Breaking News:Dangerous Delays: What Washington State (Re)Teaches Us About Cash and Cannabis Store Robberies [REPORT]

sicntired

History

Member for
15 years 45 weeks

Stories by sicntired


It could be a lot worse

Sometimes I get so frustrated at the way the governments,federal and provincial(state in US)are poking their noses into every thing we do and say.We live in a world that is increasingly more contro


Insite under attack once again

Vancouver's safe injection site is under attack again from the same source as always, the federal government. You would think these guys would learn.

unwarranted entry by fire dept must stop,BC courts

UP IN SMOKE read the headline in the Vancouver Province Newspaper today,Friday,May 21,2010.Court strikes down program that allowed fire officials to enter homes without warrants to shut down grow ops,

Oxycontin to heroin and spread the gang culture around

Word from the pharmaceutical industry yesterday was that in response to complaints that there was too much abuse going on with the drug Oxycontin,the drug would be altered so that it would be harder t

Who says there's no money in pharmaceutical marijuana?

As anyone who has been reading my blogs will know,I have a spinal condition that leaves me in considerable pain and have a 40 year history of large scale heroin trafficking and use or abuse,as it were

ALMOST 50 YEARS OF LIES AND BURIED FACTS

I was at the drug store the other day,picking up my weekly legalized drugs and ran into an old friend I hadn't seen for a few years.We had been the friends of another friend and had never actually bee

thank goodness for small favors

just when it looked like we were in for a fight on several really awful fronts our cowardly prime minister feeling the heat from a prisoner exchange scandal that just may have cost him his pet defense

What ever happened to Marc Emery???

Article appearing :www.straight.com under the heading:Upbeat Emery on way to jail.I was going to quote from the article but you might as well just look it up for yourself.Emery is still Emery and read

Heroin trials to begin in Vancouver,No out of towners need apply

I read a tiny article in one of the local free daily papers that alluded to a heroin trial that is to begin in town soon.If I don't get on this one I'm taking a hostage.I have the medical need and all

Credit where none is due

Police,responding to a report of a possible home invasion arrived to find the front door open.Inside they found two men who had nothing much to say and they also spotted a quantity of ecstasy pills an

Marc Emery free on bail

Vancouver,Sunday,Dec.6,2009 Marc Emery,long time marijuana legalization campaigner and recently jailed for extradition to the US for the so called crime of selling marijuana seeds appeared on The Sta

A burger with bullets

Last night I was sitting at my computer playing a little on line poker when I thought I heard three rapid shots.After about 10 minutes the police arrived with lights but no sirens and were met with th

BC bans anyone with out of province warrants from welfare rolls

The opposition released information today that the Provincial Liberal(super conservative)government plans to introduce legislation that would ban anyone with a criminal warrant from collecting social

Fishing ain't what it used to be

A man fishing near the Port Mann bridge caught hold of what must have felt like a very heavy but sluggish fish.After what must have been a mighty battle he wrestled his prize to shore.To what must hav

Homeless just can't stand the attention

Canada's poorest postal code,also known as the down town east side is home to a variety of people from all across the country.Most arrive here with little money and no idea where to go and a lot wind

Gangs,violence,media,the Olympics and new leadership.Vancouver waits for new direction??

It looks like the Vancouver (Metro)police have taken to the media in their fight against the gang war resulting from drug war policies.The deaths from gang violence have resumed in full if they ever s

Marijuana used for methadone withdrawal in Vancouver program

A new program based in Vancouver,B.C.

For those that have asked about pain

As any of you that have followed my rantings on STDW for any length of time know, I have a serious medical issue with my spine and a long history of drug abuse.I have been suffering with uncontrolled

down to three

After the Willingdon location was so soundly trashed by residents who threatened to make it the sole election issue,causing the government to dodge imminent defeat by scrubbing plans for the location,

Jackson death creates witch hunt

Of all the flak that's been stirred up by the recent death of M.J.,the king of pop,the scariest is the dea's searching for doctors that prescribed various pain medications.As a person taking large dos

Mac attack

I was playing poker about a week ago and after about 8 beers and half a mickey of rum I whacked the computer table after losing with a boat to a straight flush.It was about the 15th such hand in the s

the meth myth

there's nothing being reported as gangland killings so I just thought I'd mention what I know about this new drug.I first came across crystal meth on what was called chemical row,which was 7th ave.Eas

