Police (406 items)
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| Jan 24, 2007 |
Family Sues Door-Busting Cops
ON: Henry George McCool Sr. accuses Toronto Police of being negligent for barging into his home on Sept. 15, 2005 in search of his son, who did not live with his father at the time of the arrests, in a gang crackdown dubbed Project Flicker, a statement of claim filed yesterday said. The family wants $2.75 million in damages for the incident, which they say has left the mother and father coping with depression and their 8-year-old granddaughter with a "continuing fear and distrust" of police officers that has led to frequent nightmares. |
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| Jan 13, 2007 |
Marijuana Advocate Battles For Business Licence
Tim Felger says he'll open his bookstore/political office, called Da Kine, in downtown Abbotsford whether he receives a business licence from the city or not. Since he first applied for a business licence in the summer of 2005, Felger says he has been the subject of 170 building and bylaw inspections, 24 fire inspections and more than 100 police visits. "I'm not only being singled out, but [City of Abbotsford officials] are violating my freedom of expression," said Felger, a long-time marijuana advocate. |
| Jan 13, 2007 |
Drug Paraphernalia Seized Lotus Store Owners Arrested
Officers in the drug and vice squad raided a Main Street store for the second time in two years. More than 600 pieces of drug paraphernalia were seized from Lotus after York Regional Police descended on the shop following an investigation that began late last year. A man and two women from East Gwillimbury, all in their late 20s, have been charged with selling instruments for illicit drug use. |
| Jan 11, 2007 |
When Cops Inhale
Did the Toronto Police narcs who swooped down on the Church of the Universe congregation in the Beaches, arresting 22 and laying 205 pot charges, actually inhale? That's a loaded question for those worried about lack of accountability when it comes to officers breaking the law during investigations. And if some of the arrestees are right, coppers did toke on-scene in the course of their reconnoitering. |
| Jan 11, 2007 |
Chong's Smokin' Hot to Local Potheads
Edmonton-born face of marijuana culture brings act home to Yuk Yuk's this week EDMONTON - Edmonton's famous prince of pot may be 68, but he's still a hero among young local stoners. |
| Jan 10, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Some Laws Ridiculous, Inhumane
The recent raid on Mark Russell's Mid-Island Compassion Club stands as a perfect example of the idiocy that our gutless politicians are forcing upon the police, Mark Russell, and at least 85 local people in need of medicinal marijuana. What possible good arises from such an expenditure of valuable police time, charging Russell for aiding ill people, and driving his clients to purchase their pain relief from various sources in the black market? Courtenay RCMP Constable Derek Kryzanowzki admits that the investigation took over a year to complete, that it wasn't instigated by a complaint from the general public, and was self-generated through one of the members in the drug section. |
| Jan 6, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Don't Sacrifice Rights In War On Drugs
Lawyer Robert Gill proved the maxim that if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. ( "Perhaps it's time to tweak the charter," Jan 4. ) In the wake of prosecutors staying drug charges after police botched a search of a vessel carrying cannabis, Gill proposed we modify the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow unlawful and warrantless searches if they result in evidence of a crime. When such fishing expeditions come up empty, we would allow victims to retain a lawyer and take the police to civil court, to sue taxpayers for damages. Assumedly when victims can not afford a lawyer, one would be provided at taxpayers' expense. The article went on to suggest that, if after five years, we "feel" more secure, we make the gift to his profession permanent. Thomas Jefferson ( who grew hemp ) once said: "A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither." The war on drugs is a classic example. Perhaps it's time to trash the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Matthew M. Elrod Victoria |
| Jan 5, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Compassion Raid a Waste of Time
The recent raid on Mark Russell's Mid-Island Compassion Club stands as a perfect example of the idiocy that our gutless politicians are forcing upon the police, Mark Russell and at least 85 local people in need of medicinal marijuana. What possible good arises from such an expenditure of valuable police time, charging Russell for aiding ill people and driving his clients to purchase their pain relief from various sources in the black market? Courtenay RCMP Constable Derek Kryzanowzki admits that the investigation took over a year to complete, that it wasn't instigated by a complaint from the general public and was self-generated through one of the members in the drug section. ....A wish for year 2007 -- may our local police force bravely continue to dodge bullets -- but at the same time cease to make the biker gangs richer. W.L.M. Wilson Qualicum Beach |
