It's sad that we still have to warn people about the dangers of impaired driving; one would have hoped the message had been received loud and clear by now, but that is unfortunately not the case. In today's editions of our papers we look at the consequences of impaired driving, from the standpoint of a woman whose life was forever altered after being struck by a driver who was impaired, and from the perspective of a young man who killed one of his best friends after crashing a car while driving drunk. [continues 321 words]
Let the market decide how many licensed pot shops Toronto should have, some marijuana advocates told Scarborough Councillor Jim Karygiannis this week. Others, represented by the Toronto Dispensaries Coalition, proposed a set of rules (see sidebar) which include mandatory distances from schools and other dispensaries. Toronto Council's Licensing and Standards Committee, however, won't start talking about regulating dispensaries until at least October. In May and again in June, the group of councillors sent away representatives of the city's marijuana industry who wanted to set up some regulations. [continues 280 words]
The war on drugs may be nearing an end, but the war of words on drugs is just getting started. At last week's Toronto Council meeting, a debate on banning hookahs in Toronto business establishments couldn't go for long before hand-wringing questions about the implications of legalized marijuana would have on such a ban. Toronto's chief medical officer of health Dr. David McKeown told councillors again and again that the fulfillment of the Justin Trudeau government's promise to legalize the drug wouldn't have much impact on this ban one way or another. But that didn't stop the rhetoric. [continues 309 words]
Toronto's Board of Health is scheduled to discuss the pros and cons of safe injection sites at its Wednesday meeting. It will be looking at setting up a similar model as the one currently in operation in Vancouver - and possibly asking the provincial government to fund a pilot site in the City of Toronto. The recommendation to open a site is from a long-awaited report by Toronto Medical Officer of Health Dr. David McKeown, which is a response to the city's eight-year-old drug strategy looking at the viability of such sites. [continues 277 words]
Wants Deed Holders To Pay Costs Associated With Investigations, Inspections Property owners that allow their homes to be used as marijuana grow operations in Toronto will face hefty fines from the city if council approves two new bylaws next month. Ward 39 (Scarborough Agincourt) Councillor Mike Del Grande has been working with city staff on the bylaws for the past two years. "Landlords or anybody that owns these places are going to be hit hard," Del Grande said in an interview Wednesday, noting that the bylaws were created in consultation with police, fire, public health, building, licensing and legal staff. [continues 428 words]
Five People Face First-Degree Murder Charges in Connection to 2005 Incident Five people have been charged with murder following a two-year investigation into the abduction and death of a 30-year-old man. Police believe Pei Ding Xu was murdered some time after his Jan. 24, 2005 abduction, but his body has not yet been found. "The investigation involves two rival Asian gangs in relation to marijuana grow houses that were operating at the time, in 2005, in the Scarborough area," Det. Sgt. Gary Giroux told reporters at a news conference at police headquarters. [continues 224 words]
Scarborough councillor Mike Del Grande is right on the money when he says council should use some of its expanded powers under the City of Toronto Act to get tough on marijuana grow house operators. While these grow operations taking place in homes in residential neighbourhoods seem to be on a relative decline in Scarborough over the past years, now is not the time to become complacent. Del Grande himself, the councillor for Ward 39 Scarborough-Agincourt, can take some credit for aggressively going after grow houses in his community. He helped make life difficult for the operators, and what was a flood of grow houses in the area three years ago has been reduced significantly. Over the past four years, 72 grow houses were busted in Ward 39. [continues 322 words]
'Start Testing The Water, Start Being Bold': Del Grande The city needs to take bold action in testing its powers under the new City of Toronto Act, according to a Scarborough councillor who's hoping his colleagues will use the new legislation to tackle marijuana grow operations. "Everybody is all excited about the City of Toronto Act. 'Oh look at all these powers.' And then everybody is timid to use these powers," Ward 39 Councillor Mike Del Grande (Scarborough-Agincourt) said Friday following the first meeting of the city's new licensing and standards committee. [continues 348 words]
Program's Success Relies On Public, Organizations: Miller Toronto's Crime Stoppers program received 6,876 tips last year that led to 530 arrests, 2,994 charges laid and $23.6 million in drugs seized. Those figures were released during a news conference at police headquarters Wednesday at which Mayor David Miller unveiled a proclamation declaring January as Crime Stoppers Month. "Crime Stoppers is a partnership between the police, the community and the media, and its incredible success is due to the continued support from residents and organizations," Miller said. "When concerned people watch out for each other and report crimes to the appropriate authorities, we all benefit." [continues 275 words]
Re: 'Agincourt weeds out grow houses,' News, April 28. Where are the sons and daughters of our police chiefs, judges, politicians and newspaper editors to obtain their marijuana if not from a neighbourhood grow house? Are they supposed to approach the local chapter of the Hells Angels or grow it in mummy's or daddy's garden? Of course not. If marijuana prohibition is anything like alcohol prohibition was in the U.S., many of our "leaders" are being paid protection money by the growers to leave them alone. Enough. Let's legalize all drugs. Alan Randell, via e-mail from Victoria, B.C. [end]
