Edmonton police used a novel way to demonstrate how drugs and alcohol influence drivers in an effort to curb the number of collisions expected over the winter holidays.

The "drugged driving suit" uses padding, ankle weights, flashing light goggles and headphones to recreate the conditions of driving after consuming alcohol or illegal drugs.

This includes slower reaction time, distorted vision, hand tremors and poor co-ordination.

The suit, showcased at Rogers Place on Monday, is part of a Ford program that teaches safe driving methods. Driving Skills for Life is slated to come to Edmonton high schools sometime next year.

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Re: "'We have a problem' city councillor suggests," Nov. 30.

If the current spate of shootings is, as suggested by the police, due to "chaotic situations" created by drug users, then it is high time the province takes a hard look at how other societies have drastically changed their policies in the war against drugs.

In countries such as Switzerland and Portugal, a shift to treating addiction as a health issue, rather than moral weakness or crime, has led to benefits and cost savings.

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In 2014, there were 324 people in Edmonton sharing needles and injecting in public spaces, according to the group looking at safe consumption services in the city.

That's more than what Vancouver saw before launching safe consumption clinic Insite, says Shelley Williams, chair of Access to Medically Supervised Injection Services.

Council will review a new report on access to medically supervised safe consumption sites Monday, after the province announced in late October it would give AMSIS $230,000 to apply to the federal government for exemption from drug laws.

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Mayor Naheed Nenshi says the Liberal government's plan to legalize marijuana could spark a new craft industry and create opportunities for small businesses - which "may not be a bad thing" in Calgary's slumping economy.

But any new model to distribute recreational weed, including edibles, should be controlled to ensure public safety and prevent people underage from using it, he said.

"I wouldn't want to see marijuana-infused jelly beans sold at every 7-Eleven counter," Nenshi told reporters Friday.

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The Alberta government has rolled out a $167,000 online ad campaign warning drivers that getting behind the wheel high on marijuana "face the same consequences" as drunk drivers.

The series of ads, which began popping up on websites and social media Nov. 29, are aimed at younger, less experienced drivers who, may engage in riskier behaviour and believe marijuana doesn't impair their abilities, said Wendy Doyle, Alberta Transportation's executive director for the office of traffic safety.

"A lot of people believe that A) it's safer, B) that they can't get caught, or C) that the consequences are different or not as severe as driving if you're drunk," she said.

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Support for legal pot highest among millennials

Albertans are increasingly cool with the legalization of kush.

A new ThinkHQ/Metro News survey has found that two-thirds of Albertans - - 65 per cent - agree the drug should be legal, while only 20 per cent admit that when it's legal, they will toke up.

That's an even higher rate of acceptance than a poll Insights West published in 2014, where half of Albertans asked would like to see the substance legalized.

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University dispenses naloxone as part of fentanyl campaign

The University of Alberta has dispensed 11 fentanyl overdose response kits since the start of the fall term to head o the province's most pressing and deadly health crisis.

Even though the injectable naloxone packs have been available since last year, the uptake by students is being attributed to the fact the stigma associated with accessing the packs is slowly disappearing as more and more people realize the lethality of the opioid.

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An Airdrie mother of four and cancer survivor is striving to end the social stigma surrounding marijuana.

Using a multimedia approach, Melinda Sarpal, 37, is documenting her journey to open Cannabliss - a retail store promoting holistic education and tools focusing on cannabis and health - in Airdrie.

With a documentary, television show and podcast currently in the works, she said she wants to be a part of the now global conversation helping to normalize marijuana.

"In Alberta, we're so far behind," Sarpal said. "It's time we start bringing (cannabis) into conversation, making it mainstream and making it OK."

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Re: "Legalized pot will add to epidemic," Letter, Nov. 23.

Calling pot a very psychoactive, gateway drug that has very severe effects on the developing brain is misleading. Not only is "very psychoactive" very subjective, there is no evidence to support that marijuana is a gateway drug.

I can agree that it has severe effects on a developing brain, which makes me wonder why we wouldn't legalize and ID purchasers, keeping it out of the hands of children.

If alcohol and nicotine are socially acceptable for adults to consume, why can't we as a society accept that some adults would like to consume marijuana without being labelled a criminal?

Cole Syrenne, Calgary

[end]

It's time for systemic changes, writes Rita Notarandrea.

With a crisis swirling, Canada is at a crossroads.

Opioid use across the country has reached extremely dangerous levels. Canada is the second largest per capita consumer of opioids worldwide, and as a direct result provincial health-care systems are dealing with unprecedented numbers of overdoses and deaths related to addiction.

If we are to learn anything from the opioid crisis, it is the need for systemic changes to provide better care for people struggling with an addiction. We need to refocus our efforts to provide the services and resources they need - be it interventions such as harm reduction services or proven treatment - to conquer their disease and make strides toward recovery.

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Statistics from Washington State on fatally injured drivers testing positive for cannabis (THC) are misleading. (re: "Keep roads free from 'pot' holes," Nov. 15 Herald editorial).