| Jan 3, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Drug Haul Numbers Misleading
DRUG HAUL NUMBERS MISLEADING Dear Editor: I just read with interest a story by Mia Thomas regarding arrests of drug traffickers ( Burnaby RCMP punch hole in drug ring, Burnaby NOW, Dec. 27 ). I have a bone to pick. First of all, she claims that 16 kilograms of pot is around 95,500 joints. It's actually typically about half of that, and, more importantly, what is that point trying to be made by breaking these confiscated drugs down into their 'supposed' dose amounts? Very few people can take a full gram of mushrooms as one dose. Probably even less people will get over six joints from one gram ( usually it's three, maybe four ), and, as for the number of doses in a gram of cocaine, that's probably not close to the same from one person to the next. It makes the author look like she is trying to appear knowledgable on an issue she has no knowledge about. And, finally, so what? What exactly was the intended point of all of this? If the point was to show how many doses the police got off the streets, it looks like there wasn't much mushroom or cocaine while it attempts to make it look as if almost one hundred thousand people were saved from the evil weed, which is misguided at best! Perhaps she got these numbers from another source, but whoever it was, I would suggest they have no clue what they are talking about. K.E. Byrnes Vancouver |
| Dec 23, 2006 |
Big Pot Case Against Five Falls Apart
All charges have been dropped against five men arrested aboard a fishing boat RCMP said was attempting to import $6.5 million worth of marijuana to B.C. When police arrested the five and seized the 47-metre MV Baku in Ucluelet May 22, they laid out marijuana on the dock that had been discovered inside the vessel -- 1,630 kilograms of it ( 3,600 pounds )...But now, Crown prosecutors say they have entered stays on all the charges laid against the five men because there is little likelihood of a conviction. |
| Dec 20, 2006 |
Stoned Canadian Drivers Double Since '80s
The number of Canadians who say they've driven after smoking drugs has more than doubled since the late 1980s, according to a study that reports young men drive while high just as often, or even more, than they drink and drive. Almost five per cent of the 4,639 drivers surveyed said they'd driven within two hours of using marijuana or hashish in the previous year an average of 24 times, said the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. |
| Dec 14, 2006 |
Canadian Weed Board Will Need A Bigger Cafeteria
Eureka! Get this: The Canadian Weed Board. Eh? Eh? The column is now open for questions. Yes, you, Q, you have a question? Q: Just five. What? Why? Where? When? And, in particular, insofar as it certainly bears repeating: WHAT?! A: Exactly as stated. Parliament passes legislation not to abolish, not to weaken, but to preserve forever the Canadian Wheat Board, on two conditions: 1 ) instead of a soft "Wh..." and an "...e-t," a hard "W.." and an "...e-d," a virtual homonym, and 2 ) instead of selling grain, the marketing monopoly moves exclusively into cannabis, marijuana, goof grass, spliff, mary jane, dope, jazzleaf. Everybody wins. The Canadian Whe..er, Weed Board gets to keeps its existence as a 500-employee federal bureaucracy. Farmers, released from historic board restrictions and obligations, gain the freedom to sell their grain to anybody at any time. |
| Dec 13, 2006 |
The Capital's Drugs Are History: Owner
The drug dealers were here, but they're gone now, said Capital Hotel co-owner Maurice Byblow, while sitting in its bar on Monday afternoon. The only problem is, when the dealers left in August, they took more than half of Byblow's business with them. |
| Dec 6, 2006 |
Rogue Officer Must Quit
The Ottawa police officer has been found in violation of the basic standards expected under the Police Services Act. He was found guilty of the breach after a hearing that detailed his theft and use of crack cocaine. The hearing also revealed that Const. Hall lied about the extent of his prior use of marijuana on his application to become a police officer. |
| Dec 5, 2006 |
Business Busted
Chatham-Kent police has scored its largest ever seizure of drug paraphernalia. During a raid at a St. Clair Street convenience store last week, officers seized more than 2,000 items including pipes, water bongs, scales and grinders. [Everyone feel safer now? Has this world gone completely insane?] |
| Dec 5, 2006 |
Police Officer Who Stole Crack Loses His Job
An Ottawa police officer who admitted to stealing crack cocaine from suspects and smoking it himself has been dismissed from the force. [ Imagine if they caught every cop who stole or "confiscated" pot from suspects and took it home to smoke? We would have a lot less police.] |
| Nov 24, 2006 |
Drug Dealers Upgrade Weaponry To Protect Marijuana
Traps such as nails driven into weighted wooden boards and suspended overhead in trees, and spikes attached to tied-back tree saplings, are being increasingly found during police investigations, Det. Supt. Frank Elbers of the Ontario Provincial Police drug enforcement section said yesterday. [ And in other prohibition-related news... when will there be honesty in the media?] |
| Nov 24, 2006 |
Drug Free Zones A Failed Experiment?
