Health Canada says police officers can call them any time when it comes to confirming whether citizens have legal authority to produce and possess medicinal marijuana. The department's ability to notify police of those who legitimately possess cannabis for that purpose was recently criticized in a lawsuit launched by a Brandon couple whose legal medical grow-op was mistakenly raided by RCMP. "Health Canada negligently administered a system of license retention and issuance notification by failing to establish and maintain proper protocols for notice to arresting authorities as to the legitimacy of licenses such as those held by persons such as the plaintiffs, and the plaintiffs in particular," Jerry Pomehichuk and Brenda Wakefield assert in their statement of claim. [continues 496 words]
MOUNTIES will have to give back the weed they seized after mistakenly raiding a grow-op, only to later learn the owner had a valid permit to grow medical marijuana. The property owner, Brandon resident Jerry Pomehichuk, suggests the incident highlights law enforcement isn't keeping up with medical-marijuana laws. He says police don't see marijuana as medicine, but still as a substance that needs to be controlled. "They've been trained one way for a long time, and it's very hard to train an old dog," Pomehichuk said Friday after all drug charges against him were dropped. [continues 309 words]
Outdoor Grow Ops Gaining Root Here RCMP Staff Sgt. John Fleming, unit commander of the RCMP drug section in Manitoba, is listening intently to crop reports lately, but it isn't wheat or canola he's interested in. Warm weather means an early harvest time for crops, including marijuana, and the next big outdoor grow-op bust could be just days away. "We're definitely coming up on that cycle," said Fleming, who hears plants are maturing quickly. "What that tells me is that the harvesting season could be a little sooner this year than last year." [continues 366 words]
Local pot smokers will still light up - and collect criminal records while they're at it - if Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes good on a promise to scrap legislation that would decriminalize marijuana, say pot proponents. The prime minister's pledge was among a host of crime-fighting vows he made yesterday. But B.O.B Headquarters owner Robert Ritchot suggests Harper is wasting his time. "It's been proven time and time again that going hard-line on something like marijuana is never, ever going to reduce the amount of marijuana grown, sold and smoked in Canada and in the world," said Ritchot, whose Brandon stores sell smoking products and hemp items. [continues 403 words]
Crystal methamphetamine -- a potent and potentially lethal drug -- has been found in a Brandon high school for the second time in four months. A sniffer dog found crystal meth and marijuana when the Brandon School Division did a spot-check at Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School Monday night. Assistant superintendent Doug Milak said he was disappointed in the findings, but vowed to keep up random searches to drive illegal drugs from city schools. "Hopefully, there certainly will be a deterrent in terms of searches," Milak said. "This will be an ongoing process, there's no question of that." [continues 530 words]
Brandon teens are getting high on a potent hallucinogen for sale in local stores, and there's nothing police can do about it. Salvia divinorum is legal in Canada, but it's so potent B.O.B Headquarters owner Robert Ritchot said he won't sell it to people under age 18, and not to adults without stern warnings. "It can have a disabling ability, temporarily," said Ritchot, who started selling salvia at his Brandon stores two years ago due to demand. But he wants to educate people who want to try it. [continues 1118 words]
At Valleyview Centennial School, students learn more than just the ABCs. They teach each other about a D -- as in, don't do drugs. Those efforts have earned the school an award. It was one of only four schools across the province recognized this year for anti-drug efforts. "It was a great honour," said Valleyview principal Shawn Lehman, who stresses the need to talk to children, "to give them that courage and confidence to make the right choices." Valleyview received a 2005 Merit Award for their Manitoba Addictions Awareness Week celebrations. [continues 226 words]
Conservative politicians brought their fight against crime to Brandon yesterday, but it isn't clear if they grappled with the city's biggest issues. No crime victims were at the invitation-only meeting yesterday, and the city's gang problem and police budget woes weren't discussed at length. "There was no specific discussion about Brandon's gang situation other than the fact that there are some situations that involve gangs in Brandon," said Jim Flaherty, chairman of the Task Force on Safe Streets and Healthy Communities, a travelling committee struck by the federal Tory party. [continues 486 words]
Large-scale outdoor marijuana operations are a growing trend, Manitoba Mounties say, in the wake of a third rural pot farm bust in as many weeks. About 30 officers raided a Rural Municipality of Alonsa farm Tuesday morning and seized 4,400 plants growing in a field. "There's been a lot seized in the last month," said RCMP Sgt. Steve Colwell, noting the tally for the three raids is 25,100 plants with a potential street value of more than $25 million. [continues 451 words]
It's something she'd expect from a large city but the biggest marijuana grow-op in Manitoba history turned up a short distance from Ruby Bertholet's rural doorstep this week. "You always think when you live out here in the rural area that you're immune to all this type of goings on," Bertholet said. "But here we are living within two miles of it, and one of the largest ones ever in Manitoba." Officers swooped in Sunday and seized a record 13,200 marijuana plants in various stages of growth from a small farm in the Rural Municipality of Sifton near Oak Lake, 53 kilometres west of Brandon. Some plants stood as high as five or six feet and the crop's value has been pegged at $13 million. [continues 380 words]
Provinces, Feds Begin Offensive to Bring Down Popular Drug The Manitoba and federal governments launched a two-pronged attack yesterday on crystal meth traffickers and manufacturers in an effort to stymie the drug that's growing in popularity locally and nationwide. The provincial government vows to put cold remedies out of reach of those who make a highly-addictive, and potentially lethal drug while the federal government increased the maximum penalties for trafficking and production of methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth, to life in prison. [continues 548 words]
Police forces across the nation - including the Tri Force Drug Unit - have completed a national blitz on indoor marijuana growing operations. Operation Greensweep 2 was a 15-day strike from April 13 to 30 in response to an increase in reported growing operations in the last 18 to 22 months. "This is a big push to let the government and the public know this is a big problem we face every day," said Detective Staff Sgt. John Horne, unit commander for the Tri Force Kenora Joint Forces Drug Unit, adding grow operations are the work of organized crime. [continues 317 words]
The last year has been a busier one for the Tri-Force Drug Unit. Detective Staff Sergeant John Horne, unit commander for the Tri-Force Kenora Joint Forces Drug Unit, says drug-related arrests and seizures are up across the region this year, thanks to an increase in the number of people calling in with tips and more accurate information. "I think we've got them really thinking," Horne said, explaining illicit drug use is like stealing and drinking, you're never going to stop it. "I don't know if we've got them running ... but I think with the limited resources we have, we're being really effective in keeping a handle on it." [continues 641 words]
The Northwestern Health Unit is working with community groups to bring a needle exchange program to the city. Rai Therrien, a public health nurse who works in communicable diseases at the health unit, said hopefully there'll be a site for the needle exchange pilot program in Kenora by the end of August. She said the purpose of the program is to reduce the risk of spreading blood illnesses like Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and prevent other complications that can occur as the result of injecting drugs. [continues 180 words]