Out of the silence

I don't know if anyone ever reads this stuff but you may have noticed I haven't posted in a while.After the arrests of the Bacon brothers and several UN gang members and the crew that worked my area,t

several gangsters with 69 charges

Back in my day it was a regular thing to read about 176 people up on 200 charges and this happened every three months or so.The RCMP would run one,Vancouver would run one various local forces ran them

Bullets for ballots

Sounds like Iran/Contra but without the CIA.I sent the article to Dave but you may have to google[24hrsWed April,2009]It shows the Canadian and provincial action plan for dealing with a gang problem.T

5 blocks from here

Vancouver police are cleaning up the third homicide since the "Huge"gang arrests that was the beginning of the end of the gang war.I have found that SFU criminology dept criminologists have a realisti

It's all over(criminologist from UFV)

That was the statement made by long time police spokesperson and criminologist Daryl Plecas just before several top gangsters were arrested on Friday.It took till 11pm for the first shot in the war to

Like America,Canada is throwing the book out the window in an attempt to be gangbusters

Citing the name of Al Capone himself,Canadian police and revenue Canada have announced plans to use the tax man to try to seize property and arrest gangsters for tax evasion.I have no idea who decides

17th gangland assisination may have been due to police press assault

Feeling the heat from their complete failure to make even one arrest in the spate of gangland killings the police have been using their trained mouth pieces to make all kinds of allegations and to pre

the 36th in one month

And the Premier wants a prison just for gang members.Where do these people do their research.In the 70's it was addicts that were segregated as it was felt it was spreading the plague to do otherwise.

Final count for3/4/'09 6

I wake up this morning and the shooting count is 6.The police still don't get it and the public is all over the place.Everybody is a vigilante in waiting and everyone knows the answer ,which is,of cou

First arrest!

The joint police braintrust(naw,it's too easy)known as IHit has made it's first arrest in the gang warfare that's gone on unabated for several years now with no arrests.After Canadian PM,Stephen Harpe

11 shootings in just over a week

Of course everyone has their opinion and the public want everybody fired,longer jail terms,more prisons etc.The most worrying thing in all of this is our new police chief.I was dumbfounded to see him

Threatdown

No,not Stephen Colbert,B.C.Premier Gordon(Gordo)Campbell.He took the 6 shootings and 4 deaths in a single week and did the same thing every politician has done since the inception of the gang life sty

Mrs.Capone,tell your boy to stop shooting in the streets

After the third hit in 24 hrs the police have gone public asking that gangsters parents tell their kids to stop shooting people in public.No one ever concedes the drug war is lost and that things are

shootings are escalating

We've had two open air mid day in crowded circumstances shootings and everyone is up in arms about stiffer sentences and the same songs I've been listening to my whole life.In my day a dirty spoon,nee

Meeting to ask residents what can be done to prevent shootings

Seems people are growing weary of the gang war and the related shootings and are holding a weekend meeting to solve it.The one thing I can guarantee you that they won't hear is that the longer drug pr

A little help please

I am working on a paper comparing the numbers of people dependent on anti depressants and other mood altering pharmaceuticals compared to the people dependent on so called illegal drugs.I need stats s

Thought for 2009

Why do we allow para-military swat teams to serve drug warrants on pot dealers with no violent crime on their record?Why are these raids,when botched causing innocent civilian deaths,are they not only

Canadian army cannot be trusted(military press report)

An article that appeared in the Metro newspapers Vancouver edition claimed that tests done on military vehicles(2)showed traces of narcotics and that the military was going to experience drug traffick

Gang war moves East

Two East Asian(Vietnamese)males were killed in a restaurant shooting in Calgary Alberta on New Years Day.In a move reticent of the recent gangland killings in Vancouver,Calgary police say they have a

A whole new way to rat

The state of Washington has come up with a youth angle on it's ever popular "rat for cash" program.You may now text message the crimestopper line and rat out the felon of your choice.Rewards for a con

It's finally over

I have finally been accepted into the St.Paul's pain clinic and have been sitting at the computer for hours without any pain.This is such a relief but it makes me all the more aware of how I have been

How many more?

