Dundas mom says 17-year-old is on 'lockdown' in home after knife-wielding outburst When his father roused his son from a drug-induced slumber, he flew into a rage. The 17-year-old ended up pulling a knife and locking his dad out in the freezing cold. Now, his parents take turns watching him - constantly. "We just kind of keep him down on what we call 'lockdown,'" says his mom, a school teacher who lives in Dundas. Her son is addicted to drugs and alcohol. He has tried to kill himself, been in and out of hospital, in homeless shelters and jail. [continues 875 words]
The fire department in ElizabethtownKitley wants to opt out of carrying naloxone kits in its fire trucks. In a report to council set to be discussed on Monday, the township's fire department says it unanimously decided it does not want to participate in the Ontario Naloxone Program at this time. The provincial fire marshal and chief of emergency management informed the township in December they will be expanding the naloxone program to include funding for two naloxone kits for each fire truck used in their role as first responders. [continues 553 words]
Sometimes so little is going through my head that if Ralph were to say something, I'd actually have room to listen to him. Those few times that's happened also seems to be my week to write an article which then leaves me scrambling. Other times, I start the article only to be sideswiped by some event making me set it aside and start over. Such as todays. I am an old fogey when it comes to the decriminalization of marijuana. [continues 777 words]
A day after what would have been her son Ashley's 38th birthday, Betty Niemi told the story of her only child's losing battle with addiction to a rapt audience Thursday night. Niemi, who has started a local chapter of Grief Recovery After Substance Passing (GRASP), took to the podium at the fourth Not My Kid: Adolescents and Addictions seminar before a crowd of about 300 at the Caboto Club. "Losing a child is like having an arm or leg amputated, but no one can see it," Niemi told the crowd. [continues 496 words]
Committee to look at report next week Sudbury could become home to a safe injection site. The community services committee will hear next week about the prospect of undertaking a feasibility study for a site, which will cost $150,000 to $200,000. Council is being asked to endorse the report. "Through community consultations, under the mental health and compassionate city community priorities, the suggested action includes the study of and possible establishment of a supervised injection site," a staff report indicates. "In addition, the establishment of (a safe injection site) has been prioritized by the community drug strategy as part of the harm reduction pillar area of responsibility." [continues 439 words]
Decades after Canada abandoned the field, the B.C. Centre on Substance Use is investigating the benefits of drugs like MDMA and psilocybin In 2011, Gerald Thomas was invited to an Indigenous community in a remote area of British Columbia. Working for the Centre for Addictions Research of B.C., he was one of a small team of scientists who observed 12 people take ayahuasca, an Amazonian mixture that induces vivid visual and auditory hallucinations as well as deep emotional and intellectual reflection. [continues 2903 words]
A new multi-site study has found that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to engage in substance use than youngsters without the disorder and had higher rates of marijuana and cigarette use going into adulthood. The study's takeaway message, suggested lead author Brooke Molina, should be that parents of children with ADHD need to keep in touch with their children's activities and friends, even into the teenage years. "They should keep their antenna up," said Molina, a psychiatry professor with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. [continues 433 words]
Dissenting opinion found charter rights were violated during 'fishing expedition' A senior Ontario judge has called out Toronto police officers who arrested a man on gun and drug charges for "casually intimidating and oppressive misconduct," and wondered if their actions would have been different in a whiter and wealthier neighbourhood. The criticism came in a dissenting opinion from Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Peter Lauwers, who recently disagreed with his two colleagues on a panel hearing the appeal of Tom Le, convicted in 2014 of firearm and drug-related offences and sentenced to five years in prison. [continues 742 words]
Police say booths have been selling weed to kids Despite a recent police crackdown, marijuana vendors who have been selling pot out of booths set up at Robson Square near the Vancouver Art Gallery say they have no intention of stopping. Police arrested four people on Jan. 22 and have charged a fifth person, Vancouver resident David Hill, with drug trafficking. At a press conference Tuesday morning, police said they have recommended 11 charges in total and more charges will be coming. [continues 269 words]
An insignificant number of Canadians use illicit drugs. Less than four per cent use them and less than two per cent have a problem resulting from hard drug use, notably, heroin and cocaine. The consequences, which can include death and over-dosing, place a heavy social and economic burden on society. Let's start by understanding what motivates people, and especially the young, to use drugs. Programs that address the reasons for the behaviour are far more likely to work. That said, it is about time we start treating drug use and drug addiction for what it is: a public health problem with the priorities being treatment, rehabilitation and harm reduction. [continues 62 words]
