Tax dollars paying for free Heroin

I know I shouldn’t say I told ya so but I did. Freddy recently announced that he knows a guy getting free heroin from the Vancouver not so safe injection site. He then posts a link to a CBC article confirming the “pilot” project back in 2005. This is insane. Any medical doctor that prescribes heroin should lose his medical license. Giving people rat poison is not in their best interest. Are we going to buy people free aftershave to drink? This program does exactly that.

Right from the get go my whole concern with this unsafe injection site was the give an inch take a mile extremism that permeates these crazed lobbyists. Some want to turn the safe injection site into a safe inhalation site where they can smoke crack at the taxpayers’ expense. That is absurd.

People can argue that addicts will shoot up regardless so giving them a safe place to shoot up is better than having them shoot up in the alley. Wrong. Their numbers proves their plan failed. They want to build more unsafe injection sites. That means they are increasing the number of addicts not decreasing them.

People argue about the methadone program. Yet there are obvious flaws within that program. Increasing the dosages instead of decreasing the dosages is the primary ongoing concern. This program has become a cash cow for doctors and pharmacists alike. Any medical doctor claiming the program is an essential service is in a conflict of interest because they are making money off the program.

People claim the unsafe injection site saves lives. Wrong. It destroys lives. Out of 300 addicts it creates, they might save 12 from overdosing. They then claim they just saved 12 lives when in realty they just destroyed 300. Heroin is poison. It kills people slowly and destroys their brain.

The DTES is the epicenter of the Vancouver gang war and the unsafe injection site has become the root of the problem in the DTES. Using tax dollars to buy heroin is wrong. It is illegal and opens the floodgates to an absurd flurry of contradictions.

To start, if you are going to buy heroin with tax dollars to give to an addict, then who are you going to buy it from? You can’t grow it yourself so you are going to have to buy it from a drug dealer. So right there you not only committed an illegal act, you also used tax dollars to fund and support the biggest predator in East Vancouver that is preying on and exploiting the poor and mentally challenged. You are funding and fueling the gang war which is fighting over those profits. You are fueling the acceptance and tolerance of the drug dealers who torture and kill people for drug debts.

Once you buy heroin from a drug dealer for your tax funded perpetual pilot project, you can’t really turn around and arrest them for selling heroin. So you now create a tolerance area that is in violation with the law. This is the existing problem with needle exchanges and unsafe injection sites. As soon as you start handing out free needles you then let drug dealers sell drugs next door. This is a violation of the four pillars program. Needle exchanges are supposed to be exchanges. You hand in a used needle and get a new needle in return. Now they just hand them out like candy so the original problem of used needles turning up in schools, public places and on private property has increased exponentially.

At the Vancouver Occupy site a young girl died from a heroin over dose. Thankfully she was given a clean needle to kill herself with paid for with tax dollars. I realize the cost of needles is insignificant. Yet there are two concerns. One is the fact that the more needles we hand out, the more used needles get discarded in public. The other concern is that it sends the wrong message. Many of the people who have drug addictions are mentally challenged. The ones we kicked out of mental institutions we closed down to give Gordon Campbell and his cronies two big pay raises and a gold plated pension. Giving anyone especially someone who is mentally challenged a free needle or free crack pipe gives the impression that using it is OK. Well it must be OK, a “nurse” just gave it to me. This is the wrong message for us to give.

There are a huge number of problems this program has created. We have seen the results of this test. It has failed. There are more drug addicts on the street now than ever. If you want to see the Zombie Apocalypse, just walk down Main and Hastings on welfare night. These are human beings that we are turning into Zombies. What we are doing is wrong and it’s about time we woke up and took responsibility. This program is not the four pillars. This program is not the New York Model. I saw the New York Model. I saw it succeed. If we really care about these people we will give them homes not drugs and we will stop the cruel predators that are profiting from this nightmare.

A salute to Michael Green and the TBM

I’ve made references to the TBM Fresh Start group in Denmark before but I just wanted to reemphasize what a great work they are doing. TBM is Danish for Gang Members Fresh Start. These are former gang members who have left the lifestyle and want a fresh start on life. Michael Green is the public face of the group and there are many anonymous members. Obviously leaving the lifestyle can also be very dangerous. Keeping with the Men in Black theme I refer to him as the Pitbull of Scandinavia.

Michael made reference to the number of treatment centers that help people get off drugs or overcome gambling problems. He then asks where are the programs to help people leave the gang life? There aren’t any. That is where TBM Fresh Start comes in. This is his struggle in his own words translated roughly by Google translate. I tried to fix the translation errors but I’m not very good with languages. Just realize this guy is the real deal and he’s totally sincere. This is the Easter Redemption. Word.

~~

An old proverb says that all change is good, but the truth is something else, for there is something we humans really fear - change. Everything that can jeopardize our security makes us insecure, because it can not only change our daily lives, but also the rest of our life.

