News - Police (419 items)
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| Jul 9, 2008 |
Report Has Hookah Bar Owners Steaming
Allegations of marijuana being sold and smoked at Vancouver hookah bars have one operator in a huff. The allegations come as Vancouver councillors are poised to make a decision about how to enforce the city's indoor-smoking ban. |
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| Jul 8, 2008 |
New Drug-Impairement Testing Now In Effect
As of July 2, 2008 drivers will have to submit to a Standardized Field Sobriety Test for impairment when demanded by a peace officer who suspects they are driving while impaired by drugs. Bill C-2 empowers Canadian police who suspect a driver of being impaired by any drug, illegal, prescription or over-the-counter, to demand the subject submit to a breathalyzer test, physical coordination tests and an assessment by a Drug Recognition Expert using the Drug Evaluation and Classification ( DEC ) assessment along with a demand of bodily fluid samples ( blood, saliva or urine ). A constitional challenge just waiting to happen... |
| Jul 5, 2008 |
On The Frontlines Of The War Against Drugs
Special Report: Oakville Beaver reporter David Lea sheds some light on the secret life of an undercover cop with the Halton Regional police Drug and Morality Bureau. Who is morally qualified to work for a "Morality Bureau"? Why does such a thing exist in this century? |
| Jul 5, 2008 |
Police Turf War Sank B.C. Hells Angels Investigation
Animosity between the RCMP and the Organized Crime Agency of B.C. resulted in the failure of a multi-million-dollar investigation into the Hells Angels, a former lead investigator with the OCABC has alleged in a wrongful dismissal suit. |
| Jul 4, 2008 |
High on Postal Service
According to the lists obtained by Sun Media, packages with illicit items have been destined for big cities and small towns from coast to coast. Shipment sizes range from a few joints or bottles of booze to a large-scale drug haul worth $1 million. But the most common illicit shipments contain marijuana. |
| Jun 28, 2008 |
Fatties For All
There is enough serious crime out there for our already under-funded police force to tackle. Abuse of dangerous drugs like OxyContin comes to mind. Violence against women is a huge issue which remains largely unaddressed. Some corporate crime in this city doesn't even get investigated. I don't think police should be wasting their time chasing around after two-bit grow-ops and small-time smugglers. ( Granted, Pearce seems to have been called up to the majors. ) We, the dope smokers of Newfoundland and Labrador, should be given some recognition and some respect. |
| Jun 25, 2008 |
Search Warrants Challenged
A local lawyer has finished his arguments in a case that could change the way search warrants are handled across British Columbia and invalidate thousands of search warrants issued in the past six years, calling the police investigations and subsequent court cases into question |
| Jun 19, 2008 |
$40 Pot Charge Has Law in Turmoil
Clifford Long's constitutional saga began in September 2005 when he was a passenger in a car stopped by police for a seatbelt infraction. |
| Jun 19, 2008 |
Legit Grower Takes Helm At Pot Club
The Mid-Island Compassion Society continues its slow growth under new management, and the risk of criminal charges have been reduced since a licensed medicinal marijuana user took over for founder James Younger three weeks ago. |
| Jun 16, 2008 |
Police Get New Powers To Nab Drivers On Drugs
Marijuana, crack cocaine or too much pain medication? It's been tough for police to tell what a person is high on, especially when they're behind the wheel -- but that's about to change. Police forces across the province are gearing up for July 2 when a new federal law takes effect that gives them additional powers to boot drug-impaired drivers off the road. |
| Jun 14, 2008 |
Parasiris 'Relieved' Upon Learning His Fate
Parasiris and his wife both testified they had no idea it was the police who had broken into their home. Both said they didn't hear officers shout "Police!" until after Tessier had been shot. <a href="http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/editorial/story.html?id=34eba880-bfd3-437e-bcd7-a047e3a6474e" target="_blank">As one writer put it: "If you can't trust armed masked raiders who burst into your home in the middle of the night, who can you trust?"</a> |
| Jun 12, 2008 |
BC's Heavy Rain Threatens $1-Billion In Marijuana
British Columbia's marijuana industry is poised to lose $1-billion this year if the constant rainy weather battering the region doesn't stop, activist Marc Emery said yesterday. |
| Jun 6, 2008 |
Judge Throws Major Drug Bust Case Out Of Court
A major Winnipeg drug bust has been thrown out of court after a judge found police had no right to conduct a gunpoint takedown of a suspected dealer. The 2004 arrest -- in which a large quantity of marijuana and meth was found inside a vehicle in St. Vital -- was deemed an excessive show of force by police and a "serious" breach of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. |
| Jun 4, 2008 |
Romancing The Bottle
