Posted on 03/04/2005 4:15:11 PM PST by Clive
Pot grow ops a 'scourge': McLellan
OTTAWA (CP) -- Marijuana production is a violent, organized scourge that judges should combat with serious sentences, says Justice Minister Anne McLellan.
All of society bears responsibility for recognizing the national boom in grow operations that are typically backed by organized crime, McLellan said Friday.
Judges who don't penalize traffickers accordingly should be called to account, she said, one day after four Mounties were killed during a raid on an Alberta grow op that went horribly wrong.
"I would say that all of us -- including the judiciary -- need to understand what is at stake here. And I think yesterday was a horrible and tragic reminder."
Judges who don't put major producers behind bars will have to offer reasons under proposed legislation now before Parliament that would decriminalize possession of small amounts of pot, McLellan said.
"Where there are aggravating circumstances and there is no jail time, you explain to the people who live in your community, that you serve, you explain to them why you did not believe jail time was appropriate in light of aggravating circumstances."
McLellan denied that she believes judges have been too soft on pot growers -- a common police complaint.
"I'm not saying that. As a society we all bear responsibility to take this particular crime very seriously."
McLellan spoke at the Liberal policy convention where delegates will debate a resolution -- from the Alberta wing of the party -- to legalize pot. She dismissed any chance that the minority government will move in that direction.
"This government does not support the legalization of marijuana. We've been quite clear about that."
I am inclined to agree. Just a sidebar. Here in Florida we had early release programs because of jail overcrowding. One newspaper published the names of those being released and their crimes. The list was very scary; rape, second degree murder, assault, robbery, manslaughter and other crimes against persons and property had been commited by these released criminals. Oddly enough not a single person on the list had been jailed because of drugs. Since I know Florida has jail time for pot- possesion. Having more than a certain number of grams is a felony- I have to assume those people stayed in jail. That just does not cut it with me. Justice system resources are stretched very, very thin and it is a waste to use the resources against pot smokers. I don't smoke but thats cause even though I disagree with the law I still will obey it. Plus who the heck has money for pot after taking care of all the other grown up obligations?
It should be a duty for freedom loving Republicans to prevent government from imposing upon individuals, through force and coercion, arbitrary puritanical beliefs that are contrary to established religious facts, beliefs and scripture. Only in this way can we assure the freedom of religion envisioned in this nations’ founding.
I no longer think of it as TWOD or TWO(S)D. It's the MACPSP- Marijuana and Cocaine Price Support Programme.
Until 1937, people were used to legal marijuana and cocaine.
I LIKE it! It has a definite truth about it. If it didn't exist I half think the Cartels would invent it - Lose a few Mules and a Plane once in awhile but reap Billions in profit from the inflated prices. Straight out of Harvard Business School.
Even if you whistle dixie out your rear end as you post that, the bottom line is you are still pushing dope with your politics and no CONSERVATIVE does that.
We push investment in ourselves, families and education, not drugs.
Isn't watching the libertarian cult post on their topic of drug lust just make you laugh at how devoted to drugs they are.
Yup. And until 1913 or so, people were used to not having an income tax dictating virtually every facet of their economic and personal behavior. The term 'Progressive' is not something I usually associate with expanded Gov't Power yet that's how the Tax Code is usually referenced. Some of the same hypocrisy is found in our approach to most controlled substances.
John Adams (1938 - 10/4/2000) Lebanon, Tennessee
A 62-year-old African-American man was shot and killed by five white police officers after they burst through the front door of his home at 10:00 p.m. on a Wednesday night. It turned out their search warrant for drugs was erroneous: It should have been written for the house next door.
Juan Mendoza Fernandez (1940 - 9/28/2000) Dallas, Texas
A 60-year-old man shot and killed by Irving police serving narcotics search and arrest warrants at his West Dallas home thought officers were burglars trying to force their way inside, members of his family said. He and his wife had been married about 36 years and had four children and 13 grandchildren.
Alberto Sepulveda (1989 - 9/13/2000) Modesto, California
An 11 year old child is "accidentally" shot in the back and killed by a SWAT officer during a federal drug raid. Father declares innocence. (Photo montage courtesy of Don Beck.) For historical background on SWAT actions, see op-ed by Sharon Dolovich.
