HALIFAX - Marijuana remains the drug of choice for members of the Canadian army, based on the Force's latest blind drug testing report that also found cocaine is gaining popularity among some members. The report, done between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, found the overall drug consumption rate has been relatively stable since 2010 but suggested young, non-commissioned members were more prone to do drugs. The findings, contained in a 42-page report obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, included testing for 11 controlled substances at 26 Armed Forces units across the country. There were 4,198 participants from most ranks and age groups. [continues 246 words]
HALIFAX * Marijuana remains the drug of choice for members of the Canadian army, based on the Force's latest blind drug testing report that also found cocaine is gaining popularity among some members. The report, done between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, found the overall drug consumption rate has been relatively stable since 2010 but suggested young, non-commissioned members were more prone to do drugs. The findings, contained in a 42-page report, included testing for 11 controlled substances at 26 Armed Forces units across the country. There were 4,198 participants from most ranks and age groups. [continues 295 words]
HALIFAX - Marijuana remains the drug of choice for members of the Canadian army, based on the force's latest blind drug testing report that also found cocaine is gaining popularity among some members. The report, done between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, found the overall drug consumption rate has been relatively stable since 2010 but suggested young, non-commissioned members were more prone to do drugs. The findings, contained in a 42 page report obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, included testing for 11 controlled substances at 26 Armed Forces units across the country. There were 4,198 participants from most ranks and age groups. [continues 200 words]
From sugar to pot? If may take a while, but the process has begun for medical marijuana grow operations to start sprouting up in Niagara Falls. The city's committee of adjustment approved two zoning variances for the former Redpath Sugar plant on Garner Rd. and the former Kimberly Clark factory on Victoria Ave. The owners of both buildings applied to the committee so that a "nurser y for trees, plants and shrubs" could be added to the list of permitted uses on those properties. [continues 745 words]
Councillor unhappy with way pot proposal dealt with, mayor says proper guidelines followed Residents and councillors should have been given more information about two medical marijuana applications that went before the city's committee of adjustment, says Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni. While public notices were posted about the committee meeting, it was described as being for the consideration of a "nursery for the growing of trees, shrubs and plants." There was no specific mention of medical marijuana, which Ioannoni said was deceiving. [continues 513 words]
Smoke it, toke it, vape it, eat it - marijuana, it seems, is going mainstream. Once widely reviled by society at large as the demon weed, medical-grade cannabis is now available through federally licensed growers with a doctor's prescription and even some highly respected health organizations are calling for the herb to be legalized and sold as a taxable commodity like alcohol, in government-regulated outlets. At the same time, Canadians also appear to be softening their attitudes towards the drug. [continues 636 words]
WHILE MDS QUESTION IF MEDICAL MARIJUANA IS THE RIGHT PRESCRIPTION, WINDSOR TO HOST CANNABIS CLINIC Dr. Tony Hammer treats drug addicts and people seeking pain relief - the latter sometimes feeding the former - but don't expect him to jump aboard the medical marijuana bandwagon. "I am utterly incapable of distinguishing between those who need it and those who enjoy it," said Hammer. He's convinced most of the tens of thousands of Canadians prescribed medical marijuana are instead using it "recreationally." [continues 1929 words]
About 94 Per Cent of Soldiers Showed Clean in Testing HALIFAX - Marijuana remains the drug of choice for members of the Canadian army, based on the Force's latest blind drug testing report that also found cocaine is gaining popularity among some members. The report, done between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2013, found the overall drug consumption rate has been relatively stable since 2010 but suggested young, non-commissioned members were more prone to do drugs. The findings, contained in a 42-page report obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, included testing for 11 controlled substances at 26 Armed Forces units across the country. There were 4,198 participants from most ranks and age groups. [continues 335 words]
'Anti-marijuana ad's dubious claim a scary hit with parents," was CBC's online headline to a potentially good-news story for the federal Conservatives on Thursday. According to focus group results released by Harris-Decima, it seems Health Canada's portentous new anti-pot advertisement, which shows a brain-shaped bong gradually filling up with more and more smoke and icky residue, packs a punch. Its various ostensibly startling claims - that "marijuana is on average 300% to 400% stronger than it was 30 years ago"; that "smoking marijuana can seriously harm a teen's developing brain" - touched a nerve with some parents. [continues 717 words]
New drug awareness program geared for 8 to 11-year-olds in Sarnia- Lambton For Max*, the downward spiral of addiction started off slowly and at supposedly the most innocent of times, when he was in elementary school. He started off experimenting with tobacco and marijuana around the tender age of 12. "By the time he was involved in high school, he was in full gear," recalled his father Sean, who asked that his last name not be used to protect the identity of his son. [continues 524 words]
