Life on the street
Vancouver physician who cares for addicts challenges the idea that people are homeless by choice
By Chris Zdeb
Edmonton Journal
April 2, 2010

The Epoch Times
April 1, 2010

Doda, or Poor Man's Heroin, A Growing Problem in Canada

By Joan Delaney
Epoch Times Staff

A Canadian politician is sounding the alarm about an addictive drug that he says is being openly sold in retail stores in British Columbia's Lower Mainland.

Member of the Legislative Assembly Harry Bains says dode or doda, an opium-derived drug popular in Canada's South Asian community, is easily available and can be bought cheaply by anyone-including minors-in many retail stores.

"Anybody could walk in any day of the week and purchase it no matter how old they are, and then they take it just like any other type of drug,"
he said. "It's been a very big problem and it's a growing problem."

The drug, also known as "poor man's heroin," is popular among taxi drivers, construction workers, and truck drivers who say it gives them energy and helps them stay awake for long stretches.

But it can also impair one's ability, and Bains says it could be the cause of any number of work-related accidents.

"They drive taxis, they drive trucks, they go on construction sites, or whatever else they're doing. They put themselves and the people around them in quite an unsafe situation."

Although doda produces a quick high followed by feelings of relaxation and calm, it can also cause loss of concentration, slurred speech, drowsiness, impotence, constipation, and mood swings, according to police. And as with other derivatives of the poppy plant, it is addictive.

"It is no different than opium-it is highly addictive," Bains said.
"Because it has lower concentrations of [opium] it takes more time to get hooked, but once you're on you're on it."

Imported from countries such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India where it has been used for decades, doda appeared in Canada only within the last 10 or 15 years, largely in Indo-Canadian communities.

"It started out originally back east in the Toronto area and started to spread quickly to the west," Bains said.

Made from ground poppy pods, doda comes in the form of a grayish powder and is usually prepared as a tea. The drug can also be used as a kind of meat seasoning, and doda users most commonly obtain the powder from South Asian meat shops.

Dr. David Mowat, medical officer of Health for Ontario's Peel region, said he has been hearing of increasingly more cases of doda addiction from physicians who specialize in addiction.

"They say they're seeing a lot of people who are having problems with this drug-problems with work, sleeping, withdrawal symptoms, and family problems," he told CTV News. "There's a concern that people don't really know what they are consuming. People don't know that this is a morphine derivative."

Doda is illegal in Canada and anyone found selling or using it can be charged, with penalties ranging from fines to jail. However, because it can contain very small amounts of opium, the legality in some cases remains unclear.

A letter Bains received from the office of B.C.'s solicitor general said that some samples of doda seized in the Toronto area "did not contain enough opium to rate a positive test. Consequently, some of the seized product did not merit the laying of charges on the seller."

On March 15, Peel Regional Police raided three addresses in Brampton, Mississauga, and Toronto, seizing more than 2,645 pounds of doda worth about $2.5 million.

Doda seizures have also taken place in Calgary and Edmonton. The first large-scale seizure of the drug in B.C. occurred in Surrey last November when RCMP confiscated hundreds of kilos of poppy pods and finished product along with crushing and grinding equipment.

The seized product has been forwarded to a Health Canada lab to confirm the presence of drugs that are prohibited under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

"I think police all across Canada are much more aware of this, the communities are much more aware of this, and they're starting to treat this issue seriously and they're starting to pay attention that this is no different than any other drug," Bains said.

Bains has been working to raise awareness of the prevalence of the drug in response to concerns raised by his constituents. A big part of his motivation, he says, is the fear doda will end up finding its way into schools.

"I think what they need to do is treat this substance just like any other illegal drug and act accordingly for the sale, for the possession, and the importation of this. That's how you can nip it in the bud-no pun intended."

_______________________________________________
Dd-world mailing list
https://lists.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/dd-world

Vancouver Sun
April 1, 2010

Made-in-B.C. party drug is province's latest export

B.C. residents are getting jail time south of the border for smuggling a drug that is still legal in Canada

By Kim Bolan

A new party drug similar to ecstasy is increasingly being produced by British Columbia crime groups and smuggled into the United States, police say.

The chemical drug, known as BZP or Benzylpiperazine, is still legal in Canada, though banned in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries.

