cannabisnews.com: Beefed-Up Security Curtails Border Drug Trade Beefed-Up Security Curtails Border Drug Trade Posted by CN Staff on December 27, 2004 at 08:23:26 PT By Robert Matas Source: Globe and Mail Vancouver -- Major drug busts at Canadian borders have plunged by almost 20 per cent this year, a sign that pumped-up security measures have cut into the illicit narcotics trade. "We're making headway, shutting down criminal organizations," RCMP Constable Alex Borden said.But authorities warned the drop may be temporary, until international criminal organizations find more creative ways to penetrate the country's ports, airports and border crossings. "We find when we shut down one organization, another starts up," Constable Borden said. "There is always someone to pick up the slack because there is money to be made, a product to distribute and a large market demanding the drugs."National statistics compiled by the Canadian Border Services Agency show that border officers made 866 significant seizures of drugs as of Nov. 30, with a street value of $252.7-million.Previously, the number of seizures of drugs destined for Canada from the United States increased each year since 2000, peaking in 2003 with 1,063. The street value of drugs confiscated at the border last year was estimated at $600-million.The agency's statistics include only major busts. Tabulations do not include seizures below one kilogram of marijuana, 10 grams of heroin, 50 grams of cocaine, 500 grams of hashish or 100 tabs of ecstasy.Increased border-control efforts after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks -- through tighter co-operation among police authorities, better training and improved equipment -- have been effective, spokesmen for the RCMP and the Canadian Border Services Agency said in interviews.They are reluctant to jump to conclusions about their success, however. "We only know what we intercept," border services spokesman Chris Kealey said in an interview from Ottawa. "We do not know what we miss. It's a cat-and-mouse game."However, they are confident that new tools introduced to counter terrorism make it easier to find illegal drugs. Five years ago, for example, officers had to unpack suspicious suitcases. Now they scan a luggage handle or analyze air quality to decide whether to probe further, Mr. Kealey said.The terrorism threat led to international policing agencies working more closely together. Also, passengers are more likely to report suspicious activity to authorities.People realize that drug activity helps finance terrorist groups, and their help broadens the scope of law enforcement, Mr. Kealey added.As the border patrol improved, the number of drug smugglers dropped.Marilyn Murray, a border services spokeswoman in Vancouver, said effective border control acts as a deterrent. People are dissuaded from sending drugs over the border if they believe officers will find the contraband."The borders are the first line of defence in keeping drugs off the streets," she said. Efficient border control acts as a deterrent, even when officers do not intercept any drugs, Ms. Murray said.However, the numbers could jump back up next year, as people involved in organized crime dream up new approaches, authorities said."We realize the extent is limited only by the imagination of the criminal mind," said Patrizia Giolti, spokeswoman for border services at Toronto's Pearson airport.Complete Title: Beefed-Up Security Curtails Cross-Border Drug TradeSource: Globe and Mail (Canada) Author: Robert MatasPublished: Monday, December 27, 2004 - Page A11 Copyright: 2004 The Globe and Mail CompanyContact: letters globeandmail.caWebsite: http://www.globeandmail.com/Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmWorld's Undefended Border Getting Securityhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19357.shtmlTight Border a Low Note for The High Tradehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19230.shtml Canada's Pot Exports Overstated: RCMPhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread19206.shtml Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help Comment #25 posted by FoM on December 28, 2004 at 12:20:51 PT afterburner Thank You. It's nice to read words like the ones you posted. I am in a very somber mood because of the disaster. Life is so fragile. Nature sure knows how to cause big problems and no one can tell Nature what to do or how to act. I removed my Season's Greetings from my front page. I replaced it with Doctor's Without Borders. Freedom To Exhale [ Post Comment ] Comment #24 posted by afterburner on December 28, 2004 at 11:58:15 PT A Night Meditation on LOve (Driving in Canada) "Can the cities be saved and made great again?" Only by decentralizing: too many people equals too much control and prohibition."Hey farmer farmer Put away that D.D.T. now Give me Spots on my apples But leave me the birds and the bees Please! Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone They paved paradise And put up a parking lot." --BIG YELLOW TAXI by JONI MITCHELL http://www.jonimitchell.com/HitsTaxi70.html"He mumbles a prayer and it ends with a smile The order is given, they move down the line But he'll stay behind, and he'll meditate But it won't stop the bleeding, or ease the hate"As the young men move out into the battle zone He feels good, with God you're never alone He feels so tired as he lays on his bed Hopes the men will find courage in the words that he said"Sky Pilot Sky Pilot How high can you fly? You'll never, never, never, reach the sky" --Sky Pilot by The Animals http://www.rjsmith.com/skypilot.html"What in the world ever became of sweet jane? She lost her sparkle, you know she isn’t the same Livin’ on reds, vitamin c, and cocaine, All a friend can say is ain’t it a shame?" --TRUCKIN’ by Grateful Dead http://www.lyricsfreak.com/g/grateful-dead/62376.html"Love your mama, love your brother Love 'em 'til they run for cover" --Turn That Heartbeat Over Again by Steely Dan http://www.broberg.pp.se/sd_cbat.htm"It's the time of the season When the love runs high In this time give it to me easy And let me try with pleasured hands To take you in the sun to promised lands To show you everyone It's the time of the season for loving" --Time of the Season by The Zombies http://www.guntheranderson.com/v/data/timeofth.htm"Love is the answer and you know that for sure Love is a flower you got to let it, you got to let it grow" --MIND GAMES by John Lennon http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/m/mindgames.shtml [ Post Comment ] Comment #23 posted by BigDawg on December 28, 2004 at 09:41:51 PT LOL... yeah, it's working alright My little southern part of America is currently FLOODED with prime BC weed.Border busts are down... because the smugglers have changed their ways.But hey, it makes the cops look good. If it makes em happy... it works for me. Ain't stopped nuttin from where I sit :D [ Post Comment ] Comment #22 posted by ekim on December 28, 2004 at 07:17:45 PT See a Leap event near you URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1846/a04.html Newshawk: Herb Votes: 0 Pubdate: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 Source: Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber (WA) Copyright: 2004 Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber Contact: editor vashonbeachcomber.com Website: http://www.vashonbeachcomber.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2606 Author: Howard J. Wooldridge Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n1679/a02.html Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/decrim.htm (Decrim/Legalization) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)TREATMENT IS CHOICE OVER JAIL J.B. Cole is correct in that marijuana is a mind-altering drug that like alcohol, etc, all should avoid. After that truth, Mr. Cole engaged in a bit of his own "reefer madness." The most glaring "fact" involved treatment. More kids are in treatment for pot than alcohol because they are given a choice -- treatment or jail. They rarely, if ever, are given that Faustian choice with alcohol. Of course, kids choose treatment, even if they don't need it. Mr. Cole failed to mention that because my colleagues spend so much time chasing pot, DUIs are much freer to slaughter innocents. Marijuana prohibition actually reduces public safety. Marijuana prohibition has made it easier for our teens to buy pot than whiskey for the past 25 years, according to all federal surveys. To make pot as hard to buy as whiskey, we will need to legalize, regulate and tax it. With the taxes generated, we could fund first class treatment programs, for those who need it. Howard J. Wooldridge ( retired ) Media Director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition ( www.leap.cc ) http://www.leap.cc/events [ Post Comment ] Comment #21 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 20:39:52 PT Just A Note If anyone is having trouble posting please contact Matt at Mapinc. He is the webmaster for CNews. I'm mention this because I am having trouble posting. [ Post Comment ] Comment #20 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 18:55:32 PT JustGetnBy I thought what might have happened. Maybe you didn't finish your post and thought you did but you could have been in the preview screen. I also want to mention because I know moderating boards is something that people don't appreciate and I want to say how you will know on CNews. All posts are numbered. If I remove a post a number will be missing. I double posted recently and removed my extra post which left a number missing. By telling you and everyone this you can ask me if one is missing and I'll tell you why. There I feel better. [ Post Comment ] Comment #19 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 18:18:50 PT Thanks EJ and Kaptinemo When I step out of my safe zone I am not sure why things are the way they are. We all have safe zones but each person's is different then anothers. Michael Moore said something in his movie that wars are not to be won but to continue. It keeps people always hoping but keeps them down too. Oh this might not be right but for those who saw F/9-11 you'll remember. [ Post Comment ] Comment #18 posted by kaptinemo on December 27, 2004 at 18:05:57 PT: FoM, IMHO the DrugWar is a real life Matrix, meant to trap the minds (and in the case of addictive drugs, the body as well) of the vast majority of Humanity in order to maintain a fiction of freedom while in the background lurk the instruments of control, waiting to attack those who 'wake up' to the old, old game of Divide and Conquer. The old game draped with shining, clean white robes of righteousness, while underneath the robes is something very ugly. Minorites were used as the 'foot in the door'; unthinking racial prejudice is handy for those who think very clear but evil thoughts indeed. Had a more subtle foil been available, it would have been used to the same effect. H. L. Mencken once said that "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." The DrugWar is one such hobgoblin...but