cannabisnews.com: Police Say They are Powerless to Halt Seed Sales





Police Say They are Powerless to Halt Seed Sales
Posted by FoM on February 23, 2000 at 07:39:57 PT
By Steven Edwards, National Post
Source: National Post
United Nations - Vendors of cannabis seeds through Canadian Internet sites are so confident of being beyond the reach of the law they use their home pages to mock the authorities. "Let me help you overgrow the government," says the Web site of Vancouver-based Marc Emery Direct Marijuana Seeds, in business since 1994. 
H.D. Seeds, which has been "serving Canadians since 1997," shows a picture of the Houses of Parliament on its home page. The site likes to keep the accounting books in order, however. It warns that 7% will be added to each purchase to cover Canada's goods and services tax. Other sites glorify convicted drug traffickers. Stinky's Marihuana Seed Bank, for example, has named one its seed packages in honour of Howard Marks, described as "one of the biggest marijuana smugglers of our time." The package is called Mr. Nice, the title Mr. Marks chose for his 1996 autobiography, which he wrote after spending seven years in a U.S. penitentiary. Canadian-based Internet servers now host the world's largest number of Web sites selling cannabis seeds and the equipment required to grow the drug hydroponically, says the International Narcotics Control Board, a UN agency, in its 1999 annual report released today. Police say they are powerless --for the moment -- to knock the vendors off-line because Internet investigations are too complicated and costly to justify when compared with the relatively light sentences meted out by the courts. But the UN report warns that "indoor cultivation of very potent cannabis varieties is being promoted through" sales from the sites, especially in Western Canada and Quebec. What's more, much of the growing is conducted by organized crime groups, which are selling the drug in Canada and smuggling it into the United States. "We know it is a problem and we are working on a strategy to combat it," said Corporal Mike Dunbar, an RCMP drug enforcement officer based in Vancouver. "Just saying that a vendor supplied someone with 10 seeds won't get a lot in court. We have to show the entire extent of the business," he said. "But traditional investigative techniques can't be applied to the Internet. Sites can disappear overnight. Links can go on forever. Hosts may be in any country in the world." Investigators need to double as cyberspace experts. But assembling teams of such experts is costly, and the results limited, when measured in terms of years in jail for convicted traffickers. "Sentences are no deterrent and this frustrates us and the Americans," said Cpl. Dunbar. "It has been brought up at the political level." In Quebec, cannabis growers are earning the "nice price" of $3,000 (all figures US) a pound for their crop, explained Sergeant Gilles Michaud, a Montreal-based drug enforcement spokesman. "Its THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] level is so high that it is no longer a soft drug." Local motorcycle gangs, Hells Angels and Rock Machine --which have contacts with the Bandidos of Texas -- dominate trafficking in cannabis in Quebec, said Sgt. Michaud. A search of the Internet reveals thousands of sites selling cannabis seeds and growing equipment. They are too numerous to count, but an inordinate number appear to be in Canada. The Internet address www.cannabis.com/seedselect instantly produces a list of 15 "primary sites" -- seven based in Canada, six in the Netherlands and two in Britain. Payment is usually by cash or money order, though certified cheques are sometimes accepted. Prices range from about $100 to $300 for seed packages that will yield between 100 and 150 grams of marijuana. All sites visited by the National Post carried a disclaimer saying purchasers should check their local laws to see if they can legally buy the seeds. RELATED SITES:UN Drug Control Programmehttp://www.undcp.org/Alas, it's a little less up to date than the seed sites. You can still leaf through older versions of the World Drug Report.United Nations Treaties on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substanceshttp://www.un.org/Depts/Treaty/final/ts2/newfiles/frontboo/toc6.htmA century's worth of treaties reaching back to the International Opium Convention. You'll find texts for the three most influential treaties here. Controlled Drugs and Substances Acthttp://canada.justice.gc.ca/cgi-bin/folioisa.dll/estats.nfo/query=*/doc/{t30376}?Act C-38, passed by Parliament in 1996. Addiction Research Foundationhttp://www.arf.org/Home page for the well-respected institute based in Toronto.Office of Alcohol, Drugs and Dependency Issueshttp://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/alcohol-otherdrugs/publications.htmA series of publications outlining Canada's drug policies and strategies. You'll need a PDF reader for some of the longer documents.Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Networkhttp://www.aidslaw.ca/elements/DrugsummE.htmlAn impassioned argument for changing Canada's drug policy.RCMPhttp://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/frames/rcmp-grc1.htmCanada's chief drug enforcement agency.Busted: America's war on marijuanahttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/dope/A large, level-headed PBS special.CANNABIS SEED SITES:Cannabis.comhttp://www.cannabis.com/The straight dope on dope. The seed selection area lists the many Canadian marijuana seed sites.Marc Emergy Direct Marijuana Seedshttp://www.emeryseeds.com/Promises to "help you overgrow the government."H.D. Seedshttp://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/7209/Features Parliament prominently on the home page.Stinky's marihuana seed bankhttp://www.freeyellow.com/members3/stinkyseeds/index.htmlStrains named after legendary pot-smugglers.Wednesday, February 23, 2000Copyright © Southam Inc. "National Post Online is a production of Southam Inc.