B.C. smugglers getting nabbed south of the border are facing stiff sentences for distributing BZP, even when they argue their actions were legal when they left home.

Just last week, North Vancouver's Krysta Edwards, 23, got a five-year sentence after pleading guilty to smuggling hundreds of thousands of the BZP pills across the border for a drug gang that was storing them at a Washington warehouse, then shipping them by train to the Midwest for distribution.

B.C. resident Robert Fox is to be sentenced in California on Tuesday after getting caught a year ago with more than 200,000 pills that were a mixture of ecstasy and BZP. The U.S. Attorney wants Fox to go to jail for nine years. Fox is arguing that four years would be enough because he was just a mule "driving a truck from one place to another in accordance with the instructions issued by his superiors."

Sgt. Peter Sadler, of the Vancouver police drug squad, said BZP is like a "low-rent" ecstasy.

"Two years ago, I never even heard of this. And now it is going up in leaps and bounds mainly because it is not restricted in Canada at this point," Sadler said. "Huge amounts of it are crossing the line. In Washington state, at the border, they are making huge seizures and more frequently."

RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Goddard, of the Greater Vancouver drug section, said B.C. gangs may be deliberately manufacturing BZP to sidestep Canada's drug laws.

"I think what certain organized crime groups are doing - at least some of the more sophisticated ones - are using this as a means to get around the law. Or at least they think they are getting around the law, by manufacturing something that in their minds is legal," Goddard said.

But when BZP is sold as ecstasy to unknowing buyers, sellers could face charges, he said.

"Where they are misrepresenting it as another drug, then we do prosecute," he said. "If we were to find it in somebody's pocket and had it analysed, we wouldn't be able to lay a charge."

The same crime groups that produce other chemical drugs are making the BZP in the same clandestine labs in unhygienic conditions.

Sadler said there was a British case where a woman took BZP and died.
There was also a New Zealand study which found 61 people who took BZP were hospitalized over five months.

"Can it kill? Yes it can. And when it is made by amateur chemists, you don't always know what you're getting," Sadler said.

It is indistinguishable from ecstasy until it is tested in the lab.

"When you are buying something on the street, you have no idea what is in it," Goddard warned.

Sgt. Shinder Kirk, of the Gang Task Force, said B.C. crime groups are always looking for an opportunity to expand their product lines.

"It certainly comes as no surprise that individuals or groups involved in trafficking have found yet another product or avenue in which to make money," he said. "This certainly speaks directly to the issue of demand and any manner of illegal enterprise willing to satisfy it."

Sadler said gangs with Asian connections seem to be leaders in BZP production.

Fox's lawyer Victor Sherman argued in his sentencing memo that BZP should not be equated with ecstasy.

"There is a vast difference between the two drugs, with BZP far less powerful and dangerous," Sherman said. "Commonly known as Benny Bears, [they] are a fairly mild stimulant widely marketed as an herbal energy supplement."

While Health Canada is considering adding it to the list of controlled substances, it hasn't happened yet.

More than a year ago, the government solicited input on banning BZP through the Canada Gazette.

"Health Canada has become aware that these substances are increasingly being used recreationally for their stimulant and hallucinogenic properties. Pills containing these substances have increasingly been seen on the Canadian rave and party scene," the Gazette article said.

But Health Canada spokesman Philippe Laroche said Thursday a decision has still not been made.

"Such a decision would mean that all activities with these substances, for example, possession, importation, exportation, distribution, production, etc., are illegal unless authorized by regulation," he said.

Sadler said BZP's legal status in Canada is just fuelling its growth.

"If it is not against the law, the resources of the police resources in Canada are somewhat hamstrung," he said. "They can make it in Canada and then obviously the intention is you will try to send it across the line.
That's where your huge market is."

kbolan@vancouversun.com
_______________________________________________
Dd-world mailing list
https://lists.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/dd-world

The Philadelphia Inquirer
Monday, April 5, 2010

Philadelphia to ease marijuana penalty

By Craig R. McCoy, Nancy Phillips, and Dylan Purcell Inquirer Staff Writers

The city's new district attorney and the state Supreme Court are moving to all but decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use in an effort to unclog Philadelphia's crowded court dockets.

