People who think they have less chance of being caught for impaired driving after smoking a joint may want to think twice, says Victoria police Const. Bill Roberts. Roberts was one of eight B.C. instructors who visited Toronto this month to teach police officers across Canada what to look for if they suspect a driver is under the influence of marijuana, or another illicit drug. He says if an officer is at a roadblock where a driver is suspected of being high on a substance other than alcohol, the officer can use his or her senses, particularly sight and smell. [continues 467 words]
Just in time for RRSP season: $25 Cannabonds. No, they're not tax-deductible, but they are redeemable for a quarter-ounce of high-grade pot once -- or is that if? -- marijuana is made legal. The Victoria-based International Hempology 101 Society began selling the certificates Friday, hoping to raise $25,000 for its fight against Canada's cannabis laws. That is, if anybody can figure out what the laws are anymore. Ottawa's approval of medical marijuana, a couple of recent court decisions, and the federal justice minister's musings about decriminalization have wrapped police, users, judges and politicians in a smoky cloud of uncertainty as everyone waits for someone else to clarify matters. [continues 887 words]
Medical marijuana advocates in Victoria are enthusiastic that a pair of rulings brought down in Ontario last week will pave the way for a relaxing of possession enforcement here. But the Victoria police department isn't about to change its approach simply because judges in that province not only threw out a simple possession charge against a Windsor teen- ager on a technicality, they for all intents gave the government six months to re-write the law. "The bottom line is, it's a case which has occurred in Ontario and while it may be persuasive to B.C. courts, I wouldn't say they have to follow suit," says Victoria police Deputy Chief Geoff Varley. He adds that since the laws on the books have not changed, the department is under no obligation to change the way it does things. [continues 678 words]
Today is International Medical Marijuana Day, but Victoria city fathers accuse the federal government of failing to enter the spirit of the occasion. Mayor Alan Lowe said Thursday he was happy to sign the proclamation. After all, the city passed a resolution last April calling for changes to the federal marijuana laws, especially for people with incurable medical conditions. The city's proclamation encourages "everyone to act with tolerance, compassion and understanding towards individuals who need cannabis to relieve their pain and symptoms from permanent medical problems." [continues 268 words]
It's no coincidence medical marijuana advocate Philippe Lucas plans to run for city council this fall as a Green Party candidate. The president of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society says aligning himself with the Greens comes naturally. "They're closest to my heart philosophically, in terms of a party, so for me it wasn't a tough fit at all," he says. "It was a natural match." While Lucas is convinced the Green Party offers him the best chance at getting elected in November, he may, in fact, be the lone candidate the party nominates for the municipal election, according to deputy provincial leader Alistair Craighead of Victoria. [continues 314 words]
A furor has erupted in the pro medical marijuana community about federal Health Minister Anne McLellan's comments to the Canadian Medical Association that she feels "uncomfortable" with the idea of the government supplying a smokable substance to patients, when the federal government is responsible for a huge anti-smoking lobby. But for local AIDS, cancer and other chronically ill individuals in the Greater Victoria area who take advantage of local compassion clubs that supply pot to the ill, what would change if Health Canada was to all of a sudden say it won't be distributing pot until clinical trials are undertaken and completed on the crop from its one supplier, Prairie Plant Systems in Flin Flon, Man.? [continues 463 words]
The race for mayor is beginning to gain steam, as Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe was expected to announce Tuesday whether he'll run again, an announcement scheduled for after the Victoria News' deadline. Yet on Monday, medical marijuana advocate Leon 'Ted' Smith became the first candidate to officially declare his intention to seek the city's top political post. Officially unveiling his political platform outside Victoria City Hall, a platform he claims is based on 'thoughtful economic development', Smith declared there will be a number of changes within the city if he's elected mayor in November. [continues 181 words]
A crusader for more liberal marijuana laws has become the first announced candidate for Victoria mayor in the upcoming fall election. Ted Smith, 33, informed city council of his intention after expressing frustration over the city's approach to his business, which attempts to provide pot to medical users. He currently faces six drug trafficking charges and his Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada has been raided by city police four times. But Smith said recently he does not plan to be a single-issue candidate, citing the need for more attention to the human side of downtown development. [continues 177 words]
