Funds from marijuana taxes will also help, says mayor Federal funds targeting the opioid crisis will be welcome in Lethbridge. And Mayor Chris Spearman says a share of the newly announced taxes on marijuana will also help, when its use becomes legal later this year. Finance Minister Bill Morneau included $231 million in his new budget - - spread over five years - to support communities battling an opioid crisis. "Maybe we can get some relief," Spearman said, pointing to the steps the City has taken to respond to the situation. One initiative, a safe-use centre where drug users can find medical help and counselling, opened Wednesday. [continues 432 words]
Emergency services taxed by spike in overdoses, incidents Police, firefighters and paramedics are so overwhelmed with drug-related 911 calls in the days after welfare cheques are issued that Victoria's police chief wants the province to consider staggering distribution of the cheques throughout the month. "Generally speaking, we see a spike during the evening of welfare Wednesday and the day or two after of overdose calls, disturbances, drug activity occurring. Sometimes someone has been defrauded or robbed," Police Chief Del Manak told the Times Colonist. [continues 704 words]
The significant spike in illicit drug overdoses in Lethbridge has not reached Medicine Hat - yet. There is no way to predict that it will or when, said Insp. Tim McGough, Medicine Hat Police Service. Lethbridge recently experienced its largest spike in overdoses - 16 cases - ever recorded in a 24-hour period. There were 42 overdose calls to first responders in the week after Feb. 19. "We've had no specific overdose spike (in Medicine Hat) but we are always concerned with illicit usage." said McGough. [continues 349 words]
The president of the union representing more than 3,000 Suncor workers says they have prepared to bring the issue of random drug testing back to arbitration if the Supreme Court of Canada does not hear their case. The comments came after the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld an injunction against the practice granted by the province's Court of Queen's Bench. In a Thursday morning interview, Ken Smith, president of Unifor Local 707A, said he was confident Canada's top court will hear their case. The union expects to hear a decision by the end of March. [continues 674 words]
Regulations as to where cannabis can be used are needed, officials say With the upcoming legalization of cannabis, Yarmouth's recreation director, Frank Grant, has big concerns. "One of the things that we have concerns of with legalized cannabis is how it's going to be used on the street, in our parks, in our sports fields, in our parking lots or outside gymnasiums or halls," he said. In the past, when the recreation department has had issues with older youth, at facilities where cannabis has been detected and reported to the RCMP, Grant says it's been downplayed. [continues 195 words]
Scientists and lawyers are raising a series of concerns over Ottawa's plans to combat drug-impaired driving, saying the proposed regime is not based on evidence and will struggle to withstand legal challenges. Bill C-46, which would create new drug-impaired driving offences, is currently being studied in the Senate, where there is growing pressure on senators to amend the proposed legislation before it comes into law. The government wants the new rules in place before cannabis is legalized for recreational use, a move expected in late summer. [continues 741 words]
An emergency situation demands an emergency response. When people are trapped in a burning house or wrecked car, the priority should be getting them out alive first, and then worrying about damaged property or blocked roadways. This is how people in Waterloo Region need to understand the horrific and rising number of opioid overdoses ravaging their community. We are, collectively, facing an emergency. People are dying in staggeringly high numbers. Others are suffering terribly. For all their sakes but also for the welfare of this region, we must offer help - even as we work out the details. [continues 419 words]
The union representing Canada's border agents is hoping money allocated to combatting the country's overdose crisis will go toward hiring full-time chemists to screen for fentanyl and other deadly drugs at major mailing centres and ports of entry. Most fentanyl shipments coming into Canada originate in China and first arrive at the Vancouver International Mail Centre. A pilot project launched last fall at the facility sees chemists conduct on-site testing and analysis of items suspected to contain fentanyl in a safe examination area where ventilation is controlled. [continues 394 words]
Nearly three weeks in, London's temporary overdose-prevention site - the first of its kind in the province - has gone from four drug users a day to 44, and front-line workers are beaming. The stripped-down supervised consumption facility opened Feb. 12, a quick, co-ordinated response to the growing number of opioid overdoses among London drug users. As of Tuesday, staff were seeing as many as 44 clients a day. "Clients are having trouble believing it. It's too good to be true," said Sonja Burke, needle exchange director at the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection. [continues 325 words]