Under a policy to take effect later this month, prosecutors will charge such cases as summary offenses rather than as misdemeanors. People arrested with up to 30 grams of the drug - slightly more than an ounce - may have to pay a fine but face no risk of a criminal record.

"We have to be smart on crime," said District Attorney Seth Williams, who took office in January. "We can't declare a war on drugs by going after the kid who's smoking a joint on 55th Street. We have to go after the large traffickers."

The shift is a major move in a reform agenda being hammered out in an unusual partnership between Williams and two members of the state Supreme Court, Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille and Justice Seamus P.
McCaffery, each of whom has a long background in criminal justice.

The goal is to sweep about 3,000 small-time marijuana cases annually out of the main court system, freeing prosecutors and judges to devote time to more serious crimes. The diverted cases amount to about 5 percent of the caseload in criminal court.

Police have been briefed on the policy shift, but appear less than enthusiastic about it.

"We're not going stop locking people up," Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, said Friday. He said marijuana possession remained illegal.

"We're going to stop people for it. . . . Our officers are trained to do that," Vanore said. "Whether or not they make it through the charging process, that's up to the D.A. We can't control that. Until they legalize it, we're not going to stop."

Some key aspects of the change remain unresolved.

Williams' top aides are still researching whether they can simply convert all the small marijuana arrests into summary charges of disorderly conduct. The shift might require a change in state law or in a city ordinance, his advisers say.

The new approach could generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for the Philadelphia courts. While the amount has not been formally set, fines for minor drug possession would be $200 for first-time offenders and $300 for others.

"We are not looking at it as a moneymaker, but we could use those funds to focus on other efficiencies," said Castille, who was Philadelphia's district attorney from 1986 to 1991.

McCaffery, a homicide-detective-turned-lawyer, has talked of using some of the new cash to pay consultants to study further ways to reform the court system.

Castille called the new policy "appropriate" for a system loaded up with a total of 60,000 fresh cases a year, including the arrests of about 5,500 alleged heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine sellers.

Of marijuana possession, the chief justice said, "It's a minor crime when you're faced with major drug crimes." Taking those cases out of the city's main courtrooms, he said, "unclogs the system."

The new approach was endorsed by Chris Goldstein, a leader of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). His group has been quietly lobbying prosecutors and top Philadelphia narcotics police for change.

"The marijuana consumers of Philadelphia welcome this," Goldstein said.

McCaffery, appointed by Castille to oversee the ongoing shake-up of Philadelphia's criminal justice system, said the shift would help the courts focus on more serious cases.

"This will free up a lot of time in the courtroom," he said. "The fewer de minimis cases, the more time the judge and the prosecutor are going to have on other cases."

The new policy on marijuana is part of a wave of changes under review in response to The Inquirer's investigative report on the criminal justice system, "Justice: Delayed, Dismissed, Denied," in December.

The newspaper's reporting portrayed the Philadelphia system as in crisis, clogged with cases, bogged down by delay, and harsh on victims and witnesses. The paper found that Philadelphia defendants escaped conviction on all charges in nearly two-thirds of violent-crime cases - one of the lowest conviction rates in the nation.

Williams, working with the two justices and others, is also moving forward with plans to streamline preliminary hearings and overhaul the charging unit, rejecting prosecution in some cases and kicking others back to detectives for more investigation.

He and top aides - First Assistant District Attorney Joseph McGettigan and Deputy District Attorney Ed McCann - have been giving misdemeanor marijuana cases special attention. The maximum penalty for possession for personal use is only 30 days in jail, and defendants rarely serve time.

Under Williams' predecessor, Lynne M. Abraham, the district attorney for
18 years, the office prosecuted about 3,000 such cases a year.

The prosecutions often tied up judges, assistant district attorneys, police, and defense lawyers - not to mention defendants - in Municipal Court for multiple court listings.

Prosecutors would agree to withdraw the charge if a first-time offender completed community service. Offenders with a criminal history could end up with a formal misdemeanor conviction.

Under the new policy, people charged with possession for personal use will still be arrested, handcuffed, searched, detained, and fingerprinted. Then, regardless of their criminal history, their case will be heard by a special late-afternoon summary court in Courtroom 408 at the Criminal Justice Center. This "quality of life" court handles offenses such as public drinking and disorderly conduct.

