THE MEDIA DEBATE 2004
THE ISSUE: CANNABIS IN CANADA
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In This Section:
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CURRENT CLIMATE: THE SCOPE, POLICE
The Big Picture:
Pot : Legalize Vs
Prosecute: With So Many Canadians Smoking And Growing It, Is A Ban Practical? Canadians will today consume roughly 2,100 kilograms of
marijuana... By the end of the year, three million of us, according to a recent study by the
Senate, will have smoked, eaten or otherwise inhaled almost 770,000 kilograms of the stuff --
impressive numbers considering that marijuana use is a federal crime ... police and industry
insiders estimate about 215,000 growers across the country produce more than 2.6 million kilograms
of cannabis each year.
Q: What's it like in Canada right now ?
A: One
Weird Scene,
Man
There is an impression throughout Canada and the world
that a compassionate policy exists so people who are in pain or suffering from debilitating disease
have legal access to cannabis - but nothing could be further from the truth: Medical Patients Have Become Victims
Of The 'WAR' On Drugs
- The courts and police refuse to recognize the law is of no force and effect as per the Parker and Krieger
rulings,
- The government is in contempt of court for not removing the obstacles which make the
regulations unconstitutional as ordered by courts that still recognize the old law and new
regulations,
- Politicians refuse to bring any real or meaningful change that will protect the public
good
- Police enjoyment continues to thrive in persecuting the sick, poor, young, and disadvantaged so
they suffer as much as possible, and cannabis prohibition is a "great tool" as they like to remind
us. Never mind the benefit of the doubt even though it's illegality is in dispute. In an
enlightened society, would not the public guardians err on the side of respect, and refuse to
enforce a victimless law until there is legal clarity and everyone is on the same page, and instead
put their time and resources into protecting against those who violate our persons, homes or
possessions? Apparently not, as you will see.
Cultivation:
- Police Put Marijuana Grow Operations
Under Spotlight
- The Massive Secret Inside Barrie's
Former Brewery police found more than 25,000 pot plants
- Another Week, Another 1,900 Pot
Plants
- 31,000 Marijuana Plants
Seized
- 4,200 Pot Plants Found In
Scarborough Warehouse
- Almost 7,000 Pot Plants Found At Old
Chicken Farm
- That's A Lot Of Pot Winnipeg
city cops uncovered more than 10,000 pot plants inside the core-area warehouse
- A Million Joints Seized By TO
Cops Toronto Grow-Ops An Epidemic As of Oct. 31, police officers had scooped about 7,000
kilos of weed off the street -- more than double the 3,100 kilos of marijuana seized last
year,
- Dope Houses Grow Like Weeds
Marijuana grow houses are 'everywhere' in London and police say the problem isn't slowing down.
"They're everywhere -- apartments, residential settings in the suburbs, warehouses, attics,
closets,
- Military Gone To Pot?
- Marijuana Found In Gatineau
Park
- Marijuana Stash Forces Cancellation
Of Film Shoots A spokesman for the B.C. Buildings Corp., which owns the building, said he
was shocked to learn that one of the province's most popular film sites was cultivating B.C.'s most
notorious export. "My reaction was disbelief, how something like this could happen is beyond
me."
- Wet Weather Creates Bumper Marijuana
Crop
- Marijuana Grow Labs Harder To
Spot smaller marijuana grows that do not steal electricity are becoming more common
But police are now doing more follow-up on raids, rather than simply raiding as many operations as
possible, "That's the trend now, they're paying through the meter. We're not getting the (
hydro ) thefts, so it's more difficult for us to obtain the warrants. It's more time
consuming,
- Cowichan Police Estimate 600 Area
Grow-Ops Robinson estimates up to 600 local grow-ops are producing high-potency marijuana
fetching up to $4,000 a pound in the U.S. "We're lucky if we know of 25 per cent of
grow-ops,We've identified 60 grow-ops in our detachment so far this year but only 15 have been
busted.
- Marijuana Grow Houses Crop Up In
Apartments
- More Than Half Interior Town In Pot
Business, Police Say Organized crime investigators swooped down on the small community of
Seymour Arm at the north end of Shuswap Lake Tuesday in a raid on several large-scale
marijuana-growing operations that police say involved more than half the town's residents
- Police Resume Raids On Interior Pot
Growers Latest Swoop Uncovers Underground Bunker .
