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]
Protesters carrying signs saying "Injustice is fatal!" laid dozens of white carnations next to a coffin on the steps of Montreal City Hall Tuesday, each representing a life lost to a drugoverdose. A coalition of community groups, crisis workers, activists and drug users held a demonstration demanding the government repeal drug laws that marginalize drug users. They also held a moment of silence - joining several vigils held simultaneously across Canada. The opioid crisis claimed nearly 3,000 lives in 2016, and the estimated death toll last year is pegged at 4,000 people. [continues 426 words]
Dear Tony: Our strata council is getting a lot of pressure from our owners to adopt a bylaw that prohibits use of marijuana and growing of marijuana plants. Several owners have already complained about the smell of marijuana in the building from several smokers, and we had to eradicate a grow-op back in 2004, costing our strata more than $75,000 in damages that we never recovered. What our council is struggling with is the question of how far we can go with our bylaws. [continues 447 words]
The president of the organization that represents Saskatchewan's cities and towns wants a more collaborative relationship with Premier Scott Moe's new provincial government. "So far, so good," Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association (SUMA) president Gordon Barnhart said Wednesday. "I think that they've been saying they want to have consultation before decisions are made and I think that's a step in the right direction." Moe took over from premier Brad Wall last month as leader of the Saskatchewan Party and the province's new premier. [continues 336 words]
Ontario Senator Tony Dean, sponsor of the Trudeau Liberals' pot bill in the Upper Chamber, is upset that Canadians will not be able to legally light up their spliffs until long after Canada Day. He says time is of the essence, and that the government does not have the luxury of biding it. Why is this? Why, after more than 100 years of marijuana being illegal, does the good senator think pushing back the smoke date by a few weeks is the wrong thing to do? [continues 296 words]
A NORTHERN Manitoba First Nation is building a permanent checkstop on the only highway into the community to combat the illegal drug and liquor trade. "It's like a border crossing and you'll have no choice but to go through it. And if you don't want to be searched, you're not going to go in," Norway House Chief Ron Evans said. The small building next to Highway 373 looks a bit like a transport safety weigh station. As of this month, the Norway House Cree Nation Safety and Security Checkpoint will be open 24/7. Its official opening is scheduled for Feb. 24. [continues 1309 words]
Harm reduction is more than a job for Karen Kittilsen Levine. Reducing the numbers of people dying from opioid addiction and blood-borne disease is something she's determined to do. "We began doing outreach in Pictou County on November 1 and have more than 40 clients, and we're beginning outreach in Amherst within a few days," said Kittilsen Levine, who is the harm reduction coordinator for the Northern Healthy Connections Society. The organization collects used needles and distributes clean ones. It also provides condoms and information on blood-borne diseases. [continues 226 words]
Every morning, Kevin Thompson takes a short stroll from his apartment to the Crosstown Clinic, where he signs in, gets his prescription medicine, then sits in a small room and injects it before heading off to work. He follows this routine up to three times a day and has done so virtually every day for more than a dozen years. The medicine is diacetylmorphine, the medical term for prescription heroin. "It saved my life. No question, it saved my life," Mr. Thompson, 47, says emphatically. [continues 683 words]
OTTAWA - Setting up tattoo parlours and needle-exchange programs in penitentiaries would help reduce the spread of hepatitis C, the federal prison service has told the Trudeau government. A Correctional Service memo obtained under the Access to Information Act advises Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to round out existing and planned measures to fight hepatitis and HIV in prison. Prison tattooing and needle-exchange programs for drug users have generated intense controversy over the years, and the March 2017 memo says detailed research should be carried out before embarking on a syringe needle program, in particular, "to avoid unintended and negative consequences for inmates." [continues 459 words]
B.C. has become a haven of drug-dealing and money-laundering that's killing hundreds of people from overdoses and pricing homes beyond the reach of law-abiding citizens. That's the view of Attorney-General David Eby, who's promising bold action to purge B.C.'s casinos and hyper-inflated real-estate markets from the influence of criminals. "We have an international reputation that's in tatters," Eby told me. "We will clean it up. My goal is to have B.C.'s international reputation back on track." [continues 404 words]
Two years after the province abandoned using an Ontario laboratory for drug and alcohol testing in custody cases, a decision by a Sydney Supreme Court justice is casting doubt on whether a Halifax lab is any more reliable. The decision by Justice Theresa Forgeron of the court's Family Division rejected a bid by the Department of Community Services to have the director of the Capital Health Authority's toxicology lab, Dr. Bassam Nassar, give expert opinion evidence concerning urine testing samples from a Cape Breton father. [continues 486 words]
For all the hand-wringing that we were rushing into cannabis legalization, and that there wasn't enough time to get it right, it turns out that it wasn't that hard to figure out, after all. Proponents of legalization have long argued that it makes far more sense to regulate cannabis similar to how we regulate alcohol. All along, then, the model for cannabis retail was staring us right in the face, and the Alberta government deserves credit for not missing the glaringly obvious. [continues 584 words]
I am quite suspicious about the headspace of the Journal editor who captioned a brief article about a U.S. survey with the headline "Pot holiday linked to fatal car crashes" (Feb. 13). Maybe their attention span allowed them to only get as far as the first paragraph. The next one explicitly stated that the survey being reported had found absolutely no evidence of a link between pot smoking and car crashes on the one day of the year studied from 1992 to 2016, which was April 20, the day of the year adopted by activists to push for the decriminalization of cannabis. [continues 107 words]