A new clinic giving access to a drug similar to prescription heroin is likely heading to Edmonton's inner city. Alberta Health is planning two clinics as a pilot project, one each in Edmonton and Calgary. Treatment would require opioid addicts to visit the clinic several times each day to inject drugs supplied by the clinic. It means users no longer need to buy drugs on the black market, and studies at Vancouver's Crosstown Clinic found patients in the program cut back their use of illicit drugs from at least 14 times a month to less than four. [continues 319 words]
OTTAWA * The military is currently wrestling with the implications of marijuana legalization, Canada's top general says - including time restrictions on using the drug before going on duty. "We're going to try to be smart about it," chief of defence staff Gen. Jonathan Vance said on Monday. "But in the end, this is dangerous duty, this is serious duty for the country, and we don't want people doing it stoned." Vance's comments came during an appearance before the Senate defence committee, where he was largely grilled on the troubled military procurement system, peacekeeping and efforts to stamp out sexual misconduct in the Forces. [continues 299 words]
This week marks a historic first for the City of Lethbridge. The Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) will open its doors and will be the first of its kind in North America to offer all four modes of consumption - ingestion/oral, injection, intra-nasal/snorting and inhalation. Despite this milestone, it's fair to say the facility has been met with mixed reviews, including people who have come to me to "blame" the police service for letting it happen. This not only demonstrates a narrow view of Canada and our Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but a failure to understand the role of the police in social-political decisions that are driven by municipal , provincial and federal officials and the mandate they support. [continues 905 words]
U.S. consul general and mayor issue warning to travellers Canada's pending marijuana legalization may end up slowing more than just pot users' reaction times - it could slow the whole border, Mayor Drew Dilkens and U.S. Consul General Juan Alsace suggested Monday. Dilkens and Alsace chatted at the mayor's office Monday about border issues, including NAFTA negotiations, international trade, Great Lakes health and the Trudeau government's intention to legalize recreational use of marijuana. Both officials said problems at the U.S. border could be sparked if pot is legalized in Canada as proposed some time in the summer. "I think it's a real issue," Dilkens said after the private meeting with Alsace, who travelled to Windsor from Toronto for the informal chat. "And I think it's an issue that folks in this area need to be attuned to. "Obviously, being in the Windsor area, we rely on our ability to go across the border seamlessly and frequently. People buy groceries over there, people go shopping for the day over there." [continues 589 words]
Iam increasingly concerned with the inadequacy of our approach to the opioid crisis, both as a society and in the field of public health. There is no question that when people are dying in large numbers, we have to respond, and that has been happening. Safe injection sites, the distribution of naloxone kits and similar efforts are important. But this response is sadly inadequate. It repeats the "upstream" story that I told in the first column I wrote, in December 2014, one that is fundamental to the public health approach. In essence, villagers living on the banks of a river are so busy rescuing drowning people that nobody has time to go upstream to learn how they are ending up in the river and stop them being pushed in. [continues 602 words]
Trying not to be too cynical about all the reporting, discussions, debates and business preparations on Trudeau's "wrath of pot" legalization predications, with the lame duck excuse that the crooks are making too much money on its sales, I'm sorry! The recent news of the inherent benefit of marijuana has been blown right out of the water by a recent group of very prominent world scientists. They have reported that there is absolutely no shred of evidence whatsoever of its benefit for health and pain relief, because of the availability of hundreds of pharmaceuticals that do not have negative health aftereffects like brain damage, in addition to dangerous driving which puts the very heavy load on our police forces that still do not have equipment to test for drug impairment. [continues 147 words]