- The Pot Patrol: How Spotters
Untangle Web Of BC Bud
- Pot Busts Roll Along
- Mom, 74, Son, 44, Arrested In
Grow-op Bust
- Welcome To Pot St 3 Grow
Ops Raided On One Little Street In Scarborough
- Stats Show More Grow-op Busts,
Charges
- Pot Workers Busted In Mission
For the second time in less than six months, Mission RCMP have busted a marijuana grow operation,
only to find a large number of people working inside the building.
- Big Pot Busts Just Another
Bust Over 10 days recently the police and the military worked together to find outdoor
marijuana grow operations on Vancouver Island. Using helicopters they removed 18,300
marijuana plants that would have soon been on the streets.The RCMP might have found more outdoor
grow ops, but funding for helicopter time ran out.
- Marijuana Haul Worth US
$56-million Police and customs officers on both side of the border are trying to piece
together the events that led to the seizure of more than US$5.6-million in marijuana hidden in a
shipment of wood shavings.
- 'Bienvenue A Stoner City'
Statistics show police seized more marijuana plants in Quebec in 2003 than they found in British
Columbia
- Busts Of Grow Ops Just Drop In
Bucket
- Pot Starts To Rot Before Fatigued
Police Respond
- Gro-Ops Too Many To Raid, Police
Say Police Say Hydroponic Marijuana Is A Canadian Growth Industry Grown Out Of
Control There are so many grow houses in neighbourhoods across the country that
officers leading the fight are focusing on large, gang-run operations and resigning themselves to
seeing countless others go untouched
- Police Seize Illegal Tobacco From
Bus, Pot From Fields
The Gulf Islands - Militarizing the War on Pot
Growers:
- RCMP Bust Grow Op - Vancouver Island
Site a Sophisticated Operation The guys describe it as two football fields ... you
couldn't see from one end of the grow operation to the other."
- RCMP, Military Smoke Out Island's
Outdoor Grow-Ops
- Lasqueti Island a Marijuana-Growing
'Mecca,' Police Say Lasqueti Island has become a marijuana "mecca"
where residents conduct business with pot instead of money, say Mounties newly determined to take
action.
- Lasqueti Islanders Scoff At
Mounties' Pot Claims "Disturbing." "Ludicrous."
"Impossible."
- The Day That Paradise Went To
Pot Lasqueti Island Residents Get Their Apology From The RCMP
After A Marijuana Crackdown
Unintended Consequences:
Pot Turns An Ugly Leaf On pure principle I may not like it, but I'd far prefer to educate my child on why pot
is legal despite warnings about its use, than try to exorcise the demons left behind after a home
invasion - over a damned plant.
- Police Warn Of 'Grow-Rippers'
Police issued a warning yesterday about a scary trend in the marijuana industry.
- Grow-Ops Threaten Innocent Family,
Friends: Police
- Pot Thieves Bring Terror In The
Night
- Wrong House Raided As Marijuana
Grow-op
- Thieves Looking For Medicinal
Marijuana Threaten Two people were terrorized inside their Chilliwack, BC home by thieves
looking for medicinal marijuana.
- Surrey Man Shot During
Grow-Rip
- Violence Increasing With Added Grow
Ops As the number of marijuana growing operations has increased throughout Abbotsford and
the rest of B.C. so has the number of pot rip-offs.
- Violent Crime Increase Blamed On Drug
Trade
- Police Fear BC Biker War
- Police Brace for Nasty Turf War
A recent drop in the price of marijuana in B.C. could lead to increased gang
violence as rival organized-crime groups battle for control of the $6-billion pot trade, police
say.
- Organized Crime Hurts Everyone
The most common organized crime in B.C. is growing marijuana.
- How Did We Let the Criminals Take
Over?
