Globe investigation: The Ford family’s history with drug dealing

15 posts / 0 new

Sat, 2013-05-25 13:34

Mikal Sergov

This is important.

Since the Globe and Mail is behind a paywall I have posted the entire article here. Mods can chop as they see fit, but please note that this story details in graphic detail the Ford family's drug dealing.

Yes, Doug Ford dealt drugs (Hashish) in the 80s.He is now the Mayor's right-hand-man, and he dreams of entering provincial politics as well.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/toronto/globe-investigation-the-ford...

In the 1980s, anyone wanting to buy hashish had to know where to go. And in central Etobicoke, the wealthy Toronto suburb where Mayor Rob Ford grew up, one of those places was James Gardens. In the evening, the sports cars often wound along Edenbridge Drive, past the gated homes and the lawn-bowling pitches, until they reached the U-shaped parking lot. By nightfall, the public park was a hash drive-thru. One former street dealer, whom we will call "Justin," described the scene as "an assembly line."

There were usually a number of dealers to choose from, some of them supplied by a mainstay at James Gardens – a young man with the hulk-like frame and mop of bright blond hair: Doug Ford. "Most people didn't approach Doug looking for product. You went to the guys that he supplied. Because if Doug didn't know you and trust you, he wouldn't even roll down his window," Justin said.

Today, Mr. Ford is a member of Toronto's city council – and no ordinary councillor. First elected in 2010 as his brother was swept into the mayor's office, he has emerged as a truly powerful figure at City Hall –– trying to overhaul plans for Toronto's waterfront less than a year after arriving. He also has higher aspirations, and has said he wants to follow in the footsteps of his father, Doug Ford Sr., by running in the next provincial election as a Conservative.

Meanwhile, he serves as his brother's de facto spokesman. As Toronto is gripped by allegations that its mayor was captured on a homemade video smoking what appears to be crack cocaine and his office descends into disarray – his chief of staff was fired on Thursday – Doug Ford has been the only person to mount a spirited public defence of his largely silent sibling. On Friday, after the Mayor finally made a statement about the accusation, he was the one who fielded questions from the press

[Original post edited by moderator for copyright violation]

Regions:

Sat, 2013-05-25 14:00

Sineed

The Globe closed the Comments section on this article, so people have been going to Christie Blatchford's article in today's NP.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/05/24/christie-blatchford-3/

Quote:
But the thing that is troubling to me, and which has gone largely unnoticed or unremarked-upon, is how the ground has shifted in the practice of journalism in this country.

This coalesced in my head mid-week, when I got a smart email from a reader in Quebec named Charles Bogue, and who has given me the green light to quote from it.

“My understanding,” he wrote, “is that one of the most fundamental rules of good journalism is to always — always — obtain a corroborating source for any material allegation before a story is published.

“Furthermore, when someone’s personal reputation is at stake, simple human decency if not journalistic professionalism, ought to dictate particular care in sourcing any allegations, since informants may have many and diverse motives other than a pristine dedication to the truth for feeding a juicy story to a journalist."

My favourite comment: if it's improper journalism to cite anonymous sources, perhaps Blatchford would have chastized Woodward and Bernstein for using an anonymous source to bring down Nixon.

Sat, 2013-05-25 15:35

Junkyard Dog

Christie Blatchford lecturing others on "simple human decency" or "a pristine dedication to the truth" is pretty fucking rich, IMO. It's not unlike observing a morbidly obese man shriek, "No fat chicks!" at a woman who's barely slightly overweight.

The Globe story paints quite the hideous picture of the Ford siblings, doesn't it? Shades of George W. Bush, and the entirely credible rumors about him dealing coke while in college. In the Fords, we obviously have another band of arrogant rich kids who feel they have the right to do whatever they damn well please, and to hell with the consequences. Laws are for the little people!

And as long as we're talking about drug use, here's a detail about the past week that I hadn't thought of; indeed, it had gone right over my head, but someone at another website pointed it out, and I think it's worth repeating here: Traces of cocaine use disappear from the user's blood about a week after digestion, but it can continue to appear in the user's hair follicles for significantly longer periods. And at Rob Ford's press conference yesterday, he was sporting a freshly shaved head. What a coincidence!

Sat, 2013-05-25 15:42

bekayne

...

Sun, 2013-05-26 09:34

undecidedvoter

Hard to say where I stand on the whole Ford drug issue. I really think the media should have better stuff to report about than what some one does on their own time. Still if he is doing drugs he has a bit of explaining to do.

Sun, 2013-05-26 13:00

cowgirl junkie

The current problem with the Ford boys isn't just about what they do on their own time. No, I don't really care about what Doug was doing 30 years ago. I DO care if he's lying about it NOW. I do care if Rob is lying now. (He seems prone to that.) And I DO care if they hired their good buddy David Price as a bogus "Director of Operations and Logisitics" who's only qualification seems to be that he was a fellow RY Drifter. That's my money being spent. How many other things have they done with the taxpyers dime as a 'thank you' for old friends.

True fiscal conservatives should be worried that these two (among others) are destroying the brand for years to come.

Sun, 2013-05-26 15:07

arielc

[quote=cowgirl junkie]

Agreed. I'm hoping some anonymous radio callers will out them. lol

Sun, 2013-05-26 15:36

contrarianna

Mikal Sergov wrote:

This is important.