St. Catharines council is unanimously supporting the creation of a temporary supervised injection site in the city to help deal with the opioid crisis. "It is pure harm reduction. It is stopping people from dying," said Sandi Tantardini of Niagara Area Moms Ending Stigma, speaking in support of the site at Monday night's council meeting. Tantardini and Jennifer Johnston founded the group of moms, families and friends of people who have been lost to or are struggling with addiction. "When we're talking about the effects of the opioid crisis, our group and its representatives and our families, we're the faces of it," said Johnston, whose son Jonathan, a chef who trained at Niagara College, died of a fentanyl overdose in Toronto. [continues 328 words]
Structural changes are required to clamp down on the unregulated private lending networks that drug traffickers are using to launder their illicit gains, a Simon Fraser University criminologist says. A recent Globe and Mail investigation identified people connected to the local fentanyl trade who are also private lenders, using Vancouver-area real estate to clean their cash. Neil Boyd, a criminology professor at SFU, said the complexity of these private lending networks and similar white-collar crimes make them notoriously hard to prosecute. [continues 640 words]
Brighton - People consume marijuana because it relaxes them but the prospect of its recreational use becoming legal is making police anxious. "Anticipated issues" include "easier access for the youth population," impaired operation of vehicles, and the "facilitation of trafficking," OPP Detective-Sergeant Rick Dupuis said in a presentation to Brighton council on the implications of the federal law that is to take effect sometime after July 1. "The provincial and federal governments indicate that this act was introduced to minimize or mitigate accessibility to our young population but in my professional opinion I believe that is ... counterintuitive," he told council Feb. 20. "It's going to make it much easier." [continues 690 words]
Victims of bad science at Motherisk Return their children. That's what they want - the parents who saw their kids ripped away based on flawed alcohol and drug hair tests from the now shuttered Motherisk lab at the famous Sick Children's hospital. A report tabled this week examined 1,270 cases handled by the lab going back more than two decades and found 56 clear cases where Motherisk's flawed test results had a "substantial impact" on the decision to remove children - - though critics argue there are far more. [continues 651 words]
Recommendations too late for many families 'broken apart' by flawed drug and alcohol tests The Ontario Motherisk Commission's two-year effort to repair the damage to families ripped apart by flawed drug and alcohol testing has produced sweeping recommendations aimed at preventing a similar tragedy, but in only a handful of cases has it reunited parents with their lost children. Alice, a Hamilton mother whose daughter was apprehended in 2011 after hair testing from Motherisk purported to show she was a heavy drinker, is among the lucky few. [continues 2231 words]
Emergency services responded to 16 cases on Friday and 42 since Feb. 19 Lethbridge had the single biggest spike of overdoses in a 24-hour period during the ongoing opioid crisis this past weekend, with 16 cases being responded to by local emergency services personnel on Friday alone. "What we have seen over this past weekend is a dramatic increase in the number of overdoses that our staff at Lethbridge Fire and EMS have responded to," said deputy chief of support services Dana Terry, at a hastily arranged press conference Monday morning. "Specifically with overdoses where Narcan was administered." [continues 392 words]
Realtors and condo boards scramble to find solutions Realtors and condo boards are sparking up conversations about pot as legalization looms. Anand Sharma, president and condominium manager with the Northern Alberta Chapter of the Canadian Condominium Institute, said condo corporations should start revising their rules if they haven't already to prevent sticky situations when tenants start lighting up legally. "The bottom line is people are going to have to seek legal counsel to tighten up their bylaws or address some of these issues in their bylaws," Sharma said. [continues 428 words]
Cities across Canada are struggling to contain gang violence. Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has convened a summit on gun violence in Canada to find the best way to deal with the growing problems linked to criminal gangs and the illegal drug trade. Last November, Mr. Goodale announced $328-million in new funding over five years as part of efforts to reduce gun crime across Canada, with the federal contribution growing to $100-million a year in following years. Scheduled for March 7 in Ottawa, the Criminal Guns and Gangs Summit will aim to get all levels of government to agree on priorities for dealing with growing rates of violence involving firearms and organized crime. [continues 391 words]
With some marijuana dispensaries still open in spite of repeated warnings, the Regina Police Service is now taking its campaign to the shops' landlords. About two weeks ago, police sent letters to property owners informing them that their pot-shop tenants are committing a criminal offence. Selling cannabis out of storefronts remains illegal. According to police spokesperson Les Parker, the letters also conveyed that the properties "may be subject to forfeiture" if sales continue. He cited a provision of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that allows courts to order the seizure of "offence-related property." [continues 248 words]
