With unlicensed marijuana dispensaries popping up in urban areas and thousands of unregulated medical licences for home growing still in legal limbo, the Trudeau government is starting work on its promise to legalize recreational use. Marijuana was a media darling in the recent election, but meeting in Vancouver with provincial ministers last week, federal Health Minister Jane Philpott found herself preoccupied with issues deemed more urgent. These include shifting our post-war acute hospital model to community primary care, tackling aboriginal health care needs, pooling pharmaceutical purchases to slow rising costs, and meeting an urgent Supreme Court of Canada directive to legalize assisted dying. [continues 518 words]
100 Mile House RCMP Traffic Services has an effective new method for determining drug-impaired drivers in the South Cariboo. RCMP Const. Lee Simpkins has completed five weeks of extensive training in Phoenix, Arizona in this specialized field. After practical experience in the jails there and two final exams, Simpkins says he is now certified as a Drug Recognition Expert (DRE). "They say it's the hardest course for the RCMP, but it's not an RCMP-led course. It's [put on by] the International Association of Chiefs of Police [IACP]." [continues 595 words]
Prohibition doesn't work; in fact, it has cost more than it was worth. In the last 40 years, we've spent significant amounts of money to control the growing and sale of marijuana. It costs a lot to arrest, prosecute, and send them to prison. We need to simply legalize the drug, regulate it and tax it. Such a move would reduce the number of police officers assigned for enforcement, eliminate a huge number of prison beds allocated for drug offenders and add dollars to the public coffers. Legalizing marijuana would be one way to pay off the $2.2-billion shortfall caused by scrapping the Harmonized Sales Tax. William Perry Victoria [end]
A Cariboo Regional District resolution endorsed at the 2010 Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention has received support from the RCMP. The resolution suggests strategies and tools be provided for regional districts to assist in the elimination of illegal marijuana grow-ops and other drug operations. The RCMP committed its full support in a recent letter to the UBCM, which stated some current joint efforts in the Lower Mainland, such as Electrical Fire and Safety Inspection Teams that inspect grow-ops, have proved invaluable for both public and officer safety aspects. [end]
A marijuana grow operation was busted near Canim Lake on Sept. 8 by the 100 Mile House RCMP detachment and the Cariboo Region Integrated Marijuana Enforcement task force (CRIME). 100 Mile House RCMP Staff Sgt. Brian Coldwell says in its search of three, separate neighbouring properties, police found 3002 plants and approximately 30 pounds of dried bud, with an estimated street value of more than $1 million. Two male Canim Lake residents were arrested and released until their court date, and Coldwell adds police will be recommending charges. [continues 359 words]
To the editor: I am responding to Richard K. Hode's letter, headlined Spying on neighbours bad, on page A12 of your May 18 edition. Mr. Hode is correct in comparing the modern pogrom on cannabis users and growers to the Spanish Inquisition. There are other similar comparisons throughout history (the East German's Stasi would be a better comparison). But the thing I find most frightening is a full half of our citizens will observe these similarities between the inquisition and the modern war on certain drugs - and still insist our modern war is valid and just. [This would include Prime Minister] Stephen Harper and his cabinet. [continues 133 words]
To the editor: Shame on you for urging people to spy on their neighbours (Suspect a marijuana grow-up? On page A18 in the May 11 Free Press). It is far better to put up with a suspected "drug house" in the neighbourhood, especially one whose residents don't bother their neighbours, than to create a community of mistrust, fear, suspicion and hostility. This type of perverse and evil-minded neighbour-spying has a long and dirty history. During the Middle Ages, the police in Spain had a problem identifying Jews who had been forcibly converted to Catholicism but who persisted in practising their Jewish religious customs in secret. [continues 181 words]
100 Mile RCMP Sgt. Don McLean has been travelling throughout the South Cariboo presenting information to various groups about the marijuana grow operations in the area. The most recent presentation was to members of the South Cariboo Community Planning Council, McLean says. It was well attended, he adds, and community members are indicating they were not aware of the size and scope of the marijuana production problem in the Cariboo. Tell-tale signs of a grow-op are as follows: vehicles coming and going at night, including trailers, trucks, vans and U-hauls; lack of activity during the day; inconsistent snow and garbage removal; a persistent "skunky" smell; constant generator noise, or fans humming; intense bright light from inside the residence or out-buildings; residences with blacked out windows; and construction sounds with no visible development. [continues 239 words]
The federal Liberal Party announced last week it will oppose Bill S-10 in Parliament to prevent tougher prison terms for drug crimes. Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff said the bill is "dumb," as it disproportionately targets youth and would cause an explosion of costs to build new mega-prisons. "We're all in favour of cracking down on serious criminals, but this bill doesn't distinguish between massive grow-ops and a first-time offender with a small amount." He noted a disproportionate number of young Canadians would be harmed by the marijuana provisions of the bill, which proposes a mandatory six-month sentence for possessing as few as six marijuana plants, or as many as 200. [continues 351 words]
