Welcome to new police-state Canada

[BigBlueBalls]

I used to have pride in the fact that here in Canada the police look the other way, when people smoke weed in public. I've showed Americans visiting here that we could smoke weed as a cop drove by and they never bothered with us. That's why Canadians have become so comfortable with it and feel safe doing it. Well that is until today here in Nova Scotia, when a known hangout spot for smoking weed was raided. Welcome to the new Conservative agenda out to waste billions of taxpayers money to arrest potsmokers, build new jails and turn our country into an American-style police state... just as I predicted.

I wonder how much of our tax dollars these fucking pigs wasted here in Nova Scotia using police helicoptors, police dogs and 10 officers to arrest 13 teenagers for just smoking weed. Apparently the teenagers were frozen in fear. No wonder they never saw anything like this in Canada before...

Drug charges laid against 13 teens

By MONICA GRAHAM
Halifax Chronicle Herald
Saturday, February 18, 2006

ALMA — The sitting-duck suspects were too shocked to move Friday when the Mounties swooped in on an alleged drug-dealing site in rural Pictou County.

Ten officers, a police dog, several police cruisers and a helicopter were used to arrest 13 high school students at a popular lunchtime hangout near Northumberland Regional High School in Alma.

Police had watched student activity at a convenience store near the school for two weeks prior to Friday’s arrests, said Cpl. Al Affleck.

"We didn’t need to get a complaint," he said, explaining that community rumours prompted the investigation.

"It was identified as a problem in the community and for the school, but it could be any school in Canada."

Cpl. Affleck said the convenience store itself was not involved in any illegal activity involving the suspects.

A man who answered the phone at the store wouldn’t identify himself and refused to comment, except to say the problem was long-standing and would likely be back Monday.

Cpl. Affleck said plainclothes police observed people openly smoking marijuana and hash pipes inside vehicles and standing around in the store’s parking area. They didn’t try to hide their activity whenever a cruiser drove by, he said.

"The students involved got comfortable with their daily routine," he said. "They felt safe."

The RCMP’s show of force was intended to make an impact on the suspects’ complacency as well as ensure the safety of the people involved, he said.

"When people see the (police) dog they don’t fool around."

Using no lights or sirens, police moved in quickly to block certain suspect vehicles parked outside the store and to prevent anyone from fleeing the scene.

By late afternoon, the parade of suspects through the Pictou RCMP detachment included four students under 17, eight 18-year-olds and a 19-year-old.

Cpl. Affleck anticipated the suspects’ release until their court dates, when they will face charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

[AnkhX100]

Well, if smoking weed is against the law in Canada, then I don't see how you'd expect the authorities to ignore the issue forever.

Anyways, I think that if you really want people to smoke without bother, then you should help Canada legalize pot. I don't know what percentage of the population supports that, but it is worth a try.

[PharaohRamsesII]

Dude you are a total fucking bitch. Just because they arrested a lot of pot smokers doesn't mean Canada is now all of a sudden a police state. Everyone is viewing the Conservatives as fucking radicals that is going to bring about the Fourth Reich.

NEWSFLASH
The Conservatives have MINORITY Government. MINORITY.
They are not going to be able to bring in any 'radical' changes, people are not going to be arrested left and right, and it's a good thing Harper is toughening up our Jail System, and giving Border Guards weapons.
GET OFF THE FUCKING CONSERVATIVES ARE NAZIS BANDWAGON AND SHUT THE FUCK UP.

[LazyDrunk]

So a bunch of teenagers getting busted for smoking in front of a cop is a bad thing?

Looks like your cops got tired of being taken advantage of by arrogant youth. I say, good for them, bust all the little brats.

[LazyDrunk]

At 2/18/06 03:26 PM, CadillacClock wrote:
Serves you right for doing drugs in public, or did you forget it's still against the law? Yeah police ignore the idiots but not when there flaunting it around.

Now pardon me as I step outside for a smoke on my porch. If I'm not back in 20, America is officially a police state.

You heard it here first folks.

[PharaohRamsesII]

At 2/18/06 03:29 PM, -LazyDrunk- wrote:

At 2/18/06 03:26 PM, CadillacClock wrote:
Serves you right for doing drugs in public, or did you forget it's still against the law? Yeah police ignore the idiots but not when there flaunting it around.

Now pardon me as I step outside for a smoke on my porch. If I'm not back in 20, America is officially a police state.

You heard it here first folks.

I'll monitor the time, and publish accounts of it all over NG so the world knows.

