Nearly 18,000 homes in B.C. -- about the same number of residences as in all of West Vancouver -- use suspiciously high amounts of electricity, often a telltale sign of a marijuana growing operation. Under provincial legislation introduced last spring, municipalities can request a list from BC Hydro of all addresses with abnormally high power consumption -- making it easier for police and city inspectors to target growing operations. Abnormal consumption is defined as any residence that uses more than 93 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day. The average home uses 31 kWh per day. [continues 148 words]
Peter Toman, the kingpin in a failed plot to import 22.5 tonnes of hashish to Quebec by boat from Pakistan, has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison. Quebec Court Judge Martin Vauclair said yesterday he took into account the fact Toman pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to import drugs and trafficking and had no previous record for drug offences. His arrest followed an RCMP undercover operation in which agents contacted Toman to pick up the drugs off the coast of Angola and transport them to Halifax. They then brought a tonne of the drugs to an address in St. Jean sur Richelieu, Que. The Crown seized the initial transport payment of $195,000 that Toman unwittingly handed over to the undercover agents. Another $9-million had been promised on delivery. The drug bust was one of the "most significant seizures" in Canada, federal Crown prosecutor Silvie Kovacevich said. [end]
TORONTO - Terrorists and drug smugglers know no borders and neither should North American law enforcement agencies, Attorney General Vic Toews told a conference of 2,000 law enforcement delegates gathered in Toronto on Monday. Delegates from nine countries are attending the annual training conference held by the Federal Bureau of Investigation's national academy -- the first time the event has been held outside the United States. Toews told delegates Canada and the United States are "shining examples" of co-operation but all countries need to work together to fight international crime. [continues 125 words]
VANCOUVER --The increasing potency of marijuana -- spurred on by hydroponic growers in places such as B.C. -- means the world should no longer consider pot a "soft" drug, according to a report released Monday by the United Nations. "Today, the harmful characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin," Antonio Maria Costa, director of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crimes, said in a written statement. The report argues that marijuana is by far the most popular drug in the world, with about 162 million users every year compared to just 16 million for opiates and 13 million for cocaine. [continues 80 words]
A federal judge in Seattle who sentenced five British Columbia First Nations members for marijuana smuggling advised them to spread the word back home about harsh U.S. penalties. United States District Judge Ricardo Martinez sentenced the five First Nations members Friday to six months in prison and two years of probation. They were arrested at the U.S.-Canada border riding in vans that each carried about 35 kilograms of marijuana. Judge Martinez rejected a defence request for a sentence of probation, saying he wanted to send a message to others who might be tempted to serve as "mules" for drug smugglers. [continues 59 words]
OTTAWA -- The Conservative government is considering reviving a failed bill from the Liberal era that would impose roadside tests to catch people driving under the influence of drugs. "We've talked about the issue and dealing with it in some way, shape, or form," said Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for Justice Minister Vic Toews. Members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving met with Toews yesterday to push for stiffer penalties against impaired drivers. Andrew Murie, of MADD, said he expects that legislation to detect drug use would permit police to check blood pressure, eye pupils and co-ordination. [continues 68 words]
OTTAWA -- The Conservative government is considering reviving a failed bill from the Liberal era that would impose roadside tests to catch people driving under the influence of drugs. "We've talked about the issue and dealing with it in some way, shape, or form," Mike Storeshaw, a spokesman for Justice Minister Vic Toews, told CanWest News Service. Mothers Against Drunk Driving members met with Toews on Monday to push for stiffer penalties. Storeshaw could not specify when a bill would come forward, but he said it will not happen before Parliament breaks for the summer later this month. Andrew Murie, chief executive officer of MADD, said he expects that legislation would permit police to chec blood pressure, eye pupils and coordination. [end]
