CHOKE ON THIS!
U.S.'s War on Drugs invades Canada
Jim Slotek ALT.ENT
As I understand the pretzel logic of America's War On Drugs, marijuana breaks up families and destroys lives - because it's hard to maintain a family and a life when you're in prison.
Of course, a wrongheaded person would say that what breaks up families and destroys lives is tossing people into prison in the first place, with sentences insanely out of proportions to the crime of possessing or selling a plant.
Those people would do well to heed the words of former George W. Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer, who said "All Americans... should watch what they say."
Now, normally, what concerns all Americans hasn't concerned me. NCAA March Madness is a minor blip on my radar. NASCAR even less. It has never even occurred to me that I should have a right to bear arms, limited in size and calibre only by my ability to lift and aim. And though a Canadian-born celebrity, Tommy Chong, served nine months for the heinous crime of selling novelty "Czong Bongs" to fans over the Internet, I could shake my head about it and tell myself it couldn't happen here.
Similarly, I haven't paid much attention to the oodles of seed catalogue Web pages on the Net - other than about a decade ago giving a gentleman-farmer friend his first Internet lessons. In any case, trafficking in seeds is basically legal here.
All that has changed after longtime pot activist Marc Emery and two colleagues - Gregory Williams and Michelle Rainey-Fenkarek - were arrested by RCMP in Halifax for possible extradition to the U.S. for Emery's Internet seed service. His shop in Vancouver's "Vansterdam" district was also raided. Mandatory minimum sentencing could be 10 years.
Not content with breaking up the families and destroying the lives of as many people as they could who've bought his seeds, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has turned north to get their man. And in something straight out of a nightmare, they've compelled our police to do their dirty work.
Their instrument: The U.S.-authored Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters treaty (MLAT) - part of a global net of law-enforcement treaties that allows the U.S. to use foreign authorities to investigate and arrest people for crimes committed in the U.S. The charges don't need to be reflected in the accused's home country's criminal code.
Hey, what a great idea! Why don't we sign a few more of those?
Maybe we can extradite people to Saudi Arabia for adultery trials. For that matter, why were our cops asleep at the switch when Salman Rushdie was in town? Blasphemy may not be a crime here, but it is in plenty of jurisdictions, and if your heresies are disseminated on the World Wide Web, you've obviously committed a crime somewhere.
Littering and gum-chewing are jail offences in Singapore. I say we use MLAT to literally clean our streets and send some of our more unsightly citizens on an expenses-paid Asian vacation.
Canadian recording industry types are still waiting for a big judicial stick to punish downloaders. But why wait? The U.S. has the proper legislation for their own people. They can just apply to extradite you and your Phish NP3.
And hey, let's not forget that gay marriage business. Maybe American authorities can't force us to draft Leviticus into federal statute, but going around saying your Adam & Steve marriage is just as walid as Nick & Jessica's? Well, we have a treaty to deal with that. Hope you like Salt Lake City as a court venue.
It's possible you know Marc Emery's history and don't much like his personal style. The guy has courted arrest all over the country (he ran an infamous head shop in London, Ont. in the '80s), and once reportedly spat at a cop in the process of being arrested. But irritants help up face up to the idiocies in our laws. It's possible that if people like him were never to force the issue by toking defiantly in front of police, we could just carry on like hypocrites - smoking at parties or as bedtime relaxant, pretending an unjust law doesn't exist and never dirtying our hands.
You might think marijuana is on a par with alcohol. Personally, I think alcohol is more harmful, and apparently in Ontario there's a line of thought that says its commerce should be privatized and overseen by pimpy-faced employees of corner stores.
Or you might think Reefer Madness was a documentary, and there's a conspiracy afood to soft-pedal the Devil's Weed.
Either way, the question must be asked. Do we have a country that can go its own way with its own laws, or not?
AFTERBUZZ: Comedians, including Alan Park (Royal Canadian Air Farce), Boyd Banks (Land Of The Dead), Dave Martin, Paul Irving and Harry Doupe with Puff Mama Production, are holding a fundraiser for Marc Emery's legal fund next Sunday at The Latvian Club, 491 College. Tix $20 in advance (via waywardcanadiandog@hotmail.com) and $30 at the door.
jim.slotek@tor.sunpub.com (SUNDAY SUN, August 7, 2005).
Dozywocie za narkotyki
Ottawa Dla osob, ktore produkuja, importuja, sprzedaja albo posiadaja uzalezniajacy lek powszechnie znany jako metamfetamina (ang. crystal meth lub methamphetamine), wedlug nowych przepisow, przewiduje sie kary od 10 lat wiezienia do dozywocia.