Since my experience with the so called super virus and my following medical problems, I have received a number of e mails from people who find themselves in similar circumstances.I refer to the troubl

lifelong addict refused proper pain treatment because he might get addicted

Sounds kinda like a joke but it's all too true.Having a reference from a neurosurgeon counts for nothing in a Province so afraid of the word drug that they will probably try to wiki it out of existenc

Anti stigma group pt.2

The Vancouver anti stigma group held it's second meeting and they seem to have found a way to get some funding from somewhere as there are plans to create ads promoting better understanding between th

Obama or McCain

Until the selection of Joe Biden as his running mate there was some hope that Barack Obama would at the very least do no harm in the drug theater.Biden is poison to drug reform and to the whole drug i

My back yard

Every week day I bus it up to Oakridge shopping center and pick up my medication for my spinal condition.This is not about the 14 months I've been waiting for decent and humane treatment for the chron

B.C. pharmacists given prescribing powers by provincial government.

Perhaps I will now be able to get some benefit from my prescriptions as everyone but my doctor understands the two are contraindicated.It will also eliminate the need to see the doctor to renew the sa

Canada's NDP,here and then gone

I had been receiving mail from the NDP for over a year and always included a request for a stand on the war on drugs and marijuana legalization.Last week I was told that the party supported marijuana

Giuliani brings his special breed of fascism to Vancouver

The first target on his list was Insite.Being a hard core prohibitionist he jumped right on the enabling thing and rejected completely the research that proved that was a lie.Facts mean nothing to a m

Lies and poor bashing,it's election time again

Vancouver Mayoral hopeful Peter Ladner was all over the news today telling anyone who had a microphone that the street market that appears each evening on the DTES is a market for stolen property.Mr.L

Drug courts show their true colors

Vancouver introduced it's first clone of Gulianni's infamous drug court with much fan fare and lots of speeches and politicians there for photo ops.The first thing I noticed was that to qualify for di

The great American Meth myth

I have been around the planet for a lot of years.I was one of the so called hippies of the 1960's that supposedly lived free and drugged daily.I won't even mention the sex except to say that it was be

$600,000 dollar government theft and more Tory mudslinging

A man who had the bad judgment to grow marijuana on his own property,lost that property to a voracious crown with an appetite for easy money.Since the passing of the assets forfeiture act,the governme

Secret agents

CBC Newsworld did a story tonite about undercover cops and the things they can do to make an arrest.Canadian law enforcement uses American DEA agents because they are allowed to do whatever it takes t

Dead at 22

When a 22 year old Surrey youth left a drug house with a supply of drugs he had no idea that his life was about to be taken from him for the crime of possession of said drugs.The RCMP,who had the hous

Blaming the Taliban

Once again an American drug interdiction"expert" has informed the Canadian media that the Taliban grow fat on opium production .This may well be true now that the NATO forces have allowed the problem

Gang hit 12,arrests 0

Vancouver experienced it's 12 gang hit yesterday.The victim was one of those wounded in the earlier Fortune Happiness hit.As he was evidently the target in the earlier shootings,the shooters were just

Meeting,Vancouver,stigma and addiction,how to deal with it.

As the meeting was posted for RSVP by the 21st and I didn't find out about it till the 25th I thought I'd have to drop in.I had the 26th in my head and wound up doing a walking tour of the DTES on Sa

bupenorphine,another great white(powder)hope

Several months ago I read an article about how this drug was the best hope for drug addicts to come down the pike in years.Now,I can recall the exact same things being said about methadone so I was no

gang or no gang

The shooting of a 20 year old U-Vic psych student on saturday was being lamented by family and friends as a mistake,as the boy was popular and had no gang connections or drug history.That turned out t

Vandu celebrates it's 10th

The Vancouver area network of drug users celebrated it's 10th anniversary on Saturday,July 19,'08.The week started out with co founder and media spokesperson Ann Livingston having to deal with another

Vancouver Province newspaper,bastion of intolerance

The Vancouver Province newspaper was a champion of the drug reform movement just a few years ago when now senator Larry Campbell was mayor and the left had a majority on city hall.In the last several

Police chief,15 others die in rash of shootings in Mexico

Gunmen killed 16 people,including a police chief,in a spate of separate shootings across Mexico,which is grappling with a spike in drug violence,local officials said Thursday.This article appeared in

AK74

The things you learn on this site.I had never heard of the AK74 or Kalakov before.Now I find they're trading them for heroin on the Afghan border.The commercial prospects of this drug war never cease

Drug Czar site

I was reading one of Scotts blogs and it contained a link to the drug czar's home site.Did you know that marijuana was addictive?The site has a list of articles that are written by a whole slew of res

No drug war for the wealthy

When was the last time we saw a celebrity busted for drugs?Lots of trips to rehab and lots of talk in public about their drug problems but it's very rare that a celebrity or politician or the ceo of a

Conservative BS

The Canadian government of Stephen Harper are always first out of the blocks whenever there's any talk of getting tough on crime.No one is quite sure what getting tough means but that's never stopped

They'll stop at nothing

The Vancouver police are showing a video of a supposed "chronic offender" they claim turned himself in to them wanting to go to prison for a long time so he could get proper drug treatment.The police

How to entrap a crack addict

For at least the last 15 years police in B.C.

