Police in Hingham are investigating after a student at the South Shore Educational Collaborative School allegedly supplied classmates with cookies that were laced with marijuana, officials said Monday. According to a public notice posted to the department's website, police were called to the school Thursday, after the student, who wasn't named in the report, had distributed the cookies to at least five other people. Police said the students who ate the cookies, who were between the ages of 16 and 17, were "evaluated by a school nurse who believed the students were under the influence of marijuana." [continues 262 words]
Q: Our 16-year-old son smokes dope daily. We see his grades slipping from last year. He keeps talking about it being legalized and therefore not harmful. How do we get him to understand that he still shouldn't be smoking? A: How one addresses the issue depends on how one understands the problem. Regular marijuana use in teens can occur if they become addicted to the substance or it may be masking an undiagnosed mental health problem such as depression or anxiety. Or your son may be otherwise well but enjoying the substance and simply not conforming to your expectations. [continues 234 words]
The recent announcement by the provincial government that marijuana use will be restricted to private residences to help limit its impact on communities and public health ignores the rights of children to protection from second-hand smoke in their homes. Marijuana smoke is a recognized carcinogen and as with exposure to tobacco smoke, can cause serious health risks for those involved. Nearly one-third of deaths from tobacco second-hand smoke exposure are children, many of whom are infants. Pamela McColl, Vancouver [end]
Juan Luis Lagunas Rosales was born in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, a mecca for cartels and the land of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Lagunas grew up never knowing his father. His mother left him with his grandmother as a child. Lagunas left his hometown at the age of 15 without finishing high school, moving to the nearby municipality of Culiacan and washing cars to make a living, he said in an interview in July. It was in this adopted town that he took on the nickname that would later become known across cyberspace: "El Pirata de Culiacan," or "The Pirate of Culiacan." [continues 943 words]
TORONTO - Ontario adolescents are drinking, smoking and using cannabis and other recreational drugs at the lowest rates since the late 1970s, suggests a biennial survey of Grade 7 to 12 students by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. But the 2017 survey released Thursday turned up a disturbing finding: almost one per cent of respondents in Grades 9 to 12 reported having taken illicit fentanyl in the previous year, raising a red flag given the opioid's involvement in hundreds of overdose deaths across the country. [continues 558 words]
Ontario adolescents are drinking, smoking and using cannabis and other recreational drugs at the lowest rates since the late 1970s, suggests a biennial survey of Grade 7 to 12 students by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). But the 2017 survey released Thursday turned up a disturbing finding: almost one per cent of respondents in Grades 9 to 12 reported having taken illicit fentanyl in the previous year, raising a red flag given the opioid's involvement in hundreds of overdose deaths across the country. [continues 366 words]
Health officials are disappointed that the province has set the legal age for marijuana consumption at 19 years. The consensus among provincial and national health organizations is that the minimum age should be 21, and some believe it should be even older, said Dr. Phil Tibbo, director of the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program and a psychiatry professor at Dalhousie University. "Regular cannabis use can actually have a significant impact on brain development up until about your mid-20s," he said in an interview Thursday. [continues 265 words]
A group of Alberta's future doctors are calling on the provincial government to use cannabis tax revenue to fund mental health initiatives for youth. At least, that will be the pitch when 40 medical students from the University of Alberta and University of Calgary get together Monday with MLAs from various parties. The Alberta Medical Students' Association has previously used its annual meeting at the legislature to push for investments in mental health, but this time the group wants funding for young adults and children at risk of adverse childhood experience. They are also calling for the formation of a cannabis and youth advisory board to work on future prevention, education and intervention efforts. [continues 289 words]
Homicide victim attacked outside after looking for place to smoke pot, cops say Police believe a teen who was fatally stabbed in Vanier was just looking for a place to smoke weed purchased at an illegal dispensary when he wound up inside a crack den, the Citizen has learned. Zakaria Iqbal, just 18 years old and a Gloucester High School student, died Monday night after an attack on Montreal Road. Detectives believe that Iqbal and his friends purchased marijuana at Dr. Greenthumb dispensary, also on Montreal Road. Employees at the dispensary said police visited the pot shop Tuesday as part of their homicide investigation, asking questions about who was there and when. [continues 562 words]
An Indiana high school teacher was arrested on drug charges Wednesday after her students said they saw her using cocaine in her classroom. Lake Central High School junior Will Rogers told WGN9 he shot video of the incident through a classroom window. "She's in the corner, hiding with a chair and a book and what appears to be cocaine, putting it into lines," Rogers told the TV station. "When I actually watched the footage again and again and I just realized that my english teacher just did cocaine." [continues 117 words]
