Comments on: Canada is Colombia North

By: gold party NY

gold party NY — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 10:14:28 +0000

It's always an issue since they pin pointed Canada for all the seized meth. Thanks for sharing this information.

By: Be_rad

Be_rad — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:44:52 +0000

Actually, I don't think there has been much in the way of evidence at all in support of a regime based on heavy criminalization. Where these heavy-handed approaches do work to some degree, like Singapore, the consequences of simple usage so far outweigh the nature of the offence as to be criminal in themselves, never mind the impact on civil rightrs. I agree that harm reduction has taken on an amorphous quality, meaning different things to different people. But let's start from the perspective that doing drugs is bad, so how do we stop more people from doing drugs? That's one aspect of harm reduction that shares a vector but not the absolutist outcome of war on drugs. If criminalist regimes can be demonstrated to have less effective outcomes as compared to a combination of regulated access and public health campaigns, would we accept that despite the "messages" it might send? "the most straightforward way to reduce demand, of course, would be legalization under a tightly controlled regime." http://www.dangardner.ca/Colapr1109.html

By: Ferguson-Miller

Ferguson-Miller — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:13:42 +0000

Canada is a perfect place for crooks to set up shop. We're excessively trustworthy and are perplexed why the American's want to tighten border security. Whenever groups of Canadians go off the rails, such as the Toronto 18, we can count on North America's most left leaning newspaper, the Toronto Star, to undermine the charges. Then there's the case of Omar Khadar, who allegedly is a jihadist, and killed an American doctor. Michelle Shepherd has turned him into a virtual poster boy of Canadian compassion. So yes, if you're a crook, a pimp, a drug dealer or drug maker etc, this is a great place to set up shop. We certainly have Singapore beat by a thousand miles.

By: arizona family

arizona family — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:58:00 +0000

methamphetamine usage is even promoted on television in the united states as some kind of adventurous reality. google AMC's show about a school teacher who becomes a drug dealer.

By: pubdef

pubdef — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:07:22 +0000

BZP is not a big deal, bad high, nothing like MDMA, people are being ripped off when they buy that garbage. In any case, this is another reason that we need a regulated market in Canada. Those expecting to receive MDMA will instead get BZP, which is a more dangerous substance than MDMA. The safety of the citizens of Canada should be the biggest concern, we must especially think of the children in those case who could be buying a much more dangerous drug than they think. Legalize, regulate and save children.

By: Visitor

Visitor — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 18:02:29 +0000

Andrew…you are so correct. Colombia has cleaned up its act regarding drugs. Things have shifted big time into Bolivia and Peru…that where the government protected coke labs are today. Colombia is in fact a beautiful country.

By: Guest

Guest — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:59:06 +0000

Just keep saying that to yourself. "Substance abuse is far from an American problem". Afghanistan GROWS the opiates, they don't have anywhere near the problem as the U.S.

By: janicemaerose

janicemaerose — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 02:03:47 +0000

I agree that human beings will always find something to ingest that removes them from reality. HOWEVER, harm reduction strategies like those employed in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver (free clean needles and crack pipes and methadone clinics) has medical/scientific evidence that they reduce the harm to the addict and others. War on Drugs is an American term that to me may as well be as effective as the War on Terror – the costs to society FAR outweigh the benefits. And only those who are truly ignorant to the real issues believe that is the way to go.

By: janicemaerose

janicemaerose — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:55:05 +0000

Agreed Be-Rad and tobyornottoby. Unfortunately our PCP is not very progressive-minded and will continue with the ineffective approaches such as imposing tougher laws and longer prison terms. Ugh – the frustration when they won't look at the research evidence to the contrary!

By: delford t louis

delford t louis — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 00:22:33 +0000

….seems much like an advertisement but on the other hand if one is idiot enough to buy and ingest…whose problem does it become?

By: RagingRanter

RagingRanter — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:09:43 +0000

Actually Toby, there's "good evidence" supporting (and refuting) just about every aspect of the drug problem. The fact is, drugs do and always will take a major toll on society. Prohibition or no prohibition. Harm reduction or "war on drugs", it's all the same in the end. NOBODY has the answer. People have been finding ways to intentionally destroy themselves since we first started ingesting substances for reasons other than caloric intake. It seems to be a uniquely human endeavor. It will never stop. Harm reduction is just another euphemism – like "War on Drugs", that allows the state to pretend it can do something about the problem.

By: tobyornottoby

tobyornottoby — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:23:55 +0000

We have good evidence to indicate that harm reduction approaches would be much more successful in reducing drug use and related crime in both Canda and the U.S. but we'd rather pursue an expensive and ineffective punishment model that also makes our communities less safe. For what? Some sort of moral superiority?

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:51:55 +0000

Unfortunately journalist continue talking negatively about Colombia.
If you do not know, this country has changed positively with the new government. It is offensive continue talking of Colombia's Drugs Cartels, (it was a black history of Colombia). Today the country us totally different.
I have been there and nobody smokes drugs on the cities' streets. Here in Canada, you can see people smoking drugs more often. You can enjoy pristine beaches, flowers, emeralds, beautiful mountains, and much more.

It is offensive no only for colombians, but also for thousand of men and women in uniform that have died dealing drugs.

By: RagingRanter

RagingRanter — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:56:58 +0000

Colombia North. Glad to see MacLeans avoiding the sensational tabloid-style headlines.

Roby-D, if you were a certain type of character, you'd have found it long ago. By the time the media picks up on these things, they're usually pretty well-established. I remember hearing about this new "designer drug" called "Ice" hitting the streets of Vancouver in the early 1990s. Turned out "ice" was crystal meth. That stuff had been around for a long time.

By: Russell Barth

Russell Barth — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:28:04 +0000

the cause of the problem is prohibition.MORE prohibitioin will make things worse, not better.

By: RobyD

RobyD — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:01:07 +0000

That a pretty big generalization. Afghanistan has mass opiate problems, Australia has high rates of meth and heroin, … the list goes on. Substance abuse is far from an American problem.

By: Roby-D

Roby-D — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:57:38 +0000

I think you have to be careful about articles telling us about 'new up and coming drugs'. I had never heard of BZP before, but if I was of a certain type of character, I might go out looking for it now to find out what all the hype is about. Not all publicity is good publicity.

By: Be_rad

Be_rad — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:27:54 +0000

"Indeed, it was the proﬁts from marijuana production that allowed criminal gangs to diversify and get into synthetic drug production in the ﬁrst place, he says."

So the ridiculous law that makes pot illegal, creating more market and higher profits, is responsible for creating the infrastructure necessary for these operations. The laws of economics would likely have led to the same end, but those same laws accelerated the process.

And as Anon points out, demand begats supply.

By: Anon

Anon — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:50:53 +0000

Breaking: United States of America most substance-abusing society on Earth.

By: Felix

Felix — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 13:21:19 +0000

Pardon me if I don't hop-to at the latest alarmist pronouncement from the Excited States of America. Criminal gangs and cross-border smuggling of illegal substances definitely deserves attention from authorities, but let's take legal advice from the country with the world's largest prison population with a grain of salt.