Re: Building Boom Set For Federal Prison System, March 9. The prison building boom being promised by the Tories will only lead to a more violent and dangerous Canada. I know firsthand that prisons breed crime and violence. I was convicted as a non-violent pot dealer and was caged with 37 other, mostly violent, offenders. I was released on appeal after five days but that was plenty of time to learn many scams and cons and make new contacts in the underworld, if I ever desired to become a career criminal. [continues 111 words]
Re: Drug traffickers missed the memo (The Daily Graphic, March 2) The 2002 Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs after years of research and hundreds of expert witnesses concluded prohibition does more harm than good and recommended cannabis be legalized and regulated. (www.senatereport.ca) "In addition to being ineffective and costly, criminalization leads to a series of harmful consequences: users are marginalized and exposed in a discriminatory fashion to the risk of arrest and to the criminal justice system; society sees organized crime enhance their power and wealth by benefiting from prohibition; and governments see their ability to conduct prevention of at-risk use diminished." Legislating increased enforcement and mandatory minimum sentences would be going in the opposite direction to what the Senate Committee recommended. The Conservative's Bill C-15 would make Canada more dangerous for all of us. Paul DeFelice Nelson, B.C. [end]
The irony of increasing jail time for gang-related crime, as the federal government has proposed, is that it actually increases the number of members in gangs and the number of gangs (RCMP Link B.C. Gang Violence To Mexican Drug Wars - March 4). Many gangs were started and all are expanded by recruitment in jail. Most established gang members have absolutely nothing to fear when going to prison. Since they run the place, increased prison time is definitely not a deterrent for them. Gangs are fuelled by the demand for substances that are prohibited. The Conservatives' proposed legislation would finance gangs and aid in their proliferation, making Canada more dangerous for all of us. Paul DeFelice Nelson, B.C. [end]
Editor: (Re: Road Warrior: Paper here to stay so let's make it with hemp by Tim Wees.) I heartily concur with Mr. Wees that it is time we quit liquidating our forest ecosystems to make something as disposable as paper. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported in 1916 in Bulletin No. 404 that one acre of cannabis hemp, in annual rotation over a 20-year period, would produce as much pulp for paper as 4.1 acres of trees being cut down over the same 20-year period. [continues 161 words]
To the Editor, Re: Letter "Drug Crusaders listen up", NDN August 15, 2006. Ms. Lorusso begins here letter with outrageous and atypical stories about children and adults' pot use but provides no support for them. The Canadian Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, after much research, has concluded in the Cannabis: Summary Report, Sept. 2002, that: "Clearly, current approaches are ineffective and inefficient. Ultimately, their effect amounts to throwing taxpayers money down the drain in a crusade that is not warranted by the danger posed by the substance. It has been maintained that drugs, including cannabis, are not dangerous because they are illegal but rather are illegal because they are dangerous. This is perhaps true of other types of drugs, but not of cannabis. We should state this clearly once and for all, for public good: it is time to stop this crusade." [continues 274 words]
Bringing police and drug dogs into high schools, whether for drug sweeps or DARE, seems like a giant waste of resources and a great way to alienate students. If time and money are going to be spent on such extracurricular activities, maybe it should be spent on teachers and equipment for the students rather than for the police. Paul DeFelice Nelson, British Columbia [end]
The massacre of eight Toronto-area men in Shedden, Ont., is reminiscent of the St. Valentine's Day massacre during alcohol prohibition in the 1920s and 30s. And it seems this mass murder was related to drugs. I think it is time for the government to regulate drugs, and take them away from organized crime. No one can make a legitimate case for returning to the era of alcohol prohibition with its violence and corruption. So why does anyone feel that continuing the same policy with (some) drugs will work? Paul DeFelice Nelson, B.C. [end]
I'd like to remind readers the police are supposed to enforce the laws, not set them. ("Grass users in for pot luck," Sept. 6.) The Canadian Police Association lobbying to keep pot prohibition in place is more of a "back-to-school gift for drug pushers" than the Senate report, since the black market is what fuels organized crime. Sometimes I worry that police and bikers have infiltrated each other so deeply, it is hard to tell the difference between them. Paul DeFelice Holy Smoke Culture Shop (Maybe you should ease up on the funny cigarettes, Paul.) [end]
