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81 CN ON: Editorial: Push Pot Bill Through SenateSat, 10 Feb 2018
Source:Toronto Star (CN ON)          Area:Ontario Lines:81 Added:02/15/2018

The ongoing effort in the Senate to derail the passage of the Liberal government's bill to legalize marijuana is not an exercise in sober second thought, as its Conservative proponents claim, but an attempt to obstruct democracy. The Trudeau government should use the tools at its disposal to push this important legislation through the Upper House.

Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act, and C-46, which would tighten rules on impaired driving related to marijuana use, have been before the Senate since the Commons passed them in late November. And they may languish there forever if the government does not invoke so-called time allocation, a tool for curtailing debate that the Liberals have largely eschewed.

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82 CN ON: OPED: Prevention Needs To Be Key In Fighting Drug AbuseSat, 10 Feb 2018
Source:Record, The (Kitchener, CN ON) Author:Pancer, Mark Area:Ontario Lines:99 Added:02/15/2018

Fentanyl. The drug is one that most people never even heard of until a few years ago. Now it strikes fear into the hearts of public health officials, youth workers, parents and others. A few grains of fentanyl, often mixed with another recreational drug without the user's knowledge, can cause death within minutes. It has caused thousands of overdose deaths in Canada and tens of thousands in the U.S., and those numbers are rising rapidly.

How have we dealt with this crisis? The primary strategy has been to supply naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of fentanyl, as widely as possible to police officers, health care providers and others who are likely to encounter people who have overdosed. The use of naloxone is a "harm reduction strategy", intended to reduce the negative consequences of using fentanyl, and it has saved many lives. But it is not enough. Overdose deaths from fentanyl continue to increase even after widespread distribution of naloxone kits. We desperately need another strategy. But what kind of strategy would work?

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83 CN BC: Editorial: High Time Could Have Bumps In The Road AheadThu, 15 Feb 2018
Source:Record, The (CN BC)          Area:British Columbia Lines:56 Added:02/15/2018

B.C.'s approach to the issue seems prudent to most observers and is based on some of the lessons learned in other jurisdictions. Marijuana will be legal, but it won't be a total free-for-all, either.

Much to the relief of local politicians, municipalities will have a big say about who gets one of the coveted provincial pot shop licences.

That means those operators who have been the subject of court action, or who've caused major headaches where they've set up in advance of the legal starting line might not be at the front of the line.

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84 CN ON: Column: It Wasn't The Positive Test It Was The HairFri, 09 Feb 2018
Source:Hamilton Spectator (CN ON) Author:Milton, Steve Area:Ontario Lines:135 Added:02/14/2018

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.

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85 CN BC: Column: NDPs Pot Sales Plan Is WeakWed, 14 Feb 2018
Source:Penticton Herald (CN BC) Author:Godbout, Neil Area:British Columbia Lines:111 Added:02/14/2018

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."

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86CN BC: Editorial: Going Carefully On Pot RulesTue, 13 Feb 2018
Source:Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)          Area:British Columbia Lines:Excerpt Added:02/13/2018

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.

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87CN BC: Column: Legal Pot Puts People At Risk On The RoadsTue, 13 Feb 2018
Source:Province, The (CN BC) Author:Stirling, John G. Area:British Columbia Lines:Excerpt Added:02/13/2018

Comment: Feds should pump the brakes and rethink its token gesture on safety

We're only seven weeks into the new year and already there are three major hurdles on the trucking industry's plate. The legalization of marijuana, the electronic logging devices (ELD) and either the total cancellation or just a fine-tuning of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

That's more than enough for the trucking industry to swallow, so let me try to shed a little light on each of the three.

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88 US PA: Column: Time For The Hard Sell On Safe Injection SitesTue, 13 Feb 2018
Source:Philadelphia Daily News (PA) Author:Newall, Mike Area:Pennsylvania Lines:116 Added:02/13/2018

Three weeks ago, after Philadelphia announced that it would encourage the opening of a safe injection site, I praised the decision as a bold kind of leadership. It showed that the city was stepping on the national stage in the middle of a life-and-death catastrophe.