It’s the same for all the people who have lived the gang and biker life, for whether voluntarily or involuntarily leaving that environment, they will be forced to live with a new and completely different environment than they previously lived in.

Although all of the TBM has a different background and history of gang and biker life, there is no real big difference between us, we share what we fear most - change and that is what we now face. What before was normal and easy for us, is now a challenge and something difficult. We must adapt with everything, just to have a chance to start living a new life.

For me personally, every day is not only a challenge but a direct battle. It is the biggest challenge I've ever faced in my life, and the most important battle I’ll ever had to fight. 5 years ago I made my choice to leave the life I had lived for more than 20 years, which for me was as normal a life as it is for ordinary people who go to work 9 to 5, and each month get their salaries, which maintain their lifestyles.

I have not had a job since 1988, and my way of life and lifestyle were subsequently funded by the money I "made" until in 2006 the National bill sent me on an undeserved vacation, (Prison) but today I actually am happy it was assigned to me, because for the first time in my life I looked inward, and as did so I got the opportunity to change me.

No doubt without that holiday I would have lived the same life, and every day done the same thing without having to think about it or why I do that. Yet to be able to change something is the most important tool we have because it can only happen if we are motivated to do so. Without motivation we can’t accomplish anything. Although everything in my life before 2006 was much easier and less problematic, I would not swap it with the life I live now - in spite of every day I have to fight with everything that before did not exist in my life.

Whatever resistance I on my new road will meet or face - I shall deny myself that would lie down and give up - because I know I am the last to leave my struggle as the winner - maybe not a knock out, but with the guarantee of points.

Life has no meaning or value without goals, and for all of TBM it is the goal that life must have a new meaning and value, for otherwise this post had never been written. Contempt and judge us for the life we lived, but don’t punish us for the life we want to live side by side with you - because basically we would be just like to be like you - neither more nor less.

Michael Green

Spokesman, TBM

Canadian warship seizes 500 kilos of Heroin

Well this is somewhat ironic. Afghanistan is the largest heroin producing nation in the world. At least it was brought back to that status after the allied invasion. The Taliban had almost completely stopped the heroin production in Afghanistan the year before the invasion.

Yet the Department of National Defence says HMCS Toronto seized around 500 kilograms of heroin from a boat in the Indian Ocean on Friday. No doubt some of that could have ended up on Canadian streets. We have a freaking safe injection site for God’s sake where drug dealers sell it in public without consequence. Things that make ya go hmmm…

Edmonton Drugs and Shootings

Edmonton seems to be heating up as well. A double shooting in Edmonton left one dead last night. That’s their 5th murder for the New Year. No names have been released yet but Police say the shooting is also believed to be gang related. Two men were shot inside Mama's pizza at 28th avenue and Mill Woods Road around 10:30 pm Saturday night.

Saturday morning there was a shooting in the area of 108th Avenue and 111th Street. When police arrives, they found a male in is 20’s suffering from a gunshot wound. His injuries were serious but they are not considered life threatening. Last week a man known to the police was shot multiple times in southwest Edmonton.

Last week the Edmonton Drug and Gang Enforcement arrested and charged two suspects for drug trafficking. Search warrants were executed on two residences in the area of 165 Avenue and 56 Street, and at 113 Avenue and 122 Street on Friday, March 22, 2013 where guns, drug paraphernalia and 5.5 kilos of cocaine were seized. Roger Teixeira, 30 and Daniel Teixeira, 27, have been charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking as well as firearm offenses. Happy Easter. Someone must have forgot about the holiday.

Kim Bolan is also reporting that there was a triple shooting in Princeton, BC Saturday night which left two dead and one in serious condition. A suspect has already been apprehended.

The Easter Environment

This year I have an Easter message. This year it’s not religious. Last year I talked about the Christian meaning of Easter. One blog reader thought it was a nice fantasy : ) Actually, I think it’s nice to see people sport morals without religion. Those people aren’t doing good to get a reward. They’re doing it because they believe it’s the right thing to do.

I saw the weather forecast for sun all weekend and knew I had to seize the day. You don’t have to be religious to get out there and worship the sun or the big blue marble we live on. I snowshoed up Hollyburn ridge before dawn and caught the sunrise over the mountains. Then I broke the kayak out at Third Beach and caught the sunset. A perfect day. That’s what I love about this time of year. You still have melting snow on the mountains you can enjoy and you can also go sailing or kayaking the same weekend or if you’re energetic, the same day.

I really enjoy hiking and snowshoeing in the mountains. That is my holy land. My Easter pilgrimage. There’s nothing better than getting the heart beating and breathing all that fresh air. Stopping to look at a big tree in admiration. Breathing in the fresh oxygen the tree produces and breathing out the carbon dioxide the tree uses. We are interdependent. That was a term Martin Luther King used in reference to social justice. Today I’m using the term to emphasize how connected we really are to the environment we live in.