Uh-Huh

Vancouver has a new police chief.In a speech recorded by BCTV he can be seen saying that some addicts have said that they were grateful for federal sentences because it helped them with their addictio

Get your Marc Emery warning here.

Too much doom and gloom ,weather wise,has the prince of pot down in the dumps today.In a press release,the first in months(could there be something else on his mind?)Canada's Marc Emery says the weath

CAST,a bad idea but at least an idea

Vancouver has turfed it's controversial and often arrogant Mayor for the November election.In a surprise runoff for the candidacy of the NPA's leader,Peter Ladner has defeated Sam Sullivan.As a city c

Terrorism used as Excuse For Searching Employees

For the second time in two years the RCMP have made arrests at Trudeau airport in Mo ntreal,for drug smuggling.The crew hired to load and unload food supplies from the planes have been busted for smug

Another Big Drug Bust.

Yesterday,I was telling my significant other that there was a big bust happening soon.I was reading an article about all the drugs that had been found hidden in well concealed compartments in vehicles

Never say no to Quebec

This has been the motto of every governing party since I was born.If Quebec wants a safe injection site it wouldn't surprise me to see the Harper neocons do a 180.The only thing they believe in more t

Good things could happen

The Alter Net news today reported that America was ready for legalized marijuana.Sounded pretty good to me until I opened my daily paper and saw an article by one Alan Ferguson saying that in spite of

Lock-Step

Once again the local media(all owned by Izzy Asper and Family)have climbed right on board in support of the federal government and the absolute prohibition of drugs and the abhorrence of all things ha

Fastest Appeal in Political History

It was only yesterday that the B.C.

7-4-31

Metro Vancouver's new homicide unit,put together in response to the large number of gangland murders has released it's figures for the period since it's inception.They have 31 murders on their plate a

Government Monopoly Enforced by Terror

I was reading an alert on the New Mexico MM law and it's troubles with production and distribution.It reminded me of Canada's MM law which has been in effect for quite some time.Here,the government ha

They Don't Make Heros Like They Used To

If anyone watched America's most wanted on Saturday you saw them award the top hero of the year.This was a SWAT team leader who smashed the window in a 65 year old mentally unstable woman's home in a

UN Gang Leader arrested in Texas

The leader of what is supposed to be the most violent and aggressive gang in the Lower Mainland was picked up on a warrant in Texas,yesterday.There is supposed to be a warrant waiting in Seattle for t

Legalized theft inc.

In an article in Wednesday's Province newspaper the government bragged about the $293,200 piece of property they'd just "confiscated"from two men that were growing marijuana on the property.The articl

Feds ignore safe injection site in new announcement

The Harper government made an announcement yesterday,promising 10 million dollars for drug treatment but were once again silent on the fate of Vancouver's safe injection site(Insite).The desks at heal

Ruling doesn't apply

The Canadian Supreme court recently ruled on the legality of drug sniffing dogs in schools.The ruling said that the use had to be restricted to cases in which evidence of a crime was in play.In the Pr

In Wattsville we don't sweat little things(like the constitution)

When a private citizen,Darryl Plecas,decided he could no longer stand by and listen to statistics on grow -ops.He went to work on what everyone had been saying was an intrusion and a loss of personal

3 dead 2 wounded

It's been quite the weekend in Metro Vancouver.There was a killing and a wounding on Thursday outside a strip club in the downtown core .Police say it was a gang shooting.On Friday a man driving in Bu

Anything but people

I went to a meeting today of the B.C.Mental Health and Addictions Research Network.The meeting started off with the narrator stating how important the data was to the researchers and how important it

Government still clinging to dogma and rejecting science on Insite

The story in the paper today was that doctors at UBC(university of British Columbia)had written the Prime Minister in support of the renewal of the exemption required to keep the only safe injection s

Free judiciary

Here in Canada we have a free and independent Judiciary that is appointed by members of the bar and they serve till they retire.Recent decisions by the courts have sent a message to the police that th

If the police do it in public,is it still murder?