Defendants determined to fight the charges could still demand a full trial, but few are expected to do so.

Arrests for small amounts of marijuana aside, police still make thousands of drug arrests yearly in Philadelphia - 18,000 last year for drug-related crimes of all sorts, including charges involving possession and dealing.

Of these, they arrested about 2,000 suspects as alleged marijuana dealers and about 2,500 people for possession for larger amounts of marijuana, over 30 grams.

The handling of those more serious cases will not change, prosecutors say.

Police and prosecutors in other cities and states have taken similar steps toward decriminalization or something approaching it. Several dozen cities have enacted "lowest law enforcement priority" ordinances, stipulating that police pursue such cases as a last resort.

Voters in Seattle approved a ballot question mandating this change in 2003. Since then, arrests for possessing small amounts of marijuana have fallen by three-quarters. In 2005, Denver voters approved an ordinance legalizing possession of less than an ounce, or 28 grams. San Francisco passed a similar law in 2006.

Several states, too, have taken a softer stance on marijuana possession.
For example, Massachusetts decriminalized marijuana in 2008, making it a civil offense and imposing a $100 fine for possession of less than an ounce.

According to the Department of Justice's latest report on drug crime, 28 percent of adults ages 18 to 25 who were surveyed admitted using marijuana at least once within the previous year. For the rest of the adult population, 7 percent admitted using the drug during the same period.

McCaffery has considerable experience with the use of special courts operating under the umbrella of Municipal Court. When he was the court's administrative judge, he pioneered "Eagles Court" for unruly football fans and spurred the collection of fines for "quality of life" summary offenses.

During McCaffery's final 16 months on the Philadelphia bench, the courts levied $2.3 million in fines. Since he left, the imposition of those fines has diminished, costing the city millions, he said.

Under the new initiative, McCaffery said, the court will resume imposing those charges even when defendants fail to show up for summary court.

According to McCaffery, the court will be able to go after as much as
$5.5 million in fees from 2008 and 2009 in this fashion. Any new marijuana-related charges will be on top of that.

Goldstein, of NORML, said his group had been lobbying for relaxed treatment of marijuana cases for more than a year, meeting with members of the District Attorney's Office, Mayor Nutter's staff, and police brass.

"This is a very progressive thing to do on the part of the city,"
Goldstein said of the new policy. "I couldn't be happier about this."

He said the change also would redress a racial pattern apparent in Philadelphia drug-possession arrests. More than 80 percent typically have been of African Americans, Philadelphia police data show.

"All the data from the federal government indicates that blacks and whites consume marijuana at near-equal rates," Goldstein said, yet "the pattern of arrests is that over 75 percent are black men."

According to him, the situation is the same in New York City, where research indicated it was due to more intensive police patrol activity in African American neighborhoods.

Goldstein said he was troubled that Philadelphia police would be permitted to keep arresting people for marijuana possession.

"It is completely absurd," he said. "It's harsh. For minor marijuana possession, it's very harsh treatment."

Police elsewhere merely issue people a ticket and send them on their way, he said.

Leading members of the defense bar also endorsed the new marijuana-prosecution policy.

Joseph C. Santaguida said that "it's a good idea" to steer these minor drug cases to a diversionary program.

Brian Zeiger, another criminal-defense lawyer, said he saw the move as positive both for taxpayers and defendants.

"The city gets money, and the city doesn't have to pay [court] overtime to the cops. It's a guaranteed win for clients. It takes all the risk out of it."

-----

Contact staff writer Craig R. McCoy at 215-854-4821 or cmccoy@phillynews.com.

_______________________________________________
Dd-world mailing list
https://lists.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/dd-world

The City of Vancouver and Partners are presenting <<FlyerApril26.pdf>> their next event

Engaging Human Potential Across the Life Course in the Prevention of Harm from Substance Use

April 26th, 12-4.30 pm

Segal Centre, 500 Granville Street 

Please see attachment for details

The event is free but registration is required.
You can register from the link on the flyer or from our website www.vancouver.ca/fourpillars

---

You are currently subscribed to four-pillars-prevention as: mark.haden@vch.ca.

