Once again, we are reminded of the unintended consequences created by the demand for illegal drugs in this country and the destruction it has caused to democracy and good government in Central and South America ("Rewriting History in Bolivia-and Mexico," by Mary Anastasia O'Grady, Americas, March 29). The demand for illegal drugs in this country fuels drug trafficking, human trafficking, drug wars, murders, official corruption, electoral fraud and finances the repression of democracy. While the "woke" in this country lay blame on previous generations for societal ills and offer to atone for perceived transgressions from the pursuit of capitalism, they risk hypocrisy by neglecting criticism and blame toward those in this country who have created the demand for illegal drugs and the resulting mayhem south of our border and in our own country. The hard-core user, the recreational user, the experimental user and the onetime user contribute to the demand. The user is found in every strata of our society, in every profession and, yes, even among the "woke." Tim Healey St. Louis [end]
SKOPJE, North Macedonia - In a desolate industrial zone of this capital city, a cannabis grow house is under construction that, when finished, will span 178,000 square feet, about the size of a Walmart superstore. At full capacity, 17 tons of marijuana a year, worth about $50 million, will be harvested. Among the planned offerings is an American strain known as Herijuana, a portmanteau of "heroin" and "marijuana," which has received some rhapsodic online reviews. "I feel blown to the dome omg," wrote a fan on Leafly, a cannabis review site. "It also gave me the ability to rap." [continues 1639 words]
ALBANY -- A Cuomo administration panel will recommend New York State legalize recreational use of marijuana, the state's health commissioner said Monday. But the long-awaited report by the group has still not been released as the State Legislature looks to end its 2018 session on Wednesday -- leaving action for this year on the matter all but impossible. Dr. Howard Zucker, the state's top health regulator, said public health, law enforcement and others inside and outside government, have been examining the issue of marijuana legalization since Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo asked for a study on the issue in January. [continues 969 words]
One target drove a Mercedes and lived in a waterfront condo on Boston Street; another was homeless, essentially living out of a storage unit where he kept his money balled up in a sock. One lived with his extended family in a house he bought with a lead poisoning settlement; yet another had a half-million-dollar home on two acres of land in Westminster. The circumstances of the people who were targeted for robbery by the Baltimore Police's Gun Trace Task Force ranged widely, according to witnesses in the federal trial of two of its former members. The sums allegedly taken went from three figures up to six. [continues 1429 words]
Senator Tony Dean is quarterbacking the challenging, complicated marijuana bill come Jan. 31, 2018, when his fellow Senators get back to their posts. But he has already armed his colleagues for informed debate amongst the 38 fellow Independent senators, 34 Tories and 15 Liberals. "It's not a cold start, we've heard from some 100 witnesses at parliamentary committees about the nature of cannabis," said Dean in an interview this week. "I don't believe the status quo (prohibition) is viable," said Dean, 64, a senator since Nov. 2016. [continues 202 words]
Chief's comments come after confirmation that constable died from fentanyl overdose Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders says he's actively looking at drug testing for officers in the wake of a constable's fentanyl overdose death this year. "I don't want to lose any officers to anything, especially drugs of any kind and if there are things that we can do to reduce that, then I'm very interested in that," Saunders said Tuesday during a year-end interview. [continues 462 words]
Laziness, not criminal intent, was likely behind a city police officer's decision to take home seized drugs, a judge ruled Tuesday. Provincial court Judge Jerry LeGrandeur said he had a reasonable doubt Const. Robert Cumming took home marijuana handed over to him by an undercover officer for his own personal use. LeGrandeur said Cumming's conduct in placing the contraband in his garbage bin in the alley behind his house before retrieving it hours later supported the suspended officer's story. [continues 466 words]
Ahead of recreational cannabis use becoming lawful, some observers see parallels with the end of prohibition The third in a series on the impending legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada. A notorious 1922 police shooting in southwestern Alberta, and the sensational trial that followed, caused many people to wonder whether enforcing alcohol prohibition was worth the trouble. Alberta's move to outlaw drinking in 1916 was wildly unpopular in the Crowsnest Pass, a cluster of coal mining towns nestled in the Rocky Mountains, near the B.C. boundary. [continues 699 words]
North Shore residents should be able to buy marijuana in either private or government-run outlets, similar to liquor stores, but there should be strict regulations banning youth under 19 from accessing weed and roadside suspensions for drivers impaired by pot. Local municipalities also want a cut of marijuana revenues to help with enforcement of the rules and a say about where pot shops are set up. Those are some of the messages put forward by all three North Shore municipalities in response to a provincial call for submissions as B.C. considers how legal marijuana will be sold and regulated next year. Those responses received are now posted online by the province. [continues 310 words]
Known for his mishandling of Veterans A airs, corruption scandals within his constabulary and, shall we say, colourful comments on race and marijuana, former Toronto and Ontario police chief Julian Fantino is launching a pot business with a former RCMP senior leader. It has rightly been met with outcry. It exposes not only his personal hypocrisies but also those of the pot legalization process. A focus on criminalizing personal use rather than public health concerns (i.e., accessibility to children, mental health issues) has contributed to the circumstances that make young Black and Indigenous people known to police. Along with carding, illegality of marijuana has introduced more young racialized, especially Black, people to the criminal justice system than is patently fair. [continues 348 words]