Dear Editor, Re: "School trustee needs history lesson," Letters, Nov. 17. I fully support Mayor Brodie and councillors plus trustees Ho and Hamaguchi and other like-minded persons with their pot legalization concerns. May I suggest pot proponents substitute ingesting tablets identified as DDD as an alternative to all available recreational drugs. The history of failed reliance on education to avoid the use of recreational drugs and abuse of prescription drugs has been demonstrated by the overdose death tragedy. Surely, serious and meaningful consequences must be applied in addition to education. Why do we assess financial consequences for illegal parking, speeding, distracted driving, impaired driving, etc., while ignoring this available significant deterrence and financial resource asset? [continues 110 words]
With legalization looming, doctors say province not ready to handle risks Ontario is slow to launch a public education campaign warning parents about the dangers of marijuana to children, which include the risk associated with second-hand pot smoke, the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario warned Friday. "A lot more children are going to be exposed . . . They are the most at risk of harm. Their brains are still developing," Dr. Hirotaka Yamashiro said. "Ontario is not ready to deal with the risks." [continues 238 words]
Teens who use a lot of marijuana and alcohol are less likely to have a full time job when they grow up, or to get a college education or get married, according to a new study by University of Connecticut researchers. The study of 1,165 young adults from across the U.S. also found that dependence on pot and booze may also have a "more severe effect on young men" than on young women. "This study found that chronic marijuana use in adolescence was negatively associated with achieving important developmental milestones in young adulthood." - Elizabeth Harari, University of Connecticut researcher. [continues 282 words]
Action needed as legalization looms, Dr. Jessica Ross says. That was definitely vomit, I thought as I stepped in a slippery substance and caught the rail of the stretcher to avoid sliding underneath. That bilious smell doesn't come out of shoes. After ordering an intravenous, a cocktail of anti-emetics and a change of footwear for myself, I run through a mental list. What causes a 14-year-old patient to vomit like this? Appendicitis? Meningitis? Overdose? As an emergency room physician, it's always Big Bad Diagnoses that run through my mind first. [continues 639 words]
A grandparent's prayer on the move to legalize marijuana use In speaking of how we were all united in so many simple but important ways on this earth, John F. Kennedy once said: "Our basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." What follows is this mortal grandfather's prayer for his grandchildren. For as it is true that we all cherish our children's future so do we hold so dear that of our grandchildren. In a way, we perhaps see them as our envoys into a future time. As they give us hope for a better world, our heart aches with longing for a world of many tomorrows that will at least be safe and welcoming for them. [continues 507 words]
A new school year is underway and the race is on to deliver a drug and alcohol-free message to children in Cumberland County. Grade 5 students attending Springhill's two elementary schools, schools in Amherst and neighbouring Northport joined forces to participate in this year's Racing Against Drugs. Sponsored by the Amherst Lions and Lioness Clubs and Amherst Police, community partners like Maggie's Place, Amherst Restorative Justice and many more delivered healthy living messages while empowering students with knowledge through fun. [continues 344 words]
If Ontarians, 18, can buy pot in Quebec, they'll need to find a place to smoke it Ottawa 18-year-olds have for years gleefully evaded Ontario's age requirement of 19 to buy alcohol by making a short trip across the Ottawa River to drink legally in Quebec. Now that provincial age discrepancy appears likely to be replicated for pot smokers, too, with reports the Quebec government intends to set the legal age for buying marijuana at 18. Ontario has already announced an age of 19 to buy or possess pot when it's legalized by the federal government. That's also Ontario's legal drinking age. [continues 574 words]
Health Canada doesn't want kids smoking pot. The federal agency responsible for the health of Canadians issued a tender call Thursday for a marketing campaign to raise awareness among youth aged 13 to 24 about the harmful affects of smoking marijuana on their still-developing brains. It also wants pre- and post-campaign monitoring of the awareness of youth of the affects. The advertising campaign will roll out in anticipation of Canada's legalizing marijuana next year. Ed McHugh, a professor at St. Mary's University's marketing department, offered a warning. [continues 277 words]
Editor: There is no doubt in my mind that the proposal by the prime minister to legalize marijuana has not been well thought out, especially with the devastating drug problems we are now facing. The effect of narcotics on the development of the brain has been well researched. Scientific studies have proven that mental disorders, schizophrenia, suicides, etc. are much higher among those who take these drugs than those who do not. Postnatal brain development occurs over a long period that lasts into adolescence and some say into the 20s. Our youth are at risk. We certainly do not need more soft drugs on the street that are available to an impressionable age group trying to cope with their own stresses at school, at home, on the street, etc. [continues 288 words]
Schools have been called upon to teach more than the Three Rs for many decades now, but they should add one more assignment to their long list of lessons: Warning students about drug use, especially deadly opioids. There'll be some who'll say such a message will fall on deaf ears, but we have a duty to try. Today's young people deserve credit for their sensible approach to hazards such as cigarette smoking and impaired driving - they certainly exhibit more common sense than many of their predecessors. [continues 339 words]