No,this isn't about another police assassination although there are plenty of those.This is a case of two criminals that robbed their drug dealer and were unlucky enough to get caught.I imagine the co

Another contender for the Marie Antoinette award

On 420 between 6 and 12 thousand people gathered in front of the Vancouver art gallery and smoked some dope and had an all out mellow time.As has been traditional,the cops stayed away and there was no

TV's judge Mathis does a rant over student deferments over pot possession

Never one to hold his tongue Mathis was speaking to a woman about her difficulties with supported housing and the stupid rules and hoops she had to jump.He couldn't help but to bring up the plight of

A dubious honor

The Vancouver city police announced,today,that the city is number one in bank robberies committed.This will come as no surprise to any one that's been on the inside of the drug scene in the city in th

Hollywood prohibitionists fight back with DEA

Has anyone else noticed the direction that television has taken in it's presenting of the drug war?On the one side is the reform movement and shows like The Wire with it's jury nullification and The S

INSITE passes federal government panel inquiry.

The only safe injection site in North America has finally been given a passing grade by a panel formed by the federal government to look into the sites value to the community and whether or not it enc

Gangsters from every where zoning in on Vancouver(RCMP)

The city government just announced a 10 million dollar face lift for the infamous DTES that has housing advocates howling.The RCMP is now telling any one who'll listen that it's too easy for foreign c

What's the game?

It would seem that while the world is trying to arrest every drug user and end drug use the medical establishment is giving drugs to children as young as two years old.These are powerful and often unt

Drug War Issues

Criminal JusticeAsset Forfeiture, Collateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Court Rulings, Drug Courts, Due Process, Felony Disenfranchisement, Incarceration, Policing (2011 Drug War Killings, 2012 Drug War Killings, 2013 Drug War Killings, 2014 Drug War Killings, 2015 Drug War Killings, 2016 Drug War Killings, 2017 Drug War Killings, Arrests, Eradication, Informants, Interdiction, Lowest Priority Policies, Police Corruption, Police Raids, Profiling, Search and Seizure, SWAT/Paramilitarization, Task Forces, Undercover Work), Probation or Parole, Prosecution, Reentry/Rehabilitation, Sentencing (Alternatives to Incarceration, Clemency and Pardon, Crack/Powder Cocaine Disparity, Death Penalty, Decriminalization, Defelonization, Drug Free Zones, Mandatory Minimums, Rockefeller Drug Laws, Sentencing Guidelines)CultureArt, Celebrities, Counter-Culture, Music, Poetry/Literature, Television, TheaterDrug UseParaphernalia, Vaping, ViolenceIntersecting IssuesCollateral Sanctions (College Aid, Drug Taxes, Housing, Welfare), Violence, Border, Budgets/Taxes/Economics, Business, Civil Rights, Driving, Economics, Education (College Aid), Employment, Environment, Families, Free Speech, Gun Policy, Human Rights, Immigration, Militarization, Money Laundering, Pregnancy, Privacy (Search and Seizure, Drug Testing), Race, Religion, Science, Sports, Women's IssuesMarijuana PolicyGateway Theory, Hemp, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Marijuana Industry, Medical MarijuanaMedicineMedical Marijuana, Science of Drugs, Under-treatment of PainPublic HealthAddiction, Addiction Treatment (Science of Drugs), Drug Education, Drug Prevention, Drug-Related AIDS/HIV or Hepatitis C, Harm Reduction (Methadone & Other Opiate Maintenance, Needle Exchange, Overdose Prevention, Pill Testing, Safer Injection Sites)Source and Transit CountriesAndean Drug War, Coca, Hashish, Mexican Drug War, Opium ProductionSpecific DrugsAlcohol, Ayahuasca, Cocaine (Crack Cocaine), Ecstasy, Heroin, Ibogaine, ketamine, Khat, Kratom, Marijuana (Gateway Theory, Marijuana -- Personal Use, Medical Marijuana, Hashish), Methamphetamine, New Synthetic Drugs (Synthetic Cannabinoids, Synthetic Stimulants), Nicotine, Prescription Opiates (Fentanyl, Oxycontin), Psilocybin / Magic Mushrooms, Psychedelics (LSD, Mescaline, Peyote, Salvia Divinorum)YouthGrade School, Post-Secondary School, Raves, Secondary School