Liberals Won't Support Law for Jail Time OTTAWA -- The Conservative government's controversial bill that would impose mandatory jail time for offenders caught growing a handful of marijuana plants appears headed to the trash can. The Liberals announced Wednesday they will not support Bill S-10, which has already been passed by the Senate. "I'm very disappointed that they have had this complete flip-flop," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said. The Liberals, who supported previous versions of the bill, now say it would excessively punish some people for minor offences and would cost too much to implement because it will jam prisons that are already filled to the brink. The Conservatives have said they will spend $2 billion over the next five years to expand prisons. [continues 314 words]
The Conservative government's controversial bill that would impose mandatory jail time for offenders caught growing a handful of marijuana plants appears headed to the trash can. The Liberals announced Wednesday they will not support Bill S-10, which has already been passed by the Senate. "I'm very disappointed that they have had this complete flip-flop," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson told Postmedia News. The Liberals, who supported previous versions of the bill, now say it would excessively punish some people for minor offences and would cost too much to implement because it will jam prisons that are already filled to the brink. The Conservatives have said they will spend $2 billion over the next five years to expand prisons. [continues 214 words]
'I prefer the natural herb that I know where it has been grown' Several Calgary stores were busted last week for selling synthetic marijuana, but the owners aren't talking. What do you know about it? The situation is that it's not synthetic marijuana; it is incense. It says right on the package, "Not for human consumption." Some people are consuming it, but I know the majority of the people out there who do consume cannabis and other drugs aren't consuming it to smoke, they're using it as incense. Some of those storeowners are good friends of mine. [continues 1443 words]
Editor : David W. Dickinson got a bulls-eye (Letter: Reason The Gangs Are Growing, Nov. 24, 2010), cannabis (marijuana) prohibition increases hard drug addiction rates. How many people try cannabis and realize it's not nearly as harmful as taught in D.A.R.E.-type programs and think other substances must not be so bad either only to become addicted to hard drugs? How many people have become addicted to hard drugs simply because the same dealer who sells the God-given plant cannabis may also sell hard drugs? It's clearly time to end cannabis prohibition. Even Canada's 2002 Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs unanimously recommended to regulate cannabis the same way as alcohol and the Le Dain Commission's report did the same. Ending cannabis prohibition is one of the most important issues of our time. Stan White Dillon, Colorado [end]
Re: "Bill aims to protect children endangered by drugs," Nov. 24 I'm sure Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop and Robert Herman mean well, but they're doing some backwards thinking if they believe caging a responsible small-time cannabis (mari-juana) grower for two years is healthy for their children. What is being proposed is more Luciferous devil laws to support the evil practice of caging humans for using the relatively safe, extremely popular, God-given plant. It's clearly time to legalize cannabis and make the world a safer place. Even Canada's Senate committee on illegal drugs unanimously recom-mended to regulate cannabis the same way as alcohol and the Le Dain Commission's report did the same. Stan White, Colorado [end]
The Senate has backed away from a fight with the Conservative government and passed a controversial drug-sentencing bill that would automatically imprison people caught growing five or more marijuana plants. One year after the upper house watered down proposed legislation by raising the bar to more than 200 plants, a new version of the bill is once again before the Senate and the chamber of sober second thought has decided that the previous amendment would never survive a final vote among MPs. [continues 306 words]
Bill seeks jail time for five plants or more The Senate has backed away from a fight with the Conservative government over a controversial drug-sentencing bill that would automatically imprison offenders caught growing five or more marijuana plants. One year after the upper house watered down proposed legislation by raising the bar to more than 200 plants, a new version of the bill is once again before the Senate and the chamber has decided that the previous amendment would never survive a final vote among MPs. [continues 410 words]
Norfolk OPP Insp. Zvonko Horvat is doing some backwards thinking (Top cop voices concern over legal pot operations, Nov. 18). I have concern over cannabis (marijuana) prohibition, which has set up in North America in the last eight decades because it is obviously leading to serious rising crime. If allowed to continue it will create escalated extreme violent crime as is the case in Mexico. Is Horvat so ignorant that he honestly doesn't realize in October, $8,000 in cannabis was stolen from a greenhouse because artificial black market prices make the plant worth its weight in gold? Eliminate Horvat and other cannabis prohibitionists from the equation and we're talking about perhaps $800 in plant material and no theft. [continues 84 words]
OTTAWA - America's drug czar says the United States can slow the flow of illegal narcotics from Canada by getting its own drug problem under control. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, says getting more Americans off drugs will help reduce the glut of ecstasy, meth, heroin, marijuana and cocaine crossing the Canada-U.S. border. Kerlikowske, a former police chief in Seattle and Buffalo, said guns and drugs still move freely across the Canada-U.S. border. [continues 429 words]
