently visit schools to warn students about the dangers and consequences of taking drug abuse, it is not often that events are organized to help inform the parents and families of people who are, or are at risk of becoming addicted to drugs. One of the night's speakers, Yvonne McClinchey who is the clinical supervisor at South Cochrane Addiction Services noted that holding event at all was an accomplishment. [continues 537 words]
Substance Abuse And Mental Health Task Force Outlines Its Initiatives From Past Year The leaders of the Kenora Substance Abuse and Mental Health Task Force's five different pillars stood up at their AGM on Thursday morning, Nov. 27, to lay out what their branch of the task force has been up to for the past year and what they plan to do in the next several months. The task force has adopted a five-pillar approach to combating the variety of social ills in Kenora that stem from substance abuse and mental health problems in the community. The pillars are treatment, harm reduction, enforcement, prevention/education, and the newest pillar adopted last year: housing. [continues 1022 words]
One out of every five Kenora Grade 12 students smoke tobacco enough to be considered 'current smokers,' according to the Northwestern Health Unit. The health unit has released the results its annual COMPASS survey which provides a snapshot of the health and life practices of Kenora's teenagers from Grades 9 to 12. The results are based on a 30-minute survey handed out to students last April at the six high schools located throughout Northwestern Ontario. Just over 1,500 students took part in the survey, with about equal amounts of boys and girls. [continues 551 words]
Treaty Three Police's New Street Crime Unit Arrests Eight People at Powwow Treaty Three Police arrested eight people at the Wuzhushk Onigum (Rat Portage) First Nation's powwow, five of whom have been charged with drug possession. The aboriginal police service says people can expect more of the same if they decide to bring illicit drugs and alcohol to powwows elsewhere in the Treaty 3 area this summer. According to Treaty Three Police Detective Terry McCaffrey, the operation at Rat Portage's powwow was one of the first for the force's brand new Street Crime Unit, which was formed on July 1. [continues 526 words]
Handling Out Kits to Save Opiate Users From Dying of an Overdose Overdosing is one of the many dangers people addicted to hard drugs have to face every time they have to feed their habit. Almost every abuser of opiate-based drugs overdoses at some point, sometimes with fatal consequences; 300 to 400 people die every year in Ontario of a drug overdoes. To help prevent more deaths, Kenora's needle exchange programs will be giving out new take-home kits that will allow people to save the life of their overdosing friend or family member. [continues 399 words]
Three quarters of Kenora's students say they have at least one close friend who drinks alcohol. That's according to a new report published by the Northwestern Health Unit on Friday looking into local students' attitudes towards drugs and alcohol. The report is based on data that was collected from Kenora's Grade 7 to 12 students in a survey in 2010. While the study focuses mainly on the perception of drug use, it does have some indication of the rates of drug use in Kenora's young people. [continues 294 words]
The RCMP is beginning a new anti-drug and alcohol initiative in Prince Rupert called the Community Prevention Education Continuum (CPEC) as the RCMP held a series of presentations last week to outline CPEC and its goal to make sure that students from kindergarten to grade 12 are told about the risks of drug and alcohol abuse every single year they are in school. Part of what police think will make CPEC more effective than other prevention programs is that the students won't be exposed to the anti-alcohol and drug message just by the police. Instead members of the community are being encouraged to come and give presentations to the students themselves. The hope is that if students see an anti-drug and alcohol message from every part of the community, instead of just law enforcement, the students will accept what they're being told about the dangers of drugs and alcohol. [continues 481 words]
