Awful Reporting or Awful Policing?

[anonymous001]

Haha, well I can't deny that....but also to enjoy the wonderful scenery around here. The Sault College wood lot and the Hub Trail are awesome walks, or bikes, if you want a little exercise.

[Nellie]

Thoughts from the old girl, for whatever thats worth?  When individuals are busted for single tablets of oxy. the same standard may apply.  These busts may be figured out @  cost per joint. $$$ Makes for bigger news, more bang for the buck.

[anonymous001]

Nowhere in the world will you find 12 grams of pot for $2000....you barely see people paying $120. That's 16 times the amount it "should" cost...how are their numbers THAT off? The max price per ounce (and this number is in the US, NOT in Canada...Canadian prices are generally the same throughout the country, of course remote cities have higher costs) is generally around $500, making 12 grams still only around $200. And being the police, should their numbers not be accurate so they can accurately inform the public? If they were to lie about how they conduct searches or interrogations there would be outrage, but because no one questions these numbers they get off making themselves look better and making innocent people suffer. Wasting tax payer dollars by pursuing marijuana is one thing, but then to turn around boost some police ego by overstating busts to make them look better and get a bigger budget...oh the beauty of Canada.

[SSMP]

The article in Sootoday made it to www.FARK.com. I was going to link your editorial but I don't have an account. Sorry.

As for your credibliity, you have always presented evidence for your statements and don't ever seem to insult anyone. You usually let the evidence speak. To me that is a credible person, don't think that Ms. Belsito's comments reflect the thoughts of all of us.

[anonymous001]

Thank you SSMP, I try to bring as much truth to the subjects I discuss as possible.

[sulley's mom]

I don't know how everyone else feels, but personally I don't care about the dollar value of drug busts...today there are less drugs available for kids that there were yesterday.  I'm good with that.  don't really care if it was pot, crack, oxy, whatever...in my world, less of that stuff in the wrong hands is better.

[anonymous001]

I don't know how everyone else feels, but personally I don't care about the dollar value of drug busts...today there are less drugs available for kids that there were yesterday.  I'm good with that.  don't really care if it was pot, crack, oxy, whatever...in my world, less of that stuff in the wrong hands is better.

Ummmm, have you read the news at all lately? Watched the news perhaps? Drugs are more widely available and easy to get than ever, prohibition has done nothing but inflate the prices, drive it to the black market (making it increasingly dangerous, depending on circumstances) and give millions of dollars to gangs.

Every study done shows teenagers have said that it is easier to get illegal drugs than it is to get alcohol and tobacco. There are more grow ops nowadays than even 10 years ago and the hard drugs like cocaine and ecstasy and heroin are increasingly dangerous and dirty.

fiesta:

"...fib a little to get your point across?"

You do not deserve any rights because that statement violates my rights, you are officially a criminal. Lying to the public when you are a public official or officer of the law is the same as lying under oath, and doing so on matters as pressing as this (seeing as how our government is wasting millions of dollars each year fighting a "war" they cannot possibly win and one that they are losing to gangs who reap millions, and sometimes billions, in order to finance their other illegal activities.

I hope you feel proud supporting the true criminals in our justice system...the liars who are there to "protect" us and instead lie to us and mislead us to further their own agenda (and no, I am not against ALL law enforcement...it would be foolish for anyone to be).

[millwright]

what does it matter 10$ or 10000$ they got it off the streets, and the kids got a bit more of a chance at life without it

[anonymous001]

what does it matter 10$ or 10000$ they got it off the streets, and the kids got a bit more of a chance at life without it

So marijuana's illegality is no longer a moral issue? First it was made illegal because it made people violent, then they changed that after WWII (when it was legal to grow and produce, oh the wonders of profit!!!) to being illegal because it made people passive (communists might use this against us!), then they did "studies" in the 70s (all of which came back in favour of legislating marijuana, even the report Ronald Reagan commissioned "The Shafer Report") and have since stated moral and "scientific" issues.

As a moral issue I would assume you also consider lying immoral?

This has nothing to do with the children millwright, have you read nothing I just stated? Today it is easier for teenagers to get illegal substances than it is for them to get legal ones...how is that getting it off the streets? The cops bust a couple of high school kids with some pot and think they're making the world a great place and keeping the streets clean. The fact of the matter is, while they arrest and lock up innocent people like that, they encourage and often play into the hands of major drug cartels and gangs within the country, sending billions of dollars of revenue directly into their hands so they can use it to fund the production and distribution of hard drugs like cocaine and heroin and also to fund their gun supply.