Canada's Senators are now echoing what the public has known for years: cannabis is not as harmful as the prohibition laws. Recently published research is also bringing cannabis advocates and scientists together to agree this herb is a safe medical and recreational alternative to legal drugs. These studies add to the growing body of scientific evidence being used in court cases to prove that the prohibition of cannabis is costly, unreasonable, unsuccessful and harmful to human health and civil society. The new science constantly reinforces ideals held by cannabis activists, while providing the entire population with intelligent arguments for sensible drug policies. [continues 676 words]
Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe wants to know how to get some medical marijuana. Lowe says he plans to contact Health Canada to inquire about the availability of medical marijuana. Speaking at a committee of the whole meeting in Victoria May 2, Lowe told city councillors he hopes to arrange for a representative of Health Canada to speak at a combined police board/council gathering about access to the federally-sanctioned supply of pot. When asked afterward about the time frame for such a meeting, Lowe was non-committal, saying it depends mainly on the availability of a person from the federal health department's Ottawa-based office. [continues 204 words]
Mark Russell's stress level has risen significantly over the last few months. That's almost ironic, given that he is the founder of the Coombs chapter of the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada. One of the conditions some of his customers use the marijuana they obtain through the club for is to relieve stress. The former owner of The Hemp Store - Russell has given up the store in large part because of the demands of operating the cannabis club - knows he is operating outside the strict letter of the law with the club, which provides marijuana to those who can demonstrate chronic pain or debilitating illness, usually with a doctor's note or a prescription for other medication. [continues 521 words]
No new federal laws pertaining to the possession and use of marijuana have come down since Health Canada began giving medical exemptions several years ago. Nonetheless, a city council motion calling on the federal government to re-write its marijuana laws has prompted the Victoria police to revisit current regulations for the use and possession of cannabis for medicinal purposes. "We've just got to get up to steam as to what the regulations are and we'll amend our practices accordingly," says Victoria police chief Paul Battershill. [continues 423 words]
Hundreds of sick Canadians awaiting the government's first shipment of medicinal marijuana had better not hold their breath: Ottawa bureaucrats now say that they have no idea when their weed will be ready for distribution and that only a select group will be eligible to receive it. Facing acute concern from doctors about prescribing pot as medicine and a cabinet shuffle that has landed new Health Minister Anne McLellan with a heavy agenda, the government's much-touted medicinal-marijuana program seems to have slipped into slow gear. [continues 898 words]
At least one medicinal marijuana advocate was celebrating a victory of sorts Thursday, after Victoria council approved a motion supporting the decriminalization of medicinal marijuana. Ted Smith, founder of the Cannabis Buyer's Club, said he was "incredibly happy" with the decision, which was a unanimous one. "I didn't expect them to go this far," he said outside City Hall. Smith hoped the decision would prompt local police to be a little more understanding of those who are supplying medicinal marijuana, yet at the end of the day drug laws are a federal responsibility. [end]
Victoria has become the second municipality in B.C. to formally support the decriminalization of marijuana use and possession for medicinal purposes. City council Thursday unanimously passed a motion requesting the Federation of Canadian Municipalities to lobby the federal government to relax the laws on marijuana. The motion was proposed by Coun. Rob Fleming, who said it was designed to "move Canada away from treating marijuana as a banned substance to a controlled substance." The motion follows a similar statement endorsed by North Vancouver council. [continues 307 words]
To the editor, Justifying busting medicinal cannabis provider Ted Smith, sending his chronically ill clients back to the street dealers, ("Pot advocate faces charges," Mar 28), Victoria police Sgt. Darren Laur explained, "There is a strong and reasonable suspicion, based upon reasonable grounds, that some of the individuals that we're arresting for trafficking in the downtown core have purchased from the (club)." I am reminded of the explanation a bachelor friend once gave me for rarely vacuuming his home. "Eventually an equilibrium is reached were as much dirt gets tracked out as gets tracked in." [continues 181 words]