Less than two months out from this year's rally, it appears the vast majority of the end costs will again be passed on to taxpayers While they still can't find consensus on a location, it does appear all parties with a stake in the 4/20 smoke-out at Sunset Beach seem to agree on this: organizers will have to foot little, if any, of what could be a six-figure, post-event price tag. Less than two months out from one of the city's largest and polarizing public events, the Courier reached out the Vancouver Park Board, the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Police Department and rally organizers to assess where the annual April 20 gathering is at in terms of planning, lessons learned and the mechanics involved in the cost-recovery process. [continues 631 words]
As Canada is poised to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, readers might wonder how schools will handle the change. Will kids be legally toking up on school grounds? Will skunky smells be wafting down the halls? Definitely not. First off, it's important to note that when the recreational use of marijuana is legalized, probably later this year, it will still be illegal for minors to use or possess pot. In that regard, things won't change in schools. [continues 680 words]
There seems to be a general euphoria with the upcoming legalization of marijuana, while at the same time there is silence from the large proportion of Canadians who oppose legalization. Perhaps one should look at why marijuana was made illegal in the first place. For many, it was a case of, "We have enough problems with alcohol. If marijuana is legal, we'll have twice as many drug problems." For others, they didn't want to live in a nation of zombies where people are walking around stoned all day. [continues 132 words]
Pot courses sprouting at Ontario colleges Puff, puff, pass will take on a new meaning when recreational cannabis becomes legal in Canada later this year. And not just in the way you might think. Some Canadian colleges and universities are preparing people for the thousands of potential new jobs expected to be created as the country's booming weed industry - valued at $23 billion by accounting firm Deloitte - transitions from the black market to a legal one with an estimated 5 million existing customers across the country. [continues 668 words]
Re. "Man charged in 2016 fentanyl death pleads guilty in unrelated drug case," Feb. 21 The war on drugs, which is really a war on the people who use drugs, has failed. The people who sell drugs at the street level are very often in the grips of addiction themselves. This was the case for Jordan Yarmey, and so many others like him. The people who buy drugs are exposed to the possibility of accidental death by fentanyl poisoning, which was the case for Szymon Kalich. This tragic situation draws attention to the need for drug policy reform. The decriminalization of small amounts of drugs for personal use, and access to drug testing is one way to end the opioid overdose crisis that is devastating families across our country. Lorna Thomas, Edmonton [end]
As a national opioid crisis wages on, Toronto police have decided to equip their downtown frontline officers with the opioid antidote naloxone. "This is about life and death, and that's what we signed up to do," Chief Mark Saunders told the Toronto Police Services Board at their meeting Thursday. Chief Saunders was tasked last year with submitting a report to the board on how the service might go about deploying the antidote, which can be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. [continues 571 words]
Re: Opioid vending machines won't help B.C.'s addicts. Jeremy Devine, Feb. 14 This piece, written by my classmate, Jeremy Devine, contains misinformation and stigma. I felt compelled to write a response because his views do not reflect mine or those of many of our fellow medical school classmates at the University of Toronto. The article suggests that British Columbia's harm reduction approach is some ill-conceived mistake that jeopardizes the lives of people who use drugs. In fact, Mr. Devine's ideological stance is not based on evidence, and if enacted, could endanger countless lives. [continues 208 words]
Re: This is your brain on pot, Douglas Todd column, Feb. 17. Again, kudos to The Vancouver Sun for Douglas Todd's column on the potential health risks of marijuana. Educators have been warning about this for a long time, but the negative effects on adolescents has been blanked out by politicians looking for easy tax dollars. Just wait for the weeping and wailing that will follow the legalization of marijuana as youth damage their brains while participating in what they see as a rite of passage to adulthood. Ted Cooper, Powell River [end]