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Comment #6 posted by blueberry kid on February 24, 2000 at 13:02:38 PT:
soft drugs
"Its THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] level is so high that it is no longer a soft drug."who died?
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Comment #5 posted by yugo on February 24, 2000 at 00:15:52 PT
not soft
"Its THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] level is so high that it is no longer a soft drug."Tragicly the sheeple will buy what their supposed benevolent Big Brother tells them i fear
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on February 23, 2000 at 21:32:11 PT
Narcotics Board Warns of Growing Illicit Drug Use 
I tried to figure out how to post this in Cannabis News but couldn't figure out how so since it is related to the above article I put the link here. It is worth reading. I hope it works right!United Nations -- The use of cannabis is being abused by larger groups around the world, fueled by easy availability of very potent varieties, including varieties grown indoors, and by sales of seeds and paraphernalia over the Internet, according to the 1999 annual report of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB).http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/latest&f=00022308.tlt&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml
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Comment #3 posted by steve1 on February 23, 2000 at 13:40:49 PT
remember
don't forget that marijuana will make you into a sex addict and you might even end up sleeping with a black Jazz musician!
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on February 23, 2000 at 08:24:12 PT
More desperation tactics
'But the UN report warns that "indoor cultivation of very potent cannabis varieties is being promoted through" sales from the sites, especially in Western Canada and Quebec. "Sentences are no deterrent and this frustrates us and the Americans," said Cpl. Dunbar. "It has been brought up at the political level." "Its THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] level is so high that it is no longer a soft drug." The antis are really reaching, now. Clutching at straws. For years they have been blathering about the supposed rise in cannabis THC content. (Of course, they never bother to specify their research baseline study which allows them to conclude that; they keep nattering on about a nebulous 'study' which had so varied a THC amount that no baseline was possible.) With the success of the Dutch policy of seperating hard drugs from soft, and allowing access to the latter, the antis are in a real bind. They know that, thanks to the Internet, more and more people are becoming educated about alternatives to the DrugWar. The Drug Warriors have, until recently, been able to spout their bilge with little fear of being challenged on it. But those days are over, and the terms 'soft' and 'hard' drugs are slowly making their way into the awareness of the average American. And this scares the bejeezus out of the antis. For a very good reason. The last thing they can afford is for people to speak seriously about 'soft drugs' in this country. Because to open that door even just the tiniest bit will cause them to have to face their worst favorite hypocrisy head on. The 'alcohol & drugs' one.After all, what will will they call alcohol? A soft drug? A hard drug? What about nicotine? If the definition of a 'hard drug' is something both addictive and health-damaging, then certainly the legal drugs mentioned above fit that category very nicely. The PFDFA and the breweries and distilleries that support it might all find themselves hoist by their very own petard - as they truly deserve to be.This is part of the reason behind the latest drive behind attempting to demonize the weed further by making it sound as if it were a hard drug. They are scared, very scared.
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Comment #1 posted by Thomas on February 23, 2000 at 07:59:53 PT
Not A Soft Drug?
"Its THC [tetrahydrocannabinol] level is so high that it is no longer a soft drug."That's quite a stretch. Is this the latest angle from the prohibitionists? I guess it was only a matter of time before they decided that potent pot was a 'new' drug all its own which would justify the continued war.
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