Drug cartels, criminals, police chiefs, alcohol manufacturers and retailers, prison employees and big pharma, can now sleep easier. California's Proposition 19 was defeated last week 54% to 46%. Marijuana prohibition remains in force in California. Recreational possession and use of pot remains illegal in North America. But don't let your guard down. Keep lobbying against lifting pot prohibition because sooner or later people are going to come to their senses and accept that prohibition has been an abject failure. [continues 562 words]
Drug cartels, criminals, police chiefs, alcohol manufacturers and retailers, prison employees and big pharma, now can sleep easier. California's Proposition 19 was defeated last week 54% to 46%. Marijuana prohibition remains in force in California. Recreational possession and use of pot remains illegal in North America. But don't let your guard down. Keep lobbying against lifting pot prohibition because sooner or later people are going to come to their senses and accept that prohibition has been an abject failure. [continues 466 words]
Drug cartels, criminals, police chiefs, alcohol manufacturers and retailers, prison employees and big pharma, can now sleep easier. California's Proposition 19 was defeated last week 54% to 46%. Marijuana prohibition remains in force in California. Recreational possession and use of pot remains illegal in North America. But don't let your guard down. Keep lobbying against lifting pot prohibition because sooner or later people are going to come to their senses and accept that prohibition has been an abject failure. [continues 561 words]
Drug cartels, criminals, police chiefs, alcohol manufacturers and retailers, prison employees and big pharma, can now sleep easier. California's Proposition 19 was defeated last week 54% to 46%. Marijuana prohibition remains in force in California. Recreational possession and use of pot remains illegal in North America. But don't let your guard down. Keep lobbying against lifting pot prohibition because sooner or later people are going to come to their senses and accept prohibition has been an abject failure. All it's managed to do is push up the price of pot and give a near monopoly to drug cartels, resulting in higher profits for criminals and increased violence when dealers try to protect their turf. At the same time we've made criminals out of recreational pot users. [continues 511 words]
Drug cartels, criminals, police chiefs, alcohol manufacturers and retailers, prison employees and big pharma, can now sleep easier. California's Proposition 19 was defeated last week 54% to 46%. Marijuana prohibition remains in force in California. Recreational possession and use of pot remains illegal in North America. But don't let your guard down. Keep lobbying against lifting pot prohibition because sooner or later people are going to come to their senses and accept that prohibition has been an abject failure. [continues 546 words]
Drug cartels, criminals, police chiefs, alcohol manufacturers and retailers, prison employees and big pharma, can now sleep easier. California's Proposition 19 was defeated this week 54% to 46%. Marijuana prohibition remains in force in California. Recreational possession and use of pot remains illegal in North America. But don't let your guard down. Keep lobbying against lifting pot prohibition because sooner or later people are going to come to their senses and accept that prohibition has been an abject failure. [continues 542 words]
Majority of Canadians are supporting the legalization proposal TORONTO (CUP) - Marijuana is all around us. More Canadians use marijuana than residents in any other country in the world - about 11.4 per cent of the population. Most students either use it or know someone who does, despite knowing it is an illegal drug in this country and that there could be legal repercussions for those caught possessing, growing or selling it. While there are some who are legally allowed to use it for medical purposes, critics nevertheless argue that smoking the plant could lead to addiction, heavy drug use, brain damage or even psychosis. [continues 530 words]
A spectre is haunting Canada: cannabis. Cannabis, or marijuana, is all around us. More Canadians use marijuana than residents in any other country in the world - about 16.8 percent of the population. Most students either use it or know someone that does, despite knowing it is an illegal drug in this country and that there could be legal repercussions for those caught possessing, growing or selling it. While there are some who are legally allowed to have cannabis for medical purposes, critics nevertheless argue that smoking the plant could lead to addiction, other drug use, brain damage, or even psychosis. [continues 584 words]
A Conservative bill to jail offenders caught growing five or more marijuana plants was back before the Senate Wednesday, a year after it made the rare move of watering down the government's proposals by raising the bar to 200 plants. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ignored the Senate amendments when he resurrected his proposed legislation last spring, and the upper chamber, which has fewer Liberals than it did a year ago, has less muscle this time around. Nicholson warned a Senate committee Wednesday that amending his proposed legislation again "would severely weaken the bill" so that a person involved in organized crime could have 150 plants in several locations and escape jail nonetheless. [continues 91 words]
Six Months Jail For Growing Five Or More Plants A Conservative bill to jail offenders caught growing five or more marijuana plants was back before the Senate Wednesday, a year after it made the rare move of watering down the government's proposals by raising the bar to 200 plants. Justice Minister Rob Nicholson ignored the Senate amendments when he resurrected his proposed legislation last spring, and the upper chamber, which has fewer Liberals than it did a year ago, has less muscle to balk this time around. [continues 412 words]
