As marijuana legalization looms, let's remind lawmakers that the focus must be on public health, not criminal justice Twenty-year-old me can't believe 40-year-old me has come to this, sending out a warning call about the dangers of marijuana. There is more than a fragrant whiff of do as I say, not as I did about this column. But 40-year-old me has seen things 20-year-old me hadn't, such as people around me coping with addiction and mental illness. So I'm here to be a wet blanket: As legalization approaches, let's focus on (spoiler alert, old-lady phrase) our young people. [continues 680 words]
My personal drug guru is an avuncular Briton named David Nutt, a neuropsychopharmacologist and a professor at Imperial College in London. His 2012 book Drugs Without the Hot Air is the most rational and comprehensive approach to public health and drug use I have come across. A cheat sheet: Drug abuse can be a problem, but it is never a crime. Marijuana may as well be sold in cafes; heroin and cocaine are extremely harmful; LSD and ecstasy have untapped medical potential, if only researchers could study them. [continues 677 words]
Alleged leader of Jamaica-based drug gang unleashes violence in Kingston just one month after a dozen members arrested here The Shower Posse, a notorious Jamaican gang whose alleged leader is at the centre of Kingston's recent rash of violence, has had ties to Toronto for the past 20 years. Christopher "Dudus" Coke, said to be the current leader of the gang, which trades in guns and drugs worldwide, is resisting extradition to the U.S. The fatal gun violence in Jamaica's capital city is reportedly the result of Coke's protectors defending his hiding place. [continues 574 words]
When is a building a vital piece of history, and when is it just old? It's a debate among all the world's urbanites that is touching down in Brantford. At issue is a three-block stretch of south Colborne St., a short walk south of City Hall in Brantford's small downtown. Some of the buildings here are over 170 years old, while others have stately brick Victorian facades, but most of them are crumbling. Six of the 11 members of Brantford's city council want to see the strip demolished, this week, in favour of a slick facility for a growing university population. To them, the buildings are just old. [continues 654 words]