Taka zapowiedz zmian kar oglosil w czwartek rzad federalny. Metamfetamina jest narkotykiem podobnym do amfetaminy, ale dziala krocej i duzo intensywniej.
Wprowadzone zmiany przepisow prawnych umiescily go w tej samej kategorii narkotykow, jak kokaina czy heroina, ze wzgledu na tak samo niebezpieczny wplyw tego narkotyku na organizm.
Metamfetamina znalazla sie teraz w grupie narkotykow oznaczonych symbolem "Schedule I of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act," za ktore moga byc wymierzane najwyzsze kary.
Uznano, ze w przypadku metamfetaminy istnieje najwyzszy stopien zagrozenia wpadniecia w nalog, ktory ma druzgoczacy wplyw na zdrowie, status spoleczny i ekonomiczny osob uzaleznionych od tego narkotyku.
Innym czynnikiem, ktory stawia go w kategorii najgrozniejszych narkotykow, jest wyjatkowa latwosc produkcji, do ktorej uzywa sie oglonie dostepnych skladnikow.
Podczas spotkania premierow kanadyjskich prowincji w Banff, w Albercie, premier Saskatchewan Lorne Calvert wyrazil zadowolenie z wprowadzonych zmian zaostrzajacych przepisy prawne sluzace walce z narkomania i dystrybucja narkotykow. W jego prowincji od kilku la obserwuje sie olbrzymi wzrost liczby narkomanow i wszystkich problemow z tym zwiazanych.
Calvert, machajac egzemplarzem "Newsweeka, ktory zawieral artykul o metamfetaminie zatytulowany "Najbardziej niebezpieczny narkotyk Ameryki", zadawal pytanie kiedy prasa kanadyjska zacznie pisac o tym narkotyku.
Przeprowadzone niedawno badania naukowe wykazaly, ze ludzie uzaleznieni od tego narkotyku maja srednio przed soba zaledwie siedem lat zycia, powoli umierajac przez te lata, niszczeni przez swoje uzaleznienie.
Pomimo ze zaostrzenie kar spotkalo sie z duza aprobata wszystkich premierow Kanady, to jednak Sherrie Mumford, ktora jest specjalistka od nalogow, watpi, czy perspektywa kary dozywotniego wiezienia bedzie wystarczajaca, jak przewiduja to politycy (GAZETA 154, 12 sierpnia 2005).
Pani Sherrie Mumford nie powinna sie bardzo zamartwiac. Zawsze moze kanadyjska policja deportowac Kanadyjczykow do USA, a tam przeciez dostana kare smierci. Oczywiscie dozywocie to strata czasu, jak mawial chairman Mao.
Amerykanie juz prowadza by proxy wojne z narkotykami w Columbii, ktorej polproduktem jest marxistowska partyzantka, i w Afganistanie, gdzie wytworzyli zakon Talibow do zwalczania narkotykow i Ruskow, z ktorymi obecnie sami musza teraz walczyc. Amerykanska wojna z narkotykami tworzy niebezpieczne lokalne wojny. Czy grozi to tez Kanadzie?
"We're sick of paying the consequences of this war against drugs with thousands killed each year... Thinks are getting worse, with more people becoming addicts."
Legalization Now says that the money spent waging the U.S.-subsidiazed war on drugs should instead be spent on rehabilitation for drug adicts and aid to coca farmers to help them change crops...
Colombia's powerful Conservative Party is very conservative indeed, proclaiming as its policy "a party that believes in God and seeks to insert him into life." Yet even this party is mulling the decriminalization of drugs.
[Party member Enrique Gomez Hurtado] is proposing the decriminalization of drugs as a way of dealing with Colombia's problems as both a drug-producing and a drug-consuming nation (Toby Muse, "The drug war's Colombian victims", NATIONAL POST, Thursday, August 11, 2005).
Na zdjeciach satelitarnych pola w afganskich dolinach wygladaja jak czerwone dywany. Niewatpliwie piekno tych obrazow nie cieszy agentow amerykanskiej agencji antynarkotykowej DEA. "Orientalne dywany" to pola maku, ktorych nie bylo az tyle od czasu upadku talibow. W ciagu trzech lat powierzchnia upraw wzrosla osmiokrotnie. W tym roku ma pasc rekord sprzed okresu talibow i zbiory wyniesc moga nawet 5 tysiecy ton opium - alarmuje wydany pod koniec czerwca raport ONZ na temat swiatowego handlu narkotykami.
