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The420Guy
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GENEVA (CP) - A United Nations agency has criticized Canada for its lax
attitude toward illegal growers of cannabis and failure to control illicit
production of drugs such as "ice" and "ecstasy." In its annual report
released Tuesday night, the UN's International Narcotics Control Board says
Canadian courts have been handing down sentences to cannabis growers and
couriers that essentially amounted to just a slap on the wrist.
Canadian law enforcement agencies make a lot of effort to eradicate
cannabis, Herbert Schaepe, the board's secretary, said in an interview.
But people who illegally grow cannabis "get very, very low sentences and we
wonder whether that policy is a sufficient deterrent to get people not to
cultivate cannabis," he said.
The report singles out cannabis, the plant from which marijuana is derived,
as "the most common drug of abuse" in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
A major concern to law enforcement agencies in these countries is the spread
of hydroponically grown cannabis with a high content of THC, or
tetrahydrocannabinol.
While the United States has had successes in dealing with illicit cannabis,
the UN report notes that Canada's efforts had yielded only limited results.
In addition to being smuggled into the country on a large scale, cannabis is
also cultivated within Canada with annual production at about 800 tonnes -
60 per cent of which may be smuggled into the United States, the report
says.
British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec are among the places where cannabis
with a high THC content is grown indoors in Canada.
In British Columbia, the report says, illicit indoor growing of cannabis has
become "a widespread, lucrative undertaking."
Schaepe said B.C.'s attitude toward cannabis is "much more liberal" than
elsewhere in the country. The cannabis situation in the province "has become
a problem also in the United States, because there is trafficking of
cannabis from western parts of Canada to the United States," he said.
Next to cannabis, the report finds a disturbing increase in the production
and abuse of synthetic drugs in Canada.
The illicit manufacture of methamphetamine - or ice - has increased, it
says. In the past year, law enforcement agencies have uncovered a record
number of clandestine laboratories.
Some labs producing MDMA - or ecstasy - were found in middle-class suburban
neighbourhoods, especially in central Canada. "The laboratories were run by
people with no criminal records or connections," says the report.
"The board is not happy with the controls established in Canada," Schaepe
said.
"The Canadian government is not yet controlling, for example, one of the
main precursors of methamphetamine - ice."
"We are very concerned that big quantities of these precursors are being
exported into Canada and the Canadian government doesn't know where it is
going."
Precursors are substances used in the processing or manufacture of narcotic
drugs or psychotropic substances. Schaepe said the board doubts that all the
precursors exported to Canada are for legitimate medical purposes.
"There are no reasons for such big increases and we think that part of it
might go to clandestine laboratories primarily in the United States," he
said.
The board is calling on Canada to make greater efforts to comply with its
obligations, under the 1988 UN convention against illicit drugs, to prevent
"Canadian territory from being used to divert chemicals for the illicit
manufacture of drugs in other countries."
Earlier this month, police said an eight-month investigation culminated in
seven arrests and the seizure of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, handguns and
more than $100,000 in Canadian and U.S. money during searches of homes in
Toronto, Mississauga, Ont., Bolton, Ont., and Laval, Que.
The UN report says there has been an increase in the amount of cocaine and
heroin smuggled into Canada from countries such as Mexico. Last year,
Canadian law enforcement agencies intercepted 156 kilograms of heroin.
The Internet, says the report, is increasingly being used to spread
information on ways to make illicit drugs.
=A9 The Canadian Press, 2001
https://cbc.ca/cp/world/010220/w022075.html
LISA SCHLEIN
attitude toward illegal growers of cannabis and failure to control illicit
production of drugs such as "ice" and "ecstasy." In its annual report
released Tuesday night, the UN's International Narcotics Control Board says
Canadian courts have been handing down sentences to cannabis growers and
couriers that essentially amounted to just a slap on the wrist.
Canadian law enforcement agencies make a lot of effort to eradicate
cannabis, Herbert Schaepe, the board's secretary, said in an interview.
But people who illegally grow cannabis "get very, very low sentences and we
wonder whether that policy is a sufficient deterrent to get people not to
cultivate cannabis," he said.
The report singles out cannabis, the plant from which marijuana is derived,
as "the most common drug of abuse" in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
A major concern to law enforcement agencies in these countries is the spread
of hydroponically grown cannabis with a high content of THC, or
tetrahydrocannabinol.
While the United States has had successes in dealing with illicit cannabis,
the UN report notes that Canada's efforts had yielded only limited results.
In addition to being smuggled into the country on a large scale, cannabis is
also cultivated within Canada with annual production at about 800 tonnes -
60 per cent of which may be smuggled into the United States, the report
says.
British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec are among the places where cannabis
with a high THC content is grown indoors in Canada.
In British Columbia, the report says, illicit indoor growing of cannabis has
become "a widespread, lucrative undertaking."
Schaepe said B.C.'s attitude toward cannabis is "much more liberal" than
elsewhere in the country. The cannabis situation in the province "has become
a problem also in the United States, because there is trafficking of
cannabis from western parts of Canada to the United States," he said.
Next to cannabis, the report finds a disturbing increase in the production
and abuse of synthetic drugs in Canada.
The illicit manufacture of methamphetamine - or ice - has increased, it
says. In the past year, law enforcement agencies have uncovered a record
number of clandestine laboratories.
Some labs producing MDMA - or ecstasy - were found in middle-class suburban
neighbourhoods, especially in central Canada. "The laboratories were run by
people with no criminal records or connections," says the report.
"The board is not happy with the controls established in Canada," Schaepe
said.
"The Canadian government is not yet controlling, for example, one of the
main precursors of methamphetamine - ice."
"We are very concerned that big quantities of these precursors are being
exported into Canada and the Canadian government doesn't know where it is
going."
Precursors are substances used in the processing or manufacture of narcotic
drugs or psychotropic substances. Schaepe said the board doubts that all the
precursors exported to Canada are for legitimate medical purposes.
"There are no reasons for such big increases and we think that part of it
might go to clandestine laboratories primarily in the United States," he
said.
The board is calling on Canada to make greater efforts to comply with its
obligations, under the 1988 UN convention against illicit drugs, to prevent
"Canadian territory from being used to divert chemicals for the illicit
manufacture of drugs in other countries."
Earlier this month, police said an eight-month investigation culminated in
seven arrests and the seizure of cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy, handguns and
more than $100,000 in Canadian and U.S. money during searches of homes in
Toronto, Mississauga, Ont., Bolton, Ont., and Laval, Que.
The UN report says there has been an increase in the amount of cocaine and
heroin smuggled into Canada from countries such as Mexico. Last year,
Canadian law enforcement agencies intercepted 156 kilograms of heroin.
The Internet, says the report, is increasingly being used to spread
information on ways to make illicit drugs.
=A9 The Canadian Press, 2001
https://cbc.ca/cp/world/010220/w022075.html
LISA SCHLEIN