Peter McWilliams (1950 - 6/14/2000) Laurel Canyon, California
This courageous medical cannabis user and renowned author was forced to stop using the only substance which eased some of his symptoms of AIDS, cancer and chemotherapy treatments. Although medical use of cannabis is allowed by the laws of his state, his mother and brother had put up their homes as bonds while McWilliams awaited federal sentencing on cannabis cultivation charges, and those bonds would have been forfeited if he tested positive. Without cannabis, he was unable to control his nausea, and ultimately he choked to death on his own vomit.
Patrick Dorismond (1974 - 3/16/2000) Manhattan, New York
An unarmed Haitian father of two children is shot by a seedy-looking undercover narcotics officer after angrily refusing to help the cop buy drugs. (It was intended to be a "buy-bust" operation.) Ironically, the victim worked as a uniformed security guard and had told his family that he hoped one day to become a police officer.
Ismael Mena (1944 - 9/29/1999) Denver, Colorado
This 45-year-old father of nine was killed in his bedroom by SWAT team members who stormed the wrong house.
Mario Paz (1934 - 8/9/1999) Compton, California
A 65-year-old Latino a father of six and grandfather of 14, Mario Paz, was asleep with his wife in their home at 11 p.m. one August night when 20 members of the local SWAT team shot the locks off the front and back doors and stormed inside. Moments later, unarmed Mario Paz was dead, shot twice in the back, and his wife was outside, half-naked in handcuffs. The SWAT team had a warrant to search a neighbor's house for drugs, but Mario Paz was not listed on it. No drugs were found, and no member of the family was charged with any crime.
Pedro Oregon Navarro (1975 - 7/12/1998) Houston, Texas
In a hail of 33 bullets, a 23 year old father of two children is shot 12 times, including 9 times in his back, by six HPD officers in a no-knock home invasion without a warrant. No drugs were found in the victim's apartment, and tests found no traces of alcohol or any other drugs in his body. All six officers were later exonerated.
Esequiel Hernandez (5/14/1979 - 5/20/1997) Redford, Texas
While shepherding his family's goats, this 18 year old was stalked and killed by U.S. Marines on border patrol near Redford, TX. View the extensive memorial photo gallery.
Ramon Gallardo (d. 1997) Dinuba, California
He was shot 15 times by a SWAT team with a warrant for his son.
Rev. Accelyne Williams (1919 - 3/25/1994) Boston, Massachusetts
This retired minister died of a heart attack 45 minutes after a 13-member Boston SWAT team executing a drug warrant burst into his apartment, toting rifles and wearing bulletproof vests and shields. It turned out to be the wrong apartment. The Boston police commissioner apologized the next day. (3/27/1994 Houston Chronicle, page A-16)
Gary Shepherd (1948 - 8/8/1993) Broadhead, Kentucky
Gary Shepherd was a Viet Nam veteran who had a crippled left arm from the war. Shepherd had deep conviction about medical cannabis, which he used to relieve his pain. He sat in a lawn chair guarding his plants for the six or seven hours of a SWAT standoff, during which time no serious attempt was made to negotiate. Finally, Shepherd and his long-term companion, Mary Jane Jones, were ordered to put their hands in the air. As he raised his rifle to comply, police snipers hidden in a corn field shot Gary several times in the head and chest. Shepherd's four-year-old son, Jake, was sprayed with his father's blood.
Donald Scott Donald Scott (1931 - 10/2/1992) Malibu, California
Within view of his wife, a 61 year old rancher was gunned down by police officers during a home invasion near Malibu, CA. As they invaded the property, the officers -- with two forfeiture specialists in tow -- had a property appraisal of Scott's $5 million ranch and instructions to seize the ranch if 14 marijuana plants were found. The officers found no marijuana plants, other drugs or paraphernalia. It turned out that Donald Scott was bitterly opposed to all drug use.
Shirley Dorsey (1935 - 4/1/1991)
Rather than being compelled to testify against her 70-year-old boyfriend for cultivating the medicinal cannabis she depended upon to help control her crippling back pain, Shirley Dorsey committed suicide. She saw it as the only way to prevent the forfeiture of their home and property. Click here to read her tragic suicide note.
Well, how about "growing"? But maybe that's just my useless English degree talking.