I still think that. Now the city has to sell it.

Sure, it's only been three weeks. But in the absence of an immediate city PR strategy for saving lives - it feels funny even writing that - you can feel myths proliferating. The city cannot simply react to the discourse. It must help lead it.

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89 CN ON: OPED: Health Experts Should Take Lead On Weed PackagingThu, 08 Feb 2018
Source:Toronto Star (CN ON) Author:Kamadia, Aly Area:Ontario Lines:97 Added:02/12/2018

"I believe that nicotine is not addictive."

This was the position the CEOs of the seven largest American tobacco companies staunchly stood by while testifying in front of an infamous 1994 Congressional hearing.

The scientific evidence at the time rendered their ostensible belief a tragic joke - a term that accurately describes the idea that Canadians should blindly trust marijuana producers and distributors to design their own packaging. Ottawa would do well by having health experts take the lead in ensuring marijuana packaging is transparent.

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90 CN NS: Editorial: Weeding Out WeedThu, 08 Feb 2018
Source:Truro Daily News (CN NS)          Area:Nova Scotia Lines:77 Added:02/12/2018

It's just another example of how complicated things are going to be as provinces roll out their marijuana rules.

Several provinces have decided that marijuana smoking has to be done on private property. Ontario's rules are so tight that weed smoking has to take place in private residences.

But what happens if your private residence is an apartment?

Here's a part of a Canadian Press story out of Toronto.

"(The province is) not going to allow marijuana to be smoked in public areas, so where the heck are people going to smoke marijuana? Well they're going to do it in their apartments," said John Dickie of the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations. "The problem is, just like when they smoke tobacco, the smell goes to neighbouring apartments. Buildings are not hermetically sealed."

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91 CN ON: Editorial: Sanity In Haze Of ConfusionFri, 09 Feb 2018
Source:Ottawa Sun (CN ON)          Area:Ontario Lines:68 Added:02/12/2018

An Ottawa judge who granted an absolute discharge to a 21-year-old woman working at a marijuana dispensary has made the right call.

Yes, we believe in harsh penalties for criminals. Yes, people should be held accountable for their actions.

But we also believe that the folks working the counter at illegal marijuana dispensaries aren't the real bad guys.

It's the owners of these shops and the traffickers and street-level, gun-toting dealers we're more concerned about: The people who are too often escaping punishment.

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92 CN BC: Editorial: NDP's Pot Sales Plan WeakThu, 08 Feb 2018
Source:Prince George Citizen (CN BC)          Area:British Columbia Lines:115 Added:02/12/2018

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."

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93 US MA: Editorial: The First Step To Treatment Is Staying AliveFri, 09 Feb 2018
Source:Boston Globe (MA)          Area:Massachusetts Lines:82 Added:02/12/2018

Drug treatment can't help dead people.

That's why San Francisco is scheduled to open two safe injection sites later this year, where drug users will be allowed to shoot up under medical supervision. If an addict overdoses, trained staff will be available to revive them with an overdose antidote like naloxone, commonly known as Narcan. Staffers can also recommend treatment options to those interested.

In an effort to stem fatal overdoses, safe injection sites are now under discussion in such cities as Philadelphia, Seattle, and Ithaca, N.Y.

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94 CN BC: Editorial: No Easy Answers For Drug CrisisWed, 07 Feb 2018
Source:Abbotsford News (CN BC)          Area:British Columbia Lines:50 Added:02/12/2018

There was some good news out of the report the B.C. Coroners Service released Jan. 31, that overdose deaths declined in the last quarter of 2017 compared to 2016.

There were 99 deaths last December, compared to 164 the previous year. But that's about all the good news. Overall, 2017 was the deadliest year for overdose deaths B.C. has ever seen, with 1,422 deaths compared to 914 in 2016.

In the majority of those deaths - 81 per cent - the synthetic opioid fentanyl played a part. That's an increase over 2016 again, when the figure was estimated at 67 per cent. That many deaths makes you question just how much fentanyl is in circulation, and how many other overdoses there were that didn't result in death, thanks to naloxone or other lifesaving measures.

