Local Reaction to Federal Liberal Leader's Pledge to Legalize Marijuana in Canada A local marijuana advocate is optimistic about the federal Liberal party leader's suggestion to legalize cannabis, but says it's a promise politicians have made - and broken - before. Earlier this week Justin Trudeau, leader of the federal Liberal party, endorsed legalizing marijuana. That's one step up from the stance he took during a party policy convention in 2012, when he advocated for the decriminalization of marijuana. [continues 560 words]
Vycki Fleming is careful with her words when she talks about marijuana. She uses the term "medicating" when she refers to eating or smoking marijuana. She doesn't have a grow op at her house, she has a medicinal garden. It's deliberate and Fleming not only acknowledges it, but brings the subject up. It's one of the first steps she's taken to separate herself from potheads, criminals and owners of illegal marijuana growing operations. Taking steps away from all that starts with the language that you use, she explained. [continues 1068 words]
Ajax-Pickering Liberal MP Mark Holland Was in Town Thursday, Meeting With Federal Liberal Candidate Betsy Mcgregor and Groups Involved With the Justice System. Holland Is the Federal Public Safety Critic, and Was Taking Aim At Bill S-10, Which Calls for Stiffer Penalties and Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Drug Charges. Holland Said the Bill Doesn't Address Key Problems That Lead to Crime, and Would Lead to an Increase in Building "Mega-Prisons." Mandatory Minimums Were Put in Place in California, Florida and The United Kingdom, He Said, and the Conservatives Need to Take a Good Look at How That's Worked Out. [continues 505 words]
Faced with a rising tide of drugs, gangs and organized crime, city police are pushing for more officers to thicken the thin blue line. And police Chief Murray Rodd is cautioning that if that doesn't happen, the community policing model, long used by the force, could be in jeopardy. The community policing system harkens back to the 1950s, when officers walked the beat and knew almost everyone on it. A broader version of that is still in place. Almost every officer in the police service is assigned an area to patrol, either by foot, bike or cruiser. Many are assigned to local organizations, acting as liaisons for the service. [continues 484 words]
In the office of the Central East Drug Unit there are a pile of magazines. They're all about marijuana, rich with pictures, ads and all the latest information on how to grow a better crop. It's the job of the eight officers in the drug unit to know what marijuana growers are up to, Det. Const. Ernie Garbutt explains, and the magazines help them learn the new trade, the new jargon and new ways of growing marijuana. The Central East Drug Unit falls under the OPP's organized crime bureau, and the unit polices the region that includes Peterborough, Northumberland, the Haliburton counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes. [continues 295 words]
Tackling the city's growing opioid problem will take a community effort, city police said. With that in mind, police hosted a second, follow-up meeting at the Peterborough Public Library on Aylmer Street yesterday afternoon to discuss suggestions made at an April 21 meeting. Opioid is a blanket term describing any natural or synthetic medication that binds to opioid receptors in the central nervous system. An opiate is a substance derived directly from poppies. Methadone is an opioid. Heroin is an opiate. [continues 261 words]
The city police service has bolstered the number of its drug recognition officers to combat the growing problem of drugimpaired driving. City police Const. Peter Sejrup said there's a lot of concern about the number of drugimpaired drivers getting behind the wheel. There's also increasing evidence that people are mixing alcohol and drugs, or using several different drugs, before driving, he said. "Poly-drug use is on the rise," Sejrup said. Peterborough has four officers trained in drug recognition, he said, the second-highest number in the province. York police have the most. [continues 132 words]
Chief Rodd on the Big Picture Each area and neighbourhood in Peterborough has its unique characteristics and features. That's true not only of architecture and atmosphere but also crime. Police have divided Peterborough and Lakefield into five districts and each is monitored in a different way. Examiner Police Reporter Sarah Deeth talks to area residents, councillors and the police about the crime in the districts. This weekly, six-part series focuses on what crime looks like in your neighbourhood and what the police are doing about it. [continues 600 words]
Heavy use of fertilizers, pesticides for marijuana could harm creeks Outdoor grow-ops are becoming an increasing concern for environmental officials, a Ministry of the Environment spokesman said yesterday. Jim Martherus, a senior environmental officer with the ministry, was called to the site of an outdoor grow-op near Norwood on the 6th Line South of Dummer in Douro- Dummer Township Aug. 1. The OPP called the ministry, he said, after finding a fertilizer mix station and a tank for diluting the fertilizer near a creek at the back of the property. [continues 205 words]