Are you a black jazz musician who wants to sleep with my innocent white daughter?
I push peace!
"Dope" is an ignorant dysphemism! as are "pot" and "weed."
You are certainly not conserving that which the founding fathers erected if
you ignorantly believe that an herb given by God to man and beast alike at the beginning of time and which has grown freely almost everywhere,
including here long before our nation was formed, is permissibly eradicable or controllable by the federal government through powers granted by the
interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. It is surely an impossible task to devise a logical explanation of how this could be true. In light of
the rest of the Constitution any such perceived mandate dissolves.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Preamble: ...secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity...
Amendment V: nor shall (anyone) be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the PEOPLE.
Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the PEOPLE.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
Nowhere in the Constitution is it enumerated what one may put into ones body. Therefore, that right is reserved for the states or the people. However,
since God has already specified in the Bible what one may consume, it is, in fact, the People’s God given right.
Ephesians 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers
of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places.
So, conserve the status quo rather than restoring a free Republic, but don't be deluded that you are conservative.
Liberty is a natural state.
Fascism is a cult in which
the state replaces God as
omniscient & omnipotent
parent and punisher of sin.
God didn't hand you a narcotic like it was a blessed event. What a crock...
The government of the people represented by all the Constitutional laws you keep screwing up created a body that investigates what is safe and not.
It was determined aspirin is OK over the counter.
Ibuprofen is another recent addition, but NEVER has pot been considered that stable for over-the-counter consumption.
The fact it is smoked alone gives it the quickest route to your blood and brain you could have.
The people who say which drugs need prescriptions and such have said that pot is a bad thing. It is allowed reasonably in areas for the dying, but a recreational user is one of the lowest forms of life that is only surpassed by a person trying to validate it's recreational use to others on conservative web sites.
Coming into the world naked in birth is a natural state, Freedom and Liberty has been and continues to be earned and are not at all natural states.
I don't care what you think Fascism is, but it isn't a cult, it is closer to a dictatorship whether it is Hitler or whoever.
But the Libertarians are a cult. Cults worship obscure odd and dangerous things. They are at odds with common society in their views.
The Libertarians exactly do that regarding illegal drugs, killing babies before birth and wanting open borders for terrorists and illegal to hopscotch to and throu...
The fact that the ACLU and the libertarians often find themselves backing the same cause should ring some common sense to you somewhere along your life. They are not conservative, and no conservative pursues illegal recreational drugs, we go after self improvement, education and being the best we can be.
We don't try to be the most medicated we can be like those that favor pot on these pot threads. It isn't conservative at all to back pot.
Also like gays, libertarians seem to have a pride in their odd positions and especially also seem to like knocking traditional values and God. No wonder libertarians and gays have so many positions in common.
"The people who say which drugs need prescriptions and such have said that pot is a bad thing."
Yes, the unelected oligarchy of cutters and poisoners.
There is an air of absolutism and elitist fascism running rampant in the health care profession today. The puritanical dictates of this profession are a threat to the liberty and security of our nation. These issues are far more important than the possible health risks of an herb. They pander to parental fears in an attempt to adopt us all as children of a nanny state. All hail the oligarchy of the doctors, we want to be enslaved by paying top dollar for scripts for the elderly while paying debt service on the money we have to borrow to buy these drugs, even though we know there will not be a dime left for us when we get old. Meantime, the oligarchy will dictate what one may ingest, regardless of what one’s religious faith or the Constitution has to say on the matter.
"God didn't hand you a narcotic like it was a blessed event."
But, you are the one believing your war on this herb is blessed. Is it not a holy war of purification through eradication and reprogramming through incarceration?
Romans 14: 2 For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.
3 Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.
Put me in chains and my soul will still be at liberty.
I guess I should have said liberty is a gift from God.
Fascism is state elevated to god in a godless state,
revered and even worshipped above God, rather than under.
It is when men surrender their personal sovereignty to
to some group think which most often manifests a dictator.
The only thing that would be a bigger failure would to stop fighting the War On Drugs...wait, I take that back.
The only thing that would be a bigger failure would be your average doper...
"I am the Lord thy God, thou shall not have strange gods before Me"
This including the false god of recreational illegal drugs.
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