[BigBlueBalls]

At 2/18/06 03:22 PM, AnkhX100 wrote: Well, if smoking weed is against the law in Canada, then I don't see how you'd expect the authorities to ignore the issue forever.

For the last decade, cops in Canada have ignored potsmokers. The only bust like this they do is when they find a major grow-op with thousands of plants. Otherwise, they have looked the other way. If anything cops would just warn those kids to no longer smoke pot there and to leave because they are creating a disturbance. You're right though, now that the Conservatives are in power and we have a Justice Minister who is viciously anti-marijuana, these kind of tax wasting raids should be expected.

Anyways, I think that if you really want people to smoke without bother, then you should help Canada legalize pot. I don't know what percentage of the population supports that, but it is worth a try.

Well we have legalized it for a short time in 2003. It was called the summer of legalization because the Supreme Court deemed it legal, but then shortly after it was made illegal again. About 53-58% of Canadians support legalizing marijuana (depending on which polls), while over 66% support at least decriminalizing it. Yet the Conservatives want to crack down harder on it.

People think this may be a small issue, but to me it's a taxpayer issue and I think that more billions will be wasted on this every year, than the few hundred million they can ever claim was stolen by Liberals in a decade.

[BigBlueBalls]

At 2/18/06 03:26 PM, CadillacClock wrote: Police doing there jobs? Good job. Thumbs up to the "Pigs." Ha-ha, you’re taking this as though the police are doing some thing wrong. They did there jobs, excessively but the job was done to say the least.

Lookie what we got here. Rah rah, Mr. Cheerleader for the authorities, celebrating Canada's new status as a Nazi police-state. They did do something wrong because they never raided anything like this before, except when there's a major grow-op. They wasted taxpayers money, that's what they did wrong. Not to mention give these guys a criminal record, which will stay with them the rest of their life and affect what jobs they can get.

At 2/18/06 03:26 PM, CadillacClock wrote: Serves you right for doing drugs in public, or did you forget it's still against the law? Yeah police ignore the idiots but not when there flaunting it around.

Dude this is Canada. Cops have given me back my bag of fucking weed and let me go on my way. Why? Simply because they have bigger fish to fry. While they were wasting time raiding these kids, I wonder how many criminals out there that were pulling bags of cocaine off the docks. Oh who cares... people are smoking weed OMFG!

Yeah I have to laugh at Conservatives who whined about the hundreds of millions stolen by the Liberals, yet support the BILLIONS that will be wasted on arresting potsmokers every year.

[JerkClock]

At 2/18/06 03:25 PM, TovaryshIvan wrote: Dude you are a total fucking bitch. Just because they arrested a lot of pot smokers doesn't mean Canada is now all of a sudden a police state. Everyone is viewing the Conservatives as fucking radicals that is going to bring about the Fourth Reich.

Well arresting people for doing stuff to their own bodies, but not for drinking alchohol, is radically stupid, yes.

[PharaohRamsesII]

Hey you whiny little teenager bitch.

Just because the police have ignored the pot smokers, doesn't make it legal.
It's still illegal, we are just shaking up our police force.
So Germany ignored all the jews being killed for a decade, Does that mean I can go kill jews now? Does that make jew killing legal? I think we should all be outraged we aren't allowed to kill jews, becuase well damn Germany did it for a decade!

Fuck, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND BE GLAD YOU LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY LIKE CANADA.
If you don't break the law asshole, you won't find it after you.

[JerkClock]

At 2/18/06 03:48 PM, TovaryshIvan wrote: Hey you whiny little teenager bitch.

Just because the police have ignored the pot smokers, doesn't make it legal.
It's still illegal, we are just shaking up our police force.
So Germany ignored all the jews being killed for a decade, Does that mean I can go kill jews now? Does that make jew killing legal? I think we should all be outraged we aren't allowed to kill jews, becuase well damn Germany did it for a decade!

Fuck, SHUT THE FUCK UP AND BE GLAD YOU LIVE IN A FREE COUNTRY LIKE CANADA.
If you don't break the law asshole, you won't find it after you.

Geez, you're throwing a temper tantrum and comparing someone getting high to murder? Me thinks you're a hypocrite for calling someone else a whiny little bitch/

[PharaohRamsesII]

Im comparing his dumbass rationale for laws.
If it's ignored for a decade, It's ok.

