"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's a heaven for?" - - Robert Browning One thing the Trudeau government cannot be accused of is lack of reach. Its ambitions have carried it into endeavours the Harper government did not attempt to reach or had no interest in reaching. These range from climate change to a process of reconciliation with First Nations from Senate reform to a shift of some of the tax burden from middle-to high-income earners from the appointment of a gender-equal cabinet to increased consultation with the provinces and from overhaul of the electoral system to the legalization of marijuana. [continues 564 words]
They come with names such as Green Tree and Weeds Glass & Gifts, which sound harmless. But Ottawa's 16 pot shops aren't legal, and some of them have sprung up in the last few months in areas close to where kids can be found, or where shops cater to families. Many in Ottawa have clamoured for the police to shut them down. Friday, finally, the brass took action, staging simultaneous raids on six marijuana dispensaries across the city. About time. [continues 332 words]
Planning to go skiing this winter in Alberta's resort towns, or perhaps some fall camping in rural British Columbia? Be careful if you want to fire up a joint alongside the chairlift or barbecue. That's because police investigate more marijuana possession and trafficking incidents per capita in parts of Western Canada, despite the long-held belief that attitudes toward pot get mellower as you near the Pacific Ocean. Postmedia analyzed 12 years of national crime statistics to determine where you had the highest odds of being questioned by police for having a small amount of bud. Lake Louise and Jasper have consistently been at the top of the list, and were followed in 2015 by several B.C. mountainside towns, including Whistler, Merritt, Hope, and Salmo. [continues 2059 words]
I understand the need to proceed with caution on marijuana legalization (NOW, August 3), but we passed that point more than 40 years ago. In 1972, the Le Dain Commission recommended cannabis be legalized and governed similar to alcohol. In 2002, 30 years later, the Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs recommended a "regulatory approach to cannabis," and now we are told that in 2017 we will finally have a plan for legalization. Being cautious is one thing; taking almost half a century to take a step forward is ludicrous. Cannabis should be legal and regulated similar to tobacco and alcohol. Derek Snider [end]
Svante Myrick aims to bring Vancouver's pioneering programs back to his small city in upstate New York Svante Myrick has led a lifelong battle against the devastation caused by illicit drugs. He spent much of his childhood homeless while his father, a crack cocaine user, walked in and out of his world through "a sort of revolving door of jail and rehab," he said. Now Myrick, 29, the youngest and the first black mayor of Ithaca, N.Y., is fighting ideology and policy to make his city the first in the U.S. to be home to a legal supervised-injection facility (SIF) for heroin users. [continues 720 words]
Justin Trudeau sits down with Free Press editor Paul Samyn to talk about urgent legislation, First Nations, marijuana... and Stephen Harper PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with Winnipeg Free Press editor Paul Samyn for an exclusive interview Thursday. The event, held at the Winnipeg Free Press News Cafe, was a fulfilment of promise Trudeau had made to the newspaper. "I was here a few years ago, and one of the promises I made - and it's great when a politician can keep promises - was to come back," said the casually dressed Trudeau. [continues 2735 words]
And sort out the details later Of all of the promises the Liberals made in the lead-up to last year's election, one would have thought that legalizing marijuana would be an easy one to keep, as it would be pretty easy to do. The basis for marijuana's illegality in Canada is its inclusion in several schedules of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA). If Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is serious about his election promise, he should take the obvious first step and propose legislation that would remove marijuana from the CDSA. Regardless of what marijuana legalization scheme is dreamed up over the next couple of years, this will need to happen. The sooner it does, the better. [continues 598 words]
'The current approach is simply failing' OTTAWA * There will be no halt to prosecutions for minor marijuana offences, but the government will likely consider future amnesty for hundreds of thousands of Canadians already saddled with criminal records for simple possession, says the Liberal point man on pot. The comments by former Toronto police chief and MP Bill Blair came amid increasing calls for federal prosecutors to cease criminal cases against people charged with simple pot possession and minor trafficking, even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vows to legalize weed during his party's current four-year mandate. [continues 416 words]
OTTAWA - There will be no halt to prosecutions for minor marijuana offences, but the government will likely consider future amnesty for hundreds of thousands of Canadians already saddled with criminal records for simple possession, says the Liberal point man on pot. The comments by former Toronto police chief and MP Bill Blair came amid increasing calls for federal prosecutors to cease criminal cases against people charged with simple pot possession and minor trafficking, even though Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vows to legalize weed during his party's current four-year mandate. [continues 505 words]
Article 253 (1) of the Criminal Code of Canada outlaws the operation a motor vehicle, boat, aircraft or railway engine while a "person's ability to operate . . . is impaired by alcohol or a drug." The provision has existed for decades, but it's only recently that the justice system has seriously tried coming to grips with the question of drugged driving - and it has done so only semi-successfully. As the federal government prepares to legalize marijuana, here's another item to add to the to-do list: setting out specific enforcement criteria for driving under its influence. [continues 291 words]