VANCOUVER - A 30-year heroin user says she is able to hold down a job and live free from the fear that she will be poisoned by bad street drugs now that she gets free drugs through an experimental program. "I am a 30-year heroin addict," Dianne Tobin, president of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, told an international conference in Vancouver. "I knew at 17 [years old], I needed heroin to get through the day." She was obsessed with getting drugs because she had to "score" twice a day. She couldn't hold down a job. Ms. Tobin is one of 100 users who volunteered for the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI), which gives drugs to 100 heroin addicts in Vancouver. [continues 117 words]
Fallout Affects Every Canadian, Researcher Says The abuse of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs costs the Canadian economy $40 billion a year, or $1,276 for every man, woman and child in the country, a new report says. The study, being released today by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, says the cost is up significantly from the last comprehensive review in 1996, and should be cause for concern. "It's a wake-up call for all of us to rethink how it is we should address this problem," Michel Perron, the centre's chief executive, said in an interview. [continues 273 words]
Methamphetamine, ecstasy and marijuana production is on the rise in Canada, a new report by the U.S. State Department says, and transnational crime groups are steadily importing more cocaine and heroin. While the U.S. government's annual international narcotics review pegs this country as "primarily a drug consuming" one, Canada remains a significant producer of high-quality pot and a transit point for over-the-counter pharmaceuticals used in synthetic drugs. "Methamphetamine trafficking and availability rose during 2005," the document says, noting 95 per cent of the domestic supply comes from large, multi-kilogram operations. "Significant seizures of MDMA (ecstasy) from clandestine laboratories indicate they are larger and more sophisticated organized crime operations." [continues 164 words]
MONTREAL - An Internet company that sells marijuana seeds has gone over like a lead zeppelin with the RCMP. Although the Montreal-based company, Heaven's Stairway, has operated openly since 1998 and is listed on Quebec's business registry, the RCMP said Tuesday it has shut it down. The RCMP described the large-scale bust as the first of its kind in Canada. Besides evoking Led Zeppelin's signature song for its name, the company also sold seeds with quirky labels like Crippy Bud and Deep Blue Rush. [continues 207 words]
American medical marijuana crusader Steve Kubby was deported back to California on Thursday, where his lawyer says he faces a "death penalty." "I'm being forced into a medical experiment -- this is a very serious threat to me," a shaky Kubby said at the Vancouver Airport as he leaned on his wife, Michele, for support. "My wife likens it to taking insulin away from a diabetic." A Federal Court judge rejected Kubby's final appeal to stay in Canada. Four years ago, Kubby got a 120-day sentence in jail near Sacramento, for possession of peyote and a magic mushroom stem. [continues 54 words]
VANCOUVER -- It's buyer beware when it comes to B.C. Bud, says a leading psychiatrist who is beginning to see evidence of marijuana laced with highly addictive crystal meth. Vancouver psychiatrist Dr. Bill MacEwan, who heads the schizophrenia program in the University of British Columbia psychiatry department, says he's finding remnants of crystal meth in many of his marijuana-smoking patients. Other doctors working in drug treatment have also come across the similar cases, he says. "Drug dealers, hypothetically, are trying to get people hooked, and crystal meth is a chemical addiction," says. MacEwan. "You develop a market when they're hooked on your product." [continues 115 words]
VANCOUVER -- American medical marijuana crusader Steve Kubby was reluctantly deported back to California Thursday, where his lawyer says he faces a "death penalty." "I'm being forced into a medical experiment -- this is a very serious threat to me," a shaky Kubby said from the international departure lounge of Vancouver Airport as he leaned on his wife, Michele, for support. "My wife likens it to taking insulin away from a diabetic." Earlier this week, a Federal Court judge rejected Kubby's final appeal to stay in Canada. Michele told court her husband, who is stricken with adrenal cancer and has used pot to ease his symptoms for nearly 20 years, would die if he returned to California to serve out a drug sentence. [continues 134 words]
VANCOUVER -- It's time to make safe injection sites part of B.C.'s healthcare system, says that province's top health officer. Two years after it opened, health officer Perry Kendall is calling Vancouver's safe-injection site experiment a success. The Downtown Eastside facility is reducing overdoses, preventing HIV and Hepatitis C infections, and getting drug addicts into treatment, he said. "There's a very good case as to why it should continue as part of the healthcare continuum," Kendall said. [continues 129 words]