Judges may hand out longer sentences to people who traffic drugs around schools, but the Drug Free Zone program is hardly worth the signs it is written on. The zones were established about seven years ago in a joint effort between the police and school board. The announced goal was harsher sentences for people trafficking within the zones around schools, although that appears to have been more wishful thinking than legal thinking. "The intent of the zones is certainly a good one, and they have been effective to some degree," said School District 23 Supt. Mike Roberts, "but they haven't had the impact that was hoped for at the beginning. |
| Nov 23, 2006 |
Medical Pot Users Fume Over Tories' Drug-Driving
Regular medical marijuana users are being unfairly targeted by the Conservative government's new drug-driving legislation, which will increase penalties and make it easier for police to crack down on people who do drugs before getting behind the wheel, a national advocacy group warned yesterday. "This law, we feel, would unfairly target marijuana users," said Russell Barth, a medical marijuana user and member of the National Capital Reformers. "Discriminating against us based on our medication . is much like discriminating against us based on the colour of our skin." [ <a href="http://cannabiscoalition.ca/html/index.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=33" target="_blank">The Casnadian Cannabis Coalition, an umbrella organization for the cannabis community, issued a press release on this subject </a> as well. ] |
| Nov 18, 2006 |
Waging War On A Benign Plant
I know countless people who treat marijuana as our father's generation treated alcohol - as a social indulgence, one to be shared at a party or consumed after a hard day at work. And not one of the dozens of people I know who enjoy using marijuana is anywhere near the slippery slope to the world of crack, as laughably claimed by prohibitionists who parrot the lie that pot is a dangerous gateway drug. The problem lies in the current laws. When the Conservatives decided to ditch the Liberals' progressive plan to decriminalize pot, they reinforced the warped reality that makes criminals of upstanding citizens who enjoy using marijuana. |
| Nov 17, 2006 |
Chief Constable Dan Maluta In Nelson
As for the many questions about marijuana, the local economy, and how Nelson's community feels about this drug, Maluta will not be drawn too far.... The Chief is aware that 'marijuana advocates' talk about 'mom-and-pop operations' as being mostly harmless, or will say 'maybe some handicapped person might earn a little cash by growing-' He notes that when mom and pop grow ops are busted, it is usual to find the owners have an average of nine Criminal Code offences in their past records. |
| Nov 11, 2006 |
Posters Accuse Miller Of Having Opponent Jailed
David Miller has been accused of a lot of things in this election campaign, but, until recently, throwing people into jail wasn't on the list. ... Posters have appeared on newspaper boxes and hydro poles accusing the mayor of sweeping an opponent, Rev. Peter Okatar Styrsky, into a Northern Ontario jail to keep him out of the race. ... Specifically, the hand-drawn posters, which feature cartoon marijuana leaves and scrawled block-letter text, suggest the mayor had direct influence in the jailing of Mr. Styrsky, a member of the controversial, pro-marijuana Assembly of the Church of the Universe. |
| Oct 31, 2006 |
RCMP Allowed Agent's Crimes
A police agent who infiltrated the Hells Angels in Vancouver may have broken the law at times but he was always acting at the direction and under the control of the RCMP, a top Mountie who oversaw the investigation testified Monday. "He is operating under the guidance, authority and approval of his handlers," recalled RCMP Chief Supt. Bob Paulson... |
| Oct 28, 2006 |
Mayoral Candidate Charged With Pot Possession
One of the candidates for mayor of Thunder Bay has been charged with possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. The Chronicle-Journal has learned that Douglas MacKay, 53, was charged Sept. 11 after police seized almost nine kilograms of marijuana. |
| Oct 28, 2006 |
Church Allegedly Dealt Pot
Members of the Assembly of the Church of the Universe in Toronto were pro-marijuana activists who were too lazy to agitate for the cause, a police source said yesterday. "Basically these folks believe in the legalization of marijuana, but didn't wait for the laws to change or have not taken the appropriate steps to change the laws," the source said. |