Much of the heat in the debate about medical marijuana in Greater Victoria has been levelled at the police in Victoria and Oak Bay, both of which have raided the operations of compassion clubs in their districts. On March 28, Victoria medical pot activist Ted Smith led supporters in speaking out to Victoria councillors, hoping to convince them to ask police to ease up on their surveillance of club operations. At the same time, said Smith, they hoped to educate councillors of the reality of forcing terminally ill people who gain relief from ingesting marijuana to buy their supply off the street. [continues 153 words]
Medical marijuana supporters who gathered at Victoria City Hall this week left disappointed, after hoping their attendance at a joint Victoria city council and police board meeting would prompt local police and politicians to relax enforcement of marijuana laws. Instead, decisions on how to police the distribution of "medical marijuana" was put off until later. "We're trying to avert disaster here," said Ted Smith, founder of the Cannabis Buyer's Club. Smith referred to the possibility that a seriously ill club member might come to harm having to buy pot on the street if people such as himself, a proponent of the distribution of pot as medicine, continues to be arrested and charged in relation to marijuana trafficking. [continues 535 words]
Medical marijuana advocates think Victoria city hall has heard their message about the need for sick people to have access to pot. About 30 supporters of medical marijuana said they were encouraged Tuesday as they left a joint meeting of the Victoria Police Board and city council. Several councillors and police board members said they wanted more information about the federal legislation that allows physician-approved people to legally possess marijuana. But the law leaves the medically-approved people in a conundrum because it is still illegal for them to buy pot. [continues 160 words]
Even after a sixth arrest and fourth appearance in court to face charges for trafficking, Ted Smith remains determined. Last week, the Victoria medical marijuana proponent and supplier was charged again by Victoria police, who say they had evidence that pot from Smith's Marijuana Buyers Club was being re-sold on the street in downtown Victoria. "There is a strong and reasonable suspicion, based upon reasonable grounds, that some of the individuals that we're arresting for trafficking in the downtown core have purchased from the (club)," says Victoria police Sgt. Darren Laur. The club is the vehicle Smith and his associates use to distribute marijuana to people they claim use it for medicinal purposes. It operates out of Ted's Books on Johnson Street. [continues 60 words]
The mayor of Vancouver and chairman of the police board says marijuana should be decriminalized. If Philip Owen had his way, pot would be available for sale the same way other drugs, like alcohol and tobacco, are. He figures we'd all be better off for it. Among major Canadian mayors, premiers and prime ministers, Owen is the first to take this stand. But it's completely consistent with his drug policy, which is based on harm reduction and recognizes drug addiction as a medical problem, not a criminal activity. [continues 597 words]
Participants at this weekend's third annual Cannabis Convention should leave their stash at home. Far from being the local equivalent of the Cannabis Cup, the event is an opportunity for activists to shed some light on marijuana misinformation, not to trade buds. "There's not going to be anything illegal going on," says organizer Ted Smith, coordinator for the Cannabis Buyer's Clubs of Canada. "That's not the statement we're trying to make. The work that we as activists do is always behind closed doors. This is an opportunity for us to gather in public and give people information." [continues 442 words]
Staying out of jail is proving to be a challenge for Ted Smith. "I'm not in jail yet," says Smith. But he expects he may be heading there soon. Smith is the coordinator of the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club on Johnson Street in Victoria, which provides marijuana to people for medical purposes. Smith is currently facing a charge of possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) for the purpose of trafficking. On Jan.3, Victoria police arrested Smith in his store, Ted's Books, which doubles as the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club. Smith, who was arrested along with another person who was allegedly caught rolling a marijuana cigarette. [continues 195 words]
Mark Russell, co-ordinator of the Coombs chapter of the Cannabis Buyers Clubs of Canada, and Ted Smith (founder of the CBCs of Canada), will host a special information meeting at 7 p.m. on Jan. 28 at the Bradley Centre in Coombs. Members of the public and medical and health communities are encouraged to ask questions and express their opinions on such topics as the effects of medical marijuana, and the role of medical marijuana organizations. Russell and Smith will address questions and outline Health Canada regulations, how to apply for legal access to marijuana, and how medical marijuana clubs can help provide a safe, affordable and clean supply of cannabis. [continues 95 words]