- Hash Oil Burns Home Parents Cooked Drugs, Not Breakfast For Kids. At a time when many people would be cooking
bacon and eggs, a North End couple spent their Saturday morning making something a little less
traditional. A kitchen fire broke out about 9 a.m. Saturday as the parents of four young children,
were cooking drugs on the stove. [Maybe the kids already had breakfast,
perhaps many people don't cook bacon and eggs, maybe if the parents could have bought some oil at
the store... ]
- Pot-oil Blast Injures Man
- Stolen Boats Go For Pot
- Pot Grower Tells How He Makes
Millions
- Green Behind The Tills
- Busted Grow Op's Plants Go
Missing
- Desperate Beef Producers Look to
Drugs for Relief
- Marijuana Grow Equipment Recycled,
Police Charge It seems that marijuana grow-lab equipment, previously seized by police, has been
sold at auction and then turned up at other grow operations in York Region
- Marijuana Case Thrown Out"A B.C. man charged with growing marijuana at a large hydroponic operation near
Chamberlain is now a free man after a Regina judge ruled the Crown and police made several errors
bringing the case to trial/"
- Posters Get Women In
Trouble The poster, which labeled the man as a "rat," contained a
photo of the 43-year-old officer, his address, phone number, employer and vehicle license... he
provided police with information that led to the discovery of the massive marijuana grow operation
at the former Molson brewery in Barrie. One of the women arrested is the
officer's wife.
POLICE:
My View Who's in charge here anyway? I hope it's not the police. This isn't
a police state yet. I hope it's "the people" in charge and the courts who care for their best
interests
Data Mining
- Cops Ready To See Red "We plan on being a lot more pro-active," It's an excellent tool."
- Surveillance Method Ruled
Unconstitutional ... none of the evidence presented
by the prosecution was admissible as the RCMP had infringed on the defendants' rights against
unreasonable search and seizure....while the prosecution brought forward 72 phone calls they deemed
relevant to the case, the RCMP recorded about 16,000 phone calls over a five-month period. "This is
not walking on a technicality,
- Privacy Legislation Impedes Pot
Battle, Crime Summit Overrestrictive privacy laws are preventing corporate Ontario from
helping police and governments in their fight against marijuana grow operations
- Police Access to Addicts' Health
Data Urged Police should have access to the confidential health information of drug
addicts suspected of illegally obtaining prescription drugs
- Schools May Feed Students' Info To
Police School trustees met last night to discuss supplying police with Personal Digital
Assistants programmed with names, addresses, birth dates, phone numbers, photographs and timetables
of every student in the board's 18 high schools.
- Cannabis Users Balk At Sharing
Medical Data Health Canada is threatening to force licensed users of medicinal marijuana
to give the agency permission to pass on personal information to the police.
- Police Welcome Chance To Test For
Drugs even though Drug Driving
Already Illegal
- Police Lawyers Told To Clam
Up
- Workplace Drug Tests: To Pee Or Not
To Pee Alberta -- with a workforce of more than 1.7 million -- would be the
only province to set up laws on drug testing. [Texas North]
- Peeing In The WindSo, with little -- if any -- proof, the province wants to move to allow companies to violate
workers' privacy. Pee in a cup? Sounds more like peeing in the wind to me.
- Union Balks At Forestry Firm's
Drug-testing Regimen
Obsession:
Legalize it, Ex-Cop Tells Hill
Pot Rally "When I speak to police officers on a one-to-one basis, they
almost always agree with me that the war on drugs is a dismal failure,"
- Pot Growing Likely to Be Hot Topic
for Chiefs resolutions dealing with marijuana grow operations may be one of the hot topics
being discussed today at the Canadian Association of Police Chiefs 99th annual conference
- Chief Wants Pot Growers Behind
Bars With the number of marijuana grow operations reaching "epidemic proportions", York
Region's top cop wants mandatory minimum sentences for anyone convicted of
cultivating the cash crop.
- Police Team To Target
Grow-Ops
- Smoking Out Pot Plantations
- Project Targets Grow-Ops
- Police To Target Drugs, Hookers
Three of the city's five new police officers will be used in a continuing crackdown on drugs and
prostitution
- Grow-Ops Take All Vice Squad's
Time York Region police's entire 20-officer vice squad spends all its time combating the
burgeoning marijuana grow house problem
- Toronto Police Can Approach Anyone
To Buy Drugs On Particular Street Section A nearly one kilometre-long stretch of a busy Toronto
street has been designated a target area where police can approach "any person" and try to coerce
them to sell drugs to an undercover officer.