Mitch Reid is neither a scientist nor a bona fide researcher. Reid's claims of research actually fly in the face of science and could have grave ramifications for our youth. (Charlottetown man leads petition against legalization of cannabis; January 31, 2016) The 2002 Canadian Senate Committee Report on Cannabis concluded that pharmacological studies of the active ingredients in cannabis have not found any element that predisposes cannabis consumers to seek more potent drugs. In fact, this report points to studies that show cannabis as an effective substitute to treat dependency to hard drugs; a 'gateway back drug' if you will with the capability to treat the plethora of side effects associated with hard drug withdrawal. [continues 94 words]
In a recent Times Colonist editorial ("Drug war won't be won at sea," Dec. 11), the crews of coastal-defence vessels HMCS Brandon and HMCS Whitehorse were commended for their contributions to Operation Caribbe, Canada's contribution to a U.S.-led anti-drug-trafficking mission in the Caribbean and East Pacific. The Royal Canadian Navy ships assisted the U.S. Coast Guard in seizing about 10 tonnes of cocaine off Central and South America. The editorial also pointed out that the efforts are having discouragingly little effect on the drug trade. [continues 661 words]
This is in response to John R. Hunt's column The saddest or highest of times which appeared in the Jan. 9 Nugget. To the editor: In the column, John R. Hunt posed the question I'm sure many people are asking themselves: When pot becomes legal, will they try it? As someone who "came down on the side of law and order to resist pot's temptations," It's clear the decision is not weighing very hard on Mr. Hunt's mind. But as he reflects on his 60 years of experience, he comes away with some questions that Canadians really ought to be asking themselves. [continues 309 words]
The federal government is wise to request a six-month extension to draft new legislation on doctor-assisted dying. Canadians have been waiting for legislation on this crucial issue for far too long already, but for the Liberal government to rush it through by the February deadline after inheriting it from the foot-dragging Conservatives, does not make sense. Last February, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the ban on medically-assisted suicide. The ruling gave the federal government 12 months to rewrite the Criminal Code, or ignore the ruling, essentially leaving the matter in legal limbo. [continues 365 words]
Doctor-assisted dying law shouldn't be hastily implemented The federal government is wise to request a six-month extension to draft new legislation on doctor-assisted dying. Canadians have been waiting for legislation on this crucial issue for far too long already, but for the Liberal government to rush it through by the February deadline after inheriting it from the foot-dragging Conservatives, does not make sense. Last February, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the ban on medically-assisted suicide. The ruling gave the federal government 12 months to rewrite the Criminal Code, or ignore the ruling, essentially leaving the matter in legal limbo. [continues 361 words]
The federal government is wise to request a six-month extension to draft new legislation on doctor-assisted dying. Canadians have been waiting for legislation on this crucial issue for far too long already, but for the Liberal government to rush it through by the February deadline after inheriting it from the foot-dragging Conservatives, does not make sense. Last February, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the ban on medically assisted suicide. The ruling gave the federal government 12 months to rewrite the Criminal Code, or ignore the ruling, essentially leaving the matter in legal limbo. [continues 362 words]
By 1971, marijuana's scent hung over much of Canada. Some 1.5 million folks had taken at least one drag on a joint. Hundreds of thousands were regularly firing up, grooving to Three Dog Night and learning from the leaked Pentagon Papers that the U.S. administration had lied about the Vietnam War. Convictions for simple pot possession exploded: from 431 in 1967 to 5,399 in 1970 and 8,389 in 1971. More than half were against otherwise law-abiding baby boomers under 21 who would now carry criminal records along with their university degrees. [continues 685 words]
Almost 15 per cent of tobacco products used in B.C. are contraband, costing the provincial treasury an estimated $100 million a year in lost tax revenue. It's a glimpse of what awaits governments in a legalized-marijuana world. Legalized - or at least decriminalized - marijuana is inevitable. Its widespread use demands that governments regulate, tax and monitor the use of the drug, just as they do tobacco and alcohol. To do otherwise makes no sense. The war on marijuana is a failure. It comes with high costs and collateral damage, and has done nothing to curb the use. Yes, criminality and violence are associated with marijuana, but those aspects arise from the drug's illegality, not its effects on the human body. [continues 467 words]
Almost 15 per cent of tobacco products used in B.C. are contraband, costing the provincial treasury an estimated $100 million a year in lost tax revenue. It's a glimpse of what awaits governments in a legalized-marijuana world. Legalized - or at least decriminalized - marijuana is inevitable. Its widespread use demands that governments regulate, tax and monitor the use of the drug, just as they do tobacco and alcohol. To do otherwise makes no sense. The war on marijuana is a failure. It comes with high costs and collateral damage, and has done nothing to curb the use. Yes, criminality and violence are associated with marijuana, but those aspects arise from the drug's illegality, not its effects on the human body. You do not have to endorse the use of marijuana - and we do not - - to see sound reasons for changing the law. [continues 444 words]
Cannabis Proponents Argue That Legal Marijuana Sales Could Rake in Billions for the Government The Liberals' October 19 victory over the tough-on-crime Conservatives prompted a succinct reaction from the unofficial leader of Canada's marijuana-reform movement. "Holy smokes," Jodie Emery said in a telephone interview. "We were all joking about how activists are out of a job. Mission accomplished. Now what?" In his campaign for prime minister, Liberal party leader Justin Trudeau promised his government would fully legalize and regulate the sale and consumption of recreational cannabis. That pledge went significantly further than NDP leaderThomas Mulcair's plan to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of pot. While decriminalization leaves supply to the black market, Trudeau insisted Canada should regulate cannabis in ways similar to how the country handles other controlled substances, such as alcohol and tobacco. [continues 850 words]