Ottawa seeks to undercut black market using 'small-scale growers' OTTAWA - The federal government has revealed part of its strategy for regulating recreational cannabis when it becomes legal in July, proposing to allow "micro-cultivation" while modifying the existing federal licensing scheme for medical marijuana producers to let them sell into the future market. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor released a 75-page consultation document Tuesday afternoon kicking off a 60-day period for officials, groups and citizens to respond to the plan. [continues 854 words]
Federal agents arrested a Philadelphia police officer Tuesday, accusing him of conspiring with officers in Baltimore to sell cocaine and heroin seized from that city's streets. Prosecutors say that Eric Troy Snell, 33, earned thousands of dollars serving as a conduit between corrupt members of a Baltimore police task force who stole the drugs and his brother, who sold them in Philadelphia. Investigators also have accused Snell of threatening the children of a Baltimore officer who pleaded guilty in the case. [continues 362 words]
The name of the government agency that will sell pot to Ontario has been revealed: the Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue. But neither does LCBO, the name of the provincial liquor monolith that sells us whiskey and wine. That acronym is so well known in Ontario that today no one bothers to spell it out. Will the acronym for the new marijuana agency - OCRC - become just as familiar? It has a certain slurry symmetry. It could lend itself to a nickname. How about "Ock-Rock," suggests Trina Fraser, an Ottawa lawyer who specializes in cannabis business law. [continues 633 words]
This post to the Richmond News Facebook received a large number of "likes." Re: "This bud's for you?" Feature, Oct. 20. This honestly makes me laugh. We're OK with corruption, illegal money laundering, buildings built without proper zoning, misuse of our ALR, shootings of gang members, birthing "hotels" in residential and agricultural lands, passport babies, etc. Yet, some are overly concerned about the legalization of marijuana? Council should be protecting our citizens from the illegal things going on in Richmond, and prepare properly for the eventuality of the legalization of pot because it will no longer be the 'underground' activity it has been for decades. Debra 'Dee' Wells [end]
If the Trudeau Liberals were Boy Scouts, they'd be miserable failures in living up to the troop's famous motto of "Be Prepared." Anyone who still thinks the Liberals have all the pieces in place in their rush to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by Canada Day 2018 has being smoking the drapes. Health concerns? Hmmm, perhaps it would have been best to have gotten onto this long before now, seeing as how sucking in THC-laced smoke into the lungs just might have some health repercussions for the burgeoning toker crowd. But that is not the case. While Ottawa's parliamentarians were enjoying their last week of summer recess before returning to the partisan fray, an all-party Commons health committee began meeting only this Monday to question medical and legal professionals on the looming legislation. [continues 288 words]
Only now bothering to consider health impact of legalized marijuana If the Trudeau Liberals were Boy Scouts, they'd be miserable failures in living up to the troop's famous motto of "Be Prepared." Anyone who still thinks the Liberals have all the pieces in place in their rush to legalize the recreational use of marijuana by Canada Day 2018 has being smoking the drapes. Health concerns? Hmmm, perhaps it would have been best to have gotten onto this long before now, seeing as how sucking in THC-laced smoke into the lungs just might have some health repercussions for the burgeoning toker crowd. [continues 513 words]
'Disorganized criminals,' new law force mob, bikers away from meagre earnings Once a relatively safe, profitable business for outlaw bikers and mobsters, organized crime is moving away from the marijuana market because legalization and homegrown pot are making any gain not worth the risk, experts say. The market share in the pot business for organized criminals has already slid as pot-loving "disorganized criminals" perfected their horticultural skills. There wasn't much need to smuggle pot into the country when Canadian cannabis connoisseurs liked the homegrown stuff better, experts say. [continues 285 words]
"'It's a try-and-die drug': Fentanyl is suspected in weekend overdose death" (SP, May 9) documents our cruel and ineffective drug policy. Overdose deaths are completely avoidable, as is the spread of AIDS and hepatitis C through drug use. These problems are caused by prohibition of drugs, not the drugs themselves. Drug policies other than prohibition have been tried, studied, and shown to have great success, if success means fewer addicts and far less crime and corruption. When prescription heroin was provided in Manchester, England, crime fell in some neighbourhoods by 80 per cent. [continues 98 words]
There's always been something a bit odd about the great marijuana legalization crusade. Supporters, eager to avoid being seen as a bunch of frustrated pot-heads who just wanted easier access, put forward solid, practical arguments. They pointed out that the war against drugs wasn't working: anyone could see that. People who wanted pot would find a way to get it, no matter how illegal it might be. Police time was wasted chasing kids with a few grams of marijuana, and branding young people as criminals for a bit of pot was a crime in itself. Criminalization just paved the way for organized crime to peddle the stuff to kids, with no controls and huge profits. It made no sense. [continues 867 words]
Canada's organized-crime groups and gangs are much less likely to produce and traffic marijuana than they are other illicit drugs such as cocaine and crystal methamphetamine, according to a new federal study that tracked drug violations from police forces in four cities across three provinces. The new report from Statistics Canada analyzed all drug-related violations over a two-year period in Victoria, Vancouver, Regina and Waterloo, Ont., and found that police linked organized crime to 39 per cent of all cannabis-trafficking charges and 6 per cent of cases involving the production of marijuana. [continues 796 words]
