Ahead of recreational cannabis use becoming lawful, some observers see parallels with the end of prohibition The third in a series on the impending legalization of recreational marijuana in Canada. A notorious 1922 police shooting in southwestern Alberta, and the sensational trial that followed, caused many people to wonder whether enforcing alcohol prohibition was worth the trouble. Alberta's move to outlaw drinking in 1916 was wildly unpopular in the Crowsnest Pass, a cluster of coal mining towns nestled in the Rocky Mountains, near the B.C. boundary. [continues 699 words]
Part One in a series of profiles about the escalating opioid crisis in Quebec. Martin Pare's fascination with syringes started as a child at a racetrack. He saw a veterinarian stick a needle in a horse's neck. What's he doing? the boy asked his father. It's to make the horse run faster, his father replied. After the horse won his race, the boy furtively took the needle and empty vial from the garbage. At home, he filled his syringe with water and began injecting his toy stuffed animals. [continues 1658 words]
Community Drug Strategy steps up efforts to combat opioid crisis Some 52 people were admitted to hospitals in the Sudbury area in the past six months due to drug overdose, official say. Members of Sudbury's Community Drug Strategy also said Friday they have had preliminary discussions about the need for an overdose prevention site in the city. They made the comments in response to the Ontario government's decision Thursday to expand the provincial opioid response, which they called good news. [continues 756 words]
Currently, some of the city's drug users have set up supervised sites in their own homes Contamination of the street drug supply with substances such as fentanyl has forced some of the city's drug users to set up their own supervised consumption sites in their homes. The agency that works most closely with drug users says the home sites indicate that Kingston needs a formal, government-sanctioned consumption site. "We definitely know there is a need because we are aware of people using their homes right now as safer places to use," said Dr. Meredith MacKenzie, a physician for Kingston Community Health Centres' Street Health Centre who described a home site as a "not perfectly safe, but safer, environment to use in." [continues 444 words]
Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said more information should come in the spring Though the Province of B.C. has unveiled part of their distribution model for legal cannabis, Penticton Mayor Andrew Jakubeit said more information is needed before city hall can start generating ideas about how to deal with the changes. "In spring, we will start going out to get information to better gauge, with the community and stakeholders, to help determine how many do we want, how many is enough and what should we be putting in our own regulations to deal with the zoning and placement of dispensaries when they become legalized later in the year," said Jakubeit. "We need to, in early spring, start addressing it and by that time the province should be unveiling more information to help us formulate a plan." [continues 201 words]
Like all parents, Nadine Remington wants to know her nine-year-old son is safe while on school property. But, the increasing problem of drug use on school property after hours is heightening fears for her and other parents. Earlier this week, Remington was told by her son who is in Grade 4 at Queen's Park School that people were living in a shed on the school's property and that he had seen a needle and matches nearby. After a similar experience of the boy finding drug paraphernalia at KVR Middle School while at camp this summer, she took his claims seriously and headed out to the school to see it herself. Remington and her husband didn't find anyone in the shed, but there was evidence suggesting someone was living in it recently and a needle on the ground at the door. [continues 618 words]
The grass is looking greener for New Jersey marijuana users. The idea of legal pot was once a pipe dream for those who so indulged. Not anymore. Gov.-elect Phil Murphy has pledged to sign legislation legalizing pot within 100 days of his Jan. 16 inauguration, prompting speculation on what that hazy world would look like. Among the particulars that have been largely agreed upon: New Jerseyans would be permitted to possess up to 1 ounce of marijuana for personal use, and previous convictions for such possession would be eligible for expungement. [continues 515 words]
Because the crime took place within 1,000 feet of a school, state law mandated a longer sentence, one that the council members noted "was more severe than the sentence he would have received for committing a violent crime such as rape or second-degree murder." Twelve Metro Council members have signed a letter urging a criminal court judge to give relief to a Nashville man serving a 17-year sentence on a nonviolent drug conviction. [continues 394 words]
Have they opened Pandora's box? Some Deerfield Beach city leaders worry that's what they might've done by allowing marijuana dispensaries in the city. They're now trying to stop medical dispensaries from clustering citywide by keeping them out of commercial areas that also have homes, as well as setting rules to stop them from opening next to one another. Mayor Bill Ganz said he doesn't want the city to become known as the place to buy pot, even if it's just the medical kind that doesn't get you high. [continues 705 words]
A union that represents 3,000 oilsands workers at Suncor Energy sites i n northeastern Alberta has won a court injunction against random drug testing. Unifor Local 707- A had argued that random testing would be a violation of workers' rights and privacy. Calgary-based Suncor has said random tests are needed to bolster safety and wanted to start the program this month. In his ruling, Queen's Bench Justice Paul Belzil said the privacy rights of employees are just as important as safety. "In my view the balance of convenience favours granting the injunction," Belzil said in a written judgment released Thursday. [continues 388 words]