The father of a disabled boy brought to a Conservative news conference to criticize the Liberals' child-care plan, and to defend a parent's right to choose what is best for their child, boasted on a newspaper website of having found a legal loophole that lets him sell marijuana to the sick - something that contravenes the law. Mark-Alan Whittle, who appeared yesterday beside Tory MP Rona Ambrose, bills himself the chief executive of Logan's Pony Club which he said was set up last summer for the sole purpose of selling marijuana. Whittle joined Ambrose, the Tory child-care critic, at a Parliament Hill news conference to respond to comments by high-ranking Liberals - including the prime minister's director of communications, Scott Reid - that there is nothing in the Conservative child-care plan - which offers some parents a $1,200-annual allowance - to ensure it is not spent on "beer and popcorn." [end]
WASHINGTON - Declaring a key victory, U.S. drug czar John Walters on Thursday said cocaine has become more expensive and less pure on U.S. streets this year -- the first sign that billions of dollars in counter-drug aid to Colombia may be having an impact. Walters' aides said the new data reverses three years of steadily declining cocaine prices, which had perplexed policymakers as Washington poured more than $4 billion into Colombia since 2000 as part of an effort to increase Bogota's ability to curb drug production and trafficking. [end]
VANCOUVER -- Federal prisons in B.C. have a new weapon against drugs - -- a tip line to report inmates involved in illegal activity. "We want to do everything we can to try to prevent the introduction of illegal substances into institutions," said Correctional Service of Canada spokesman Dennis Finlay. "We know they are getting in. We find them frequently, we find inmates on a regular basis who are under the influence." British Columbia prisons are the first to introduce a toll-free tip line. [continues 101 words]
A trio of medical marijuana advocates is suing the City of Vancouver for $400,000 after police raided a federally licensed indoor grow operation set up in the basement of a rented Vancouver home. "It's surprising with all this talk of liberal policies in Vancouver - -- the safe injection sites, legal brothels and so forth -- that something that is legal, that is authorized by Health Canada remains taboo," said Michael Maniotis, one of three men who filed the lawsuit against the city in B.C. Supreme Court. [continues 60 words]
CALGARY - Marijuana is being sold in small doses as a herbal remedy at more than a dozen Calgary pharmacies. The gel-capped tablets, marketed under the name Med-Marijuana, each contain less than ten parts per million of tetrahydrocannabinol, the intoxicating substance in marijuana, said Shirley Martin, spokeswoman for distributor Doni Marketing Inc. "You don't smoke it, you don't get the munchies and you can't get high," Martin said. The herbal medicine made by a Nova Scotia company is approved by Health Canada, she said. [continues 229 words]
The Saskatoon Health Region's smoking policy was revised more than a year ago, but recently a patient discovered the air isn't completely clear on how to deal with authorized medical marijuana users in city hospitals. Peter Christensen was brought to City Hospital by ambulance from Vermilion, in Alberta, but the tests he needed didn't get done because he couldn't use his medical cannabis. Christensen says shortly after he was admitted, a male nurse and a security guard approached him. [continues 244 words]
Frequent road ragers tend to have drinking problems and use illicit drugs more than those who stay cool behind the wheel, a new study says. And researchers were surprised to learn that ecstasy is most common among frequent road ragers, compared to those who exhibit road rage occasionally or not at all, according to a study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. The study looked at previously compiled data from 2,279 people who fit into five groups, ranging from frequent road ragers to those who had never experienced it. It found those who showed signs of road rage occasionally or frequently were also likely to have used cocaine, cannabis and alcohol at some point in their lives. "It's probably a complicated situation where drugs are a cause of road rage," said Reginald Smart, project manager and senior scientist at the mental health centre. [end]
SASKATOON --The Saskatoon Health Region's smoking policy was revised more than a year ago, but recently a patient discovered the air isn't completely clear on how to deal with authorized medical marijuana users in city hospitals. Peter Christensen was brought to City Hospital by ambulance from Vermilion, Alta., but the tests he needed didn't get done because he couldn't use his medical cannabis in the hospital. Christensen says shortly after he was admitted, a male nurse and a security guard approached him. [continues 59 words]
The controversial belief system that counts actors Tom Cruise and John Travolta as devotees is winning support from a Liberal member of Parliament. Toronto-area MP Derek Lee appears in a recruiting video used by the Church of Scientology to attract new members in the United States. Some critics have denounced Scientology as a brainwashing cult that harasses its opponents and exploits the vulnerable for financial gain. But Mr. Lee says he supports of some of the group's programs and is particularly impressed by its approach to rehabilitating drug addicts. "I'm way past the point of viewing them as just a cult," said Mr. Lee, who is Roman Catholic and not a member of the Church of Scientology. [end]
