December 2015 Sean William Doak pleaded guilty to conspiracy in a cross border drug trafficking ring. CBC is reporting that he has now been sentenced to seven years in a US prison and that "The court heard that the MDMA and marijuana were transported from Canada to the United States, while cocaine was picked up in California and taken into Canada." The exact same MO in three similar rings tied directly to the Hells Angels.
In this ring Sean Doak was considered the "Kingpin" of the organization just like Rob Shannon was in the other one directly tied to the Hells Angels. December 2015 Castanet reported that investigators claimed Sean Doak's cross border drug ring was run by Colin Hugh Martin who CBC reported was ordered extradited back in 2014. As we know Colin Martin was a Canadian drug smuggler who reported other operations to the DEA in exchange for being allowed to continue his own operation. Speaking of the Walrus, no word on when Randy Jones and his brother Trevor will be extradited. Lose the Surrey Girls G. They don't make the cut. Eggheads.
In the ongoing and ever continuing divorce from reality, society often attempts to state that marijuana has no negative effects and is even better for a person than alcohol (among other ludicrous unfounded statements).
ReplyDeleteThe new Canadian (should it just be Canuckistani?) government "vows" to legalize marijuana.
I am sure a very small number of very vocal individuals (just like in "gun control") who have a personal agenda regarding marijuana are bemoaning any conviction for the above story.
Yet, they are completely ignorant of the truth.
For example, in helping a student with her paper on Schizophrenia today (she wanted to write on "paranoid schizophrenia", which the DSM-V has changed the diagnosis of schizophrenia and the sub-categories are no more - there is only "schizophrenia" now (and the criterion for diagnosis has become more thorough). In finding her some resources to start her research I gave her a copy of the Royal College of Psychiatrists leaflet on Schizophrenia and it has a very interesting section regarding the use of marijuana and the development of diagnosable schizophrenia!
It states, "Drugs and alcohol
Sometimes, street drugs seem to bring on schizophrenia.
Amphetamines can give you psychotic symptoms, but they usually stop when you stop taking the amphetamines. We don’t yet know whether these drugs, on their own, can trigger off a long-term illness, but they may do if you are vulnerable. "
Contrast this with the following section on cannabis:
"Cannabis
The heavy use of cannabis seems to double the risk of developing schizophrenia. New research has shown that the stronger forms of cannabis, such as skunk, may increase this risk.
It’s more likely if you start using cannabis in your early teens.
If you have smoked it frequently (more than 50 times) during your teens, the effect is even stronger – you are 6 times more likely to develop schizophrenia."
Note the wording of "heavy use" as contrasted with "frequent".
Frequent is the term for more usage of the drug than "heavy use" is considered to be. Yet, "frequent" use is defined as "more than 50 times in your teens".
Consider a 16 year old starting to use "pot" - it takes 4 years to complete the teen years portion of their life at that point. If they use "pot" 50 or more times within that 4 years it is slated under the "frequent use" category (6 times more likely to develop schizophrenia).
Yes, that 50 individual times in smoking "pot" could easily be done over a summer for many North American youth - especially those in Canada, which I suspect have an higher usage rate than in the USA (but I could be wrong as I have not seen any research, I am just going by cultural norms and acceptances which seem to be prevalent).
So, if 50 times is considered "frequent" and can cause 6 times more likely chance of developing schizophrenia, how little is "heavy use" that only doubles the likelihood of developing schizophrenia?
A rather sobering bit of evidence, I would say.
(http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/healthadvice/problemsdisorders/schizophrenia.aspx)
Interesting. A blog reader was corresponding with me a while ago and expressed some concerns about his paranoia and asked me if it could be because he smoked too much pot. I said I highly doubt it because pot doesn't make you paranoid like other drugs. Seemingly his GF said it was because the new BC Bud is more powerful and one of the side effects of chronic use is indeed paranoia. We know that adolescents shouldn't smoke pot because it adversely affects the development of their brain.
Deletehttp://www.leafscience.com/2014/03/07/study-explains-marijuana-makes-paranoid/
I cringed when you once said pot is a gateway drug. There are a lot of people in BC that smoke way too much pot but that's all they smoke. Then someone confronted you over the statement and you said oh really? What was the first drug you tried before you moved on to something else? I had to laugh because you did have a point.
The gateway drug is beer..... ;-)
DeleteThat's because some people drink yellow beer and it isn't as fulfilling as black beer :)
DeleteJust because something does not appear to have immediate harmful effects does not mean the harm is either not cumulative or subtle or even hidden for a time.
ReplyDeleteEverything has a purpose (cocaine was developed for eye surgery, for instance, hemp for rope, etc) - it is when it is misused it becomes a problem.
I can only hope that blog reader has stopped drug use and has taken the time to actually seek help - I would suggest (just like it may take going from medical doctor to medical doctor) anyone who is experiencing cognitive and/or emotional issues to find a psychiatrist who is knowledgeable and takes time to ensure the proper treatment is followed.
For instance, one psychiatrist I know who is in his late 30's/early 40's told me his older colleagues do not know how to prescribe Ritalin - they always over prescribe it and it severely effects the cognitive functioning of the patient.
Now, if that is a Dr. of Psychiatry, specifically trained to prescribe, diagnose and follow-up with psychotropic drugs that does not know what they are doing, how much more over and improper dosing is done by GP's (General Practitioners) with the latter being the most common, I believe, prescribers of psychotropic drugs?!
Then you have Trudeau and his liberal Liberals who want to legalize this drug for recreational use?!
Indeed. Sadly they were elected on that promise. I much rather see decriminalization than legalization myself.
DeleteLegalization of it means it can be taxed and games rules established about where it can be purchased and how, etc. There fore I'm in favour of legalization of weed.
ReplyDeleteWeed has been in fairly wide use in North American and other European countries since at least the 1970s. We're still doing fine, the world has not gone to hell in a hand basket, profits continue to be made, etc. Those who "abuse" weed would have found something else to "abuse" were it not weed, booze springs to mind.
When you look at the Temperance Movement and read its history, a lot had to do with the abuse of families by the male drunks who headed these families. Consumption of booze in the U.S.A,. was in the gallons every year, per capita. When they finally got booze "abolished" we have the rise of the American Mob. I am hoping with the legalization of weed, we may see the decline of some criminal organizations. It takes the profit out of it.
People who move on to other drugs are simply looking for a bigger and better high. If there hadn't been another drug, they simply would have consumed more of what they were on.
An interesting article recently about how Canada could become to weed what France is to wine. Makes sense and normalizes it. Any thing taken to extreme can be bad for you, now pass over the bon bons.
I agree there is a huge difference between pot and crack but I do not agree that it makes sense to "normalize" it. When I was a kid if someone smoked pot every day we called them a stoner. Now they call them activists. Something has gone very wrong with society. Making stoners normal just isn't right. Drinking a glas of wine with dinner is very different than getting wasted.
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