In October 2014, Ashley Cervantes crossed from Nogales, Arizona, to Nogales, Sonora, to have breakfast at one of her favorite restaurants. But on the way back home, the U.S. citizen was confronted at a port of entry by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers who accused her of carrying drugs. Over the next seven hours while in custody of CBP officers, she was handcuffed to a chair, checked by drug-sniffing dogs, asked to squat so a female investigator could visually inspect her, and then taken to Holy Cross Hospital, where a male physician probed her vagina and anus for drugs as part of an unwarranted body-cavity search, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court on June 8. [continues 713 words]
A new Edmonton professional group wants to help local women rise high in the blossoming Canadian cannabis industry. While mention of someone working in the pot field might bring up images of stoners selling dime bags, Women Grow Edmonton chair Alison McMahon says the city has medical marijuana clinics, smoke stores, hemp shops and the headquarters of Alberta's only licensed grower, Aurora Cannabis Enterprises Inc. "This is an industry that's changing so rapidly and becoming mainstream quickly," she says. [continues 402 words]
Appeals Court Says Charter Violations Necessitated a Verdict of Not Guilty For the second time in less than two weeks, Ontario's top court has overturned a drug conviction after concluding Ottawa police officers seriously violated the rights of a suspect. Eneida Pino was convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking after Ottawa police seized 50 marijuana plants from the trunk of her car following a dramatic takedown in June 2010. The officers had been following Pino, a 43-year-old cleaning lady, after watching her leave a house on St. Claire Avenue that they suspected to be a marijuana grow operation. [continues 552 words]
One local woman is working to get an involuntary drug rehabilitation law passed in Alabama. The law, which JoAnn Hendrix is calling Jamie's Law, would provide a means for families to petition the court to order their loved one with a drug problem to be placed in an involuntary drug rehabilitation treatment program. In a paper outlining the objective of Jamie's Law that Hendrix sent to the Governor's office, she describes it as a law that would provide a means of intervening with someone who is unable to recognize their need for treatment due to substance-abuse impairment of their mind. This would be similar to Casey's Law, also known as the Matthew Casey Wethington Act for Substance Abuse Intervention, in Kentucky. [continues 410 words]
INDONESIAN police have set up "several" firing squads ready for deployment to a notorious prison island as the country finalises preparations for a fresh wave of executions of drug smugglers. Two British death row inmates, including grandmother Lindsay Sandiford (59), could be among the next batch of prisoners tied to a stake and executed. Commander Aloys Darmanto, the Central Java police spokesman, said yesterday the provincial mobile brigade unit has established several firing squads to be sent when needed to Nusakambangan prison island. [continues 241 words]
Motivated by love and desperation, an area mother is fighting an uphill battle to treat her daughter's chronic illness with a special cannabis oil. The establishment, predictably, is against her: the doctors aren't keen; the child-welfare authorities aren't amused; her ex-husband, the child's father, called the cops. Still, she soldiers on, with the dedication a mother feels deepest, determined to alleviate her child's chronic respiratory condition. "I'm trying my damnedest to help my daughter and to fight for other parents who just want to help their kids," she told the Citizen. "Nothing else has ever worked." [continues 889 words]
Nearly four years after her daughter died of an opioid overdose, Donna May will share her story of loss and learning at the United Nations. Ms. May's daughter Jac, 35, died on Aug. 21, 2012, after overdosing on pain medication prescribed to help her cope with a flesh-eating disease she'd contracted after years of addiction and life on the streets =2E "From the time she passed away until [now], all I've done is advocate for drug policy reform and to have other people receive the education I was given so they don't face the situation the same way I did. And that's my daughter's legacy," Ms. May said in an interview from Mississauga. [continues 299 words]
While medical marijuana has been passed in Pennsylvania after lengthy deliberation it may be too early for celebration based on the opinions of some of the advocates close to the passage of the bill. "This is a great step forward, but there's still a ways to go," said Karen Diller, of Chambersburg, who became an advocate for medical marijuana after her daughter Karly found significant relief in a medical marijuana study. Senate Bill No. 3, the medical marijuana bill that was signed into law Sunday by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, will allow people to seek medical marijuana for diseases that range from severe gastrointestinal problems to some of the diseases more traditionally treated with medical marijuana such as cancer or HIV/AIDS. [continues 471 words]
Last Thursday evening, I chaired the first meeting of the newly formed Vermont chapter of Women Grow. For those who are not familiar with Women Grow, it is perhaps the fastest-growing organization in the cannabis industry and was profiled in a Newsweek magazine cover story from September 2015 that gives an overview of women taking over the billion-dollar cannabis industry. Frustrations in the room were being shared that Vermonters are not able at this time to consume, grow and build businesses around the cannabis industry, except for the rare few. [continues 536 words]
Women, Determined To Stop Overdose Deaths, Will Be 'voice For Canadian Families' A group of Canadian mothers who have lost children to narcotics plans to take on the world after a successful first step at home. Calling themselves mumsDU, short for Moms united and mandated to saving the lives of Drug Users, the four Canadian women have been invited by the Canadian government to accompany its own representatives to New York. Next week, the mothers will attend a United Nations General Assembly special session that is set to examine policies on illegal drugs. It's expected to attract representatives from more than 190 countries, as well as many non-government organizations. [continues 528 words]