- Drug Informant Earned Big Bucks
Mounties paid nearly $350,000 to a civilian "agent" for a sting operation targeting drug dealers
which netted two suspected Calgary heroin peddlers
- RCMP Believe Shooting Was Drug
Related The 34-year-old man was murdered by a Quebec hit man who was a police informant on the
Hells Angels in Quebec. His murder was a contract killing.
Corruption:
- A Snapshot Of Police Corruption In
Canada
- T.O. Cop Faces Drug Charges
- Massive Probe Costs $3m-Plus The
RCMP-led probe into alleged Toronto Police drug squad wrongdoing was initiated by Police Chief
Julian Fantino amid allegations of theft of drugs and cash.
- Stanley Park Six Face Drug Court
Judge For Sentencing The judge who will sentence six Vancouver police constables tomorrow for
assaulting three suspected drug dealers in Stanley Park last year is also a drug court judge.
- OPP Officer Lied To Get
Wiretaps
- 20 More Eyed In Durham Cop
Probe
- Police Officer Among Those Charged
In Grow Op
- Man Sues RCMP, Alleging
Entrapment on Thai Drug Charges
- Jail Guard Faces Trafficking
Charges
- Lawyer, JP Face Charges Of Drug
Trafficking And Money
- Guilty Mountie Made Pot Deals From
Cruiser Details of disgraced former Mountie Danny Ryan's drug peddling came out yesterday,
showing he brazenly scored deals right out of his police car.
- Drug Unit Calls Probe A 'witch
Hunt'
- Drug Charges Making Ex-Cop's Life A
Misery Since drug trafficking charges were laid against him, a former RCMP officer says
he has suffered isolation from his peers, severe depression and humiliation. Welcome to the same club over a 1.5 million Canadians have faced
- RCMP Officer Loses Bid To Get Drug
Case Stopped
- Cop Who Sold Seized Drugs Gets Four
Years Ryan, 33, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison. The sentence was one year longer
than the Crown actually requested.
- Good Cops Gone Bad All the
current allegations of corruption seem to relate to the enforcement of drug and liquor licence
laws, with smatterings of elements of prostitution and gambling. Enforcing laws relating to
private morality among consenting adults brings out the worst in police.
- If You Can't Trust The Cops
... no matter how many officers are prosecuted, nothing will be solved until
department-wide reforms are implemented.
- Canada's Image On Civil Liberties,
Rights Hurt By Reports Of Police Abuse "Each and every day in some courtroom in Toronto, some
police officer gives perjured testimony,
- A Bad Week For
Policing
- A Plan To End Police Corruption
integrity testing, in combination with more careful hiring, better training and a broad education
in ethics for all officers, could help prevent the rot of corruption from taking
hold.
- Policy Cuts OPP From Crime
Bargains A new OPP policy has been developed to ensure officers don't benefit from the proceeds
of crime
- Radical Change Urged For Way Officers
Police Themselves "I think a lot of these recommendations go to the assumption that police
officers are breaking the law, and we have concerns with that. . . . You are killing a flea with a
sledge hammer.
Call The Police!?:
- Identity Crisis Cops planning a
massive co-ordinated series of drug raids in 1999 feared officers would be mistaken for attacking
rival gang members, a fatality inquiry into the deaths of two young men heard yesterday.
- Pot Prohibition Works For Cops And
Crooks Alike
- Mountie Will Take Lie-Detector Test
If Angel Does, Too
- Fanatics With A Badge
- Scared Senior Hid In Closet
- Police Raid Trashes Home A
single mother is outraged that police pointed guns at her son and dumped some of her late husband's
cremated remains on the floor during a raid on her home...The police found a single pot plant and
took it with them
- Police To Post Grow House Busts
"We have a sign that we're going to place on the front lawn of any marijuana grow house that we
investigate in 42 Division to let the neighbourhood know what we're doing here,"
- $1m Spent Busting Drug Ring... a
nine-month investigation netted eight arrests and $376,380-worth of illicit
drugs. The cost of the investigation was up to $1-million but the value comes from arresting the
group and smashing the drug network...
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