WATERLOO REGION - With a number of negative impacts on communities, Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin says a jump in drug charges last year "worries" him, especially when it comes to crystal meth and ecstasy cases. "Drug activity is like a football field - you never want to give up yardage. You want to keep gaining yards," he said. "When you start to lose yards and you start to slip back, it's hard to make it up." According to the department's 2014 crime statistics report, made publicly available following last week's police services board meeting, investigators laid a total of 2,167 Controlled Drug and Substances Act charges, up slightly from 2,121 during 2013. [continues 520 words]
CAMBRIDGE - Neighbourhood distrust and hostility greeted proponents of a proposed drug rehabilitation centre across the street from Galt Collegiate Institute. Officials from Hatts Off, a 25-year-old company proposing the residential treatment program, tried to soothe community concerns Wednesday night at a community meeting. It won't be a drop in centre where drugs are dispensed. Only "highly motivated" men ready to face their problems will be accepted for months of in-house treatment. The assurances didn't sway most of the 60 people gathered in the Manchester Public School gymnasium. [continues 436 words]
CAMBRIDGE - Neighbours are worried about plans for a private drug rehabilitation centre in a big stone house overlooking Galt Collegiate Institute. Hatts Off has applied to the city for permission to use the vacant building on Water Street as an upscale treatment centre, where 10 male clients would each pay $10,000 a month to battle their addictions. Previously, the building housed a spa. Before that, it was an accounting office. A flyer was delivered to neighbours this week, explaining how "Caverhill Manor" won't be a stereotypical downtown drug rehab centre, something that's a magnet for community headaches. [continues 604 words]
A Preston family is dealing with sidelong glances and silence from neighbours after police searched their home on an anonymous tip for evidence of a marijuana grow operation on Monday afternoon. Six or seven police officers from the Waterloo Regional Police drug squad searched the townhome on Walter Street Monday afternoon. Rob Hammond and his common-law wife, Samantha Szabo, are shocked and angry the police raided their home. Hammond said he was "ripped out of the house and thrown on the ground" in his front yard. "There was no need to treat me like that," he said. "Because I have tattoos doesn't mean I cause trouble every day," he said. [continues 90 words]
Reefer Madness 2003. Our government can't grow dope. It should come as no surprise that our esteemed federal government has proven itself incompetent yet again; otherwise we would already be able to buy a pack of B.C. Bud at the corner store. Appropriately taxed, of course. Why else would the government be getting into the dope-growing business? I don't believe that it is merely to supply a handful of people with medical marijuana. The April 21 Record states a five-year, $5.75-million contract to grow government marijuana has so far failed to deliver the promised yield of high-quantity THC (marijuana's active ingredient). For some reason beyond the grasp of normal man they are attempting to produce a strain with a THC content of 25 per cent, the average street dope being five to 10 per cent. They can't even grow any acceptable low-quantity THC placebo marijuana. The project has managed to produce 318 kilograms so far. That works out to $18,000 per kilogram. In the right season you can buy a kilo here in Cambridge for about $3,000 to $4,000. That is dried, bagged and delivered. [continues 396 words]
Despite the overzealous reaction of the American drug czar, Canada's recent push for sensible decriminalization policies gives hope to many U.S. citizens, like myself, who are fighting a war we never declared. Our casualty list is a poignant reflection of our national diversity. We are sick patients denied access to medical cannabis while we wither away. We are children shot in the crossfire between black-market profiteers and law-enforcement officials. We are innocent citizens killed by police in our own homes during faulty drug raids. We are police officers tortured and murdered over black-market profits. We are taxpayers who waste $40 billion annually to fight a war that can never be won. We are people who die addicted or imprisoned because most of our government resources are spent on law enforcement versus treatment. [continues 111 words]
Waterloo Regional Police Sergeant Daryl Goetz (left) and Regional Police Sergeant Paul Lobsinger received merit marks at the Police Week Awards Night. An operation to target marijuana home grows in the region resulted in a merit mark Tuesday for two Waterloo Regional Police detectives who designed the sting. Detective sergeants Paul Lobsinger and Daryl Goetz proposed Project Greenhouse after discovering a link between a number of home grows and a gardening store in Kitchener that sold hydroponic growing equipment. Their project concluded last year with 44 home grows smashed and the seizure of at least $20 million in pot and growing equipment. [continues 234 words]
Re the Feb. 28 article Drugs knocked out boxer's family. George Chuvalo was a courageous and skillful boxer, but his take on the tragic heroin-induced deaths of his sons is tragically wrong. Simply urging kids to "just say no" to drugs just doesn't work and besides, it was drug prohibition that killed his sons, not the drug itself. The 1973 Le Dain Commission concluded, "There appears to be little permanent physiological damage from chronic use of pure opiate narcotics." [continues 68 words]
It wasn't the first time George Chuvalo brought his hard-hitting story to Cambridge - and we hope it's not the last. Every time you hear the former Canadian heavyweight boxing champ's battle to save his family, it's impossible not to share his unending pain and shed a tear. He tells the story of how heroin addiction destroyed four members of his family. His horrible story is intended to scare young people away from drugs, yet it offers as much - perhaps more - sage advice for parents. [continues 279 words]