In some communities, the horrors associated with alcohol extend into every household. These include many Canadian native reserves, where booze has generated nothing short of a liquid holocaust. Even the staggering fatality statistics don't include the legions of victims who never take a sip: children born with fetal alcohol syndrome, abused spouses of alcoholics, the prey of drunk drivers. In Mexico, this week, one of those drunks fell asleep at the wheel and plowed into a group of bike racers -- a horrific scene captured by a local photographer. There but for the grace of God. Oh wait, sorry -- scratch all that. I just read last week's column by Barbara Kay on the subject of marijuana policy, and it turns out I've gotten it precisely wrong. |
| May 31, 2008 |
Suing Abbotsford Police
A wheelchair-bound man is suing the Abbotsford Police department for an alleged assault and negligent treatment he suffered in police cells after his home was subject to a drug bust in November. [Any facade of being public servants who serve and protect quickly vanishes in instances such as this] |
| May 29, 2008 |
ON:
'I Just Want The Same Access As Tobacco Users'
And now Mr. Barth has become the latest marijuana user to file a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Commission, after being prevented from smoking outside an Ottawa comedy club after a May 7 performance. Absolute Comedy management told the couple that liquor licence rules prevented them from lighting up on the front patio near cigarette smokers. They left "embarrassed and humiliated," according to Mr. Barth's complaint, which claims the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario is violating the provincial Human Rights Code -- specifically, his ability to use marijuana in designated smoking areas. Marijuana helps his appetite, prevents anxiety attacks and allows him to walk without "jangled nerves," Mr. Barth said. Health Canada's Marijuana Medical Access regulations allow for Mr. Barth and his wife to use marijuana. But the provincial Liquor Licence Act prohibits the possession or consumption of controlled substances on an establishment's premises. |
| May 28, 2008 |
BC Bud Can't Boost Economy
Many of these issues may disappear if marijuana is legalized. However, there are better and more sustainable ways to invest in a town's employment ( boosting agriculture and tourism, investing in post-secondary education, encouraging small business, creating options for youth ) than to turn a blind eye to its underground economy. |
| May 27, 2008 |
ON: Church Of The Universe Founder Released Pending Appeal
Church of the Universe founder Michael Baldasaro has been sprung from prison pending an appeal of his pot-trafficking conviction. But the Ontario Court of Appeal forbade the hemp-hatted clergyman from returning to his church's Barton Street East headquarters or communicating with its co-founder Walter Tucker. |
| May 26, 2008 |
Search And Detention At Sea, But Keeping A Balance
When a high-school principal in Sarnia, Ont., turned his school over to the police for a good portion of the day to let a drug-sniffing dog roam, he sent a terrible message to his students about what a democracy should permit the state to do in pursuit of its goals...Drug trafficking is not a trivial crime, but the presence of drugs poses no immediate danger. Guns do. |
| May 25, 2008 |
Weed, Grass, Green, Roach
New Brunswick's licence plate police wouldn't let a woman get a plate spelling her maiden name -- Weed -- because it could be perceived as a reference to Marijuana. |
| May 20, 2008 |
Drugs A Booming BC Business
Marijauna is our number 1 economic contributor, and like all successful businesses, it's growing. It isn't restricted to just one part of the province either. Marijuana is grown all over the place, even in the hinterlands, it's truly a provincial bonanza. MacLeans says it's a $5 billion to $7 billion a year business. The hard drugs bring in billions and we also do well with manufactured drugs such as methamphetamine and ecstasy. A BC Business magazine report ranks the marijuana industry as the province's second largest business, but that's still significant. |
| May 13, 2008 |
AB:
Marijuana Advocates Mount Campaign
Advocates of medicinal and recreational use of marijuana are promoting a Toronto university professor's legal self-defence kit to help people avoid criminal convictions for a law they believe is unconstitutional. |
| May 8, 2008 |
Court Rulings Allow for Protection of Students And Their Charter Rights
A recent Supreme Court of Canada decision concerning police use of trained dogs to ferret out drugs in schools has some school administrators up in arms. But the decision is a reasonable one, as it protects students' constitutional rights while still allowing police searches in certain circumstances. |
| May 7, 2008 |
A Pothead's Pursuit of Justice
Marc Emery is standing behind the counter at his former business, the City Lights bookstore on Richmond Street, talking about his quixotic quest to end society's prohibition on marijuana. [Why is it okay to be derogatory when you are referring to cannabis consumers?] |
| May 6, 2008 |
Torontians Roll Some Joints In The Name Of Freedom
Organizers were handing out festival maps at Queen's Park yesterday, but the kids ahead of me just laughed them off. "Who the hell needs a map?" chuckled one freedom toker to the other. "Just follow the smell." |