Name: Ted Smith Occupation: Medicinal marijuana seller-advocate Employed by: The Cannabis Buyers' Clubs (CBC) of Canada, where he serves as the coordinator. The head office is located at the back of Ted's Books, at 826 Johnson Street. Started six years ago, it is the oldest such club in the country and boasts more than 800 members. It sells marijuana for medicinal use. Background: Smith, 32, has a philosophy degree from Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, and has published eight books ranging from novels to poetry. A long-time recreational marijuana smoker, Smith became involved with the Hempology 101 society in Vancouver seven years ago. He quickly became an advocate for medicinal marijuana after meeting some AIDS patients and seeing how the drug eased their illness. [continues 399 words]
Marijuana advocate Ted Smith wants Health Canada to give marijuana seized at his store to people who need it for medical purposes, but Victoria police are balking. Smith, co-ordinator of the Cannabis Buyers Clubs of Canada, appealed to the government Monday not to lay charges against him and two other employees after 3.2 kilograms of cannabis were seized at the store on Jan. 3. Smith said the government should start helping people and stop prosecuting those who are serving humanitarian purposes. [continues 341 words]
The fate of Victoria-based medical marijuana advocate Ted Smith is up in the air once again, as Crown Counsel determines whether to lay charges after pot was seized last week at the shop known as Ted's Books. Smith, coordinator for the Cannabis Buyers' Clubs of Canada and president of the Victoria Hempology 101 Society, claims that since his and other compassionate marijuana supply clubs are still awaiting the results of legal challenges to The Constitution, the courts have given his operation freedom to sell products to people with permanent medical problems. [continues 381 words]
Victoria residents who feel Canada's anti-drug laws have little effect in controlling illicit drug use will have a heavy hitter in their court during an informational lecture tomorrow (Jan. 10). Dr. Jim Hackler, professor emeritus from the University of Alberta, a part-time professor of sociology at the University of Victoria and the author of several books on criminal policy in Canada, will be speaking about laws relating to illicit drugs at the downtown branch of the Greater Victoria Public Library. The presentation will start at 7 p.m. [continues 150 words]
Victoria-based pro-pot activists and even a local Canadian Alliance MP have been busy, chipping away at the foundation of existing drug laws The past two weeks have been a busy time for those who want to see the federal government throw out the existing laws on illicit drugs. Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca Canadian Alliiance MP Keith Martin succeeded in getting his private members bill calling for the decriminalization of marijuana debated in the House of Commons last week. And Ted Smith, a Greater Victoria-based advocate of getting rid of Canada's current drug laws, has also been busy promoting his cause. [continues 555 words]
Local advocates for the decriminalization of marijuana are hoping to have their voices heard, when a federal Senate committee looking into non-medicinal drug use in Canada makes it way to the West Coast. Ted Smith is the coordinator of the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club, which provides marijuana to people for medicinal purposes. Smith will be speaking to the Senate committee when it holds hearings in Vancouver today (Nov. 7). Smith says he plans to talk about how the so-called "war on drugs" has been a failure and about the necessity of making it easier for people to have access to medical marijuana. [continues 534 words]
I'm going to take you on a trip. A drug trip. The drug is marijuana. But don't worry - you, the reader, don't have to smoke it, eat it, buy it or sell it. You just have to think about it. And meet the people who do just that, all their waking hours. We'll take this trip together. I'll be your guide. And when it's over, you'll realize that marijuana is not what you think it is. [continues 2664 words]
A Victoria resident is excited by the recent changes to federal medical marijuana regulations, but cautions that governments still have a way to go to make marijuana a practical medicine. "This summer and fall are really exciting. We are witnessing Canadian history unfolding here," says Ted Smith of the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club. Smith has been providing sick people on the Island with marijuana for five years. He has seen the struggles faced by people who are legally allowed to smoke marijuana for medicinal purposes. They are still challenged by police, get kicked out of apartments and often have had no legal way to acquire the drug, which they call their medicine. [continues 508 words]