That is completly retarded. And I'm not throwing a temper tantrum. People that live in such a free country like Canada, should not be bitching about how bad it is. We have the right to bitch about the country, You don't have that in a lot of places. You would be killed over in the Middle East for dissing their leaders, or in China if you go against stuff, and complain about it, YOU GET KILLED. But not in Canada, We protect the peoples rights to protest. And all we have is whiny little 15 year old Communist assholes who bitch about how oppressive our government is.

[TheThing]

i wuld only smoke weed if i was going to die anyway. i wouldnt care if the police didnt care. there is too much drug trafficking in the world and the police not even caring about kids smoking weed is only helping it

[BigBlueBalls]

At 2/18/06 03:53 PM, TovaryshIvan wrote: That is completly retarded. And I'm not throwing a temper tantrum. People that live in such a free country like Canada, should not be bitching about how bad it is. We have the right to bitch about the country, You don't have that in a lot of places. You would be killed over in the Middle East for dissing their leaders, or in China if you go against stuff, and complain about it, YOU GET KILLED. But not in Canada, We protect the peoples rights to protest. And all we have is whiny little 15 year old Communist assholes who bitch about how oppressive our government is.

For one thing, I'm 25 years old. You're the whiny teen here. I grew up under the Liberals since I was 13 years old and so I have a lot more experience than you do. What I've grown used to was a very relaxed live-and-let-live atmosphere, now that's being threatened. I've been caught 3 times by police smoking pot and guess what, I have absolutely NO criminal record. They either confiscated it or gave it back to me... even joking that it'll probably be legalized soon anyway. THAT'S the Canada I'm used to.

What I'm sick of is apologists who tell us not to whine about the government scaling back on our rights, simply because there are worse countries out there. Fuck that, Canada was going in the right direction, we even legalized weed for a few months back in 2003... but now we're going BACKWARDS and yes I have a problem with that.

[PharaohRamsesII]

Oh I totally agree with that.
Weed should be legalized, it is a large part of our economy. And the police being lax on it was cool. But it still doesn't take away from the fact that it is ILLEGAL. So as long as it is ILLEGAL the POLICE and going to, and should do something about it.
The Netherlands is an awesome example of a free country, And I think Canada should strive to adopt some more of their policies.

[Politics]

At 2/18/06 03:35 PM, BigBlueBalls wrote: For the last decade, cops in Canada have ignored potsmokers. The only bust like this they do is when they find a major grow-op with thousands of plants. Otherwise, they have looked the other way. If anything cops would just warn those kids to no longer smoke pot there and to leave because they are creating a disturbance. You're right though, now that the Conservatives are in power and we have a Justice Minister who is viciously anti-marijuana, these kind of tax wasting raids should be expected.

No, no they havn't been ignoring anything. In the city where my dad lives, there's a raid every week or so. Remember that horrible incident where those RCMP officers were killed? THAT WAS A DRUG RAID. The conservatives had nothing to do with this, and you'd have to be an idiot not to see that. Do you honestly think the local police discussed what to do to some kids in a hang-out with the federal government? I mean, Jesus man, I wanted the Liberals to stay in office too, but the Conservatives are Canadian Conservatives, and they'll govern as such. The only reason thy were excessive is that particular batch of cops were a bit up-tight, unlike the cops you discribed.

People think this may be a small issue, but to me it's a taxpayer issue and I think that more billions will be wasted on this every year, than the few hundred million they can ever claim was stolen by Liberals in a decade.

Right now, unfortunatly, it's the law. it was the law when the Liberals were in power, and it's the law now. How are they spending more than before if they're operating under the same laws as the Liberals?

[MortifiedPenguins]

Boo fucking hoo.

If it's illegal don't smoke it in public.

Hell if your going to be that stupid smoking it, it should be taken away from you.

[Imperator]

I'd actually question how much of a waste of money drug raids really are.

I know my city (not Ann Arbor) has their own armored car, the Fox or whatever half-track wheeled thing it is, with big words on the side "PAID FOR BY CONFISCATED DRUG ASSETS", or something similar.

Kinda towards the same degree as traffic tickets, or parkng tickets. You may not be causing any real harm by not putting in that 25 cents in the meter and think they're wasting money, but the city sure definitely makes tons off those laws.

I'd be interested to see a profit/loss chart for police on drug busts.

[MarkyX]

Welcome to the new Conservative agenda out to waste billions of taxpayers money to arrest potsmokers, build new jails and turn our country into an American-style police state... just as I predicted.

Lemme get this straight.

Police are doing their job, which is enforcing the law and arresting criminals. And you call it a police state?