Guru narkomanow, pochodzacy z Rosji Aleksander Szulgin, szalony profesor chemii eksperymentujacy gdzies w meksykanskiej dzungli, prognozuje, ze wiek XXI bedzie era narkotykow syntetycznych. Z ta opinia zgadzaja sie tez tropiacy narkomafie policjanci. Ich zdaniem heroina wraca teraz na czarny rynek, ale tylko po to, by niedlugo ustapic pola pladze jeszcze grozniejszych narkotykow syntetycznych (Michal Kacewicz, "Opium dla mas", NEWSWEEK 15.08.2005).
In defence of Marc Emery
Re: No Sympathy For The Prince Of Pot, editorial, August 3.
Yes, Mr. Emery sold seeds to American customers. But he also openly sold seeds to Canadian customers, for over a decade, without being prosecuted by Canadian authorities. In fact, Health Canada referred medical marijuana patients to the Internet for their seed supply!
The Canadian government is being hypocritical in now supporting a 10-year to life sentence for something that is arguably not even a crime here in Canada.
A foreign country can request that a suspect be extradited only if he is charged with committing acts that are also crimes in Canada. No one in Canada has been prosecuted for selling seeds since 1968. In 1987, a Canadian court ruled that a 7-year mandatory minimum for importing/exporting is unconstitutional.
As for violating "commonly known, rigidly enforced U.S. laws," that might hold true if the U.S. were also targeting American seed buyers and dealers with the same fervour as they have shown in nabbing Mr. Emery, but they are not. Mr. Emery has been targeted for his dedicated activism and outspoken nature, not because he sells seeds.
Jessica Aulthouse, Port Colborne, Ont.
____________________________
There are some facts that the media is ignoring in this extradition case against Marc Emery, Michelle Rainey and Gregory Williams. The Canadian government has allowed medicinal marijuana, but has not created any form of access to marijuana seeds. In official documents, the Health Department of Canada has told medicinal exemptees that they are to find their marijuana seeds on the Internet, at web sites such as Marc Emery Direct Seeds (which is now closed). The Canadian government recommends buying seeds from Marc Emery, and the laws against seed selling have not been enforced since the 1960s. Therefore, the "crimes" committed cannot be seen as enforceable in Canada, violating the agreement for extradition.
Also, the American government can execute anyone who grows over 60,000 plants. Assuming that the DEA has grown out the thousands of seeds they've ordered from Marc Emery while on Canadian soil, at his Canadian outlet in Vancouver, they can make a case that Marc Emery is responsible for the cultivation of over 60,000 marijuana plants. this means that Marc Emery, Michelle Rainey and Gregory Williams can be executed in the United States if extradited to face their penalties.
Of course, this has not been brought up in the American case, as Canada will not extradite anyone to another country if they face the death penalty. This is a sneaky way of getting Canada to hand over individuals to face an uncertain fate, and it's important for people to realize that the United States will certainly let marijuana "criminals" die in their country.
Please stand up for Canada, the true land of the free. The world sees us as a haven from the international crimes committed by the United States, and we must continue to represent that beacon of hope and light.
Jodie Giesz-Ramsay, Vancouver.
___________________________
If the DEA's claim that three quarters of Mr. Emery's seed sales were to Americans is true, then doesn't that indicate a failure on the part of the American government to stop its own citizens from breaking the law? Doesn't it indicate a failed U.S. policy with regard to the drug war?
Why offer up a Canadian citizen for "correction" to a government that can't even "correct" its own?
Loretta Nall, U.S. Marijuana Party, Montgomery, Alabama.
_____________________________
Your editorial is hypocritical. If Marc Emery's three months in jail for passing a joint at a political rally in Canada is absurd, then what do you call 10 years to life for selling seeds in America?
It is our duty to tell the Americans that moral righteousness has blinded them to virtue. Prudence, temperance, justice and fortitude are the four Cardinal virtues and drug prohibition does not live up to a single one.
The Americans want their hypocritical drug-free utopia so badly that they would willingly harm anybody who stands in their way. Sinner Marc Emery's name just happened to be at the top of that list.
Chris Buors, Winnipeg.
Emery's actioons indefensible
A random survey of local meth heads, junkies and crack users in my modestly upscale neighbourhood revealed one outstanding fact: that all these now hardcore junkies began smoking pot when in high school. More telling is that all are children whose parents indulged in recreational smoking around the home.
This is not to say that all pot users become addicts, but given the right environment (abuse, neglect, broken homes, etc.), a lifetime of drug use appears inevitable.
Marc Emery and his followers reflect the position of most leftists and their culture of entitlement: It's all right to flout foreign laws, but when called to account, refuse to accept responsibility for your own actions.
I sincerely hope our government is not going to waste my tax dollars fighting Mr. Emery's extradition to the U.S. I'd rather the money be used rehabilitating the druggies in my neighbourhood.
Lynn Haley, Vancouver.