one need only look at those who so loudly proclaim their support for it to see another of Mencken's truths: "The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it." Those who support the DrugWar continually bray that they want to 'save' us...but their actions seem more bedded in control rather than assistance. I can do without such 'help', thank you very much... [ Post Comment ] Comment #17 posted by E_Johnson on December 27, 2004 at 17:19:39 PT The future of cities hmm The future of big cities in America is about more than drugs. There's someone named Joel Kotkin who writes some interesting stuff on that topic. [ Post Comment ] Comment #16 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 17:06:28 PT kaptinemo I sometimes think that the drug war was excelerated because it would be a way to control blacks and put them in jail because some people didn't liked they weren't slaves anymore. That isn't more then a thought I've had over the years and I could be very wrong but I thought I'd say it anyway. [ Post Comment ] Comment #15 posted by kaptinemo on December 27, 2004 at 16:56:14 PT: The question isn't "Why?" But "Who?"The question must always be asked: "Who benefits?" Who 'gets'...and who doesn't? Propose a law; who benefits? Propose a tax; who benefits?Create a DrugWar; who benefits? Answer this question, and it becomes apparent that those for whom the DrugWar is OSTENSIBLY fought are not the main beneficiaries. Least of the police; at risk of their lives, they may receive a salary, but it is exceedingly paltry compared with your average powder running middleman. None of us here need to be lectured on the corruptive effects of the DrugWar, the horrendous human and monetary costs, and how ultimately futile drug prohibition is. And many learned people, inside and outside our reformer's circles know this. So why does it continue? Eventually the most idiotic policies are scrapped from sheer exhaustion; why is the 90 year long DrugWar allowed to continue to sap the very life's blood of the country? When it's demonstrably failed?Because, it HASN'T failed. It's doing precisely what it was originally intended to do, since its' inception. The proofs are in the prison population size, the composition of that population, and the entire support mechanisms that surround the prison/industrial complex. The proofs are in the laws that continued to squeeze and squeeze civil liberties and human rights. The proofs are in the establishment of relations with drug lords via intelligence agencies and the shielding of those tin-pot dictators (so long as they don't get greedy) against the efforts of American law enforcement agencies to bring them down.All this benefits someone...This, of course, implies a puprose not made public, but is hidden. One that if the public became aware of, the public would call for the DrugWar's disbanding and the arrest of those who have promoted it for so long. Which is why so much is done to sway public opinion away from drug law reform, even to the extent of illegally using taxpayer's funds to do the swaying. The most seemingly innocuous question WILL reveal the Emperor to be not only buck naked, but covered in sores. And hands dripping with the blood of innocents.Ask Cicero's Question (Qui bono; "Who benefits?") and you will have a key to unlock the door. [ Post Comment ] Comment #14 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 15:42:49 PT EJ That's What I Think Too This is so complicated to me. It seems such a big problem and no one is looking for the solutions that have the power to change anything unless we aren't aware of work going on in that area. Can the cities be saved and made great again? I just am not sure. I talked to Ron a week or so ago and since we are from the same area we talked about our city and things have gotten very bad since we were last back there. What are we as a society supposed to do to help save our cities and those who want or must live there? [ Post Comment ] Comment #13 posted by E_Johnson on December 27, 2004 at 15:38:09 PT Ooops crossed posts FoM I didn't see your reply before I posted again. [ Post Comment ] Comment #12 posted by E_Johnson on December 27, 2004 at 15:36:00 PT Drug abuse is a rural and urban problem FoM The inner cities aren't at any special threat from drugs compared to the rest of the country. The media made it look that way, but drug abuse knows no racial or social boundaries. Even the Amish have been busted selling cocaine.Illegal drugs mean drug dealers have higher profits that legal business owners. That has a good and bad effect on the poor of both rural and urban areas.If there are no legal jobs, then drug dealing becomes an option for feeding one's family.If illegal drugs were suddenly made legal, the prices would drop, which would be good news from the point of view of the addicts trying to buy drugs but it would mean a financial catastrophe for everyone who profited from selling drugs.I don't think that people who stayed away from drugs when they were expensive would end up trying them just because the price went down.For example, I don't care how much heroin costs, because I won't take it even if it's free. There would be many complicated effects, some good, some bad. We'd have to find jobs for a lot of people, for the police and for the drug dealers displaced from their wartime occupations by an outbreak of peace.This would affect the country all over, everywhere. [ Post Comment ] Comment #11 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 15:32:00 PT JustGetnBy I