Marijuana Inc. Part one of a two-part series on the rise of medical marijuana as big business in Canada. Inside the rush to profit from medical marijuana Dennis Arsenault couldn't believe what he was seeing. When his company, OrganiGram Inc., made its debut on the TSX Venture Exchange this summer, the shares suddenly shot up. The high valuation didn't make sense - not even to Mr. Arsenault, and he was the company's chief executive officer. Just a few weeks earlier, OrganiGram, an upstart producer of medical marijuana based in Moncton had been valued privately at just over $40-million. But on the open market, speculators feverishly drove up the total value of its shares to nearly $120-million in late August. [continues 3650 words]
The Victoria Police Department is now the sole respondent in a human rights complaint filed by VicPD Cst. David Bratzer. Bratzer filed a human rights complaint against VicPD, former police chief Jamie Graham and Insp. Jamie Pearce in 2013 for restricting his public communications as a member of the U.S.-based organization LEAP, Law Enforcement Against prohibition. Bratzer is an outspoken member, advocating for drug legalization. The B.C. Human Rights Tribunal dismissed Graham and Pearce from Bratzer's complaint on Dec. 16. [continues 219 words]
'There's No Stoners Here' Long-time greenhouse grower Cole Cacciavillani, his family a pillar of the Leamington community, jokes about acquaintances made during nearly three years of personal research into growing marijuana. The challenge in expanding from geraniums and poinsettias for retail chains like Costco into marijuana for medical patients was most of the existing expertise was built up around a crop still largely illegal. "The problem with this whole industry is it's been mostly underground.... We have to make it legitimate," said Cacciavillani. He insists he's never ingested the new product he's now licensed to grow and sell. [continues 1207 words]
I think our communities could benefit from a fulsome dialogue about addiction and how we respond to those who suffer from it. We need a compassionate discussion that engages our hearts and our minds and that avoids blaming and shaming the ultimate victim, the person who is addicted. Using our community newspapers might be a way to have such a dialogue. We all have access to myriad drugs - prescribed, non-prescribed, licit, illicit, some socially acceptable and others not. We are bombarded by marketing and messaging that encourages us to use drugs of one form or another. So it should be no surprise that medicating ourselves has become the answer to our problems and our pain. [continues 551 words]
THE B.C. HUMAN Rights Tribunal has noted that a police department restricted the off-duty activities of an officer who believes in ending the war on drugs. In a decision today (December 16), tribunal member Robert Blasina wrote that there is "no dispute" that the Victoria Police Department sought and continues to limit the public advocacy of Const. David Bratzer when he's not in uniform. The question that remains is whether or not the VicPD contravened the B.C. Human Rights Code. [continues 284 words]
I think our communities could benefit from a fulsome dialogue about addiction and how we respond to those who suffer from addiction. That is, a compassionate discussion that engages our hearts and our minds, and avoids blaming and shaming the ultimate victim - the person who is addicted. Possibly, our community newspapers might be one way for us to have such a dialogue. We all have increased access to myriad drugs - prescribed, non-prescribed, lawful, illicit, some socially acceptable and others not. We are tirelessly bombarded by marketing and messaging that encourages us to use drugs of one form or another. So it should be no surprise that medicating ourselves has become the answer to our problems and our pain. [continues 613 words]
Parliamentary committees undertake studies dealing with various topics and then write a report. If Opposition members on a particular committee do not agree with the report, they usually put together what is called a Dissenting Minority Report. The House of Commons Health Committee recently did a study on all aspects of marijuana policy and use in Canada. The NDP believes that this study was unbalanced and was designed to focus on the harms of marijuana policy and use in Canada. According to our Health critic, Libby Davies and other NDP members of the committee, the study and resulting report did not allow for an unbiased assessment of both harms and potential medical benefits. [continues 607 words]
Current Social-Housing Policy Is Doomed to Fail It's such a familiar story. People are shot or killed in Ottawa's social-housing neighbourhoods. Police step up enforcement. People are arrested, and guns and drugs seized. Community meetings are held. Multiple social agencies introduce new programs. Pause. Repeat. The recent shootings in the west end have produced another of those periodic spasms of media, public, police and social-agency attention. They follow hard on the heels of similar shootings in similar neighbourhoods in the city's south end. [continues 604 words]
It's "just a point" of crystal meth, Angela says. No big deal. But the fix will send her into orbit. In a graffiti-filled Windsor alley mid-afternoon, she pierces the crook of her arm, slowly pulls wine-red blood into the syringe, and "smashes" a .1-gram blast of methamphetamine hydrochloride into her vein. The rocket rush immediately takes her. "I hate that I love it so much," said Angela, 26, who has used crystal meth for a decade, injecting it the last four. "Other than the extreme burst of energy it gives you, I just feel super confident." [continues 2011 words]
Bud Business Booms. Patients Offered Fast-Track Marijuana Prescriptions "Weed helped me because it heightens my mood, saving me from the harsh reality." Kimberly Baird says that, at one point, she was swallowing 180 pills a day. The 31-year-old suffers from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Her left hand and left ankle are both paralyzed; she relies on a wheelchair to get around. The pain comes in waves but it's debilitating when it hits - Metro's first visit to her Inglewood home had to be cancelled last-minute because Baird couldn't get to the door. [continues 469 words]
Inside Canada
