Re: Pot challenge: Legalize while keeping kids safe, Aug. 22 The Conservative assumption that marijuana legalization would increase use by teens is flawed. Prohibition has not discouraged Canadian youth from using marijuana. Marijuana is easier to buy than cigarettes or alcohol for B. C. teenagers. Nick Sheffield, North Vancouver [end]
To the Editor: Re: City becoming a pot hot spot, Editorial, Aug. 21. It is easy to read optimistic projections from the new licenced producers and gain the impression that production of medical cannabis may far exceed what would be required, but the reality is that, in most cases, the producers are not providing anywhere near the volume projected. As a medical cannabis patient and activist, I hear many reports from patients who are signed up with licenced producers who cannot meet their needs. Tilray is the only producer that I have heard to be keeping up with demand. [continues 116 words]
British Columbia's Opioid Substitution Treatment (OST) system, which replaces heroin and other illegal narcotics with medically prescribed opiates such as methadone, is being touted as a success-but there's still progress to be made. A recent report published by the Office of the Provincial Health Officer (OPHO) of B.C. has concluded that the increase in availability of the treatment, as well as the increase in average duration of treatment of OST patients has "helped contribute to the lower incidence of HIV infection among those who inject drugs," as well as decrease the mortality rate of those addicted to opiates. [continues 382 words]
Health Ministry 'Disappointed' With B.C. Supreme Court Decision on Prescribing Drug A group of Vancouver drug addicts is slated to become Canada's first recipients of legally prescribed heroin by Christmas. As many as 202 patients should receive the laboratory-manufactured heroin from Europe by the end of the year, their lawyer said Thursday. "I think there's a sense of relief," said Adrienne Smith, the health and drug policy lawyer with the Pivot Legal Society that represented five heroin addicts from Vancouver's downtown East Side. [continues 448 words]
On the marijuana file, the Conservatives should be careful of blowback. It's all fun and games to try to paint Liberal leader Justin Trudeau as Marc Emery's best friend but there is risk for the Conservatives in overreacting (why isn't Harper focusing on the economy?) and in alienating the more libertarian arm of his own party (who cares if the neighbour smokes a little weed to help him sleep at night as long as it's not in front of my kids?). [continues 661 words]
Opinions Differ At Public Hearing On Needle Exchange Facilities Harm reduction helped save Erica Thomson's life. The people who reached out to her made her feel worthy and that she was not disposable. Methadone helped get her off drugs, and as long as she was on it, she was permitted to keep her daughter in her care. Today, Thomson is drug-free and works as an outreach worker for the Women's Resource Society of the Fraser Valley (WRSFV). Katie, who didn't provide her last name, is a recovering drug addict who cleaned up with abstinence and the 12-step program. She has a 13-year-old son with fetal alcohol syndrome to think about and no matter what, she doesn't take up dope. [continues 696 words]
Former police, mayors and senior government politicians are jumping on the weed wagon to promote and advise start-ups Seeking to profit from Canada's new medical marijuana regulations - which put the production and sale of high-grade weed into the hands of corporations and penny-stock outfits - promoters are turning to former police chiefs and prominent politicians to help sell their products and attract mom and pop investors. But he was just named advisor to Vodis Innovative Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Vancouver-based, publicly traded company that hopes to obtain a Health Canada licence to sell high-quality marijuana to medical patient s. [continues 820 words]
They Exist For Alcohol And A B.C. Company Is Developing A Cannabis Breathalyzer Marijuana is a hot topic in British Columbia and across North America these days, especially since the Canadian government recently changed the rules on who can produce and distribute the controversial plant and some U.S. states have decriminalized it. Whether or not you're a pot user, or agree with the rules around how it's bought and sold, there are implications for pot use on driving activity. Marijuana use can affect driving ability. Using it can impair your judgment, co-ordination and concentration behind the wheel, and slow your reaction time. That can lead to accidents, which are a threat to everyone on the road. [continues 376 words]
Marijuana Breathalyzer Now On The Horizon Marijuana is a hot topic in British Columbia and across North America these days, especially since the Canadian government recently changed the rules on who can produce and distribute the controversial plant and some U. S. states have decriminalized it. Whether you're a pot user, or agree with the rules around how it's bought and sold, there are implications for pot use on driving activity. Marijuana use can affect driving ability. Using it can impair your judgment, co-ordination and concentration behind the wheel, and slow your reaction time. [continues 391 words]
Marc Emery tells hundreds at rally to vote for Liberals in next federal election Marc Emery's homecoming party Sunday turned into a rally for Justin Trudeau as the "Prince of Pot" urged his supporters to "just show up" and vote Liberal in 2015. Emery appeared before a crowd of hundreds in Vancouver's Victory Square park, and said next year's federal election will be a referendum on pot. Trudeau has promised that if he is elected prime minister, marijuana will be legalized. [continues 531 words]
