Did you hear? the party's over

[Hux]

I censored the political content so I could post this here as a heads up...

Since the C*nservatives took office, the number of people arrested for simple possession of marijuana has skyrocketed. Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax all reported increases of between 20 and 50 per cent in 2006 of arrests for possession of cannabis, compared with the previous year.

As a result, thousands of people were charged with a criminal offence that, under the previous L*beral government, was on the verge of being decriminalized.

H*rper to announce anti-drug strategy

The Canadian Press

October 3, 2007 at 6:45 PM EDT

Ottawa — Prime Minister St*phen H*rper is set to announce a $64-million anti-drug strategy that cracks down on dealers and offers more help for users.

H*rper is to make the announcement Thursday in Winnipeg, casting his C*nservative government's approach as a balanced one that relies as heavily on prevention as it does on punishment.

The new plan includes stricter penalties for drug-traffickers while spending millions on rehabilitation and public-awareness programs.

The government wants to avoid having the plan portrayed as a Canadian version of the U.S. war on drugs.

“There are two aspects to this,†said a source familiar with the announcement. “How can you help the user? And the other thing is punishing the dealer.â€

Funding for the initiative was set out in the 2007 federal budget.

The plan is expected to include:

— A border crackdown on drug smuggling.

— $32 million on treatments like detox and rehab centres.

— About $10-million (U.S.) for an awareness campaign aimed at young people.

One of the key goals of the awareness program is to alert kids to the dangers of marijuana and remind them that it remains illegal.

Since the C*nservatives took office, the number of people arrested for simple possession of marijuana has skyrocketed. Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax all reported increases of between 20 and 50 per cent in 2006 of arrests for possession of cannabis, compared with the previous year.

As a result, thousands of people were charged with a criminal offence that, under the previous L*beral government, was on the verge of being decriminalized.

Police say those L*beral efforts to decriminalize pot sent mixed messages to the public. They say many pot smokers have been emboldened by the talk of decriminalization and are more apt to smoke in public — all of which has resulted in more arrests.

Proponents of more liberalized drug laws have ridiculed the T*ry approach to marijuana, calling it a waste of taxpayers' money to prosecute pot smokers.

Drug-dependency experts have also challenged the common notion that pot is a so-called ‘gateway' to other drugs, and argue that it actually keeps people from experimenting with more dangerous ones.

Health Minister T*ny Cl*ment, who will be one of three cabinet ministers present at the announcement, has said his government wants to clear up the uncertainty about marijuana.

“There's been a lot of mixed messages going out about illicit drugs,†Cl*ment said recently.

“We're going to be back in the business of an anti-drug strategy. . . In that sense, the party's over.â€

[Northern Wish]

Blame the Liberals for giving us all the notion that it was legal. More people smoke it, more openly; of course there are going to be more arrests.

There is also a dramatic rise in the rest of the 'recreational drug' category clear across the country, specifically in New Brunswick and Alberta (source was CBC news two nights ago). The story I watched attributed this to a lack of knowledge of the legalities but also a marked increase in disposable income. More money = more drug intake I guess.

Thanks G**ff,

S

[Davey Boy 2.0]

Meanwhile, Canada's so-called Prince of Pot — well-known Vancouver drug activist Marc Emery — added his voice to the discussion, saying he envisioned a national drug plan in which marijuana could be taxed, controlled and regulated in the same way as liquor is in provinces.

"You would find that if you applied that to marijuana and any other controlled substance, we would reduce the gang influence, reduce crime in general," he argued from Vancouver.

"Marijuana won't kill you and we love marijuana. The five million Canadians who use marijuana cherish it like Christians cherish their religion, or a gourmand cherishes good food," he said.

The government, he added, doesn't focus on cracking down in the same way on other harmful substances such as alcohol, tobacco, and fatty foods. "Those things all kill you," he said.

Emery is currently facing possible extradition to the U.S. to answer to charges of drug trafficking for selling marijuana seeds to Americans over the internet.

[SevenSeasJim]

The plan is expected to include:

— A border crackdown on drug smuggling.

I like this. Does this mean that they never really tried to catch smugglers? Watch out for the Crackdown now.

[Northern Wish]

I think this refers more to the unguarded locations across the 49th. I read a big story (gasp worthy) about the investment the US has just made into drone planes to fly the border looking for smuggler activity.

Sure thats all they are looking for and recording, right???

I think it was in excess of 2 billion dollars!

BTW just spreading info here, I don't like the Liberals, Conservatives, NDP or even Green Party at this time. Don't paint me blue on this one, its true just not this year.

Sean

[\/\/illy]

This all saddens me so. Is there no way to save our country? Geoff? Can you help or just spread word of the impending doom? We need a savior and not one from some imaginary being that people believe created the universe.

[Jay Funk Dawg]

Legalize it - don't criticize it

Legalize it and i will advertise it

Some call it tampee

Some call it the weed

Some call it Marijuana

Some of them call it Ganja

Legalize it - don't criticize it

Legalize it and i will advertise it

Singer smoke it

And players of instruments too

Legalize it, yeah, yeah

That's the best thing you can do

Doctors smoke it

Nurses smoke it

Judges smoke it

Even the lawyers too

Legalize it - don't criticize it

Legalize it and i will advertise it

It's good for the flu

It's good for asthma

Good for tuberculosis

Even umara composis

Legalize it - don't criticize it

Legalize it and i will advertise it

Bird eat it

And they leave it

Fowls eat it

Goats love to play with it

[bouche]

geez. I still don't know why this is an issue worth spending money or time on.