Politicians Say Aggressive Tactics Are Paying Off Aggressive tactics are paying off in the battle against grow houses in Agincourt, local politicians say. Two years ago, police raids on marijuana growers were common on some of the short, looping streets of Ward 39 Councillor Mike Del Grande's neighboruood in northwest Scarborough. In 2004, two grow operations were shut down on Elmartin Drive, for example, and three on New Forest Square. But after the grow house problem became an issue in the 2003 municipal and 2004 federal election campaigns, politicians took a get-tough approach they believe convinced most growers to move on. [continues 456 words]
Drug Recognition Expert Says Level Of Impairment Can Change Rapidly Impaired driving is synonymous with alcohol, but police warn drugs, including some prescription medication, could affect your ability to operate a vehicle safely. "Close to 60 per cent of our population is on meds," said Const. Sylvie Guay, a drug recognition expert with Toronto Police. "It's a huge issue. ... The more the population goes on taking these prescription drugs and non-prescription drugs and driving, the more we have problems," she explained. [continues 234 words]
A sweeping new city drug strategy that aims to make drug use safer while targeting preventive and enforcement resources received the backing of the city's policy and finance committee. Mayor David Miller said the strategy's 66 recommendations take a multi-pronged approach to addiction - particularly crack cocaine and alcohol - and treats it as a public health issue. "The question is, are we going to treat addicts as human beings and people, as sons and daughters and parents?" he asked. "If they've got an addiction, they need help, they need a hand up and that's what it's all about." [continues 267 words]
I disagree with police and municipal politicians that we have an out-of-control gun problem in the GTA. What we have is an out-of-control illegal drug use problem. Using guns is a convenient and effective way for drug dealers and gangs to mark or claim their territory - hence business. The fact that the shooters and their victims are often known to police should tell you something. Drug dealers and users are not going to report a ripoff to the police for an illegal transaction - so they enforce the police's law and order. There wouldn't be drug dealers if there were no drug users. If you get rid of the users, you get rid of the dealers and the use of guns. This is the issue that should be addressed by the lawmakers. Dan Hemphill [end]
Toronto's board of health overwhelmingly backed a bold new strategy for dealing with the city's chronically addicted drug users setting the stage for a potentially heated debate at city council this week. The strategy's 66 recommendations include studying the establishment of safe injection sites similar to those in other cities, handing out pipes to crack addicts and offering council's support of a move to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana. The board's approval came despite concerns from residents mostly in the downtown area, who fear their communities will become home to safe injection sites. [continues 214 words]
The hydroponics business is getting caught up in the illegal grow-op business and it's unfair, according to one worker. An employee who has been working in the hydroponics business for 14 years and didn't want his name or the name of the business used, said it's worse than ever. "It seems to have more of a bad rap lately," he said. "The RCMP thing (where four Mounties in Alberta were killed) had an effect." People hear this and paint a broad brush, he said. [continues 431 words]
About 25 people gathered at the Scarborough Civic Centre Monday to voice their opinions about why substance abuse is increasing in the city. The evening event was the first in a series of townhall meetings to help the city identify causes of substance abuse, and develop a drug strategy based on four components: prevention, harm reduction, treatment and enforcement. "It is important for the premier city of the country to effectively deal with drug abuse," Ward 27 Councillor Kyle Rae (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) told The Scaborough Mirror. Rae is one of five city councillors across Toronto leading the initiative. [continues 488 words]
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police's clandestine lab team seized drugs with a street value of more than $40 million Wednesday after executing three search warrants in Scarborough. According to the RCMP, an operational synthetic drug lab with enough chemicals and ecstasy powder to produce about 50,000 ecstasy pills was discovered in a home on Todd Road northwest of Sheppard Avenue and Brimley Road. At two public storage units located in undisclosed industrial areas in Scarborough, police found sufficient chemicals to produce more than four million ecstasy pills. [continues 244 words]
Actions Of Scarborough-Agincourt MP, Councillor Have Local Police Concerned MP Jim Karygiannis (Scarborough-Agincourt) is unapologetic about his practice of canvassing the streets of his riding for suspected marijuana grow houses, despite the fact that police say the politician is putting himself and investigations at risk by doing so. "I'm working with the police and working with the stakeholders to get rid of these," Karygiannis said. "They've got some concerns and I understand their concerns and I will keep on working with all the stakeholders." [continues 612 words]
The murder of four RCMP officers by a marijuana grow-house operator in northern Alberta is both a tragedy and a reminder to citizens and politicians that the drug industry is deadly. Scarborough is home to the bulk of grow-ops in Toronto. Lots Of Grow Ops That means Scarborough is twice as likely to make the headlines as all the former municipalities combined when an event similar to what happened in Alberta occurs in Toronto. Within a two-minute walk from my Bridlewood home are four former grow operations. [continues 257 words]
