Last November, with voters in Colorado and Washington state leading the way, ballot initiatives legalizing, taxing, and regulating recreational marijuana use passed for the first time ever. In Colorado, legalization actually outperformed President Obama. An Oregon effort would almost certainly have prevailed, too, if proponents there hadn't overreached with toxic legislative language that scared off donors and earned ridicule from local media. Now marijuana reform is popping up in state legislatures across the country. Once the pet project of a few fringe figures, it has attracted a new generation of politicians from both parties with credible national aspirations. Democrats like New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Newark Mayor Cory Booker are staking out liberal stances on drug policy. Even some Republicans see an opportunity to capitalize on a constituency that shocked the pundit class with its financial and grassroots muscle -- not to mention sophisticated campaign tactics -- just a few months ago. [continues 2034 words]
Former Narcotics head Larry Smith says Bermuda's burgeoning drug crime can be blamed on a switch to soft Policing. And he said any move to legalize drugs to stem Bermuda's crime wave would merely bankroll rich dealers while turning more users into virtual zombies. Violent crime rose 44.5 percent from 2000 to 2007 and Mr. Smith agreed that drugs were behind that surge. But Mr. Smith, who headed the Police Narcotics squad from 1999 to 2006, blamed the rise on a change in Policing tactics, away from enforcement. [continues 485 words]
It's about time our local politicians finally acknowledge that letting the heroin addicts have their heroin will reduce crime in our city. I've been banging on about this since 1997, when I started my own political party called www.sosparty.co.uk. I remember people used to look at me as if I had lost my marbles whenever I spoke about my drug policy. I just hope all those people who scoffed at my policy of distributing heroin to addicts via the NHS see sense and acknowledge it's a sensible and practical solution to reducing crime in our city. Matthew Taylor leader, SOS Party Bolney Road, Brighton [end]
National Drug Control Minister Wayne Perinchief has been defeated in his bid to downgrade cannabis offences. He had hoped to win Cabinet approval for a law change which would see small-scale first-time cannabis users dealt with outside the courts and helped to rehabilitate. However, he told The Royal Gazette: "It's become a controversial issue because some people correlate reclassification with decriminalisation. That's not true. "It was always to be an arrestable offence, however, instead of getting a punitive sentence you will get a rehabilitative sentence for certain classes of drugs." [continues 434 words]
New prisons boss Bryan Payling is to crack down on inmates who refuse to take rehabilitation programmes by withholding privileges. The 'get tough' programme will be phased in with visits and access to cash and recreation likely to be restricted for prisoners who refuse to toe the line. The Acting Commissioner of Corrections, who took over at the beginning of this month, said the majority of privileges are now available to all prisoners from day one -- regardless of whether they show willingness to reform. [continues 713 words]
Policing In Bermuda "I have been shot at, I have been blown up, I have been involved in an explosion where five officers were killed." So says Bryan Bell, Bermuda's new Assistant Commissioner of Police, who cut his teeth in Northern Ireland during 'The troubles' which claimed well over 3,000 lives. But those fearing Bermuda has recruited a hard-line British cop bent on brute force Policing need not fear. Mr. Bell's approach is about working with the community rather than being at its throat. [continues 1454 words]
New National Drug Control Minister Wayne Perinchief yesterday said he would be reviewing the laws on marijuana after becoming alarmed over the numbers of people on the stop list. Asked about decriminalisation of marijuana, Mr. Perinchief told a Press conference yesterday it was a contentious issue but many people were calling for a look at the law. He said: "I will certainly be reviewing many of the laws that wrap around ATI (Alternatives to Incarceration) and we have to consider going forward in this modern world and keeping in sync with other countries. [continues 421 words]
From Ord Road to Court Street and from Royal Naval Field, Somerset to North Shore Road, Crawl, drug pushers are now an ever-present of Bermudian life. Whole neighbourhoods have ceded control or live in an uneasy truce, trying to keep their children out of the pusher's clutches. And the tentacles keep spreading, blighting the island's recreational spaces. Daylight drug dealing has been seen in Shelly Bay field car park while addicts have been spotted desperately hunting for a drugs drop off in secluded Devonshire Bay. [continues 1079 words]
Premier Alex Scott has appointed Wayne Perinchief to head a new National Drug Control Ministry to combat the scourge of illegal narcotics. The Premier said drugs are the driving force behind crime in Bermuda and the new Ministry was a bold, innovative step taken to further combat drugs and crime. He told The Royal Gazette: "The community will be most impressed and encouraged the Government is now putting full attention -- a Minister for drugs, full stop." After serving as a Progressive Labour Party MP since 1998, Mr. Perinchief will finally enter the Cabinet but Mr. Scott explained Mr. Perinchief will not encroach on the Home Affairs and Public Safety Ministry of Randy Horton who will retain all the authority he previously held. [continues 634 words]
Testing schoolchildren for illegal drugs may encourage young users to switch from relatively harmless substances such as cannabis to harder drugs such as ecstasy and heroin, according to a study published today. Earlier this year, a secondary school in Kent became the first in the country to introduce random tests for pupils. The move was criticised by some civil liberties organisations and drugs awareness campaigners, but won the backing of the prime minister, Tony Blair, and the Tory leader, Michael Howard. [continues 132 words]