I've met people like you, and one of these people happens to be Mayor Miller of Toronto. He believes that police are the problem, and not the community.

Now look what happens, gun violence are exceeded around here.

I wonder how much of our tax dollars these fucking pigs wasted here in Nova Scotia using police helicoptors, police dogs and 10 officers to arrest 13 teenagers for just smoking weed. Apparently the teenagers were frozen in fear. No wonder they never saw anything like this in Canada before...

Sounds like a local problem. It probably is, with Police using exceesive force and you going "POLICE STATE POLICE STATE!" for the police upholding the law.

The more east canadians tend to be, the more dumber they are apparently. Yeah, I went there.

[BigBlueBalls]

At 2/18/06 06:02 PM, CadillacClock wrote: You’re just an angry liberal, and a fucking drugged out loser at that. Who’s annoyed the Conservatives are finally making a move to remove drugs from Canada.

LOL drugged out loser, who's a programmer who makes over $30k a year and able to work from home. Not to mention, I know how to put together coherent sentences. I smoked weed maybe a few times last month and supposedly that makes me an addict. Maybe when you get out in the real world and work 6 days a week and 8-9 hours a day, you'll see why I take a break once in a while and have a puff. Hey I also took Tylenol a few times for a headache, I guess that makes me addicted to pain killers :O

Obviously my argument totally wiped out yours when you resort to ignorant unoriginal American-like blather about hippies and liberals. For your information, I voted NDP... yes I voted NDP, not Liberals. So don't call me a "Liberal" fucktard. This isn't the United States with Ann Coulter who use "liberal" as a dirty word. Last I checked, in Canada, the Liberals were a political party among others... or have you forgot that?

[Buckdich]

It is quite obvious that this is the beginning of Canadian police to step up strict enforcement of their drug laws in order to appease the ideology the Minority Conservative Government and to bring more control under the government using police state tactics.

Or

It is simply just local police deciding it was time to get rid of some public weed smokers by showing up in large force and intimadating potheads.

Who knows?

I just believe your taking this raid a bit too far Balls, just like all your other threads about the Canadian Conservatives.

[BigBlueBalls]

At 2/18/06 05:31 PM, MarkyX wrote: Police are doing their job, which is enforcing the law and arresting criminals. And you call it a police state?

I've met people like you, and one of these people happens to be Mayor Miller of Toronto. He believes that police are the problem, and not the community.

Now look what happens, gun violence are exceeded around here.

LOL yeah because gun violence and teens smoking weed is SOOOO related. Thanks for the good laugh, really.

Sounds like a local problem. It probably is, with Police using exceesive force and you going "POLICE STATE POLICE STATE!" for the police upholding the law.

No because police are wasting tax dollars and it's out of character for them. Why else would the teens feel safe enough to do it in front of police? Not because they are stupid, but because cops don't normally do this shit in Canada.

The more east canadians tend to be, the more dumber they are apparently. Yeah, I went there.

Nah you're just an asshole who generalizes because you probably had a bad experience here. Chances are, you were picked on by some Easterners, you went home and cried to mommy... she told you that Easterners are all dumb and you believed it ever since. Happens to a lot of people who visit here, especially from Ontario.

[BigBlueBalls]

At 2/18/06 07:20 PM, Buckdich wrote: It is quite obvious that this is the beginning of Canadian police to step up strict enforcement of their drug laws in order to appease the ideology the Minority Conservative Government and to bring more control under the government using police state tactics.

That's exactly what it is.

It is simply just local police deciding it was time to get rid of some public weed smokers by showing up in large force and intimadating potheads.

Kind of a coincidence that it's within weeks of the Conservatives gaining power. I've never heard of a raid like this, not in Nova Scotia at least.

I just believe your taking this raid a bit too far Balls, just like all your other threads about the Canadian Conservatives.

Actually most of my threads about the Canadian Conservatives before was with this fear in mind. Now my thread is about "see it's happening just as I predicted". I said before that I'll be making "I told you so" threads.

[MarkyX]

LOL yeah because gun violence and teens smoking weed is SOOOO related. Thanks for the good laugh, really.

Love to know how you can program when you can't even read between the lines.

Let's see...Police enforcing the law. You say this is a bad thing, and there is one place where police can't even do that; Toronto.

Toronto has shit crime, because the police can't do their job. When they do their job properly, people like you go "POLICE STATE"

Get it?

No because police are wasting tax dollars and it's out of character for them.

