New Blog Policy

After considerable consideration, I have decided that I will no longer publish other people's columns on this blog.

I will however point to a column from time to time in the same way that I point to a news story.

This evening, for example, I would encourage you to read Justice Wallace Craig's excellent piece published today in the North Shore News.

It is about holding politicians and police accountable, and it comes from a particularly informed and thoughtful position.

Where there is smoke...

A friend has breast cancer.

She is taking the usual round of radiation and chemo.

The chemo makes her sick.

Two bites of a marijuana cookie and the nausea is gone.

I have absolutely no problem with that.

Marijuana, in this case, is an analgesic, as legitimate at ASA, morphine, codeine or any other pain reliever.

I smoked marijuana when I was a young man. Lots of marijuana. It was great fun. I danced and laughed and indulged my senses.

I stopped using alcohol and drugs when I was 26. Just flat stopped.

Today, I might have a small glass of wine with dinner once a month.

But...

I am not cruising around a drug dealing house in my car filled with bags of dope, ready for the sale.

This was the circumstance in a recent case now thrown out of court.

Selling marijuana is against the law. It is also a huge industry. It is also violent and volatile and dangerous to the participants and to innocent citizens who happen to be nearby.

So the Delta police stop this guy because he is cruising, etc and they smell what seems like pot and they search the car and Bingo!

But, no. No, says the Provincial Court judge - accent on Provincial.

What the Delta police did was conduct an illegal search based on a "hunch."

And what the judge did was safeguard the dope dealer's rights of privacy.

No consideration, of course, for my right to live in a drug and violence-free community.

The courts in general have ruled, we learn, that just because a cop smells pot smoke, that doesn't mean there's anything illegal going on here.

Look, kids...

I smell pot smoke walking down the street at least once a week.

I don't care if little Benny and June College student want to get wacked this afternoon. Good luck to them.

But I care A LOT if Donny Dealer wants to set up shop next door to me. I care if guns are blazing in the night. We are talking here about big money, big, illegal money and the grief that follows.

The courts continue to be an ass.

The courts continue to NOT reflect the sentiments of the community.

The courts continue to make of justice a vaudeville.

For shame.

Crazy to Kill?

The Greyhoud Headchopper stabbed a total stranger numerous times, cut off his head and then cannibalized him.

Charge? Second degree murder.

What kind of knife are you carrying at this moment? How big is it?

The killer came on the bus pre-armed. Mayhem was his script.

This was premeditation and calls for first degree murder.

Now, the psychiatrists and psychologists will salivate all over him and release their scholarly findings.

But ordinary citizens, armed with common sense and single syllable words, understand the reality here, even if the professionals and the courts do not.

Life without parole, ever. 'Bye Bye.