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95 Canada: Editorial: Leave It To The ExpertsThu, 08 Feb 2018
Source:Globe and Mail (Canada)          Area:Canada Lines:56 Added:02/12/2018

British Columbia gets pot. "B.C. bud" is a globally recognized brand with a cachet that Okanagan vintners must envy. And a greater share of British Columbians toke up than residents of any other province, save Nova Scotia.

So it's unsurprising that our westernmost province has proposed regulations on legal marijuana that are among the most sensible, and least neurotic, we've seen.

In rules fleshed out by the government this week, the province has committed to a hybrid approach to selling the drug. The B.C Liquor Distribution Branch will set up its own weed-only stores, but private retailers will be able to apply for licences to run the same.

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96 CN NF: Editorial: Drug DrivingMon, 12 Feb 2018
Source:Labradorian, The (CN NF)          Area:Newfoundland Lines:74 Added:02/12/2018

Unsettling incidents involving young people who insist on driving while drunk have grabbed the spotlight in recent days and months across Atlantic Canada. It doesn't augur well for potential law enforcement issues later this year.

In Halifax, a 23-year-old New Brunswick man is facing charges after a pedestrian was struck and killed in the downtown last weekend. A 63-year-old well-known and much-liked street person was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver is charged with impaired driving causing death.

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97 Canada: Column: When It Comes To Harm Reduction, City Council Gets ItMon, 12 Feb 2018
Source:Globe and Mail (Canada) Author:Tanner, Adrienne Area:Canada Lines:107 Added:02/12/2018

Councillors might still squabble over budgets, but no one questions the fact that the opioid crisis must be solved

Mark Tyndall stood before Vancouver City Council at a recent meeting to proselytize for his latest harm-reduction scheme: vending machines to dispense opioids to drug users.

"I really wish we could get 50 of these things going in the next year," said Dr. Tyndall, executive medical health director of the BC Centre for Disease Control. "We could supply clean drugs to thousands of people and our overdose numbers would plummet." He plans to start with a pilot project in Vancouver.

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98 CN BC: Column: Privacy Policy On Overdoses PerplexingWed, 07 Feb 2018
Source:Nelson Star (CN BC) Author:Poignant, Gary Area:British Columbia Lines:103 Added:02/09/2018

The province's opioid crisis is truly frightening.

The death totals for 2017, released last week, are record-shattering - with 1,422 dead in B.C., including 200 in the Interior Health region and 19 in the Kootenay Boundary region.

About four out of five who died were male and almost nine out of 10 deaths occurred indoors.

The powerful opioid fentanyl was detected in 81 per cent of last year's deaths compared to about 67 per cent in 2016.

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99CN BC: Column: B.C. Cannabis Regulations Miss The Mark And TheWed, 07 Feb 2018
Source:Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Author:Mulgrew, Ian Area:British Columbia Lines:Excerpt Added:02/09/2018

A Green Gold Rush gets a wet blanket from a Father Knows Best government

It should embrace the employment opportunities, the tourism potential, the joie de vivre with which California has legalized.

The provincial government's initial plan for marijuana legalization must have been put together by spoilsports and dour Mrs. Grundies. It's tone-deaf.

B.C. Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth "sounded like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas unveiling details of the province's blueprint for cannabis," Ian Mulgrew writes.

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100CN ON: Column: We're Making Mountains Out Of Molehills With MarijuanaTue, 06 Feb 2018
Source:Ottawa Citizen (CN ON) Author:Whitcomb, Ed Area:Ontario Lines:Excerpt Added:02/09/2018

Provincial patchwork isn't a bad thing for Canadians, writes Ed Whitcomb.

Many Canadian politicians are tying themselves in knots over pot, begging the federal government to extend the July 1 target date for legalizing cannabis use.

But many of the so-called problems they cite are molehills, needlessly being turned into mountains.

Let's look at some:

It will become legal for about 25 million Canadians to smoke pot as of July 1 - but it will remain illegal for those under 18 or 19.

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