didn't remove any posts. I'm confused. I wouldn't remove your posts. Luckily needing to remove posts are few and far between. [ Post Comment ] Comment #10 posted by JustGetnBy on December 27, 2004 at 15:28:15 PT Rules ??? FOM Namaste I don't see a message I posted in this thread, did I break a rule that made it's removal necessary, or did the cosmic Murphy law eat my post? [ Post Comment ] Comment #9 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 15:27:16 PT Thanks EJ When I think of the inner city and drugs I always come back to this thought. It's expensive to live in a city. When good jobs are scarce it can even be hard to put food on the table. I see a son in my imagination watching his mother crying because she doesn't have enough money to get food for dinner for her other children. Her older son wants to help. He is street wise as most are that grow up in a city. He decides to sell drugs and he gives his Mother the money. She thanks him but can't bring herself to ask him where he got the money because at least now his brothers and sisters will have a dinner that night.That's what I think of when I think of the drug war in the inner cities. [ Post Comment ] Comment #8 posted by E_Johnson on December 27, 2004 at 15:18:01 PT That's an interesting question FoM Certain figures in the record industry notorious for financing artists using profits from illegal drugs might have a tough time financially speaking, as would the narcotics detectives who make their living obsessing over their every move.That's my guess.If there were an amnesty, a whole lot of children would get their parents back, and then the parents would need jobs of some kind. [ Post Comment ] Comment #7 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 12:26:52 PT A Question I've thought of this many times but I can't seem to figure out what would happen to inner cities if the drug war ended abruptly. Maybe I think too much. [ Post Comment ] Comment #6 posted by kaptinemo on December 27, 2004 at 12:20:00 PT: The logical results of the 'service economy' When you ship most of your industries overseas, you're left with a 'service economy'. Which all too often means you have to find make-work for those whose skills are not normally usefull. That's all the DrugWar is, basically: workfare for those who can't do anything else.That said 'employment' usually involves risk to life and limb only demonstrates the point; in a very sick sense, it is a kind of culling going on. Of both police and crooks.But in an even sicker sense, it forces an evolutionary factor into the equation which ramps up the violence. 'Improving the breed' in this respect is only creating more cunning (and dangerous) criminals...and more paranoid and therefore, equally dangerous cops. Which in turn feeds the cycle of general mistrust of police. Which leads to greater alienation of them. Which leads to a deepening of the 'occupying army' mindset many police have been inculcated with. Which leads to innocent people being shot. Which leads...well, you get the picture.The spiral of violence begins with stupidly crafted laws. It usually ends with the laws being scrapped long after they should have been...and cemetaries in which many who never had to die to begin with are prematurely interred.Some 'improvement'... [ Post Comment ] Comment #5 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 10:08:57 PT goneposthole Even if they put a fence all the way across it wouldn't stop people from being creative. Heck they'll dig tunnels. That's not a new thing. They'll create a Po Go Stick and hop the fence. Little humor there. [ Post Comment ] Comment #4 posted by goneposthole on December 27, 2004 at 10:01:05 PT headway schmeadway 'Major drug busts at Canadian borders have plunged by almost 20 per cent this year'Which means that the 'drug smugglers' have improved their wiley ways.It's nice that the RMCP think they are making a difference, but they're not. They never will. There is a thing called the 49th parallel, an unfortified boundary between the US and Canada that will always have holes.Unless the US gov fences the thing, it won't and can't be stopped. Good luck to them. [ Post Comment ] Comment #3 posted by FoM on December 27, 2004 at 09:24:50 PT The Terminator I always see the movie the Terminator when the liquid nitrogen truck spills and freezes tha bad terminator ( the cop ) and he freezes and breaks into a million different pieces but then it warms up and he goes back together. That's how I see trying to plug the drug trade. [ Post Comment ] Comment #2 posted by JoeCitizen on December 27, 2004 at 09:18:19 PT That's a good image! Good one JustGetnBy. Like to trying to hold open a hole in the water.The image I usually use to illustrate drug war futility is a cop standing at the edge of the ocean trying to hold back the tide with a pail. And the officer with the bucket has the nerve to say "Well at least THIS bucket I caught won't wind up on the shore!"JC [ Post Comment ] Comment #1 posted by JustGetnBy on December 27, 2004 at 08:53:04 PT Useless ! Here's a little hillbilly wisdom I'd like to share with those who seek to control. Fill a bucket with water, put your hand into water up to the wrist. Jerk your hand out of the water as quickly as you can. Watch the water closely. How long did that hand hole stay in the water? Of course if somebodys paying you to stick your hand in the bucket, you'll keep it up all day long, but the hole in the water still goes away awful fast, don't it? 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