Since the Globe and Mail is behind a paywall I have posted the entire article here. Mods can chop as they see fit,...

It's not just the mods responsibility to avoid prosecution.
You agreed to this.

Quote:
All babblers agree not to post any copyrighted work unless they own the right to the material. Short quotes, accompanied by both links and references to such material are acceptable

http://rabble.ca/about/babblepolicy

Sun, 2013-05-26 16:28

arielc

http://www.newstalk1010.com/shows/robford.aspx Podcasts May 26 Media are "a bunch of maggots" ... er "nasty son of a guns" "I did not sell hash. I do not do crack."

The Ford boys have missed their calling in standup comedy. Lol

Sun, 2013-05-26 23:51

#10

NDPP

Mick Jagger Promises Not to 'Crack' a Rob Ford Joke (and vid)

http://o.canada.com/2013/05/25/mick-jagger-promises-not-to-crack-rob-for...

"...So we're not going to do any of that. We're going to 'crack-on' with the show now..."

Mon, 2013-05-27 05:52

#11

lagatta

At least it was Mick cracking that joke, not Keef... Actually I don't think Mick has been a druggy beyond the odd joint or glass of beer or wine for a very long time; he seems very intent on keeping fit.

Of course the other aspect, beyond the hypocrisy of the lawnorder Fordists, is that a lot of us, self included, don't really give a shit about buying, selling or using hasch. Legalise it and basta.

Tue, 2013-05-28 10:09

#12

arielc

lagatta wrote:

At least it was Mick cracking that joke, not Keef... Actually I don't think Mick has been a druggy beyond the odd joint or glass of beer or wine for a very long time; he seems very intent on keeping fit.

Of course the other aspect, beyond the hypocrisy of the lawnorder Fordists, is that a lot of us, self included, don't really give a shit about buying, selling or using hasch. Legalise it and basta.

A crack smoking mayor self destructing on the job is a problem, but I think most people would cut Doug some slack for selling hash 30 years ago ... IF he told the truth ... but he didn't. That's a whole different issue now. He's a liar, and probably lying to cover for his crackhead brother too.
Now it's not funny anymore ...
http://m.thestar.com/?content=f4f00f608a7cc8635710fac5d1d2a718&section=news

Sun, 2021-11-28 08:07

#13

jfb

Tue, 2013-05-28 12:42

#14

kropotkin1951

Why is this Toronto story in the National News section?

Tue, 2013-05-28 13:58

#15

Junkyard Dog

You know, we're seeing a lot of comments along the lines of "who cares what they did 30 years ago?" and "their private lives are their own business!" That latter one is quite the gut-buster when you consider what the Fords and their allies in the media and government would be saying about any rival politicians they disapproved of who'd gotten trapped in this kind of scandal. But let's put that aside.

I agree that there'd be no scandal to speak of here if this were merely a case of some punk teenager selling a little weed on the side to other kids for what would basically amount to pocket change. But the implications of the Globe story are that this was a rather larger scale operation than that, and that it wasn't being run by amatuers. From the look of things, Dougie was a supplier for professional drug dealers, it was an arrangement that lasted for some years, and he escaped any unpleasant consequences due to his family's wealth and connections. So, yeah, smoking a little pot? No big deal. Running a hashish supply and distribution network? With serious thugs involved? And at such a young age? Uh, no, that's just a tad more worrying. (And again: Can you imagine the sort of things we'd be hearing from the lawnorder Fords if this shitstorm was unfolding around a rival at City Hall that they wanted to eliminate? They'd be acting as if Christmas came early, and they'd be right to.)

But, good Christ, there's even more: Their brother Randy and some of their goons, er, friends were involved in a kidnapping, held the guy hostage for several days, and tried to extort $5000.00 from the boy's parents in ransom because he supposedly owed money to Doug. One of the little thugs involved in those youthful monkeyshines is currently a paid advisor in the Mayor's office, and since everybdy knows Doug is the one actually running the show, there's no way this character wasn't personally vetted by Doug-O himself. The lawyer who represented Randy during the kidnapping charge all those years back is the same one who got in touch with Gawker from an email address to tell them to back off from the story. Never even mind their sister Kathy's relationship with Scott MacIntyre, a man arrested in early 2012 for threatening to kill the Mayor at his Etobicoke home. This, several years after said lunatic shot Kathy in the face and then fled the scene by stealing Mother Ford's car! That the two were still together in 2012 - otherwise, what else would he have been doing at Chez Ford, hm? - doesn't exactly suggest a life of cleanliness and sobriety in the intervening years. (When interviewed about the alleged death threat, Doug had the unmitigated gall to claim he didn't even know who MacIntyre was, despite photograhpic and video evidence that the gun-happy loon was part of the small group of family members and friends celebrating with the Fords after Boss Hogg's 2010 electoral victory.)

When the crack cocaine allegations first emerged, my initial thought was that it couldn't possibly be true; how could a pampered, upper middle class rich dork like Rob Ford possibly know the first thing about scoring drugs? But y'know, if this is the background he came from, it's not all that unlikely after all, is it? So, yes, this is a big deal. For the third time: Imagine, just imagine the headlines we'd see screaming from the front page of the Toronto Sun if the politicians under discussion were liberals or leftists...or, hell, even moderate conservatives, for that matter. Imagine the sort of comments we'd hear spewing from the Fords themselves. Just fucking imagine.