Re the Jan. 7 article Pot bad, Peric says. Canada should not modify existing marijuana laws because, according to Cambridge MP Janko Peric, ". . . it's unhealthy." May we then presume that Peric endorses the criminalization of any activity deemed not in our best health interest? Will greasy cheeseburgers for obese people, doughnuts enjoyed by police nationwide and excessive sugary foods for kids be the next items Peric wants to make criminal? He says that marijuana "poisons." In fact, marijuana has no lethal dosage and the overall health consequences, while not without risk, are fairly benign compared to society-accepted tobacco and alcohol. Clearwater, Fla. [end]
Am I the only one who sees the irony that Cambridge MP Janko Peric says he has never tried anything "harder than a cigar" as he argues against legalization of cannabis? If Janko was reading current scientic research he would know that cigars are much worse than cannabis. Santa Cruz, CA [end]
Cambridge MP Janko Peric says he won't vote for any weakening of Canada's pot laws, because it's unhealthy. Cambridge MP Janko Peric says he will vote against any motion put forward to decriminalize marijuana. He feels reducing the potential penalties would promote the use of a harmful substance among young people. "The fact is, we are spending a huge amount of money to tell people young people not to smoke tobacco," he said yesterday. "Why would we want to encourage young people to poison themselves with (marijuana)?" [continues 149 words]
Our stupefied federal government will pass a law decriminalizing posession of an ounce of pot. This will be possibly one of the less inane things our supposedly straight-laced, sober-thinking legislators have done this year. What inane things you may ask? Firstly we just found out that if a shootin' war starts, our air force hasn't any bombs. We used them all up in Kosovo, and it seems someone forgot to reorder them. We'll have to drop moral indignation and cow cookies on Iraq when the shooting starts I suppose. "Vern, how could ya dun ferget ta order the gal-dang bombs"? [continues 346 words]
Finally the government has shown the courage to plan to decriminalize marijuana! I applaud it. Now the police can spend their time catching the real criminals, like the gangs in Toronto who are trying to kill each other off, and I doubt that they are killing each other over marijuana. Now the police will be able to concentrate their energy more on the dangerous drugs like heroin. Maybe they will have more time and resources made available to investigate spousal and child abuse and so on and so on. Freeing the police up to deal with the "real problems" is great. Thank you feds! Dave Brown Cambridge [end]
Re God will never support pot use (letter, Oct. 25). Nothing is worse than drunkenness. Tommy Chong said it best when asked about God and cannabis: "God was the first stoner," Chong said. "That's why he's the most high." Truth to tell, the American drug warrior politicians, officials, media and civilians (secretly) don't list victory as an objective in their expensive and oppressive trillion-dollar war. When they do spout their "zero tolerance/total victory" rhetoric, how many of your readers actually believe them? [continues 84 words]
I must express my sadness and anger at reading about the seven Cambridge high school students arrested and charged with possession of marijuana in last month's police raids on local schools. If convicted, these young people will be given criminal records before they are even out of school. With a criminal record, these young citizens will have great difficulty being bonded, will likely not be allowed to leave the country, and may not even be able to get a job! Why? Because they were found to be in possession of a substance no more harmful than a cup of coffee! [continues 171 words]
Fifteen-year-old Ben Potipcoe knows a number of teenagers who have tried marijuana. He figures many teens smoke it at least once. But if his peers begin to experiment with harder drugs, like ecstasy and LSD, or acid, Potipcoe plans to walk away. He has a former drug dealer and addict to thank for that. "He opened my eyes," Potipcoe said of 27-year-old Julian Madigan, who spoke at St. Benedict Catholic Secondary School in Cambridge Tuesday on the dangers of drug use. [continues 226 words]
Re God will never support pot use (letter, Oct. 25). The credibility of the letter writer went up in smoke when he said "The effects of marijuana are worse than drunkenness." Ask any teenager who's been to a party and they will tell you which is more debilitating. Everyone knows. Furthermore, God would never support persecuting our fellow citizens for smoking a plant He created. Donna Paridee New Baltimore, Mich. [end]
Re Immoral to cage drug abusers (letter, Oct 18). I find it absolutely disgusting that one could ever use the Bible to back up something so wrong and immoral. Quite often it seems that we as humans sometimes pick and choose what we want to hear about God's word and even misinterpret it to make our sinful actions justified. However, anyone who comes to read their Bible and comes to fully understand God's message knows that this is wrong on our part. The Bible teaches us about God and how to live our lives in his footsteps. It is foolish to engage in drug activity such as marijuana use. The effects of marijuana are worse than drunkenness, something that the Bible strongly condemns. Nicholas Ermeta Cambridge [end]
Re Where have all the morals gone? (letter, Oct. 8). I would like to ask Louis Landry and Nicholas Ermeta where their morals have gone. The Bible (Genesis 1:29) states "God said to thee, 'I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all earth . . .'" Seems to me that verse would include marijuana. Where is it advised that it is moral to cage our substance abusers like rabid animals? The world needs to turn to education and treatment for answers on dealing with substance abuse problems. Jason Marrs Ossining, N.Y. [end]