The production and sale of marijuana in the area is a large and growing international enterprise, highly sophisticated and generating huge profits for Asian organized crime, a police expert says. Det. Const. Ernie Garbutt, one of eight officers in the OPP's Central East Drug Unit, says the area marijuana industry generates up to $50 million per year. Garbutt's unit covers a region that encompasses Peterborough, Northumberland and Haliburton counties and the City of Kawartha Lakes. Officers seize about 50,000 plants per year, Garbutt said, each with a value of about $1,000. [continues 1180 words]
A Supreme Court ruling that quashed random police dog searches will have little impact in Peterborough, the city police chief says. The Supreme Court of Canada, in a split judgment that reaffirms privacy rights, ruled two random police dog searches that led to drug charges failed to pass the legal sniff test. The country's top court ruled Friday that police who use dogs to find drugs in high schools or public places must be able to justify prior suspicion of a crime in order to use evidence seized. [continues 713 words]
Apartment Full Of Marijuana Plants Drug charges against Brenda Waudby have been dropped following a plea by her common-law spouse Ken Yelland. Waudby, 42, was charged with production of marijuana, possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking, possession of marijuana and possession of an unauthorized weapon April 20 after police searched the Murray Street apartment she shares with Yelland. Yelland, 42, pleaded guilty yesterday in Ontario Court of Justice to production of marijuana. Court heard police found 54 plants, each about two-thirds to one metre tall, in a bedroom in the apartment. [continues 317 words]
Tracy Robinson is an angry man. After three months, five court appearances and hundreds of dollars in legal fees, charges against the 45-year-old restaurateur have been withdrawn. "Sure it's a load off, but it never should have happened," Robinson said. Robinson was charged with conspiracy to traffic narcotics and possession of proceeds of crime Oct. 30. Federal prosecutor Chris Corkery withdrew the charges yesterday in Ontario Court of Justice. Based on the evidence, Corkery said, the Crown had no reasonable prospect of conviction. [continues 196 words]
Gets Year Of Probation For Having Marijuana Paul Bitten, former fire chief of Asphodel-Norwood Township, pleaded guilty yesterday in Ontario Court of Justice to possession of marijuana. An additional charge of possession of a controlled substance was withdrawn by federal prosecutor Chris Corkery. Bitten will receive a conditional discharge provided he follows the conditions of his year-long probation. He was ordered to make a $300 donation to the Norwood branch of the Champions for Youth program. Corkery said police arrived at Bitten's Helen Street home in Norwood with a search warrant June 21, looking for evidence of a marijuana growing operation. [continues 352 words]
With the number of meth labs in southern Ontario growing, local drug enforcement officials are worried the problem could trickle north. Det. Const. Andre Chenier with the OPP drug enforcement section, said the problem isn't widespread in Timmins, but it does exist. "To say it's not here would be false," Chenier said. "More and more meth (amphetamin) labs are coming into the province in the North and the south." Ingredients for crystal meth can be purchased at hardware stores and pharmacies, and instructions on how to manufacture crystal meth are readily available on the Internet, Chenier said. [continues 210 words]
Local News - Timmins police are remaining quiet about organized crime activity in the city, even as investigators outside the area acknowledge those arrested in a giant raid this week are known to outlaw motorcycle gang investigations. OPP Detective Staff Sergeant Scott Mills, supervisor for the Northeastern Ontario biker division, said the names of those facing charges after Wednesday's raids turned up drugs, weapons, armour, explosive devices and cash, are well known to his division. While he said he didn't know if any were members of any particular gang, he said outlaw biker gangs such as the Hells Angels frequently have a role in narcotic dealings. [continues 378 words]
Police say a tremendous armoury guarded a cache of drugs and cash in Timmins area homes, as a frightening local link to an international drug cartel was detailed at a press conference Thursday. In Montreal, law enforcement officials released further information on a series of drug raids that took place in Ontario and Quebec Wednesday morning. Of the 25 arrests made during the raids, six suspects were from Timmins. Eric Blais, 27, Michael Lacroix, 30, Marguerite Lessard, 43, Denis Pelletier, 42, Jesse Jacques, 23, and Maurice Servant Jr., 35, were still in custody yesterday, facing numerous drug and weapons charges, as well as money laundering, fraud, possession of property obtained by crime and gangsterism. [continues 274 words]