During the three-month period from Sept. 7 to Dec. 3, a federally funded RCMP task force busted 27 grow operations and confiscated more than 54,000 marijuana plants in a region covering 100 Mile House to Prince George. RCMP Federal Drug Enforcement Branch (FDEB) spokesperson Const. Michael McLaughlin made the announcement in early December, and explained raids have resulted in 24 arrests, with further charges pending, since the inception of the task force in September. Police also seized a half dozen unregistered firearms during the busts. [continues 398 words]
In the past four months, a federally funded RCMP task force has busted 27 grow-ops and confiscated more than 54,000 marijuana plants in a region covering 100 Mile House to Prince George. RCMP Federal Drug Enforcement Branch (FDEB) spokesperson Const. Michael McLaughlin made the announcement in Prince George on Dec. 3. Twenty-four suspects have been arrested during the raids, which began Sept. 7, and charges are pending further investigation. Police also seized half a dozen unregistered firearms during the busts. [continues 533 words]
To the editor: I am responding to your story, headlined Going to pot: Bill raises concerns, on page A11 in the June 30 edition of the Free Press. The drug war is the perpetual treadmill of drug criminalization; it offers no great solutions or long-term benefits for any, nor has it ever. It just goes on and on. To add mandatory minimum sentences for cannabis cultivation of more than six plants (to the mix) will only further exasperate an already fractured situation. [continues 249 words]
The 100 Mile House Industrial Hemp Project is up and running again, as a student co-ordinator has been hired and a test plot has been seeded. Project manager Erik Eising was in 100 Mile last week to meet with Horse Lake resident Robin Diether who was hired as the project student co-ordinator on June 30. Eising says they had numerous applications for the student co-ordinator position and Diether was the one who stood out for the four-person selection panel. [continues 486 words]
Marijuana producers growing as few as six plants for sale could face minimum jail sentences if a new bill becomes law in Ottawa. The Penalties for Organized Drug Crime Act, or Bill S-10, was introduced in the Senate recently by Conservative Senator John Wallace. If enacted, it will change laws surrounding drug charges, particularly those involving cannabis. The bill has been considered twice before, dying first due to the general election call in 2006, and again in December 2009, when Parliament was prorogued. [continues 483 words]
To the editor: I am responding to the story headlined, Not in our backyard, in the May 5 edition of the Free Press. This article strikes me as nothing less than a stinging indictment of our current educational system. Where is the critical thinking here? The police complain about marijuana grow-ops and their "excessive amounts of garbage and hazardous materials left behind by the operators, including electrical ballasts potentially containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)" without telling us (or perhaps they don't themselves realize) it is the law banning the plant that has caused these problems. [continues 73 words]
Grow-ops are not unique to the South Cariboo, as the Central Cariboo is also being overrun with them. Cariboo Regional District (CRD) chair Al Richmond says RCMP Cpl. Brian Evans presented information on grow-ops at the recent board meeting. The RCMP are concerned with the dangers associated with these operations, Richmond says, including electrical safety, fire hazards and the unsafe disposal of fertilizers and chemicals used in growing the plants. They also have trouble dealing with the excessive amounts of garbage and hazardous materials left behind by the operators, including electrical ballasts potentially containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). [continues 282 words]
Some local residents are turning to an old-fashioned remedy to treat medical problems, such as severe pain. That remedy is medical marijuana and it's grown in the area -- legally. Jane and John Doe (not real names for security reasons) have a government licence to grow medical marijuana. Jane says they completed a 15-page application and had a criminal record check before the licence for production was issued. They have one client who also has a licence for possession, but Jane says the requirement to get that licence -- a physician willing to prescribe it -- is proving difficult. [continues 321 words]
Sometimes the best deeds are those done anonymously. January is Crime Stoppers Month and 100 Mile RCMP Sgt. Don McLean says members of the public can do a lot to help the police in deterring crime. "Crime Stoppers is of enormous benefit to the 100 Mile House RCMP detachment. As an example, Crime Stoppers tips have been responsible for the start of several successful marijuana cultivation search warrants and criminal convictions." Crime Stoppers is also important because callers are anonymous, he adds, so their identity cannot be revealed and callers are never required to testify in court. [continues 366 words]
RCMP Drug and Organized Crime Awareness Service (DOCAS) launched a 'Tip for the Day' for parents during Drug Awareness Week, Nov. 15-21. The series of tips for parents is available at www.drugawareness.bc.rcmp.gc.ca [end]
100 Mile area farmers are on the cutting edge of local diversification. They're working with industrial hemp, a crop that was grown for thousands of years before the government banned it. "The word hemp was being used for medicinal or illegal drug side so it got a bad rap. The government said OK, just quit the whole thing altogether," said Erik Eising, the hemp coordinator hired by the District of 100 Mile House through the Hemp Steering Committee. He said the government re-introduced the crop 10 years ago and they now have the technology to test that growers are using the low THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) plants. THC is the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. [continues 368 words]