CALGARY - The Alberta government will introduce legislation this spring to "rescue, defend and shelter" youth ensnared in drug-afflicted homes. The legislation -- which would be the first of its kind in Canada -- is to protect children exposed to parents participating in illegal drug activity, including abuse, production and trafficking. It would give the province the power to scoop youths from parents or guardians tied to drugs and allow the government to lay what's essentially child abuse charges under child welfare legislation. [continues 134 words]
OTTAWA -- Canada is becoming a major exporter of narcotics to Japan, according to an RCMP intelligence report, and this country's links with Colombian drug cartels are multiplying. The national force's Drug Situation in Canada report for 2004 says Canada now ranks second as a source of methamphetamine seized in Japan (44 kilograms), after having no real presence there only two years ago. It also placed third in ecstasy shipments discovered, with 50,000 tablets, and accounted for 10 per cent of all marijuana seized (60 kg). [continues 344 words]
CALGARY -- Children are getting drawn to hard drugs like cocaine at a younger age, a drug expert told a conference Saturday. Steve Walton, a 25-year retired veteran with the Calgary police force, said children as young as 10 are now being pulled into drug use. In the most extreme cases, children are usually getting their drugs from home, he said. Walton, who has worked as an undercover drug officer, claimed he has encountered drug users as young as eight. He told the conference of emergency personnel, including police, paramedics and medical workers, that criminals are targeting kids now more than ever. [continues 118 words]
OTTAWA - A Canadian senator who led a special committee on illegal drugs says Afghanistan should legalize the production of opium for medical use. Senator Pierre Nolin told an international conference in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, that such a policy would curb illegal opium production and help supply a legitimate medical need. "Adopting such a public policy would kill two birds with one stone," a news release quotes Nolin as telling the Senlis Council, an international drug policy think-tank. The council recently produced a feasibility study supporting the legal production of medical opiates in Afghanistan. Nolin said only Australia, France, Spain, India and Turkey are legally allowed to produce opium, but the International Narcotics Control Board has reported a shortage of medical opiates. [end]
The Commons justice committee is unlikely to deal with the government's controversial bill decriminalizing marijuana before the next election, says Liberal MP John Maloney, its chairperson. Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has denied he intends to scrap the bill, but reaction to the murder of four Alberta Mounties last March and other drug-related crimes have put pre-election pressure on the Liberals. [end]
VANCOUVER - Marijuana crusader Marc Emery apologized Wednesday for referring to federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler as a Nazi. Emery, the 47-year-old "Prince of Pot" who faces potential extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds, has compared the persecution of people involved in marijuana culture to that experienced by Jews under the Nazi regime. In a "jail blog" he wrote from a Saskatoon jail last summer he called Cotler a "Nazi-Jew." In an interview last week, he reiterated he thought Cotler was acting like a Nazi. [end]
OTTAWA - British Columbia marijuana crusader Marc Emery apologized Wednesday for referring to federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler as a Nazi. Emery, the 47-year-old "Prince of Pot" who faces potential extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds, had compared the prosecution of people who deal in and use marijuana to the treatment of Jews under the Nazi regime. "I feel ashamed when my Jewish friends tell me they are ill at ease by my using the terms Nazi or Holocaust when referring to this issue or incident," Emery wrote Wednesday on his website, cannabis.com. [end]
British Columbia marijuana crusader Marc Emery apologized Wednesday for referring to federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler as a "Nazi." Emery, the 47-year-old "Prince of Pot" who faces potential extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds, has compared the persecution of people involved in marijuana culture to that experienced by Jews under the Nazi regime. "I feel ashamed when my Jewish friends tell me they are ill at ease by my using the terms Nazi or Holocaust when referring to this issue or incident," Emery, who once wrote a biography of a Holocaust survivor, wrote Wednesday on his website, cannabis.com. [continues 156 words]