Re: Pot worse than alcohol, Harper says, Sept. 6. Besides the fact that teens already have access to black market pot of questionable purity from completely unregulated criminal sources who also supply coke and heroin, choosing cannabis is healthier than choosing alcohol or tobacco. Australian studies have shown that when access to cannabis is liberalized there is a "substitution effect" resulting in less deaths due to drinking. Since pot has resulted in no known deaths and alcohol can result in immediate death to a teen from driving or overdosing or poor judgement while drunk, it would be in everyone's better interest if that teen chose pot instead. [continues 60 words]
I found the July 15 story "Drug profits used to finance terrorists" ironic. The RCMP bemoans the fact that smuggled hash may fund terrorists. I've personally never been more terrorized than when armed RCMP officers kicked in my door and threw me in jail for growing a flower known as cannabis. Whether they admit it to themselves or not, police are acting as the muscle for criminal elements that profit from the prohibition-created black market. To keep drug profits from ending up in the hands of overseas terrorists and terrorists here at home, we must end the Dark Ages policy of prohibition and begin the more intelligent policy of regulation of all illegal drugs. Paul DeFelice (But not outright legalization.) [end]
Re "Hash profits to terrorists: Cops," (July 15): I find it ironic that the RCMP bemoans the fact that smuggled hash from overseas may fund terrorists. I've personally never been more terrorized than when armed RCMP officers kicked in my door and threw me in jail for growing a flower known as cannabis. Whether they admit it to themselves or not, police are acting as the muscle for criminal elements that profit from the prohibition-created black market. To keep drug profits from ending up in the hands of overseas terrorists and terrorists here at home we must end the Dark Ages policy of prohibition and begin the more intelligent policy of regulation of all illegal drugs. Paul DeFelice, Partner, Holy Smoke Culture Shop, Nelson, B.C. (We seem to be headed that way) [end]
I'm writing regarding the Editorial "Seeing both sides through the Smoke" NDN April 14, 1999. I have an obvious bias as a Holy Smoke owner/defendant. Some comments: First of all, the Judge did not just "infer" that the police "misrepresented" the facts, staged the evidence, and violated our Chartered rights, he said so! The Judge did not "impugn (impugn: to contest falsely) the character of these men" as you put it. They did it to themselves over 5 days of testimony. That's a hard thing to fake. The transcripts are there for anyone to read. [continues 314 words]
To the Editor: I'm writing regarding the Editorial "Seeing both sides through the Smoke" NDN April 14, 1999. I have an obvious bias as a Holy Smoke owner/defendant. Some comments: First of all, the Judge did not just "infer" that the police "misrepresented" the facts, staged the evidence, and violated our Chartered rights, he said so! The Judge did not "impugn (impugn: to contest falsely) the character of these men" as you put it. They did it to themselves over 5 days of testimony. That's a hard thing to fake. The transcripts are there for anyone to read. [continues 319 words]
To the editor: Regarding your March 5th front page story "Jury still out on medical marijuana." First, I would especially like to comment on a statement made by Nelson City Police Sgt. Dan Maluta: "I'm hoping that part of what is driving this is that they are going to find from the clinical study that no practitioners are going to support actually inhaling raw marijuana in order to treat illness. It will refute it and then it could no longer be raised as a defence in court." This demonstrates quite clearly that officer Maluta is biased on this point and is only worried about keeping his job and making it easier for himself to arrest sick and healthy cannabis users. [continues 333 words]
At the most, police may be qualified to talk about criminology. Much of the science around drug use is complex and open to debate. Unfortunately the debate is being limited to the police's view. I spoke to the officers in charge of the Drug Awareness display at the Chako Mika Mall, and I received so much erroneous, distorted, and controversial information that there is not enough room to print it here. I was assured by the officers that they have no personal interest in drug laws, pro or con, and that they are only doing their job enforcing existing laws. Then why are they handing out literature and showing videos that make all sorts of specious arguments about drugs, in particular cannabis (marijuana), that tend to justify their harsh attitudes against them? Especially when the latest court rulings and government commission show that drug LAWS hurt society (R. v. Caine, R. v. Clay, R. v. Parker, LeDain Commission, etc.) more than the drugs themselves. It's the same lesson we should have learned from alcohol prohibition in the 30's and should be teaching in school. Police should be paid for important policing like finding missing kids and helping victims and not to "educate" or "cure" or push their political agenda. Paul DeFelice Holy Smoke Culture Shop Co-owner [end]