We breath that air. Polluting that air is like shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s very short sighted. Just as clear cutting a forest is. Preston Manning told the media that taking care of the environment is being fiscally responsible. Indeed it is. He also said that’s a tough sell among Harper’s people. Indeed that is. They can’t grasp the concept at all.

Being fiscally responsible means you don’t leave your kids an over burdensome debt. Likewise it means not trashing the planet so they can enjoy it too with their kids. It’s time we start really embracing words like sustainability. We’ve got to overcome the selfish greed of short sighted self destruction.

With the rise of the Green Party it’s clear that you don’t have to be an eco terrorist to care about the planet. No one likes to see a beach or alpine trail covered with litter. Trashing the environment shows a lack of self respect. We need to think about the air we breath and the water we drink. We need to be better stewards of this marvelous ecosystem that we are very much a part of.

This was today's Easter Pilgrimage:























Metro Vancouver should end garbage incineration: study

Hells Angel arrested for 22 murders

Frédéric Landry-Hétu, a member of the Hells Angels wanted for 22 counts of murder and one of Quebec’s 10 most wanted criminals has been arrested this morning. The arrest warrant was issued April of 2009 under Operation SharQ.

The charges stem from a secret vote in 1994 taken by the entire Quebec membership of the Hells Angels. The membership voted in favour of engaging in a bloody turf war with the Rock Machine and contributed a portion of their drug profits to a fund for killing rival drug dealers. Kinda like we are now seeing in BC.

Bacchus accused of smuggling drugs in Halifax jail

CTV is reporting that earlier this month, 14 people were arrested in Halifax, Truro and Cape Breton and 43 charges were laid following a probe into drug trafficking at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Halifax.

On Tuesday, RCMP issued a release saying it made another arrest on Monday evening as a result of its five-month probe of activities at the jail. Thirty-year-old David Bishop, a member of Bacchus MC, was arrested during a search of a residence on Chelmsford Street in Halifax.

He is facing charges of trafficking cocaine and steroids, possession of steroids, resisting arrest, unsafe storage of ammunition, possession of cannabis resin, two counts of possessing a prohibited weapon and one count of breaching court conditions.

Happy Easter Buttkiss. Say Hi to the three stooges in the dumb house crew this weekend. Cocaine and steroids. If those hillbillies had half a brain they’d be dangerous.

Pope washes prisoner’s feet

Wow. Contrary to popular belief, I am not Catholic. Although I do have a great respect for Mother Teresa and members of the Catholic faith. I am what the Irish refer to as a republican. I believe in a free republic and the freedom of religion.

Catholics aren’t the only ones that celebrate Maundy Thursday. Yet today’s news of the new Pope breaking with tradition and washing the feet of a female Muslim prisoner warms the heart. Humility isn’t something we see in leadership these days. It gives us something to think about.

Montreal Mob Murders

Last month two mob murders in Montreal are of interest. Vincenzo Scuderi, 49, was shot dead outside his home in Montreal's north end and Tony Callochia, 51, was shot several times outside a restaurant just north of the city.

Callochia, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2008 for cocaine trafficking, has alleged ties to Vincenzo Armeni, who is currently in prison, also for cocaine trafficking. Police say Armeni is tied to the Rizzuto crime family in Montreal.

Scuderi was killed outside his home in St. Leonard, the historic centre of Montreal's Italian community. He was reportedly connected to Raynald Desjardins, a major player in Montreal's organized crime circles who was once close to Mob boss Vito Rizzuto. Scuderi was the second close associate of Desjardins killed in the past several weeks; Gaetan Gosselin, 69, was killed on the street in Montreal on Jan 22.

"The current relationship between Desjardins and Rizzuto is unclear. Sources tell QMI Agency that the once-close relationship between the two men is likely over. Desjardins is currently awaiting trial for the murder of Salvatore Montagna, the former head of New York's Bonanno crime family. Montagna's body was pulled from a river north of Montreal at the end of 2011."

On that note, One of six men arrested in connection with the murder of mafioso Salvatore Montagna will see his charges upgraded to first-degree murder. The Sûreté du Québec announced Wednesday they rearrested Pietro Magistrale, 61, as part of the same investigation that saw him charged, in December 2011, with 19 counts related to four firearms seized during the investigation into Montagna’s Nov. 24, 2011, murder. Mob slayings rise after Rizzuto's return.

Surrey pepper spray shooting

There appears to be yet another shooting in Surrey but since it didn’t result in a fatality, isn’t making big news. CKNW is reporting that “Just before midnight, the victim walked into a convenience store on 104th Avenue and 131st Street. He grabbed a jug of milk, went outside and poured it all over himself.”

We know that people use milk to relieve the pain of being pepper sprayed and that was indeed the reason he claimed to have done it. So a guy gets pepper sprayed and shot, walks into a convenience store and pours milk on his eyes. Evidently the gunshot injury didn’t prevent him from walking. The Vancouver Province is reporting that it happened midnight last night / this morning.