To unsubscribe click here: http://list.vancouver.ca/u?id=62368.01d425b36aebb4225df17c6733e726fa&n=T&l=four-pillars-prevention&o=73836

(It may be necessary to cut and paste the above URL if the line is broken)

or send a blank email to leave-73836-62368.01d425b36aebb4225df17c6733e726fa@list.vancouver.ca

 

Monday March 15 2010 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AC87VKo3pY

 

(FYI - Scott Reid is the Member of Parliament for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox & Addington and is currently the Deputy Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. He also serves as chairman of the subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development).

If you did not hear them, last week the CBC had two lots of programming that are compelling.

 

Wednesday 24^th March

The Current WAR ON DRUGS http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/2010/201003/20100324.html 30 minutes

Interview with Eugene Oscapella, Evan Wood, Jeanette Hay

 

 

Sunday 28th March http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/shows/201003/20100328.html

The Sunday Edition TOUGH JUSTICE: IS THE HARPER AGENDA A PHONY WAR ON CRIME?  Public forum from Ottawa – 2 hours

Panellists

CHARLES MOMY, President of the Canadian Police Association;

KIM PATE, Executive Director of the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies;

VINCE WESTWICK, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police;

DAN GARDNER, Author and columnist with the Ottawa Citizen;

MICHAEL JACKSON, Author and UBC School of Law Professor;

HEIDI ILLINGWORTH, Executive Director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime.

 

The Independent
Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Sacked drugs chief Professor David Nutt blasts 'knee-jerk' mephedrone ban

By Joe Sinclair, Press Association

The Government's former top drugs adviser has warned banning the dance drug mephedrone could do more harm than good.

Professor David Nutt said a "new approach" to dealing with synthetic drugs was needed.

He also suggested the regulated use of drugs like mephedrone and ecstasy in controlled environments, such as clubs, may be the way forward.

Home office minister David Hanson earlier announced mephedrone could be made a class B drug by April 16.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has laid a draft order before Parliament to approve a ban on the substance, which is also known as M-Cat or miaow miaow, and similar cathinone derivatives.

The drug has been linked to up to 25 deaths in England and Scotland, and the funeral is taking place today of a 19-year-old man who died after taking mephedrone on a night out.

Mr Hanson said chairman of the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
(ACMD) Les Iversen, had made clear "the harms that these drugs undertake justify control" under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

But Prof Nutt, who was sacked as ACMD chairman after saying ecstasy was less harmful than alcohol, criticised the Government's "knee-jerk"
approach to mephedrone.

He said the Government should have waited for the results of a study from The European Monitoring Centre on Drugs and Drug Addiction, which is due to report in July.

Speaking ahead of a lecture at Greenwich University, he said: "We need a new approach with dealing with these synthetic drugs.

"I wonder if there may be alternative approaches.

"I find it very difficult to support criminalisation of people who are using drugs which are less dangerous than alcohol."

He criticised the Government's "knee-jerk" reaction over the "supposed problem" which has been "whipped up" into a hysteria.

Prof Nutt said: "These knee-jerk reactions aren't dealing with the core of the problem.

"They need to have a proper, mature debate about how best to deal with drugs.

"Why don't we at least think about alternatives and allow people like me to mention them without being vilified.

"We regulate other drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Why are we so hostile to
(regulating) new drugs?

"One way of reducing drug harm may be to regulate their use in controlled environments.

"Maybe we would allow clubs to sell small amounts of drugs, like mephedrone and ecstasy, in a safe environment, just like we sell alcohol.

"There is no scientific reason why mephedrone and alcohol should be seen as different."

The professor continued: "I hope that we start doing some very careful assessments of the consequences of making it illegal.

"We have to make sure there is not a rise in criminality, with gangs getting involved.

"We've heard already the Chinese are gearing up to make another drug.

"We will be in the same boat in a few more months, possibly with a more dangerous drug."

_______________________________________________
Dd-world mailing list
https://lists.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/dd-world

 

Crack and cocaine use a significant HIV risk factor for teens
E! Science News
March 31, 2010

 

No law will stop people wanting to get high
Selling small amounts of drugs in clubs is not shocking. It’s a responsible idea
By Melanie Reid
Times (UK)
April 1, 2010