Guardian Invited to Witness School's Controversial Scheme As they wait patiently for the teacher to call out their names at morning registration, the pupils at Abbey High School know that today it could be their turn. For the past week, alongside the usual messages concerning the day-to-day business of running a busy secondary school, the roll-call has contained several small envelopes addressed to individual children. Inside a note tells them to make their way to the school's Orange Room on the first floor. [continues 1117 words]
A headteacher's decision to subject pupils to random drug tests was called into question yesterday as the first group of students were swabbed for traces of cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy and heroin. At least 10 pupils at the Abbey school in Faversham, Kent, were given mouth swabs by trained non-teaching staff after being randomly selected by computer. Last night, the head, Peter Walker, said he was pleased the scheme was under way. Parents have to give permission before the tests go ahead and pupils can refuse to take part. [continues 73 words]
A marijuana farmer directed The Royal Gazette to his illegal plot yesterday after saying he had been tipped off that it was under surveillance. The anonymous caller rang yesterday morning and described how to reach the four-by-12 metre plot hidden in dense woodland on Government land in the East of the Island. It harboured a crop which has netted him $40,000. When The Royal Gazette paid a visit it found the area thick with plants ten feet high among barrels for irrigation. [continues 514 words]
The Rastafarian community enjoyed a cordial meeting with Premier Alex Scott this week but he is refusing to budge on the issue of cannabis. A delegation of four people from the 200-odd member group met him on Wednesday to push for changes in the law which they say criminalises young black men. But Mr. Scott said: "Bermuda has a very definite policy, we are not trying to encourage any further drug use." In a paper presented to Mr. Scott, the Rastas said the drug had a medical use and that countries such as Canada recognised this while in Britain Police had down-graded cannabis as they poured resources into more harmful matters. [end]
Police say heroin use is on the up while those in the drug world say addicts are moving back to needles, sparking a fear of a new deadly HIV epidemic. Hundreds of lives were lost in Bermuda at the height of needle sharing in the 1980s and 1990s but heroin users then moved to snorting and smoking the drug as AIDS awareness grew. Now needles are moving back into fashion according to drug counsellors and users. And Acting Chief Medical Officer Brenda Davidson said: "I have no official information on that but certainly from my own observations I can confirm I have seen needle use recently. [continues 627 words]
Police sounded a warning about criminals from America and the Caribbean targeting Bermuda as crime went up slightly up in the second quarter of 2004. Police Commissioner Jonathan Smith said links had been fostered with American Police forces as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration. "Those relations are very solid. There is a free exchange of information between us. "One of the disturbing trends that we are maintaining a very close watch on is the increased involvement of foreign nationals engaged in drugs and violent crime in Bermuda. [continues 273 words]
Bermuda's Financial Investigation Unit is to be beefed up as it continues its fight against money laundering. Inspector Gary Wilson currently heads a team of five but further posts are to be created following recommendations by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office-inspired KMPG review and a 2003 review by the International Monetary Fund. Funding is in place this year following Cabinet approval. "We have an approved business plan," Inspector Wilson said. "A further eight posts are being created." More investigators will be added as well as an accountant, a forensic accountant, an analyst and administrative support. [continues 792 words]
Government MPs stifled an Opposition debate calling for MPs to undergo testing for drug and alcohol abuse in Parliament yesterday. Government whip Ottiwell Simmons said the Opposition was not allowed to bring motions to the House which had financial implications. The motion, introduced by Opposition MP John Barritt, called for twice yearly testing which Mr. Simmons said would cost money. He originally tried to stop the motion from the outset but speaker Stanley Lowe ruled Mr. Barritt should be allowed to introduce it after saying a similar motion had gone to the House before the election. [continues 359 words]
US Drug liberalisation guru Ethan Nadelmann has urged Bermuda to legalise cannabis and prescribe heroin to addicts in a bid to cut crime and improve health. He said pharmaceutical heroin helped addicts live long lives and function while the black market product helped cause abscesses, hepatitis and HIV and led to lethal overdoses. "Drugs are much more dangerous when they are illegal," said the Executive Director of US pressure group Drug Policy Alliance who is in Bermuda on holiday. And he said criminalisation of cannabis was self defeating as it meant students ended up on the US stop list. [continues 790 words]
The Acting Director of Public Prosecutions believes more staff would help avoid a repeat of problems such as Tuesday's dismissal of a multi-million dollar drugs case. Six men had been accused of conspiring to smuggle $11 million of cannabis and $600,000 of heroin in July last year. But Acting Senior Magistrate Carlisle Greaves dismissed the case after prosecutors failed to show. Acting DPP Kulandra Ratneser said this was because senior crown counsel Lloyd Rayney and crown counsel Graveney Bannister had been tied up in the Justis Smith stabbing trial. [continues 475 words]
