LEGALIZE and tax marijuana and the budget will balance itself - or so marijuana advocates, from stoners to recreational users to the prime minister, have tried to convince us of this for years. But they're all wrong. It makes some sense that a product so commonly used should be regulated rather than criminalized, sending its newly-enabled taxation revenues to the public coffers. Unfortunately, recent federal announcements and the examples of two U.S. states tell us that a fiscal boon from legal pot is nothing more than reefer madness. [continues 543 words]
Ontario is in the middle of an opioid crisis, Grey Bruce Health Unit program director Lynda Bumstead and Hope Grey Bruce member Dave Roy told Brockton council. Bumstead said one person dies every 10 hours in Ontario from an opioid overdose. In 2016, there were eight deaths in Grey Bruce linked to opioid overdose. "There are many, many more individuals suffering from overdoses and addictions every day in Grey and Bruce," Bumstead told council last week. Overdoses due to opioids killed more people in 2014 than car accidents, and the number of deaths due to opioid overdose continues to rise. [continues 550 words]
Re: Alberta betting on marijuana boom, Opinion, Nov. 28 I read with interest Gillian Steward's column about the cannabis industry in Alberta. I write to clarify some of her comments. Residential marijuana grow-ops have destroyed houses and injured neighbourhoods. When I had the privilege of serving in office, we sought to address this issue with a task force that focused on what could be done from a provincial level. One of the frequent comments we heard was that the decriminalization of cannabis, a federal issue, would decrease the incentives for such activities. [continues 73 words]
Issues to be resolved include licensing, zoning and added cost of enforcement Cities and towns across Alberta are looking for details - and possibly cash - from the provincial government in anticipation of legal recreational marijuana next year. The newly elected president of the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association, Barry Morishita, said the NDP government has been good at keeping municipalities in the loop as it works through cannabis legalization. But the Brooks mayor said municipalities are still looking for answers in some areas as the July 1, 2018, deadline for legalization moves ever closer. Money, as usual, is a major issue. "Who's going to fund the cost of services from the change in legislation?" Morishita said in a recent interview. [continues 599 words]
Marijuana advent calendars creating a buzz. With advent (coming from Latin) being one of the most important events in Christianity, as it is revisiting the time leading up to the birth of Jesus Christ, I cannot think of anything more egregious than selling marijuana advent calendars. Maybe pot has already damaged the people's brains who came up with such an outrageous plan. I am sure if they so offended Islam, there would be rioting. I can well imagine when pot is legalized next July, we will see even more of this type of pure lunacy. I hope the orchestrators of this will immediately withdraw these offending calendars. Larry Comeau (Is it really that much different from alcohol advent calendars, which have been around for a while?) [end]
Proposed cannabis tax another hurdle for medical marijuana users Dick Sobsey slowly walks into a meeting room for an informative, thought-provoking and, really, a scratchyour-head conversation that evades the parameters of conventional thinking. "I may be retired," Sobsey said, referring to his distinguished career as Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta. "But," he paused before, almost theatrically, lowering the boom, "I'm still complaining." Quite on the contrary, to be brutally honesty. Aside from Sobsey's intellectual prowess, the role, I think, he tightly embraces the most is father to David: a 27-yearold grown man who lives with intractable epilepsy, [continues 368 words]
Politicians here haven't said anything blatantly insane, uninformed or stupid. That's a win As Canada hurtles towards the legalization of marijuana next year, the provinces and territories have begun outlining their regulations for the drug. So far, the regimes we know about have been a decidedly mixed bag. Ontario and Quebec have gone full narc. Quebec is flat-out banning home-grown plants - even though federal rules allow for four per person. Ontario is planning absurdly harsh punishments for any lingering grey-market dispensaries that might compete with its government retail monopoly, which will only see 40 stores to start. [continues 946 words]
First co-ordinator of drugs strategy says community role key to success As the first co-ordinator of a plan to address local drug use, Lacey DaSilva knows she has been handed a weighty task. The Brantford-Brant Community Drugs Strategy, officially launched earlier this month, sets out goals to delay or prevent substance abuse and keep those already using safe and healthy. It also aims to ensure residents have timely access to services and to reframe addiction from an issue of criminal justice to one of public health. [continues 701 words]
Motacan Compassion Society is exempt from business licence requirement, operator argues A medical marijuana dispensary is suing the City of Abbotsford in an effort to remain open and avoid paying thousands of dollars in tickets. Motacan Compassion Society, which operates a storefront location in an alley off Montrose Avenue in downtown Abbotsford, says it is exempt from bylaws requiring a business licence due to its not-for-profit society status. In a petition filed last week in B.C. Supreme Court, "principal operator" David Smith claims Motacan is a registered society that provides "reasonable access to medical cannabis to members of the society on a highly subsidized basis." [continues 266 words]