It would be interesting to know if the delay in implementing the new marijuana legalization legislation will mean police will continue to waste time and resources dragging people through the courts for "pot" related offences, right up until 11:59 p.m. on the eve of the day it becomes legal. Scott Campbell Grow-ops will still be illegal even after pot isn't. [end]
It is hard to pinpoint reasons for a large increase in the number of physicians authorizing the use of medical marijuana, but a local pain specialist has some theories. "Cannabinoids are showing great promise as medicines, especially in the myriad of non specific conditions like anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, mild to moderate pain, unhappiness, recurrent stress and dysphoria conditions which pharmacotherapy has offered little and doctors are ill equipped to treat," said Dr. Gaylord Wardell, anesthesiologist and pain specialist, Sante Surgi, Medicine Hat. "Patients are dissatisfied with their doctors and their drugs." [continues 457 words]
Judge nixes jail for Stones guitarist, orders community service instead More than 40 years have passed since the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had to "slap'' Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards awake at a Toronto hotel so they could arrest him for possession of heroin for the purposes of trafficking. The charge, which carried a minimum of seven years upon conviction, was based on the 22 grams of heroin found on Feb. 27,1977, during a raid of Richards' room at the Harbour Castle Hilton (now Westin Harbour Castle), while he was sleeping. [continues 1149 words]
Fifty North Bay and area landlords have revived the Near North Landlords Association in response to the province's new standard lease form, which takes effect in April, and the legalization of marijuana later this year Landlords are concerned that, as of April 1, they won't be able to refuse a tenant who has a dog, explains group member John Wilson of North Bay. "If there is a fourth-floor apartment available for rent and the person who wants the place has a German shepherd and the building isn't pet-friendly we can no longer refuse him," he says. [continues 155 words]
Regulatory upheaval under the Trump administration in the U.S. cannabis industry is providing Canadian companies with the chance to be global leaders. However, disagreement between the different gatekeepers of Ontario's financial markets may squander this opportunity. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice under the Obama administration issued a memorandum indicating it would not enforce federal prohibitions on marijuana in states that authorized its use. This was referred to as the "Cole Memorandum" (after then-deputy attorney-general James Cole). It essentially allowed marijuana producers in certain states to operate their businesses despite the federal laws that technically made the production of marijuana illegal. [continues 615 words]
British Columbia is expecting legalized cannabis to bring in $75-million a year to the province in taxes, with legal sales estimated to be worth a billion dollars. This week's provincial budget estimates that once the drug is legalized later this year, the province will take in $50-million in the current fiscal year and $75-million in 2019-2020, the first full fiscal year under legalization. That represents the province's 75 per cent share of a federal excise tax, which Ottawa has said will be $1 per gram, or 10 per cent of larger purchases, whichever is higher. While that translates to about $1-billion in sales in the province, B.C.'s Finance Minister says it could be higher. [continues 541 words]
A number of on-the-fly changes were proposed Calgary city councillors have proposed a number of relaxations on proposed cannabis retailer rules. On Wednesday, during a council committee, administration presented their land use bylaw rules to ready the city's policies ahead of marijuana legalization. But just like rolling your first joint, the process wasn't easy. The rules will now be smoothed over and sent to an April council meeting before being passed into official law. If council approves the changes made at the committee level, cannabis stores won't be restricted by distance when it comes to opening up shop near post-secondary institutions. [continues 328 words]
Liberal MP says he wasn't thrilled about it at first, but changed his views Cannabis was on the menu at the Belleville & District Chamber of Commerce's monthly breakfast Wednesday at the Travelodge Hotel, and Bay of Quinte MP Neil Ellis was pushing it - from a business point of view. With Bill C- 45, the Cannabis Act, expected to be law by July 1, Ellis said the business of marijuana will provide many opportunities, not just from production of both recreational and medical cannabis, but from the many sideline businesses it will create. [continues 855 words]
Much like a self-learning robot that improves with every step, Edmonton city hall hopes to tweak recreational cannabis bylaws now, and after it is legalized. "We're still in a little bit of a state of confusion or complexity as to the way it'll all shake down as far as where can the stores be located," Ward 6 Coun. Scott McKeen said Wednesday. "I suspect we'll continue to struggle with these for a couple of years as we tweak the regulations and make sure we get things right." [continues 365 words]