If you support prohibition, you support a continuing waste of tax dollars by the police force and you also support drug cartels, that's the facts.

If lying is no longer an issue....then hey, let's all get in on this!

Alcohol stimulates brain cell growth.
Tobacco is not addictive.
Thousands of people don't die every year from prescription medications.
Our government is doing a damn good job.

Hmmmm......lying still seems wrong to me.

[sulley's mom]

I didn't say it was hard to get...I said there was less of it available.  Doesn't have to be by a lot...I'll take the teeny tiny step in the right direction when I can get it.  You need to take a deep breath here pal, I'm not arguing with you, just saying I don't give a flying **** about the dollar value of the busts, I care more about the fact that the bust happened at all.

[IslandGirl1]

I am new to this discussion cafe and just finished reading all the comments and it really wasn't very nice what was going on against "anonymous".  The "anonymous" was just stating an opinion and facts and to insult him personally was not nice to read.

[anonymous001]

I didn't say it was hard to get...I said there was less of it available.  Doesn't have to be by a lot...I'll take the teeny tiny step in the right direction when I can get it.  You need to take a deep breath here pal, I'm not arguing with you, just saying I don't give a flying **** about the dollar value of the busts, I care more about the fact that the bust happened at all.

But it being less available IMPLIES that it is harder to get, it's simple logic. So why after 70+ years of prohibition has the government not realized, as it did after around 10 years of alcohol prohibition, that it is not working? (It should also be noted that during alcohol prohibition the consumption of alcohol and the violence associated with it's sale sky-rocketed, not unlike the current scenario North America finds itself in).

The prohibition of alcohol not only cost millions to enforce, but it lost the government an estimated $500 million annually in revenue, and when you factor inflation into the equation that number is even more staggering. That brings us to today...an estimated $14 billion a year, and that's only in California, in tax dollars can be reaped and the annual budget (in Canada it's $400 million) used to arrest, prosecute, incarcerate, etc. innocent, non-violent people would be eradicated almost entirely (almost entirely because let's face it, some people will continue illegal activities).

None of this is against the rights of children, nobody is suggesting that children be allowed to smoke pot or do drugs...but prohibition is an excellent policy if you want a generation to grow up experimenting with drugs before adulthood. When you lump drugs like heroin and LSD into the same category as pot, it creates an easy access point for teenagers and it enables them to use the logic that 'hey, pot isn't the killer they warned..maybe heroin isn't that bad either?'

[sulley's mom]

But it being less available IMPLIES that it is harder to get, it's simple logic.

No it does not.  I meant what I said, and said what I meant.  You are assuming that I am implying something, which I am not.

If there are 12 potatoes on a shelf, and someone removes 4, it doesn't make the other 8 any harder to get than when there was 12.  There are just fewer there to take.  You are assuming that you are going to take more than one, or that there is more demand over supply, which is not always the case.

So, I am ok with a kid only getting 8 joints rather than 12, or 1 rather than 2, or 4 kids getting them while the 5th did not, or whatever the case may be.  That is what matters to me...fewer potatoes on the shelf.  Not who has them, or what they cost to obtain, or how hard they were to get, or what the police say they are worth.

[anonymous001]

You are feeding into the business of gangs my friend.

You don't care that those kids that DID get those joints had to deal with person A on the corner who sells for person B, who gets it from person C, who gets it from the gangs? That somewhere along the line, without anyone of these people knowing, it could have been laced with cocaine or heroin or PCP?

That may be true of potatoes, a readily available, legal substance, but when dealing within the spectrum of illegality, something like that is far more in depth. Yes, 8 of 12 are still available but that means tracking down the other 8 of 12 potatoes. Those potatoes aren't on the shelf, they are with someone else, who you need to get into contact with and arrange a meeting, etc. So yes, it DOES make it harder to get.

Here's an idea for a better tomorrow:

Legalize it. Sold in stores, photo ID required and the whole deal.

If someone is purchasing for a minor (hmmm, what is this comparable to?) then yes, it is a crime.
If a minor is in possession of it (hmmmm, no I do not see any connection here with current laws...hmmm?) yes, illegal.
If you are illegally producing it (well, I'm stumped here...) YES, illegal!

This would decrease the number of youths who are exposed to it and decrease the crime rate (both created by and associated with) and save our government (well, the citizens anyway) billions of dollars annually.