Force believes missing money placed in police bank account Halifax Regional Police have located 34 of 72 exhibits that were missing from their evidence storage, but the remaining 38 - including nearly $5,000 in cash - are still unaccounted for. Chief Jean-Michel Blais will present a report to the municipality's Board of Police Commissioners on Monday updating the force's progress on finding the missing items from the Drug Exhibit Audit released last year. That audit was conducted between June and November 2015 after an officer was accused of stealing from an evidence vault. Police originally found 90 per cent of the drug exhibits in one vault were unaccounted for, and 55 per cent of the evidence in the money vault wasn't where it was supposed to be. [continues 278 words]
Sean McNabb claims he wasn't working when his employer's illegal pot shop - Weed the North - was raided last month, yet he still faces charges. The 32-year-old accused Toronto Police of overstepping their bounds by searching his girlfriend's home following a Jan. 18 dispensary raid. Investigators also put out a warrant for his arrest and nabbed him at Pearson airport as he returned from a brief trip to the U.S. "I was treated like a wanted fugitive over a minor possession charge, even though I had nothing on me," McNabb said recently, adding he also has a medical marijuana licence. [continues 211 words]
A month after it opened, a downtown business specializing in marijuana paraphernalia was searched by police on Thursday. Dr. Greenthumb was searched by members of the Cumberland Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit on Thursday with assistance from the Amherst Police Department. This whole pending legislation has created a challenge for police across the country. Some people are trying to get ahead of it because the government is saying legislation is coming, but it's not here and they have to be patient and wait for the legislation. Ian Naylor, Amherst Police Chief [continues 298 words]
Carleton students shared their opinions on upcoming pot regulations, Sarah Macfarlane wrote. The federal government is on track to legalize marijuana later this year, which has some people debating the minimum age one should be able to use and possess the drug legally. A task force appointed by the government to investigate cannabis legalization released a list of recommendations from its final report in December, suggesting that cannabis should only be sold to people who are 18 or older. While some believe the drug is comparable to alcohol and should be given similar rules, others are concerned about the effects of marijuana on the brains of users under the age of 25. [continues 659 words]
[Name redacted] of Denville, was charged by Wayne police with possession of heroin.(Photo: Courtesy of Wayne Police) [Name redacted], 26, of Denville was arrested and charged with possession of 39 bags of heroin, among other charges, on Jan. 4. According to police records, Officer Tomasz Cydzik observed a 2000 Honda Civic parked in the CVS parking lot on Hamburg Turnpike with her head down "as if unconscious" around 9:40 p.m. When the officer approached, [name redacted] opened her eyes and police observed an uncapped syringe inside the vehicle, according to police reports. After further investigation, five Suboxone under-the-tongue films, one Clonazepam pill, a sandwich-sized plastic bag containing suspected marijuana, two additional hypodermic needles, multiple open glassine bags of suspected heroin, 39 additional bags of heroin stamped "suicide squad" and one small zip lock bag containing suspected cocaine, police records show. [continues 59 words]
[photo] A medical marijuana dispensary is proposed for 1154 N. Main St. in Algonquin. Algonquin officials are considering a medical marijuana company's proposal to open a dispensary in a medical office complex. ILDISP III LLC, represented by Ross Morreale, is seeking a special-use permit for a free-standing building at 1154 N. Main St., out of which the company would sell marijuana to patients with a prescription. An attached garage would also be added onto the building, which formerly housed an MRI center, as a secure area for deliveries and waste removal, according to the proposal. [continues 234 words]
The Ontario government has agreed to help fund three supervised drug-injection sites in Toronto and one in Ottawa as part of an effort to better prepare Canada's most populous province for the eastward spread of illicit fentanyl. Ontario said it is creating a framework to smooth the way for other communities to open supervised-consumption services of their own, while the federal Liberals have promised to knock down legislative barriers erected by Stephen Harper's government, which opposed letting users inject their drugs legally as health-care workers watched. [continues 900 words]
Professor Shad Ewart is teaching a course on emerging markets in relation to marijuana legalization and entrepreneurial pursuits at Anne Arundel Community College. Start stoner-friendly munchies stands in Colorado. Or open a lounge near a marijuana dispensary in Oregon. Or try selling fertilizer to weed growers, dude. "Opportunities are endless, whatever we can create in our heads," said Dean Warner, an Anne Arundel Community College student. The college launched Monday a class exploring business opportunities around the country's expanding marijuana market. [continues 552 words]
I've only just started! Filipino President Duterte's bloody war on drugs has claimed 6,000 lives and seen 900,000 addicts surrender in just six months -- as he claims his country is now safer for normal people * The Philippines government has claimed it is winning the war on drugs after a brutal crackdown on dealing * 6,000 people have been killed by police or vigilantes in a six month campaign ordered by President Duterte * The Filipino government has said that thanks to the crackdown, the country is now a safer place for residents [continues 1462 words]