Like I said man, LOCAL ISSUE. Do not blame the government, blame your LOCAL police force. We don't have shit like that around here.

Nah you're just an asshole who generalizes because you probably had a bad experience here.

I am an asshole, I agree, but I've lived in Quebec for the first couple of years of my life. After the sheer idiocy I witnessed, and sometimes going back their because my relatives lived there. Quebec is full of idiots, which if you understand geography, is more west then Ontario. Ontario, while still being run by idiots, isn't as bad as Quebec.

Now we look at a place like Alberta, which knows how to manage their funds and don't even need a PST to stay stable. BC isn't too bad either, and that is like the MECCA of stoners.

[MarkyX]

And of course, the sheer irony is I said WEST instead of EAST.

Nice. At least I'm willing to admit my faults.

[JerkClock]

At 2/18/06 03:53 PM, PharaohRamsesII wrote: Im comparing his dumbass rationale for laws.
If it's ignored for a decade, It's ok.

You're correct, the reason it's okay is not because it was ignored for a decade. The reason it's okay is because it's a victimless crime. Especially since getting drunk is also allowed.

[Elfer]

Ok, a lot here has been said about "if it's illegal, they should do raids" etc. etc. etc.

But I'm just going to put this out here, as a person who's never even smoked marijuana and as such has no personal reasons for getting it legalised or anything.

I think that here in Canada, a majority of the citizens would consider "Living in a country where the police don't perform raids on teenagers who aren't hurting anybody" more important that "stopping a few kids from smoking marijuana one time."

That's just me talking though, I could be wrong.

[JerkClock]

At 2/18/06 08:20 PM, Elfer wrote: Ok, a lot here has been said about "if it's illegal, they should do raids" etc. etc. etc.

Oh boy, so they're using the old "illegal=evil" arguement again. I'll just state that in doing so they are invocing Arguementum Ad Verecundiam . If that shit were true, then black people who disobeyed jim crow laws would have been bad people. No one in their right mind thinks rosa parks was wrong, yet she broke the law. If doing pot is wrong just because it's illegal, then you'd have to argue rosa was too.

[DancingTurkeyGod]

At 2/18/06 07:38 PM, MarkyX wrote:

Nah you're just an asshole who generalizes because you probably had a bad experience here.

Quebec is full of idiots

I fail to see how that WASN'T generalizing.

At 2/18/06 08:10 PM, CadillacClock wrote: All those who traffic marijuana traffic guns as well.

Well, guess what? I know some people who traffic marijuana and DON'T traffic guns.
You're just generalizing. And just because the people you know do it, doesn't mean they all do it.

Personal experience does NOT count as a fact for all traffickers

At 2/18/06 08:20 PM, Elfer wrote: I think that here in Canada, a majority of the citizens would consider "Living in a country where the police don't perform raids on teenagers who aren't hurting anybody" more important that "stopping a few kids from smoking marijuana one time."

I share the same view. I don't agree with BigBlueBalls saying it's a "police-state" now (I think it was a random raid in a local community - no Conservative conspiracy), but the fact remains that nobody in Canada cares if you smoke pot. If they started arresting everyone who smoked pot - the police would be overworked (literally). Would crime go down? I really, really doubt it.

At 2/18/06 08:27 PM, JerkClock wrote: If that shit were true, then black people who disobeyed jim crow laws would have been bad people. No one in their right mind thinks rosa parks was wrong, yet she broke the law. If doing pot is wrong just because it's illegal, then you'd have to argue rosa was too.

Your reasoning is faulty. First of all, it's in a completely different socio-cultural context. That was at a time when racism was still strong and whites were viewed as the "superior" beings. Marijuana doesn't encompass anywhere near the same political/moral issues - it's a hallucinatory drug, but it's not discriminating anyone or causing harm in itself.

Second, your argument doesn't apply to what people are saying in this thread. People are saying that since it is illegal, the police should perform raids and it's completely acceptable because their job is to make sure everyone follows the law. Marijuana is illegal, thus people in possession of it should be arrested. No one is saying they should be arrested because they're "bad". Plus, Rosa Parks broke the law, and still got arrested and fined for violating the rules - the police did their job in that case too.

[Elfer]

At 2/18/06 09:06 PM, DancingTurkeyGod wrote: Marijuana is illegal, thus people in possession of it should be arrested.

To this extent I'd agree with you, but I don't think that this case falls into a category as simple as this. This was a planned raid, and I personally believe it did more harm to our society than good.