___________________________
I agree with the National Post. If Mr. Emery shipped millions of dollars worth of illegal marijuana seeds to the United States, he should be held culpable for his actions just as anyone else in this country would be if they crossed the border and committed a crime in the United States or shipped illicit materials through the postal service. Americans aren't exempt if they break Canadian laws. Canadians who break American laws aren't exempt either.
Emery's actions - openly promoting even boasting of, his law-flaunting - served as standing provocation for investigation and arrest. The DEA had a legitimate interest in investigating any alleged violation of their laws. Especially considering that it is alleged that 80% of Emery's business was conducted across the U.S. border. We cannot turn a blind eye to the rule of law and our international agreements. Emery is no martyr and should lie in the bed he made for himself.
Jim Belare, Vancouver ("Letters", NATIONAL POST, Thursday, August 4, 2005).
$20M grow-op bust
ASTRID POEI
Toronto Sun
TWO GTA men have been arrested in connection with the second largest marijuana grow-op bust in Ontario history.
Acting on tips from the public, the North Bay Drug Unit seized more than 18,000 plants worth about $20 million from a field in Matheson, near Timmins, the OPP said yesterday. The arrests come just two weeks after the largest-ever drug seizure in Ontario. On July 25, approximately 21,000 plants were found near Iroquois Falls, about 30 km away.
"We're quite dumbfounded,"said North Bay Drug Unit boss Bill O'Shea. "They're putting them out like any other farm crop. "They're highly visible from air traffic. This type of growing you've seen in (southern Ontario) before, but this is a new phenom in the north."
Cheap real estate prices in depressed rural areas and low police numbers may be attracting grow-ops to the north, O'Shea suggested.
The North Bay Drug Unit has just five members to coever an areal that spans from Parry Sound to just west of Hearst.
Xian Zhao Li, 39, of Bedale Cres. in Markham, and Han Chu Hu, 39, of Lount St. in Toronto, were arrested at the scene (SUNDAY SUN, August 7, 2005).
Narkontynent
Polska na czarnorynkowej mapie Europy jest jedna z najwiekszych fabryk amfetaminy i tabletek extasy - wynika z najnowszego raportu Miedzynarodowego Organu Kontroli Srodkow Odurzajacych (INCB), do ktorego nieoficjalnej wersji dotarl "Newsweek".
Analiza zostanie oficjalnie zaprezentowana w tym tygodniu. Obok Polski do grona najwiekszych producentow narkotykow syntetycznych naleza Czechy, Litwa, Lotwa i Estonia. Tych piec panstw zaspakaja niemal w pelni zapotrzebowanie calego regionu na syntetyczne uzywki.
Od dziesieciu lat rosnie w Europie spozycie marihuany. W zeszlym roku siegnelo po nia prawie 30 mil Europejczykow, czyli az 5,3 proc. populacji.
Stary Kontynent jest odbiorca 20 proc. swiatowej produkcji tego narkotyku. z raportu wynika tez, ze najwiekszym odbiorca heroiny na kontynencie jest Rosja - uzywa jej ponad milion osob. Liczba uzaleznionych stale rosnie, bo jak dowodza autorzy raportu, latwy dostep do narkotyku przeklada sie wprost na wzrost liczby narkomanow. Ciekawe, jak zareaguje na te wnioski polski minister zdrowia Marek Balicki, ktory chce zniesienia kar za posiadanie niewielkiej ilosci narkotykow (Adam Rozanski, NEWSWEEK 6.03.2005).
Con led to drugs by OPP officer
TRACY McLAUGHLIN
Special to the Sun
BARRIE - An undercover OPP officer was bieng wiretapped when he chatted on the telephone with an inmate of Warkworth prison and told him about hidden marijuana fields, a court heard yesterday.
Det,-Const. Scott Duguid, 35, of Phelpston, who was in charge of searching out and destroying marijuana grow-ops in Simcoe County, pleaded guilty to breach of trust. His sentencing hearing is set for June 19, 2006 in Barrie.
Duguid was an officer with the Huronia Combined Forces Drug Unit in September 2003 when he was caught supplying the locations of marijuana fields in Simcoe County to two men who would harvest the crop before police moved in.
The scam was discovered inadvertently when police decided to intercept phone calls while Jamie Procter, 25, of Peterborough, was in prison because he was suspected of smuggling drugs into the jail. During those calls Procter discussed various marijuana locations with Duguid.
In one of the intercepted calls, Procter talked about how he had to cross a creek in his underwear to get to the marijuana. Police eventually arrested Procter, his brother, Jody Procter, 27, and Duguid when they met at a Country Style doughnut shop in Schomberg Sept. 22, 2003. (TORONTO SUN, Wednesday, August 10, 2005).
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