TORONTO - Ontario's provincially run cannabis retailer is open to sourcing product from growers of all sizes across the country, according to a spokesperson for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. The approach appears to be in contrast to the one taking hold in provinces such as Quebec, where the government-run Societe des alcools du Quebec recently opted to sign sizable recreational cannabis supply agreements with a select few large licensed producers. In Ontario, "the process for procuring cannabis supply for the (Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp.) will be open to all Canadian licensed producers," said LCBO spokesperson Nicole Laoutaris in an email, adding that "the OCRC has not yet entered into any supplier agreements." [continues 339 words]
Medical marijuana added to health-insurance plan Medical marijuana will soon be part of health insurance for students at UBC Okanagan. The one-year pilot program will begin in September. University of Waterloo began a similar plan in 2014. The idea was initiated by Michelle Thiessen, chairwoman of the Okanagan chapter of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and a UBCO graduate student. Without coverage for medical marijuana, students are left covering 100 per cent of the costs while still paying into the student health insurance plan, she said. [continues 288 words]
As the B.C. government sets policy on the legalization of marijuana, the towns of Oliver and Osoyoos are still wondering what that will look like. Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes said his council has to have a formal discussion on the topic. "We had most recently suggested that any sale (of marijuana) should take place through a government agency and the province has decided against that." Hovanes previously questioned if municipalities should have any role in marijuana legalization. Council recently supported a call for local governments to receive a share of the cannabis revenue to cover social and policing costs. [continues 765 words]
Policing issues played a minor role in Tuesday's Ward 4 budget town hall, with only one exception: Cannabis enforcement costs. The Regina Police Service has estimated the cost of policing a legalized marijuana system between $1.2 million and $1.8 million. That number evoked shock from one resident who came to the meeting. "It stretches the bounds of believability," she said. "Give me a break." Coun. Andrew Stevens tried to steer clear of the RPS during the town hall, only once repeating his earlier warnings about the force's "uncontrolled" costs. [continues 251 words]
City officials are looking for input as they deal with the ramifications of legalized recreational marijuana. "There are a lot of questions, a lot of unknowns and I think it's important that we try to come up with a 'made in Brantford' solution to some of these issues," Mayor Chris Friel said Tuesday. "I think we need to hear from more people, let them know what the issues are and see what we can come up with. "We need to hear from the chamber of commerce, the health unit, police, real estate people as well as our own staff in social services and bylaw enforcement." [continues 440 words]
York Regional Police tweeted on Tuesday that marijuana doesn't increase the growth of breasts in men, after one of its officers told high school students at a panel last week that "doobies make boobies." "We're no health experts, but we're pretty sure getting high does not cause enhanced mammary growth in men," York police tweeted. "We are aware of the misinformation about cannabis that was unfortunately provided to the community by our officers. We're working to address it." [continues 134 words]
Retailers watch on as city drafts regs on where shops can open The cans and can'ts for Calgary cannabis retailers are taking shape this month, but some prospective shops are pointing out that perception could still be tainting the city's proposed bylaws. On Wednesday, councillors will see administration's land use amendments to add cannabis retail store rules to the city's bylaws. These tweaks will go before the council in an April public hearing. Out of three options, the city's going with one that would treat cannabis retailers a little like liquor stores - but not entirely the same as booze businesses. [continues 338 words]
This is a follow-up of my two letters in The Daily Press dated March 29, 2017 titled "PM's head going to pot" and Dec. 20, 2017 titled "Medical marijuana has no medicinal value." I managed to get an updated publication dated April 13, 2017 titled "Health Effects of cannabis" from Health Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and readers can find this Health Canada publication with an online search. The publication clearly summarizes the short-term health effects, long-term health effects, risks of illegal cannabis, mental health effects, health effects on youth, health effects on pregnancy and children, and addiction. [continues 352 words]
Inside Canada