Patients still struggling to get covered by insurance plans As Alberta moves forward on retail applications for recreational marijuana, those who use the drug for medical reasons still wait for coverage. Most forms of medical cannabis do not have a Drug Identification Number (DIN) in Canada, which leaves it subject to tax and exempts it from most health coverage plans. "We're not talking about drug users using this to get high, we're talking about patients that need it to be able to function and be part of a working society," said Scott Bladon, an Edmonton man who has legally used cannabis for three years to treat psoriatic arthritis. [continues 523 words]
As legalization looms, experts say we're not road safe yet As Canada readies to legalize pot this summer, experts including an ex-traffic cop warn we're still stumped about stopping stoned drivers from hitting B.C.'S streets. "I've stopped lots of people who have been under the influence of marijuana," recalls retired West Vancouver traffic enforcement officer Cpl. Grant Gottgetreu. "You had to get really good at making observations. "Unless a person gets pulled over and there's an overwhelming smell of burned marijuana from the car there's still no instrument out there to test like there is for alcohol yet." [continues 532 words]
(Re: New guideline recommends doctors avoid prescribing medical marijuana for most conditions, Feb. 15) The British have just issued the same guideline raising the question why there was not public education on the serious dangers to health before the Trudeau government fast-tracked legalizing marijuana. Besides causing serious damage to young developing brains, using pot can also lead to very aggressive behaviour is some people. The bottom line is very little is known about the long-term health effects of the 80 cannabinoids contained in marijuana. One thing we do know from the experiences in Colorado and Washington states, after legalization, is there will likely be more impaired drivers on our highways leading to more road deaths and young people will gain access to the drug with dire consequences. [continues 131 words]
Pallister government not budgeting for pot tax revenue this year If the Pallister government projects a reduced deficit in the 2018 provincial budget, it won't be because of a new pot tax. The Winnipeg Sun has learned that next month's budget will not include a revenue line from marijuana sales, even though legalized pot is expected to go on sale sometime later this year. Finance Minister Cameron Friesen confirmed government is not budgeting for any marijuana revenues in 2018-19 and is still examining the potential costs associated with legalized weed, including additional health care, road safety and justice costs. [continues 558 words]
I firmly believe that most Canadians don't want recreational marijuana legalized, and that there is still time to stop it. The basic threat to the Liberal party is anti-marijuana voters who will get their attention in the election coming up next year. I don't need to repeat the many solid reasons why legalization of pot is a bad decision by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. It will turn into a disaster, causing major grief to thousands of families. It's sad that most Canadians don't speak up as loudly as the dopers do while breaking the law. What we need is a well-known "champion," like a Jim Pattison type, to start up a campaign against legalization. Bill Davis, New Westminster [end]
With toxic street drugs such as fentanyl killing four British Columbians a day, much of the response has focused on overdose treatments with naloxone, and supervised injection sites. Yet public-health staff have concluded that emergency interventions such as these will not stop the epidemic. If the supply of these drugs cannot be halted - and no war on drugs has ever been won - the only option is to prevent the downward slide that leads to street-drug addiction. Many of the victims are middle-age men and women who have fought a lifelong struggle against such challenges as alcoholism, mental illness, the lasting effects of childhood abuse and more. [continues 513 words]
The mayor is wrong on allowing legal pot cafes, and here's why Mayor Jim Watson won't support the idea of legal lounges where people can smoke pot. That's not even remotely surprising: Watson's a cautious, conservative mayor when it comes to social policy. He doesn't want to make it easier for anyone to smoke anything in lounges. If his view wins the day, there won't really be anywhere in Ottawa to smoke pot, because politicians at Queen's Park have banned smoking marijuana in public places. [continues 590 words]
Psychologists point to 'compelling evidence' of cannabis' potential health impairments Apart from the #Metoo maelstrom and the housing crises in Toronto and Vancouver, few things stir up Canadians more than marijuana, which its promoters claim is the cure for everything from glaucoma to brain disease =2E Should private outlets sell recreational marijuana? Is it more enjoyable to smoke or swallow cannabis? Will I get rich on pot stocks? Is it possible to remove the criminal underground from Canada's $6 billion-a-year cannabis industry? [continues 975 words]
Are public health officials facing up to the fact that the overdose epidemic in Canada and the U.S. is mostly devastating boys and men? There are small signs some health officials are slowly, awkwardly, hesitatingly beginning to acknowledge the obvious: The overdose crisis is predominantly an issue of men's health. Public officials have much denial to make up for. It was just a year ago that former B.C. Liberal health minister Terry Lake pulled out the public relations stops to open a 38-bed Vancouver facility for women to overcome substance abuse. Months before an election, Lake also announced an overdose prevention site exclusively for females. [continues 730 words]
Dealing with the impact of marijuana legalization is expected to be one of the year's biggest challenges for the Cornwall Community Police Service, according to Chief-designate Danny Aikman. "Obviously there is a lot of attention being paid the legalization of marijuana and the impact that will have on municipalities as well as police forces," he said. The Cornwall police are concerned their costs could increase because of the change in the law, and Aikman said just because possession will be legal, doesn't mean enforcement efforts can be stopped. [continues 509 words]