Are public health officials facing up to the fact that the overdose epidemic in Canada and the U.S. is mostly devastating boys and men? There are small signs some health officials are slowly, awkwardly, hesitatingly beginning to acknowledge the obvious: The overdose crisis is predominantly an issue of men's health. Public officials have much denial to make up for. It was just a year ago that former B.C. Liberal health minister Terry Lake pulled out the public relations stops to open a 38-bed Vancouver facility for women to overcome substance abuse. Months before an election, Lake also announced an overdose prevention site exclusively for females. [continues 730 words]
Calgarians are demonstrating strong common sense when it comes to offering advice on how marijuana should be regulated. The drug will be legalized by the federal government on July 1, but it's been left to cities to determine where pot smoking will be permitted. A survey prepared for the city by Environics Research finds that approximately 55 per cent of Calgarians believe marijuana consumption should be treated more like alcohol, rather than regarded as a product similar to tobacco. Such a conclusion is prudent and would mean that pot couldn't be smoked in public, just as imbibers can't drink beer and other alcohol in public. It's difficult to imagine people walking down the street with a glass of wine in their hand - it's equally troublesome to picture a group of Calgarians sharing a joint as they meander down the road. [continues 289 words]
Can we please stop with the "more" research on marijuana? The only research that is needed is to determine how much good it can do medically. Everyone knows why it was banned decades ago - so they could sell more pills. There is not one recorded death due to overdose, no one has ever gotten stoned and gone on a killing spree, no one has ever smoked pot and driven 150 km/h on the highway. Just recently we are finding out about CBD's helping people with Parkinsons, arthritis, and seizures. [continues 53 words]
Panel warned of supply problems, tight margins A Vancouver cannabis retailer whose company plans to open 10 Alberta stores this year says anyone rushing into the field shouldn't expect to find a pot of gold. "People definitely see it as a potentially very profitable business, or cash cow. It's not," Andrew Gordon, director of operations for Aura Cannabis, said Friday following a panel discussion sponsored by the Leduc Regional Chamber of Commerce. "The margins are very similar to other retailers There's (also) a potential of real shortages facing our business right out the gate in the first 18 months. We have seen that in jurisdictions down south." [continues 359 words]
Alberta could be the site of 250 cannabis stores in the first year of legalization, with retailers able to offer discount prices on bud and marijuana oil, provincial officials said Friday. No one business or person will be able to own more than 15 per cent of the locations, or a maximum of 37 stores, the government said, and the outlets must be located no closer than 100 metres from schools and health-care facilities. "This is a brand new market and we want to ensure everyone can participate, from the very small to the very large entities," said Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley, adding there's no shortage of prospective retailers. [continues 613 words]
Company is gearing up to include medicinal cannabis under extended health-care benefit plans, helping offset costs for users Sun Life Assurance Co. of Canada will become the first major insurance company to add medical marijuana to its group benefits plans for Canadian companies, a pivotal move in the insurance industry that will help ease the financial burden for medical marijuana users, and a sign of the growing acceptance of cannabis in the Canadian workplace. As of March 1, Sun Life will include medical cannabis as optional coverage under an extended health-care benefit plan. Sun Life, which administers group benefits plans for more than 22,000 Canadian companies, oversees health and dental coverage for more than five million Canadians - including dependents. [continues 841 words]
A new medical guideline suggests family doctors should think twice before prescribing medical marijuana to their patients. The Simplified Guideline for Prescribing Medical Cannabinoids in Primary Care, published Thursday in the medical journal Canadian Family Physician, says there is limited evidence to support the reported benefits of medical marijuana for many conditions. It adds that any benefit could be balanced, or even outweighed, by the potential harm. "While enthusiasm for medical marijuana is very strong among some people, good, quality research has not caught up," project leader Mike Allan, director of evidence-based medicine at the University of Alberta, said in a news release. [continues 377 words]
New medical cannabis guidelines for family doctors stress that they should authorize marijuana for only a small fraction of patients because many of its reported benefits have not been proved by rigorous clinical trials. The guidelines, published Thursday in the Canadian Family Physician journal, warn that the number of randomized studies backing up the use of cannabis to fight various ailments is "extremely limited or entirely absent." The scientific evidence dictates that doctors should recommend the drug only when treating a handful of very specific medical conditions such as: chronic nerve pain, palliative cancer pain, muscle stiffness associated with multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injuries and the nausea and vomiting brought on by chemotherapy, according to Mike Allan, a professor of medicine at the University of Alberta and project lead for the guidelines. [continues 476 words]
Public awareness of possible harm from marijuana use will be part of a public campaign in the coming days as July approaches when the federal government will legalize the use of the drug. "We will have a public education campaign around the legalization of cannabis," a spokesperson for the Alberta Cannabis Secretariat said in an email. "However, the details of public education coming from the federal government have not yet been finalized." Federal government details are necessary first in order to ensure there are no duplicated efforts at the provincial level. [continues 344 words]
I just spent the morning reading Bill C-45, the new cannabis law. I discovered under the section for possession, it states that a youth (12 to 18) who possesses more than five grams of dried marijuana will be charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act but does not mention anything about amounts under five grams or under age 12. Given all the science-based facts on the effect of cannabis on developing brains I find this to be a very careless section. The argument concerning ruining a young person's life with a record is made moot since the offence is dealt with under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. [continues 81 words]