Well-known Victoria marijuana legalization advocate Ted Smith says the B.C. Marijuana Party should stick to the basics of bud. Smith co-founded the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club (VICBC) five years ago in Victoria and has since built up a client list of hundreds, who the club supplies with pot for medicinal purposes. As far as the Marijuana Party's traditional voting base is concerned, Smith's ballot should be secure. But it's not. According to Smith, the party is alienating once guaranteed votes by pursuing allegiances with the political right and sidelining its single, most important issue of ending pot prohibition, in favour of a broad political platform. [continues 328 words]
Ted Smith, marijuana activist and founder of the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club, has launched a constitutional challenge to Canada's drug trafficking laws. Smith told the Weekend Edition he and attorney Bob Moore-Stewart plan to argue that the nation's trafficking laws are both "arbitrary and disproportionate", in that they don't distinguish between selling a controlled substance (in this case, marijuana) versus giving or sharing that substance with others. Their draft constitutional question notice (sent last week to B.C. Attorney General Graeme Bowbrick and Attorney General of Canada Anne McLellan) comes on the heels of two incidents in November, 2000, in which Smith was arrested by Saanich and Victoria police, and charged with possession of a controlled substance and trafficking in a controlled substance. [continues 460 words]
Ted Smith, marijuana activist and founder of the Vancouver Island Cannabis Buyers Club, has launched a constitutional challenge to Canada's drug trafficking laws. Smith told the Weekend Edition he and attorney Bob Moore-Stewart plan to argue that the nation's trafficking laws are both "arbitrary and disproportionate", in that they don't distinguish between selling a controlled substance (in this case, marijuana) versus giving or sharing that substance with others. Their draft constitutional question notice (sent last week to B.C. Attorney General Graeme Bowbrick and Attorney General of Canada Anne McLellan) comes on the heels of two incidents in November, 2000, in which Smith was arrested by Saanich and Victoria police, and charged with possession of a controlled substance and trafficking in a controlled substance. [continues 455 words]
Little did he know it at the time or, for that matter likely care. But when acid corroded a man's face early in 2000 it would single out what was to come - a string of peculiar events in the illicit world of drug use in Saanich and even more importantly our second most interesting story of the year. Police determined that the acid that had melted the man's face was a key ingredient in the manufacture of a drug known on the street as "Crystal Meth" - a substance that experts and non-experts alike guess hasn't been made in these here parts in over two decades. [continues 2407 words]
Little did he know it at the time or, for that matter likely care. But when acid corroded a man's face early in 2000 it would single out what was to come - a string of peculiar events in the illicit world of drug use in Saanich and even more importantly our second most interesting story of the year. Police determined that the acid that had melted the man's face was a key ingredient in the manufacture of a drug known on the street as "Crystal Meth" - a substance that experts and non-experts alike guess hasn't been made in these here parts in over two decades. [continues 2401 words]
It's no wonder Ted Smith laughs and shakes his head when he calculates that his arrest for trafficking in marijuana has already cost taxpayers at least $5,000. It's hard not to laugh along with him. The whole situation would side-splitting hilarious if the actions of local law enforcement weren't so totally inane and misguided. The arrest and charge of trafficking for passing a pot joint are yet another example of a war on drugs being fought without any common sense, without any perspective and apparently without any end. [continues 170 words]
Julie Skulski marched in 1975 for the decriminalization of marijuana, and on Monday, the 68-year-old woman was still advocating that pot be legalized. She was among the handful of people who looked older than 20 at a downtown rally where ``green'' cookies were handed out in honour of International Medical Marijuana Day. ``I smoke and my friends all smoke,'' said Skulski, who looks like a story book vision of a rosy-cheeked grandmother. Ted Smith handed out the 101 cookies -- lumpy brown pucks with chocolate chips and, he said, about a half pound of marijuana in total -- at a noon rally outside the Victoria public library. He is pushing for more acceptance of pot's medicinal uses to alleviate pain and help treat people with long term illnesses. [continues 517 words]
Dustin Sunflower Cantwell can hardly contain his enthusiasm when he describes this year's cannabis harvest -- the best to date for B.C.'s most lucrative cash crop. "It was just epic," said Mr. Cantwell of Nelson, B.C. "There was no chance of mould. It was a perfect finish." It's the same wherever the illegal crop is grown in B.C. Communities such as Nelson -- famous for their underground agriculture hydroponic prowess -- have been savoring every moment since the harvest came in a month ago, after countless days of summer sunshine. [continues 734 words]