OTTAWA -- Marijuana crusader Marc Emery has unexpectedly found himself under fire this week as web-loggers scrutinize the content of his websites, including a posting from his "jail blog" last summer in which he called federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler a "Nazi-Jew." With the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration after him, the case of Emery, British Columbia's "Prince of Pot," has become a cause celebre. Since his arrest a month ago, he has been facing possible extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds to American customers. [continues 100 words]
Facing Extradition, Marc Emery Attacks Justice Minister Irwin Cotler On Website Marijuana crusader Marc Emery is under fire this week as webloggers scrutinize the content of his websites, including a posting from his "jail blog" last summer in which he called federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler a "Nazi-Jew." With the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration after him, the case of Emery, British Columbia's "Prince of Pot," has become a cause celebre. Since his arrest a month ago, he faces possible extradition to the United States for selling marijuana seeds to American customers. [continues 195 words]
OTTAWA - The latest shot in Canada's war on drugs is a "throw-away political gesture" that will do little to curb the spread of methamphetamine across the country, policy experts, academics and opposition politicians said Thursday. Instead, critics believe the government's decision to increase maximum penalties for producers, users and smugglers of the drug from 10 years to life imprisonment appears designed to draw marginally tougher sentences from a reluctant judicial system, and bring Canada's handling of drug crimes into line with the expectations of the United States government. [continues 130 words]
Maximum Now 10 Years The federal government will announce today it is increasing the maximum jail term for production, trafficking, importing or exporting methamphetamine -- commonly known as crystal meth or the "poor man's cocaine" -- from 10 years to life in prison. The federal crackdown, which puts crystal meth on the same legal playing field as cocaine and heroin, comes as provincial premiers gather in Banff, Alta., for their annual conference that will include discussion about the growing popularity of the inexpensive and easily-accessed drug. [continues 61 words]
VANCOUVER -- After Winona, Martha and Michael, you knew there was no way of avoiding it: The T-shirt was inevitable. And sure enough, just six days after the arrest of B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery, there it was on the Internet. At a cost of between $13.50 to $20, supporters of the Prince of Pot can get their pick of tees emblazoned with the phrase: "My Seed Supplier Was Extradited To The USA And All I Got Was This Stupid T-shirt!" [continues 166 words]
VANCOUVER (CNS) -- After Winona, Martha and Michael, you knew there was no way of avoiding it: The T-shirt was inevitable. And sure enough, just six days after the arrest of B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery, there it was on the Internet. At a cost of between $13.50 to $20, supporters of the Prince of Pot can get their pick of tees emblazoned with the phrase: "My Seed Supplier Was Extradited To The USA And All I Got Was This Stupid T-shirt!" [continues 105 words]
VANCOUVER-- After Winona, Martha and Michael, you knew there was no way to avoid it: The T-shirt was inevitable. And sure enough, just six days after the arrest of B.C. marijuana activist Marc Emery, there it was on the Internet. At a cost of between $13.50 and $20, supporters of the Prince of Pot can get their pick of tees emblazoned with the phrase: "My Seed Supplier Was Extradited To The USA And All I Got Was This Stupid T-shirt!" [continues 165 words]
VANCOUVER - A defiant Marc Emery said in a jailhouse interview he's looking forward to his day in court so he can bring down Canada's unjust pot laws. The 47-year-old B.C. Marijuana party leader was granted bail this week by B.C. Supreme Court after being charged by U.S. authorities for money laundering and cross-border trafficking of marijuana seeds. However, he has yet to secure the $50,000 needed to get out of custody. "I guess that's what I've always been seeking anyway," Emery said, referring to his upcoming trial for selling marijuana seeds. "That's what I've always wanted to do -- to make Canada free ... ultimately I am fit and ready to battle." Last week, Vancouver police raided Emery's Hastings Street store as part of a sweeping 18-month-long investigation led by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Emery was arrested along with two other people. [end]
OTTAWA - Justice Minister Irwin Cotler has ordered the extradition of a celebrated activist who faces trial in California for tending pot plants at the Cannabis Castle, a Bel Air mansion that served as one of the state's first medical marijuana grow-ops in the 1990s. Renee Boje, 35, who has a Canadian husband and young son, surrendered herself Friday to court officials in British Columbia. She was granted bail while pursuing judicial review of Cotler's decision. That process will postpone her extradition until at least the end of September. [continues 73 words]
