The Liberals' election promise to legalize marijuana use will take legislative form in about a year, but few entrepreneurs seem prepared to wait. Apparently, dispensaries are springing up like, well, buds in Toronto, just as they have in Vancouver. The CBC reports that along one stretch of the Danforth alone, three dispensaries have sprouted in recent weeks. Similar facilities have also opened on Barrie's Dunlop Street. It seems there's a greater demand for medical marijuana than most of us imagined. [continues 271 words]
Clarity Needed on Pot Plans The legalization of marijuana is not near the top of the agenda for Justin Trudeau's Liberal government. But maybe it should be. Governments, police, businesses, users and aspiring entrepreneurs alike are all increasingly anxious to get some clarity on where Canada is headed on this issue. A lot of people are seeing dollar signs. Last week, the Globe and Mail revealed both Shoppers Drug Mart and London Drugs are working toward becoming distributors of medical marijuana. [continues 265 words]
Positive reinforcement not punishment is a good way to deal with kids who are using or abusing drugs. This was one of the messages that came from a drug information night held at Collingwood Collegiate Institute on Tuesday evening. Guidance leader Annie Chandler said she was asked by a group of parents to host the session. Guest speakers included Maria Figliuzzi and Pamela Thorne from the Canadian Mental Health Association as well as OPP Const. Trevor McKean, who serves as the high school liaison officer. [continues 341 words]
Of the four regions targeted by police this summer, Simcoe County had the most marijuana grow operations. Police said they located 34 growing plots in Simcoe County and eradicated 20,790 plants. By comparison they said Peel had seven plots and 216 plants eradicated, Muskoka had six plots and 5,102 plants eradicated and Dufferin County had just three plots and 1,516 plants eradicated. The estimated street value of the 27,624 plants seized is $27,624,000. Police say they arrested and charged 20 people in relation to four of the 50 marijuana plots. [continues 69 words]
The Hon. Helena Guergis recently sent a flier to my door saying the Conservatives were going to get tough on crime. She would have Canada make the same mistake as the United States, which now has one person of every 100 in jail. The Economist supports this astonishing number; as 2 1/2 million Americans are now in jail, or to be exact, 2,319,000 people. This makes the American system of justice the worst one in the world. An examination of the American system shows that most of the prisoners are not violent, or part of the Mafia, but low level drug pushers and sick drug users. The three strikes and you are out plan has filled up the prisons and kept the sick drug users away from any chance of rehabilitation, and all they will learn in prison is to be better criminals. [continues 144 words]
A 56-year-old Wasaga Beach man was fined $1,500 with a 10-year weapons ban for having a marijuana grow operation on what his lawyers say was medical grounds. John Peterson pled guilty as charged, Tuesday. Federal prosecutor Cecile Applegate told the court that on Dec. 18, 2005 a Huronia West OPP officer was dispatched on an alarm call to the Spruce Street home of the defendant. Police found the rear door forced open, called in the canine unit, and combed the building for suspects, read the Crown. Inside the home were more than 70 cannabis plants in a container with soil, along with related "drug paraphernalia." [continues 87 words]
There's meth in the madness of the local drug scene say local police officials. It's a common myth that labs which produce illegal drugs such crystal meth are usually found in large, urban centres, said Det. Sgt. Jamie Ciotka commander of the Huronia Combined Forces Drug Unit. "We're finding the majority of them are in urban centres and they are in populated areas," he told an audience of 130 people Tuesday night at the Gayety Theatre. The information session was one of three offered this spring by the General & Marine Hospital's education endowment fund - money gathered during the Your Future Fund campaign about five years ago. [continues 1051 words]
What We Think If the trendy drug of the moment, the devastating crystal methamphetamine, does emerge as a serious problem in Simcoe County, no one can say we weren't warned. The OPP has made it clear that the drug, so popular and destructive among British Columbia teens, has been snaking its way towards Ontario. "It is going to happen, and when it does, it will be a drug that will be abused in our part of the province," said OPP Det. Sgt. Rick Barnum. "We always heard it would come into Ontario from west to east, and everything we have seen so far shows that is true." [continues 316 words]
Police Say The Drug Is Making Inroads In Ontario A "devastating" drug wreaking havoc in western Canada is creeping east to Ontario, where police are bracing for the inevitable arrival of crystal meth. "It is going to happen, and when it does, it will be a drug that will be abused in our part of the province," OPP Det. Sgt. Rick Barnum warned. Barnum said Ontario has remained largely untouched by the impacts of methamphetamine, a highly addictive stimulant that has gripped British Columbia and other provinces. [continues 466 words]
Central Ontario is a popular place for marijuana growers. While the drug bust at the former Molson plant in January, 2004, was the biggest indoor grow operation in Canadian history, it is by no means an unusual occurrence. - - In the last three years, the Huronia Combined Drug Enforcement Unit executed 377 search warrants for marijuana grow operations. Officers found a total of 204,721 plants and seized 211 weapons. - - When calculating a seizure's worth, police generally assign $1,000 value per plant. [continues 225 words]
Police Says The Business Is Getting Tougher Drugs and weapons make for a potentially lethal mix, and police in Simcoe County are finding more of the latter when busting the former. The issue of violence connected to the production of drugs flared into the public's sightlines last week when four RCMP officers were gunned down in rural Alberta while attempting to apprehend a man in connection with a grow-op and stolen property. The four young officers, who ranged in age from 25 to 32, were ambushed by Jim Roszko as they waited for him in a quonset hut on his farm. He had fled the farm earlier, but somehow returned unnoticed, killing the officers in a shootout in the hut. Roszko subsequently killed himself, police say. A national memorial service was held Thursday in Edmonton for constables Peter Schiemann, 25, Lionide Johnston, 32, and Brock Myrol, 29, of the RCMP's Mayerthorpe detachment, and Anthony Gordon, 28, from the Whitecourt station. [continues 830 words]
Grade 5s From Throughout The Region Participate In Collingwood Program By the end of the morning session of Racing Against Drugs at the Collingwood Curling Club Wednesday, Devon Bradley was smiling, his eyes shining. The Grade 5 student from Duntroon Central Public School spent the morning with her classmates learning about drug and alcohol abuse, traffic safety, the hazards of smoking, and the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. She enjoyed racing the cars, answering questions during the jeopardy game, and learning about life's lessons in the teepee. [continues 292 words]
Those words have a special significance for Ray Elsley, owner of Park Motor Sales in Wasaga Beach. Last Friday morning, Elsley presented the Huronia West detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police with a nearly new Ford Explorer. The vehicle will be used by officers teaching local schoolkids how to "say no" to drugs and violence. "We were in the process of trying to obtain a vehicle for the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program," said Constable Stew Davidson of the Huronia West OPP detachment, who teaches the 17-week course in area schools. [continues 339 words]