[bagochips]

I blame the liberals, too. Chretien had more than a decade in office in which to decriminalize marijuana. The fact that the bill was not tabled until his last year, as part of a huge slew of bills in his so-called legacy package, indicates that they were never serious about decriminalization in the first place.

They cared about this issue about as much as they cared about their Kyoto commitments. And now we are stuck with the Conservatives and good ol' Stockwell "let's send em all to jail" Day.

Edited October 4, 2007 by Guest

[The Chameleon]

I blame the liberals, the conservatives and every other political party in Canada for sidfestepping this issue and not doing what the poeple want..whcih is dicriminalization...

As country this issue has been plaguing us for 30yrs....

[larry_llama]

why dont they put this to a referendum? havin' one anyway!

[jayr]

The truth is, that both the U.S. and our government no longer (if they ever did) actually make decisions based on what the majority of the population thinks is right or what we want. I think theres a word for that........

[AD]

First-past-the-post democracy?

[Jay Funk Dawg]

Tolitarianism?

[StoneMtn]

Tiny-fraction-of-the-populace-voting?

(Does that count as one word?)

[Dr_Evil_Mouse]

Disingenuous?

I'd like to know what these programs are supposed to be the "help addicts", which is where he insists 2/3 of the money is going. I didn't think federal monies were supposed to go into getting people to find Jesus, but that's the language suggests that's the kind of logic that seems to be in play.

From the CBC today:

Harper Wants Mandatory Sentences for "Serious" Drug Crimes

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has promised mandatory prison terms for serious drug crimes as part of a $63.8-million, two-year drug strategy he says will help addicts and punish dealers.

In a Winnipeg news conference Thursday, Harper lamented that "currently there are no minimum prison sentences for producing and trafficking dangerous drugs like methamphetamine and cocaine."

"But these are serious crimes," he said. "Those who commit them should do serious time, so we'll introduce new legislation this fall proposing mandatory prison sentences for people convicted of serious drug offences."

He did not say what offences would fall into that category or how long the sentences would be, but he did not mention marijuana in connection with mandatory sentencing.

Even so, he allowed himself a jab at his Liberal predecessors, who came close to decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana. Canadian governments have sent mixed messages about drugs, he complained.

"They've tacked back and forth between prohibition and legalization so many times that Canadians hardly know what the law actually says any more. It's time to be straight with Canadians so Canadians who use drugs can get straight, because narcotics destroy lives."

He promised new money for drug investigations and prosecutions, bigger campaigns to identify and close drug labs and marijuana grow ops, tougher border enforcement to keep drugs out of the country and more RCMP efforts to seize proceeds of crime.

"If you get involved with drugs, you can receive help to get away from them," he said. "However, if you sell drugs or produce drugs, you will go to prison."

People involved in the treatment of addictions have raised concerns the money being spent by the government will focus too much on enforcement and leave out harm-reduction measures, such as safe-injection sites and needle-exchange programs.

Harper said harm reduction is not a "distinct pillar" of the Conservative strategy.

His government is watching harm-reduction efforts in Vancouver to see how they work, but he is cool to the idea, he said.

"I remain a skeptic that you can tell people we won't stop the drug trade, we won't get you off drugs, we won't even send messages to discourage drug use, but somehow we will keep you addicted and yet reduce the harm just the same," he said

It is "a second-best strategy at best," he said, "because if you remain a drug addict, I don't care how much harm you reduce, you're going to have a short and miserable life."

Harper and two of his colleagues, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Health Minister Tony Clement, stressed that two-thirds of the money in the strategy would go to programs designed to help addicts quit and raise public awareness of the dangers of drugs.

The rest, $21.6 million, would go to enforcement efforts, Day said.

Liberals and New Democrats were quick to denounce the plan as a U.S.-style war on drugs.

"Stephen Harper’s ideological stance focuses on cracking down on drug possession, production and trafficking, while retreating from harm-reduction measures that help Canadians suffering from addiction," Liberal health critic Bonnie Brown said in a statement.

Liberal MP Keith Martin, a physician, said the strategy "will be terrible for Canada because it will result in increased drug use, increased crime, increased incarceration rates and increased costs to the taxpayer. This is a failed approach that has had catastrophic consequences in the U.S. It would be utterly foolish for us to adopt this approach in Canada."

Libby Davies, the NDP member for Vancouver East, said experience shows that treatment, prevention and harm-reduction programs are key to preventing drug use.

"A heavy-handed, U.S.-style war on drugs only serves to create a culture of fear," she said in a statement. "This so-called drug strategy fails to address the very real needs in our communities."

[\/\/illy]

If you gave me 2/3 of $63.8-million I'd tell ya I found Jesus. Hell, I'd tell ya anything ya wanted to hear!

A friend of mine said to me last night that the only thing he can focus on to dsitract him from his anger about this situation is that soon all these mother-fuckers will be dead.

[d_rawk]

Q: How do you tip your hat to a SoCon base without adopting explicitly SoCon language?

A: You 'get tough on crime'

PS - when can we get the national media to stop referring to the CPC as "tories"? Whatever they are, they aren't that.

[backbacon]

Meanwhile, Canada's so-called Prince of Pot — well-known Vancouver drug activist Marc Emery...

Since we're on the subject... here's a neat little song that a buddy's brother put together.

Simon Pole - Mr. Emery

[timouse]

PS - when can we get the national media to stop referring to the CPC as "tories"? Whatever they are, they aren't that.

in. maybe we could call them NeoCanCons?

[YearsAlongTheSea]

::knock-knock::

Who's there?

Canerica...