LONDON - Teenagers and young adults who occasionally smoke cannabis over long periods are more likely to turn to more addictive drugs such as heroin, according to a Swedish study. Experiments on rats by Professor Yasmin Hurd, of the Karolinska Institute, Sweden, show that chronic periodic use of cannabis can interfere with brain development. There is evidence that the brain continues to develop until as late as 25. If confirmed, the findings suggest that children and young adults who use the drug over long periods would be more prone to anxiety and more dependent on anxiety-reducing drugs. [end]
SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- A pregnant New Brunswick woman convicted of selling marijuana for what she insisted were medicinal purposes will have to deliver her baby in jail. Lynn Wood, 32, owner of the Cannabis Cafe in Saint John, was sentenced to one year in jail yesterday for trafficking in marijuana. Wood said the cafe was a compassion club where people who wanted to purchase marijuana had to prove to her that they needed it for medicinal purposes. [end]
A New Brunswick judge has sentenced a pregnant woman to a year in prison, even though she will have to give birth while in jail in August, and also has three other children at home. Lynn Wood, who with her husband owns the city's Cannabis Cafe, was convicted this year on two counts of trafficking marijuana. Wood maintains she was only selling pot to customers for medicinal purposes. Outraged cannabis activists say she is the first Canadian to go to jail for distributing pot to medical users. [end]
Stiffer Sentences Wanted for Traffickers and Producers LLOYDMINSTER, Alta. -- Ottawa should make jail sentences for dealing methamphetamine as harsh as they are for cocaine and heroin to stop the addictive drug from destroying more lives, western premiers said yesterday at their annual meeting. Alberta Deputy Premier Shirley McClellan joined the other leaders in demanding Ottawa control sales of the chemicals used to make meth, and signalled her province will do so later this year. "Our youth are in really quite grave danger" from this drug, said McClellan, filling in for an ill Premier Ralph Klein. [continues 291 words]
TORONTO -- A wheelchair-bound medical marijuana user has been charged for growing 10 marijuana plants in her Kemptville home. Margaret Harrington, 51, said she had applied for a grower's licence but it had not yet arrived by the time the Ontario Provincial Police came to her house about another matter. When an officer picked up the fresh scent of marijuana wafting from her basement, she showed her Health Canada card allowing her to possess marijuana but couldn't produce the grower's permit. She was charged with "unlawfully produced substance" and will appear in court May 4. [end]
Health Canada has expedited approval of a new pain-relieving spray drug derived from marijuana because of what the agency describes as an unmet medical need among multiple sclerosis patients. But it is still asking for more "confirmatory studies" from the makers of the drug, which is called Sativex. No treatments exist to treat the symptoms of pain suffered by MS patients. They take everything from over-the-counter aspirin to morphine in what are often futile attempts to quell discomfort. [continues 314 words]
OTTAWA -- A mouth spray made from marijuana could be available in Canada as soon as the end of the spring, making it the first pot-based pharmaceutical for sale in the world. Sativex, approved by Health Canada last week, is a spray made of pulverized pot plants, used to treat pain symptoms in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. "It's the first cannabis-derived pharmaceutical product approved anywhere in the world," said a spokesman for Bayer Inc., which is distributing the tincture here. [end]
WHITBY, ONT. - A judge has thrown out all charges in a $500,000 marijuana grow-op seizure because of serious charter violations by police who killed two dogs at a home in Pickering, Ont. Superior Court Justice Barry MacDougall ruled Monday that Durham Regional Police officers had a "casual" approach to the charter rights of Edmond Kim, 30, when they entered his home in April 2003 before obtaining a search warrant. Police testified last month that they were called to the home, just east of Toronto, after receiving a call that two "vicious dogs" were terrorizing neighbours. [end]
The wife of medical marijuana activist Steve Kubby told Federal Court Justice Sandra Simpson that returning her husband to the U.S. to serve a prison term would be a death sentence. Represented by his wife, Michele, Kubby was in court in Vancouver Thursday appealing a 2003 decision of the Immigration and Refugee Board that denied him and his family refugee status. Kubby, 58, suffers from malignant pheochromocytoma, a rare adrenal cancer. "It's only because of cannabis I've survived," he said. His wife said he would be denied the marijuana he needs to live if returned to the U.S. [end]