Despite receiving councillors' support, city is still waiting for formal green light from Ottawa - and funding from the province As Toronto prepares to respond to more overdoses caused by bootleg fentanyl, the city's plan to open three supervised-injection sites remains stuck in limbo. Six months have elapsed since councillors in Canada's largest city voted in favour of adding the service to three health centres that already distribute clean drug paraphernalia and provide support to drug users. But the city is still waiting for funding from the Ontario government and the go-ahead from Ottawa, which received Toronto's completed application last month. [continues 719 words]
[photo] Dr. Deepak Ariga holds a needle favored by drug users in Hammond on April 9, 2015. (Jim Karczewski, Post-Tribune) An HIV outbreak in Scott County, Ind., has infected 106 people. Can needle exchanges stem the tide? An HIV outbreak in Scott County, Ind., has infected 106 people thus far, and despite reservations, Gov. Mike Pence green-lit a 30-day needle exchange program to stem the tide. But public health advocates say the exchange program should be extended to really make an impact and expanded across the state as such programs have been shown to be effective in stemming the tide of HIV and hepatitis C infection among IV drug users. [continues 1235 words]
[photo] Lieutenant Michael Pappalardo said the 10-month-old girl's family is cooperating with an investigation that includes state child-protection authorities. METHUEN - A 10-month-old girl who narrowly survived after ingesting fentanyl is the latest victim of an opioid epidemic that has been blamed for hundreds of deaths in Massachusetts. Police were called to the baby's home shortly before 12:30 p.m. Saturday when the girl was having trouble breathing. She was rushed to Lawrence General Hospital, where she stopped breathing twice and had to be resuscitated. She was later flown by helicopter to Tufts Medical Center in Boston and was listed Monday in stable condition, according to police. [continues 755 words]
The 44-year-old mother who answered the door in Lincoln-Lemington on the evening of Dec. 15 had the "pin point" eyes of "someone who has recently used opioids," a Pittsburgh police officer wrote. The officer was responding to a 911 call suggesting child endangerment. "I do suffer from using heroin and I'm trying to stop, but I keep using," the woman admitted, according to the officer's affidavit. She led police to the makeup bag under the throw pillow, where they found six stamp bags of heroin and three hypodermic needles, the officer wrote. [continues 3159 words]
Twenty people have died of probable heroin overdoses in Milwaukee County since July 27. The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office says this is a photo of a typical drug-overdose death scene.(Photo: Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office, Milwaukee County Medical Examiner 's Office) Twenty people have died of probable heroin overdoses in Milwaukee County during the past two weeks, a toll the county medical examiner's office on Thursday called "unprecedented." The county typically averages one heroin death every three days, the office said. The medical examiner is investigating the possibility that other drugs, such as fentanyl, played a role in the deaths. [continues 390 words]
A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit filed by a Garden City woman against the state and several agencies after her son was removed from her home in March 2015 when he told school officials she used marijuana. Shona Banda alleged in the lawsuit filed in March that the defendants denied her civil rights by refusing to allow her to use medical marijuana to treat her Crohn's disease, interfered with her parenting and questioned her son without her permission. Medical marijuana is not legal in Kansas. [continues 462 words]
"You can watch if you want," says Brandon as he sits down in a chair and puts his drug paraphernalia on the table in front of a mirror. He fumbles around inside his pocket for the heroin to shoot up and get high. But this time he isn't doing it alone. Brandon is one of more than a dozen people who went to the city's first overdose prevention site that opened at Our Place on Tuesday morning. By noon, around 11 drug users had already used the site to safely inject drugs in the company of a paramedic standing by in case of an overdose. [continues 660 words]
Sudbury drug strategy applauds move by feds to make its easier to open safe-injection sites Officials with Sudbury's Community Drug Strategy have applauded a by the federal government to make its easier to open safe injection sites, though they aren't sure if such a facility is needed in Sudbury. Health Minister Jane Philpott has announced the Liberal government will adopt a public-health approach to its drug control strategy, while she unveiled proposed new measures that would open the door to more supervised injection sites in Canada. [continues 929 words]
A company with medical marijuana dispensaries in Vancouver is the latest place in Banff to get marijuana products and paraphernalia. It's unclear, however, if Canna Clinic has any plans to turn its new Bear Street location into Banff's first dispensary once the federal government legalizes recreational marijuana. Selling and processing marijuana for non-medical purposes is currently illegal in Canada, but the federal government wants to legalize marijuana and the task force it appointed to study the issue last week recommended marijuana be allowed to be sold at storefronts. [continues 374 words]
The Municipality of North Cowichan has delivered a lump of coal to two Chemainus dispensaries in the form of a $200 fine. Leaf Compassion Cannabis Dispensary and Green Aura in Chemainus were slapped with tickets last Tuesday by the area's manager of building and compliance for not having a business license. North Cowichan Mayor Jon Lefebure said the dispensary is operating contrary to federal law. "I don't see any grey area, it's very clear. We can't issue a business license for an activity that is illegal," he said. [continues 688 words]