An Edmonton mother is part of a Canadian contingent attending a global drug policy summit at the United Nations headquarters in New York next week to urge governments to forego the "war on drugs" and embrace harm reduction. The harm reduction approach promotes policies and programs that support and reduce the risks and dangers drug users face, rather than prohibiting the drug itself and punishing users. Lorna Thomas's 24-year-old son, Alex Thomas-Haug, died by suicide in 2012. Thomas-Haug was a welder and snowboarder who suffered from depression. His mother later found out he'd also been using cocaine. [continues 412 words]
When it comes to the epidemic of African-Americans dying at the hands of police, people who are asked to consider the issue often get stuck on whether the person in question had it coming. What was he or she doing at the time? Running away? Resisting arrest? And if so, doesn't that prove he or she was guilty of something? And from there, it's a short hop to the conclusion that if only this person had been doing the right things - staying off the streets, keeping out of trouble, not hanging around with the wrong people or doing exactly as the police demanded at the moment of a heated encounter - tragedy could have been averted. Yeah, right. In a perfect world, mothers and fathers living in low-income communities with crumbling schools and few employment opportunities would heroically manage to raise children who were able to stay away from trouble with alcohol, drugs or gang-type behavior even though these things are all around them. [continues 510 words]
She Claims Mounties Performed 'Inappropriate Search' After Patting Her Down for Drugs A woman is suing the RCMP for $100,000 after alleging a male officer inappropriately searched near her private parts while looking for drugs during a traffic stop near Sherwood Park. According to a statement of claim filed in Edmonton's Court of Queen's Bench on Feb. 23, Jenny Brown, Bob Erb and three others were in a vehicle pulled over by the RCMP on the Sherwood Park Freeway on Feb. 25, 2014. [continues 394 words]
But Doctors Need Court Order to Give Results to Police INDIANAPOLIS - A surge in heroin and painkiller abuse - and a related spike in the number of drug-dependent newborns - has doctors calling for drug tests for all pregnant women. But, first, doctors and health officials want lawmakers to shield addicted, expectant mothers from punishment. The Legislature has taken a first step, quietly passing a measure to prohibit doctors from giving results of a pregnant woman's drug tests to police without a court order. [continues 670 words]
The parents of a young woman whose 2010 murder remains unsolved have alleged their daughter was a confidential informant for Phoenix police, a position that may have placed her in direct contact with her killer. On Tuesday, the family of Nicole Glass filed a wrongful-death suit against the city of Phoenix for what they say were officers' failure to warn the 27-year-old about the dangers of their arrangement. The lawsuit alleges negligence on the part of the recruiting officers and their supervisors, all labeled as John Does for now. [continues 1020 words]
Retired judge gave hospital advice in early '80s and '90s; province sees no conflict Questions are being raised about the retired judge chosen by the provincial government to head a two-year commission reviewing child protection cases that used flawed hair-test results from the Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk laboratory. Justice Judith Beaman has prior legal connections to Sick Kids, the Star has learned. While working as a lawyer in private practice in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she advised the hospital's Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect team. The SCAN team would later come under fire for its actions during that period, after a public inquiry looked into cases by disgraced pathologist Charles Smith, who worked closely with SCAN members and whose findings led in some instances to wrongful convictions. [continues 743 words]
Modern feminism boils down to two main angles. The first is a movement driven by equality: equal pay, equal representation, equal access to power and position. The second seeks to elevate the status of roles commonly perceived as feminine, recognizing the value of caretaking in society and increased social stature. Women who attempt to achieve both know how difficult that feat can be because achieving one tends to preclude the other. Either women step into traditionally male positions that are more demanding on their time and energy or they commit to more nurturing roles that disassociate them from money and power. Even if a woman is willing to go for it all, her efforts are likely stymied by an inflexible society that struggles to accommodate shifting gender roles. [continues 789 words]
Province trying to determine role flawed drug tests played in kids' removal from birth families Up to 300 children are stuck in Ontario's adoption process as the province reviews custody cases that involved evidence from the discontinued Motherisk drug testing program. The Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies has halted 200 to 300 adoption cases where children left their birth families at least partly because of drug tests from the disgraced Motherisk lab at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children, said OACAS executive director Mary Ballantyne. [continues 788 words]
'This Is a Canada-Wide Situation,' Says N.S. Man Who Lost Custody of Child Because of Lab's Tests When William McIntyre reached out to the commission looking into child protection cases that used hair test results from the Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk laboratory, he was shocked to learn that the review did not apply to him. Motherisk hair testing was done in cases that dealt with some of McIntyre and Natacha LeRoy's children. The Nova Scotia residents are among an unknown number of Canadians who have been affected by Motherisk hair test results - described by an independent review as "inadequate and unreliable" - but who don't have the possibility of having their cases reviewed by commissioner Judith Beaman because they do not reside in Ontario. [continues 1091 words]
Ryan Norris spent years trying to find help for his mental illness and addiction before dying of suspected fentanyl overdose Ryan Norris, described as a kind-hearted person and once promising athlete, spent his last days trying to get help for his addiction. His spirits lifted, his mother Christine says, when he heard a space had become available at the Sage Health Centre in Kamloops, one of several treatment centres where he was wait-listed. His bags were packed when, about a week before he died, he received a call that the space was no longer available. He became despondent, and left the house in what his mother believes was a search for heroin to ease his pain. [continues 992 words]