Fed-up landlord cracks down Ontario's threat of huge fines or jail time for landlords who rent to illegal pot shops has spurred at least one in Ottawa to take quick action, in the latest chapter of Canada's move to legalize and regulate weed. Police arrived at the popular Cannabis Culture dispensary on Bank Street on Thursday morning with a bailiff, who changed the locks and posted a notice on the door saying the lease was being terminated. Five people working inside were released without charge, according to staff who gathered outside. [continues 1438 words]
Nenshi wants share of federal tax revenues The legalization of recreational marijuana will cost the city of Calgary more than $10 million annually in policing, bylaw and administration costs - a tab the mayor wants the federal government to ease by giving municipalities a one-third share of tax revenues from pot sales. Council's Intergovernmental Affairs Committee heard Thursday that administration's latest estimates peg the price of cannabis legalization on city coffers at between $9 million and $12 million every year - the equivalent of about a one per cent increase in property taxes annually. [continues 428 words]
Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island both set legal age for marijuana use at 19 Nova Scotia and P.E.I. both set their legal age for marijuana at 19 on Thursday, but the two East Coast provinces are taking different paths on how weed will be sold. P.E.I. said it will sell marijuana at standalone outlets run separately by its liquor commission, while Nova Scotia said pot will be sold alongside alcohol in its provincial liquor stores. Justice Minister Mark Furey said Thursday Nova Scotia believes selling marijuana through existing liquor stores will provide the necessary control to ensure public safety. [continues 682 words]
Tenants hoping to grow legal marijuana plants in their homes might soon have to deal with a new kind of drug enforcement - from their landlords. The province introduced legislation Tuesday to give landlords the right to prohibit the use, sale or growing of marijuana inside rental units. It's only one part of a string of amendments to the Residential Tenancies Act that empower landlords in Saskatchewan. Justice Minister Don Morgan told reporters he doesn't intend for the rules to affect the possession of dried marijuana, but only live plants and smoking. [continues 573 words]
"Merely having a medical marijuana card doesn't mean you're using marijuana. We can't prove you're using marijuana. Our practice of having them turn in their firearms was incorrect," Honolulu police Chief Susan Ballard said of her department's controversial policy requiring medical marijuana patients to relinquish their guns. Honolulu police Chief Susan Ballard said her department's controversial policy requiring medical marijuana patients to relinquish their guns was wrong. "It is not illegal to possess the ones you already have," Ballard told the Honolulu Police Commission on Wednesday. "Merely having a medical marijuana card doesn't mean you're using marijuana. We can't prove you're using marijuana. Our practice of having them turn in their firearms was incorrect." [continues 344 words]
First Nations leaders say they must be given the right to govern the sale and distribution of legalized marijuana within their communities and to set the laws that will oversee its use by their people. Chiefs attending an annual conference of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) on Wednesday expressed wide-ranging views on the federal Liberal government's plan for legalizing cannabis by next July 1. Some told the assembly they have not had enough time or money to prepare for the change and urged the AFN to ask for a delay in the implementation of Bill C-45, which would make marijuana legal in Canada for the first time in 94 years. [continues 636 words]
Council does not want LCBO's legal dispensary to be located in town "Thanks but no thanks." That was the answer Monday night from local councillors to a suggestion Richmond Hill should be one of the first host towns for legal recreational marijuana sales. The town of Richmond Hill received a letter Nov. 28 from the Ministry of Finance announcing a cannabis store may be coming to town in July 2018. "We are not interested," Mayor Dave Barrow said at a committee of the whole meeting this week. [continues 455 words]
Marketing, packaging of legal marijuana sure to cause headaches VANCOUVER - David Brown's marijuana marketing students are often shocked to learn how difficult it is to - well - market marijuana. Advertising medical cannabis is essentially banned in Canada, with some exceptions. Restrictions on recreational weed are set to be a bit looser, but Brown still advises students to think of the constraints as opportunities. "These limitations can really aid in creativity. Marketing weed isn't difficult, but marketing a highly regulated cannabis product is a lot more of a challenge," said Brown, an instructor in Kwantlen Polytechnic University's cannabis professional series. [continues 905 words]
Pot shop weeded out Another one has gone up in smoke. And just like with the other potshop closures, it appeared as though the void, at least in part, was immediately filled by street drug dealers. "Actually, there are four or five guys," said one retailer in the Kensington Market area. On Wednesday morning after the raid that shut down The Toronto Dispensary at 33 Kensington Ave., you could see street dealers lurking nearby as people who hadn't yet heard the news were looking for their buzz. [continues 290 words]
The Ontario government says it will delay opening branches of its new cannabis retail chain in municipalities that object to having them. A handful of mayors in the Greater Toronto Area have said they do not want a marijuana store in their areas, even though they recognize they are powerless to stop Queen's Park. Among them is Dave Barrow of Richmond Hill. His town council has received a deluge of complaints from residents about the province's plan to open one of the provincially controlled stores in the suburb north of Toronto, and is expected to vote No to it on Monday. [continues 535 words]