Both the Nova Scotia and federal Liberal governments are blowing the chance to rectify years of anti-black prejudice with their marijuana legislation. For years, the government's "tough on crime" strategy gave police officers carte blanche to harass people of colour. Now that the government has decided to legalize recreational marijuana, they have no plans to issue pardons for marijuana possession convictions. Thousands of people have been charged with pot possession over the past decade. Things got so bad under the Harper government that the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police advocated for ticketing to replace criminal charges for simple possession. [continues 700 words]
If, five years ago, someone had asked me how I felt about cannabis, I'd assume they were a cop. Even the term "marijuana" - a word believed to be brought to the United States by Mexican migrant workers before the Prohibition era, which was later used to promote racist anti-pot messaging - was a red flag to discreet and casual users such as myself. Weed, cheeba, ganja, sticky-icky, dank nugs - terms the community has appropriated from Rastafarians, West Coast hippies, rappers and Indian yogis: These are the words that would have communicated familiarity and, therefore, acceptance of the habit. But what do you call it now that Canada has developed a sophisticated legal medical program and is close to passing its recreational cannabis legislation? Well, from black-market producers to young workers in illegal dispensaries to the burgeoning, optimistic legal industry: We've all agreed to say cannabis. [continues 1184 words]
Twenty years ago this Sunday, when Ross Rebagliati was told he had tested positive for a banned substance, he didn't have to ask which one. It was THC, an active ingredient in marijuana, and it was going to cost him the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded in snowboarding. Three decades later, Rebagliati still has his gold medal, Canada is five months away from fully legalized weed sales, Rebagliati owns his own major medicinal cannabis supply company (the pun-ish Ross' Gold), and snowboarding is a lot more mainstream. [continues 923 words]
Surrey mulls over 'missteps' from U.S. cities that have legalized marijuana Surrey Mayor Linda Hepner says the city has developed a "balanced, appropriate and evidence-based approach" in preparing for the expected passing of the Trudeau government's Bill C45 Cannabis Act this coming July. "Like all governments, the City of Surrey must determine the changes needed to ensure an effective response to cannabis legalization," Hepner said. "Our report was prepared following a comprehensive review of best practices in jurisdictions of the United States with legal recreational cannabis markets. Council and I have directed staff to implement the necessary steps outlined in the framework over the coming months." [continues 630 words]
Town wants 'cautious' approach; hearing on Tuesday With cannabis legalization just months away, the District of Tofino is considering a bylaw that would heavily restrict where pot shops can operate in the community. A public hearing is set for Tuesday. People will be able to weigh in on the proposed bylaw, which would "prohibit the use of any land, building or structure for the sale, production or distribution of cannabis," according to a notice of public hearing on the district's website. [continues 340 words]
In an interview with The Citizen last April during the 2017 provincial election, NDP leader John Horgan admitted that government and politicians are behind public sentiment when it comes to marijuana. Knowing it and saying it is one thing but Horgan, now the premier, still seems reluctant to act on it, based on the additional details on a provincial pot policy the NDP government announced Monday that will take effect once marijuana is legalized later this year. "Some may think that this work will end in July when non-medical cannabis is legalized by the federal government," Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth said. "But the truth is our government will be dealing with this significant change in policy for years to come." [continues 640 words]
Vancouver won't grant pot-shop licences to people with ties to illegal drugs, but critics urge reconsideration Rocco Dipopolo is an entrepreneur juggling three businesses - a tattoo parlour, a gym and a boxing clinic - in East Vancouver, an area of hipster coffee shops and chic duplexes that the 46-year-old remembers as gritty during his delinquent adolescence. Until recently, he also owned an illegal cannabis dispensary in the city's trendy Commercial Drive neighbourhood. He had to step away from that venture in order for it to secure a coveted business licence from the City of Vancouver. [continues 1336 words]
Coming soon to a storefront near you: a cannabis shop. The provincial government has brought down the latest of many new regulations as the date for legalization approaches. After much debate and much reading of tea leaves, the government says that legalized recreational marijuana will be sold at stand-alone stores, some run by private operators and others by the Liquor Distribution Branch. The distribution branch will be the wholesaler, and all will be overseen by the Liquor Control and Licensing Branch. [continues 548 words]
AKWESASNE - If the community gives the go-ahead, Akwesasne could be the only place with a dispensary for recreational marijuana near Cornwall when it becomes legal this year. At its monthly meeting in January, a video of which is posted on YouTube, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne (MCA) ran the idea past its members looking for feedback. It was made very clear during the presentation the MCA would not pursue the idea if the community is not in favour of it, but Grand Chief Abram Benedict argued the impending legalization of marijuana presents the First Nation with an incredible business opportunity. [continues 641 words]
With the legalization of recreational cannabis, local merchants look to capitalize on the sale of marijuana merchandise Everything from bongs to pipes and vaporizers will likely become commonplace in local smoke shops as recreational cannabis sales will become legal this summer. The Nova Scotia Liquor Corp., which will operate marijuana dispensaries from nine liquor outlets in the province, has said it will leave the sale of cannabis accessories and related products to the private sector. That news was received well by smoke and e-cigarette shops that are hoping to expand their line of products to include accessories used by marijuana users. [continues 547 words]