Justin Trudeau made a bold move by hitching the federal Liberal wagon to the campaign to legalize marijuana. But does he really want Marc Emery sitting up front with a hand on the reins? Emery, who calls himself "Prince of Pot," returned to Canada last week after spending four years in a U.S. prison, and almost as soon as his foot touched Canadian soil, he pledged his support to Trudeau and the Liberals. His wife, Jodie, plans to run for the party in the election that is expected next year. [continues 542 words]
You may be familiar with the horror stories of British Columbians tied up in a legal twilight zone after the seizure of assets for crimes they did not commit. Property and cash can be grabbed even in the absence of criminal charges or convictions connected to the alleged crimes, often involving marijuana. B.C. bud is not the main problem here. The real threat is an invasive species known as the draconian "Civil Forfeiture Act" - the judicial equivalent of fire ants, zebra mussels and giant hogweed. [continues 658 words]
A lot has happened since Marc Emery went to jail in the United States four years ago. Not the least of which the state in which the Vancouver pot activist was sentenced to five years in federal prison for dealing marijuana seeds has now legalized the sale of cannabis. While Emery cooled his heels behind bars in Folkston, Ga., and Yazoo City, Miss., Colorado and then Washington became the first states to allow the possession, use, production, distribution and personal cultivation of marijuana. Some states have legalized its use for medical reasons. Another 15 states have decriminalized pot while other states have lowered penalties for possession of small amounts to a misdemeanour. [continues 176 words]
A Prince George senior who has been using medical marijuana for years is praising a B.C. Appeal Court decision. The ruling, which declared unconstitutional the limiting of medical marijuana use to only its dried form, could open the door to use the substance in any form, including oils, butters, cookies or even steeped in or as tea. The decision states medical marijuana access regulations infringe on the charter rights of people requiring other forms of cannabis to treat illnesses. "I think in the long run, everyone will benefit from this change," said Tom (not his real name), a 65-year-old local man who has been using marijuana for three years to manage anxiety and to help him sleep after successfully battling throat cancer. [continues 507 words]
Top B.C. court allows non-smoked forms VANCOUVER - British Columbia's highest court is green-lighting medical marijuana in everything from oils and cookies to teas in a ruling that finds federal health laws limiting weed consumption to the dried variety are unconstitutional. The B.C. Appeal Court released its 2-1 decision on Thursday stating medical-marijuana-access regulations infringe on the charter rights of people requiring other forms of cannabis to treat illnesses. The ruling upheld a decision by a lower-court judge over the case of Owen Smith, a Victoria man who was charged in 2009 with possession for trafficking of THC - marijuana's active compound - while working as head baker for the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada. [continues 452 words]
B.C.'s highest court has ruled there is a constitutional right to pot cookies and other marijuana products such as infused oils, balms and lotions. In a 2-1 judgment, the provincial Court of Appeal said the country's medical marijuana legislation is unconstitutional because it restricts patients to possessing only the dried plant and to consuming it via smoking. The top bench suspended its ruling to give the federal government a year to amend the law to allow patients access to edibles and derivatives - such as creams, salves, brownies, cakes, cookies and chocolate bars. [continues 474 words]
B.C. Court of Appeal says government must revise laws to reflects its decision Canadian government has one year to acknowledge that those who carry marijuana - possession permits are allowed to use pot cookies, oils, gels, ointments and other forms that aren't considered "dried" herb. The order came from the B.C. Court of Appeal after a Victoria - based group successfully won a constitutional argument to have the ban on alternative forms of marijuana "declared of no force and effect." [continues 208 words]
Downtown rally. 'Prince of Pot' says U.S. jail term hasn't deterred him from continuing the fight for marijuana legalization The Prince is officially home. Marc Emery, B.C.'s infamous "Prince of Pot," was welcomed by hundreds at a downtown rally when he returned to Vancouver Sunday afternoon, vowing to pick up where he left off after serving time on drug-related charges in the United States. "It's all kind of dreamlike. Vancouver has changed dramatically.... The legalization landscape itself has changed dramatically," he said upon his arrival at the Vancouver International Airport. [continues 326 words]
A vote for the federal Grits is a vote for legalization. That's the message the Prince of Pot had during his first day back in Vancouver after spending more than four years in United States prisons. His wife, Jody, is seeking a Liberal nomination to run for the Vancouver East riding. "We've got a good Liberal tide coming across the country next year as far as federal politics goes," Marc Emery told the crowd in Vancouver's Victory Square Sunday. [continues 128 words]
Marc Emery Returns Home Determined to Continue the Fight for Legalization of Marijuana The Prince of Pot on Sunday returned to the place where his marijuana crusade began and told supporters his time in prison in the United States has only given him more motivation to finally get pot legalized in Canada. "I'm feeling better than ever," Marc Emery told a cheering crowd of close to 1,000 people at Victory Square in downtown Vancouver, directly across from his hemp store on Hastings Street. [continues 408 words]
Inside British Columbia
