McMafia author, Misha Glenney, confronts Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the NATO summit in Bucharest about how "the Taliban are the biggest backers of the War on Drugs." Harper responds with more talk about how demand reduction requires a change in the culture.
For most of us, the term organized crime conjures up scenes from the Godfather movies or newspaper headlines about biker gangs. Either way, we tend to think of it as something safely removed from our daily lives. But in his new book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Underworld, Misha Glenny paints a starkly different picture. According to Glenny, the collapse of Communism and the rise of globalization have ushered in a new era in which organized crime -- buoyed by complicit governments and consumers alike -- now infiltrates everyday life from the Balkans to British Columbia.
Drug prosecution costs soared to their highest level in history during the Conservative government’s first year in office – comprising more than half the $50-million tab billed by private-sector law firms who represented the federal Crown in criminal and civil litigation in 2006-2007.
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In all, the total prosecutions tab for the war on drugs rose to a record $60 million in 2006-2007, including the billings of some 800 prosecutors in 250 law firms across the country, plus about $34 million for prosecutions handled in-house by staff prosecutors at the new Public Prosecutions Service of Canada.
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The top Crown agent amongst federal prosecutors, Murchison, Thomson & Clarke of Surrey and White Rock, B.C. (#4 overall), billed $1.2 million, the same as the year before, for its team of seven full-time federal Crowns who prosecute marijuana grow operations and drug trafficking in and around the second largest city in B.C.
Police get say in judge selection
Law-and-order representatives will sit on judicial advisory committees
November 8, 2006 - Winnipeg Free Press
UK television show "Fifth Gear" (Speed TV) conducts a real life test of driving under the influence of cannabis. The results will surprise most people.
Source: Angus Reid Strategies.
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,004 Canadian adults, conducted on May 8 and May 9, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.
According to the CAHM annual survey of adult substance use, the number of adults in Ontario who reported cannabis use over a one-year period is up from eight per cent in 1977 to 14 per cent in 2005.
But more telling, said Rehm is the ageing of the cannabis user who now is on average 31-years-old compared to 26-years-old in 1977. "For a long time marijuana smoking was confined to a transitional phenomenon," Rehm said. "But it now finds its way into an adult lifestyle." More...
Editorial: The wrong course on marijuana Treating users as criminals has been costly, damaged lives and accomplished nothing.
July 20, 2007 - Times Colonist (BC)
The former Liberal government sensibly introduced legislation in 2003 to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana. But it was never passed and the Harper government is committed to treating possession of the drug as a crime.
The approach fails any common-sense test. Consider the results of four decades of enforcement: Hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding Canadians with criminal records; an uncounted fortune spent on the costs of policing and prosecution; and a huge criminal network that thrives because of the government's approach. More...
Judge rules Canada's pot possession laws unconstitutional
Friday July 13, 2007 - CBC NewsA Toronto judge has ruled that Canada's pot possession laws are unconstitutional after a man argued the country's medicinal marijuana regulations are flawed.The 29-year-old Toronto resident had been charged with possession of about 3.5 grams or roughly $45 dollars worth of marijuana.The man has no medical issues and doesn't want a medical exemption to smoke marijuana. In 2001, Health Canada implemented the Marijuana Medical Access Regulations, which allow access to marijuana to people who are suffering from grave and debilitating illnesses.In court, the man argued that the federal government only made it policy to provide marijuana to those who need it, but never made it an actual law. Because of that, he argued, all possession laws, whether medicinal or not, should be quashed.The judge agreed and dismissed the charges."The government told the public not to worry about access to marijuana," said Judge Howard Borenstein. "They have a policy but not law.… In my view that is unconstitutional."Defence lawyer Brian McAllister, who represented the man, said the ramifications of the ruling have potential to be "pretty big.""Obviously, there's thousands of people that get charged with this offence every year," he said.McAllister said Ontario residents charged with possessing marijuana now have a new defence."That's probably why the government will likely appeal the decision," he said.Borenstein has given prosecutors two weeks before he makes his ruling official. Prosecutors told CBC News they want a speedy appeal to overturn the decision.
"For the time being, nothing changes," Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said about how the force deals with marijuana possession. "We have to wait and see what happens with the process through the courts." More...
The Canadian Safety Council has problems with legislation before Parliament designed to crack down on drug-impaired drivers.
"I think it is driven by hype. I think it is driven by politics," the council's Emile Therrien told CTV News on Monday. ... Robert Fife, CTV's Ottawa bureau chief, said opposition will likely support the bill despite their reservations. No party wants to be accused of being soft on impaired driving.More...
Judges are the most powerful protection Canadians have from the abuse of power by police and government, former prime minister Brian Mulroney said on the weekend.
... Prime Minister Stephen Harper wants to add police to the committees, an addition critics say politicizes the selection process and chips away at judicial independence.
Harper has also said he wants to select judges who share Conservative goals of getting tough on crime.More...
Bill C-32 ["drugged-driving" bill], tabled recently by the federal Tory government, proposes new, highly invasive and unproven drug tests for impaired drivers and proposes new penalties for such behaviour -- at the expense of common sense and civil liberties.
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This proposed law is part of the government's continuing effort to pander to the "more law means order" mentality. Before we let it happen, there should be strong scientific proof that there is a problem. More...
Harper, speaking at an annual appreciation dinner for York Regional Police, said the Conservatives have introduced 11 crime bills last year but nine have yet to be passed by the House of Commons.
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"I would suggest that you not hesitate to pressure … all parties to get on with passing this legislation," Harper said
Police officers across Canada should politely decline Prime Minister Stephen Harper's invitation to become active political allies in his quest to toughen an array of criminal laws. In a speech Thursday, Harper urged police officers to use their considerable numbers and position in society to lobby opposition parties. But such a call to arms, metaphoricaly speaking, is both inappropriate and dangerous. It could fuel speculation that the prime minister has far too cosy a relationship with the top brass of the RCMP and other police forces.
The Canadian public deserves to feel confident that their police forces keep to their assigned role as objective, apolitical peace officers who respect the rule and the spirit of the law.
Stephen Harper's Conservatives plan to push at least four justice bills in a crime-week blitz in the House of Commons starting on Monday as the government seeks to shift the agenda from a weak spot [Afghan
detainee story] to a perceived strong suit.
The pitch in question is outlined in a new book by Michael Chettleburgh called Young Thugs: Inside the Dangerous World of Canadian Street Gangs. His pitch: Starve gangs of their oxygen -- drug money -- he says, and legalize drugs. More...
"The continued prohibition of Cannabis jeopardizes the health and well-being of Canadians much more than does the substance itself."
- Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, 2002
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Report of the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs, 2002...
