A TOP crime buster is believed to have lost $1 million on the punt before he was arrested over allegations that he masterminded one of Australia's biggest drug runs. Mark Standen re-mortgaged his family home and cashed in his superannuation to pay for losses on the horses, a source told the Herald Sun. The NSW Crime Commission assistant director was arrested on Monday over his alleged role in trying to import chemicals to produce $120 million worth of the deadly drug ice. [continues 485 words]
I'm writing about your outstanding editorial: "War on drugs cannot be won, only managed" (5-29-08). The so-called war on drugs is a huge industry and huge bureaucracy. Victory in the drug war is not possible, nor is it the goal. Victory in the drug war would mean that the drug war industry and bureaucracy are out of business. There are basically two types of people who support the so-called war on drugs: Those who make their livelihood from it. This includes politicians and bureaucrats who are probably on the payroll of the drug cartels. Al Capone had hundreds of politicians and prohibition officials on his payroll. [continues 89 words]
The war on drugs has been fought. We lost. So what now? For starters, we should admit defeat and legalize marijuana. We have spent untold billions of dollars battling drugs, but, as the Americans learned in Vietnam, some wars are simply un-winnable. In this case, the demand for recreational marijuana is such that people will find it, regardless of how difficult we make it. It's like booze was during Prohibition. People wanted to drown their sorrows, and they did, legally or otherwise. Guys like Al Capone made millions until the government wised up, legalized alcohol and started doing what all governments do: tax the product. [continues 432 words]
A Fenelon Falls man originally charged in a case that goes back almost five years will not stand trial until September. Nick Churchill, 33 is one of six men who were originally charged in connection with the attempted rip-off of a marijuana grow operation in 2003 near Norland while dressed as police officers. He is facing several weapons charges, a drug charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer. He is the only one of the six accused who opted to have his case go to trial. [continues 475 words]
A Department of Health meeting with interest groups about a legal limit on medical-marijuana supplies has been opened for the public to observe from an separate room today. The agency expects to miss its July 1 deadline for setting a limit for a 60-day supply for medical-marijuana users. But a draft rule is expected to be submitted by then for public hearings and rule-making later this summer, DOH spokesman Donn Moyer said. Activists want to see a larger supply of pot allowed for patients under the 1998 voter-approved medical-marijuana law. But some expressed fears that state health regulators would meet behind closed doors with police and prosecutors to discuss a lower-than-appropriate limit. [continues 234 words]
State prosecutors expect to schedule a grand jury hearing in the Rachel Hoffman case, but they are waiting on the investigation into her death to be completed and for a new grand jury to be impaneled, State Attorney Willie Meggs said. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is taking the lead on the investigation into the death of Hoffman, 23, a Florida State graduate who was killed while working as a police informant during a May 7 drug sting. Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, and Andrea Green, 25, were arrested May 8 in Orlando in her kidnapping and armed robbery. They led investigators to her body in Taylor County May 9. [continues 349 words]
Violence's Origins Are Extensive Angel Torres, spokesman for Mexico's Procuradura General de la Republica shows a vehicle with bulletproof glass mounted behind the windows. The violence that has plagued Juarez in recent months has many causes. Reputed Sinaloa drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera, accompanied by an army of sicarios (hit men), strolled into Juarez one day claiming the city's lucrative smuggling corridor as his own, so the rumor goes. Whether true or not, Juarez and other parts of the Mexican state of Chihuahua this year have become ground zero in a battle over drug-trafficking routes that have been under the control of the Carrillo Fuentes drug organization for more than a decade. [continues 1674 words]
MANILA, Philippines - The Manila government is set to field special anti-illegal drug marshals in all public schools in the city to ensure that students are protected from the drug menace. Mayor Alfredo Lim, who will lead today's launching of the project at the Ramon Magsaysay High School on Espana Street, said the marshals will be deployed in schools when classes open on June 10. A special task force composed of school personnel, student leaders and parents-teachers' association officials will be organized for the purpose, he said. [continues 133 words]
Ottawa is wrong to appeal a British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that extended a government-funded safe-injection site for junkies. Instead, it should have done its duty and resolved the case once and for all. Sidestepping the thorny issue of federal-provincial jurisdiction, the court was right to deny Ottawa its request to shut down the Insite program, was right to support extending the pilot project's mandate and was right in saying that the long-term issue must be resolved with laws, not by the courts. [continues 233 words]
