cannabisnews.com: Message Mixed on Pot, Say Cops, Policy Advisers





Message Mixed on Pot, Say Cops, Policy Advisers
Posted by CN Staff on November 07, 2002 at 09:38:48 PT
By Shane Holladay, Edmonton Sun
Source: Edmonton Sun
Canadians are getting mixed messages about the dangers of pot and consensus is needed to clear the air, say police and drug policy analysts. "The lines are blurred. That's the problem the Canadian Police Association has said exists all along," said CPA vice-president Sgt. Glen Hayden. Debate flared up over cannabis last September, after a special Senate committee recommended legalization. "We're sending a mixed message out to everybody, to our young people and to the community," said Hayden, also a former Edmonton drug section officer. 
The CPA and other stakeholders have to meet and formulate a unified drug policy for Canada, said Hayden. "There is a common ground, the average cop and people with organizations like mine, each wants to do the best they can for society," said Eugene Oscapella, of the Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy. "We disagree, and quite strongly, but at least we're talking." Hayden said making a new drug legal would compound social problems. But according to Oscapella, criminalizing pot caused new problems that exist only because it was made illegal. "Drug prohibition really is a creature of the 20th century, and it has been a phenomenal failure," he said. Last weekend, Det. Clayton Sach of the Edmonton police's Green Team - that specializes in busting cannabis growing operations - said the team is swamped. He also said he thought Canada may have the same challenges it did during the prohibition of alcohol. Police are frustrated and a veteran officer like Sach is a good example of how some officers feel, said Hayden. "He better than anyone would know; he's seen the kind of sentencing and the kind of loopholes that put these guys back on the street," said Hayden. Early yesterday, the Green Team seized 18 cannabis plants, worth about $18,000, from a 1512 147 Ave. home. "To estimate how many grows there are in Edmonton would just about be impossible," said Det. Darren Derko. More tips from neighbours would help, he said. "You can see even by this neighbourhood, new house and the small grow in the garage, it's quite common in a lot of neighbourhoods." Robert Bryn-John Young, 30, has been charged with possession for the purposes of trafficking, production and other possession charges. Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Author: Shane Holladay, Edmonton SunPublished: Thursday, November 7, 2002 Copyright: 2002 Canoe Limited PartnershipContact: sun.letters ccinet.ab.ca Website: http://www.fyiedmonton.com/htdocs/edmsun.shtmlRelated Articles & Web Sites:CFDPhttp://www.cfdp.ca/Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmGetting a Buzz in Vancouverhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14674.shtmlCanada Ranks Third Supplying U.S. Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14647.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by The GCW on November 07, 2002 at 12:32:10 PT
afterburner - keep on using the "cage" word.
Mixed messages can end when the pro's eliminate the lies.I am seeing the word, "cage & caged: used more. I have talked to police about the issue and used the word "cage" and they don't like that.Cage is far more effective than jail. Jail is too sanitary, cage is illustrative as inhumane.So to any discredited pro's out there, please stop caging humans for using a plant. Get a life!For My Christian family that doesn't know any better than to support caging humans for using a plant, get Jesus. Or consider another label for Yourself. According to Christ, Christians are not to partake in caging humans for using what He gave Us on the very 1st page of the Bible. 
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Comment #1 posted by afterburner on November 07, 2002 at 10:22:43 PT:
Mixed messages: that's what Democracy is about!
Of course, the messages are mixed: some people want to cage people for using cannabis, and others want to heal body and mind with it.ego destruction or ego transcendence, that is the question.
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