Public parks? Coffee shops? The province wants your input on pot What are the three most important rules of consuming cannabis? You know the joke - location, location, location. With the legalization of marijuana looming, the conversation has turned to where it can be safely consumed. Where should people smoke pot? Where should they consume cannabis edibles? Last week, the province asked for public feedback on the issue. Ontario has nixed consumption on the job or in public places. The 'public places' bit immediately presents problems - lots of people smoke dope in parks, and for obvious reasons. [continues 468 words]
The region served by Interior Health has been "hit hard" by the opioid epidemic, says the agency's medical health officer, but new tactics are being brought to bear in the fight. "We've come a long way, but unfortunately these deaths continue to occur," Dr. Silvina Mema on Thursday told the board of the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen. Fentanyl is the sole reason for the Interior Health region facing the second highest number of overdose deaths in B.C., behind only the Vancouver area, she said. According to the BC Coroner's Service, almost 90 per cent of overdose victims had fentanyl in their system. [continues 293 words]
Three deaths, two hospitalizations, 48 hours. It doesn't get much scarier. As if the deadly opioid drug crisis sweeping London and the rest of Canada isn't alarming enough, London police amped up their warnings about the fallout Wednesday in the wake of three suspected drug overdose deaths and two hospital emergency cases spread over several days this week. The move came as city police and the Ontario Provincial Police held a rare joint public information meeting Wednesday night about the dangers of fentanyl, the most sinister opioid drug and one that's already been implicated in deaths in Southwestern Ontario. [continues 726 words]
To help the local youth identify and avoid the decisions that can lead to severe drug addiction, members of the Okanagan Correctional Centre were at Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School last week to have a frank discussion with the Grade 5, 6 and 7 students. The conversation was led by assistant deputy warden Keith Pearce and security officer Mitch Fritz, who spoke about their volunteer experiences doing outreach in Vancouver's downtown Eastside. Joining them on their missions are players from the Penticton Vees. [continues 782 words]
No evidence to suggest items were stolen, force says Thousands of dollars in cash, nearly 30 kilograms of marijuana and three kilograms of cocaine are unaccounted for after an audit of Halifax police drug exhibits, but the force said there's no evidence to suggest its officers stole the missing evidence. Halifax Regional Police Supt. Jim Perrin presented his final Drug Exhibit Audit Report to the Board of Police Commissioners on Tuesday, the final step in a process that began in 2015 after allegations that an officer had stolen from the evidence lockers. [continues 614 words]
A Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy has been charged with operating a large-scale drug trafficking operation in which he boasted that he hired other law enforcement officers to provide security to drug dealers and could assault people for his clients, according to court records. Kenneth Collins, a deputy assigned to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and two other men were arrested by FBI agents Tuesday morning in a sting operation when they arrived to what they thought was a drug deal, according to records unsealed following the arrest. [continues 925 words]
Just a few weeks ago, Joel A. Giambra the lobbyist was working the State Capitol's hallways advocating the legalization of marijuana. Now he works a different Capitol angle as a Republican hopeful for governor, proposing that legalized and tightly regulated marijuana sales represent the best way to address the state's massive infrastructure and mass transit needs. "I'm saying raising taxes is not the solution," he said during a Monday press conference on Niagara Street. "My job would be to convince the Legislature that this is the most appropriate way to deal with this particular problem of infrastructure." [continues 405 words]
Made-in-Alberta protocols change ways dogs sniff out fentanyl Alberta RCMP is leading the way when it comes to new police service dog drug detection protocols. Previously, sticking their nose in drugs was a police dog's business, but now the canines sit beside suspected drugs when they are found, said K Division Deputy Commissioner Todd Shean in a year-end interview. "Now the dogs are sitting back ... so if they detect it - versus putting the dogs in harm's way - they sit," Shearn said. [continues 234 words]
Terry Lake, the former B.C. health minister who oversaw the declaration of a public-health emergency amid the deadly fentanyl crisis, is urging more research on the effects of marijuana on opioid addictions. Now a vice-president at a medical cannabis company, Lake said there is preliminary evidence that shows marijuana can help people with addictions reduce their use of hard drugs and ease the painful symptoms of withdrawal. "I'm not saying it's the answer to the opioid crisis. I'm saying it's one of the options we should explore," said Lake, who chose not to run in last spring's provincial election. "It's very promising and deserving of further research and there's no better place to do that than in British Columbia." [continues 475 words]
Three weeks after Ontario said it would fast-track creation of temporary safer drug-injection sites, the province has finally cleared away the bureaucratic red tape - a move that will soon lead to a site or sites in London. The red tape - the Ontario government had promised a 14-day turnaround - - was the last barrier to health units across Ontario to creating safer places to lessen the death toll of opioids. The Middlesex-London Health Unit used the last three weeks to have its application ready to go. [continues 497 words]