West Kelowna is the latest B.C. city to petition the court to stop cannabis dispensaries from doing business. The city is alleging that the Black Crow Herbals Association, Okanagan Cannabis Solutions Society, Selina Lau, Ralph Krehbiel and Matthew Nicholas are operating without business licenses and it is petitioning the court for an order to stop them from continuing to do so. In the petition to the court, it says once the order is issued, the RCMP would be given the ability to arrest and remove any person who is contravening any provision of this order within the properties listed. [continues 198 words]
Detection tools not available yet The Government of Saskatchewan announced Tuesday that there will be a zero tolerance policy for people who drive while impaired by drugs. Earl Cameron, executive vice president of Auto Fund, said the decision was made after the federal government passed new laws in anticipation of marijuana legalization. "It's because of the three new federal laws, we want to make sure that our administrative sanctions that we have now, for impaired driving, mirror these three new charges," he said. [continues 446 words]
Far too many young people still think driving while under the influence of drugs is somehow less risky than drinking and driving. So R.I.D.E. Checks - an organization that works with cops to promote road safety - has teamed up with the licensed marijuana producer Beleave Inc. to launch a campaign called, Consequence Strains, to spell out the dangers of driving high. "There still seems to be a common misconception where it's not as bad as having a few drinks and getting behind the wheel. People say, 'Oh, I can focus more,'" Dr. Roger Ferreira, Beleave's chief science officer, said Wednesday at Humber College's Lakeshore campus where police from services across the province gathered to kick off this year's RIDE program. [continues 88 words]
Re: "Booze, drugs 'profound' woes, Suncor says," Nov. 28. There has been little concern expressed during its committee study by the Trudeau government, in its rush to legalize marijuana, about the real possibility of an increase in accidents in the workplace, once it becomes legal. Unlike alcohol, which is excreted from one's body in about 12 hours, THC remains in the system for many, many days. This means workers can show up on the job still partially stoned. There is also the real likelihood more workers will be using marijuana on the job, thereby placing themselves and co-workers at an increased risk of injury or death. [continues 53 words]
In wiser times, cigarettes were considered poison: protect the kids, reduce health-care expense, ban that toxin almost everywhere. As a result, we all breathe easier. Now it's 2017 - set up shops and fill them with pretty coloured weed balls, like lollipops. Who cares how many more toxins are in those? Huge numbers of young people in their 20s are still in school and still dependent on their parents. Is the medical community thrilled to welcome a new mind-altering drug we can all enjoy? Is there enough paper to list all the side-effects? [continues 212 words]
Province grants cannabis store to Niagara Falls Niagara Falls will receive at least one government-run pot shop when recreational marijuana becomes legal next July. On Tuesday night, Coun. Wayne Thomson read a letter from Ontario Ministry of Finance sent to the city and dated Nov. 28 that the popular tourist destination has been identified "for the location of at least one initial cannabis retail store by July 2018." Thomson, along with Mayor Jim Diodati, voiced their disappointment when the Honeymoon Capital wasn't among the first 14 cities announced earlier this month by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to host a legal pot shop next July. [continues 929 words]
Host's company says event aims to add legitimacy to community What do you do if you're a budding awards show trying to create a buzz around Canada's $8.7-billion cannabis market? First you weed out the best producers from the very large crop of products out there. Then you book a swanky joint and roll out the red carpet for business types looking to get in on the potential pot of gold surrounding legalization next summer. The CEO of Lift Co., the online marketplace for the medical marijuana industry that is holding the event, says it was high time for a grass gala to highlight the fourth annual Canadian Cannabis Awards - previously held only online - in an effort to add some legitimacy to the often stigmatized cannabis community. [continues 389 words]
The Liberal government has released its draft legislation for Bill C-45, known in shorthand as the 'Cannabis Act' for legalizing marijuana. And according to Kootenay Outdoor Producers Cooperative co-founder Todd Veri, it's better than just good news for small producers - it's everything they'd hoped for. "Our big concern was that they wouldn't allow outdoor growing or that they'd make life impossible for the co-operative model," says Veri. "Based on the report the government put together last year, we believed the government was going to go in the right direction but might need a nudge from us. It seems they took into account our documentation - we had five or six points we wanted to address and they addressed them all in the draft legislation." [continues 670 words]
In wiser times, cigarettes were considered poison: protect the kids, reduce health-care expense, ban that toxin almost everywhere. As a result, we all breathe easier. Now it's 2017 - set up shops and fill them with pretty coloured weed balls, like lollipops. Who cares how many more toxins are in those? Huge numbers of young people in their 20s are still in school and still dependent on their parents. Is the medical community thrilled to welcome a new mind- altering drug we can all enjoy? Is there enough paper to list all the side- effects? [continues 212 words]