According to the cited report from Washington State,"results of this study do not indicate that drivers with detectable THC in their blood at the time of the crash were necessarily impaired by THC or that they were at-fault for the crash. … It was not clear whether this increasing trend was attributable to Initiative 502 or to other factors that were beyond the scope of the study."

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With Canada preparing to venture down the road to legalized marijuana for recreational use, a majority of Canadians are concerned about the potential effect on the safety of the nation's roads.

That's the suggestion from a new poll from the Canadian Automobile Association, which found that 63 per cent of Canadians are worried there will be a decrease in traffic safety after the drug is legalized.

The Trudeau government has promised to table legislation by next spring to legalize recreational use of marijuana. A Canadian Press story in September reported that cannabis producers in Canada are ramping up operations in anticipation of that legislation.

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Let's consider the "recreation" achieved from smoking pot and having it available like tobacco and liquor to the adults and teens of any ages.

Laws have certainly not prevented a significant number of teens from getting to both of these hallucinatory, disabling and addictive substances. Obviously it is the gateway to heavier deadly illegal drugs. They use it because they want a "high" and then get addicted.

Legalization will not choke off organized crime. They function well enough now with our weak laws and enforcement. The drug dealers are jumping in their shoes for this legalization proposal. Their business will increase greatly and they will carry on the same as now. Most of that proposed billion dollars in tax revenue will be go to rehabilitation for the many more addicted marijuana and heavy drug users and increased enforcement costs of impaired and addiction crimes that will result.

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PCs say they would prefer to see money go to addictions treatment

As Alberta takes a hard look at safe drug consumption sites for addicts, the plan is drawing support from health and law enforcement officials but wariness from the government's political opponents.

The NDP government announced in October new measures to deal with Alberta's opioid crisis, including $730,000 in funding for agencies in several communities, including Calgary and Edmonton, working to establish supervised consumption sites.

Associate Health Minister Brandy Payne said it's crucial to put dollars toward harm reduction measures such as the sites, which provide a medically supervised place for addicts to inject or consume drugs.

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Health-care facilities should let her medicate as needed: User

When Vicky Penny has an anxiety attack she knows what will settle her down: her prescribed medical marijuana.

Last week, while Penny was waiting for an appointment at Foothills Hospital to speak with someone about some of her ongoing mental health issues, she was overwhelmed with anxiety, so she stepped outside to medicate.

"It was about five minutes to my appointment and I was feeling anxious, it was a big day," said Penny. "Security was dealing with another matter in the smoking area so I decided to just go around the corner."

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The sale and use of marijuana will become legal pretty soon. Has anyone thought about the ramifications on lungs from long-term marijuana use?

The American Thoracic Society says that marijuana smoking can make lung problems, such as asthma and cystic fibrosis, worse and there may be an increased risk of lung cancer. In smokers younger than 45, marijuana use can create large air sacs called bullae in the lungs.

All medication has side effects, but users need to be sure that the "salve" is not worse than the disease.

Sudha Tuli, Edmonton

[end]

Hello again. In regards to Kathleen Ganley's trip to Colarodo and her opinion that marijuana needs to be heavily regulated. Of course she feels that way, the more tightly we regulate, the bigger government has to be to manage the regulations. That's the way the Left operates. Always has been.

It's my humble opinion that decriminalized marijuana would be more cost effective for taxpayers. The only policing needed would be to ensure dealers report their earnings. Not saying that's easy, just requires a lot less government. Consider for a moment, a brand new tax windfall, with no regulatory requirements and therefore no need to balloon the government watchdogs. Pot smokers - medical and casual - are about to be hosed in my opinion, all in the name of regulation.

PS: Pot isn't a dangerous drug. It's a medicine, for a thousand plus years. Zero deaths have ever been attributed to marijuana use alone.

Heather Marie Inouye



(Sorry, marijuana legalization must be regulated.)

[end]

Hello again. In regards to Kathleen Ganley's trip to Colarodo and her opinion that marijuana needs to be heavily regulated. Of course she feels that way, the more tightly we regulate, the bigger government has to be to manage the regulations. That's the way the Left operates. Always has been.

It's my humble opinion that decriminalized marijuana would be more cost effective for taxpayers. The only policing needed would be to ensure dealers report their earnings. Not saying that's easy, just requires a lot less government. Consider for a moment, a brand new tax windfall, with no regulatory requirements and therefore no need to balloon the government watchdogs. Pot smokers - medical and casual - are about to be hosed in my opinion, all in the name of regulation.

PS: Pot isn't a dangerous drug. It's a medicine, for a thousand plus years. Zero deaths have ever been attributed to marijuana use alone.

Heather Marie Inouye



(Sorry, marijuana legalization must be regulated.)

[end]

Calgary's city council is going to bat for those with green thumbs, instead of being caught up in the weeds of hobbyist marijuana growers.

This is a nod to the federal government as it embarks on regulatory framework for legalizing recreational marijuana.

On Thursday, the city committee discussed an "advocacy position" on regulating and legalizing marijuana.

This document will give the federal government an idea of what the municipality would like to see when the drug is legalized in the spring of 2017.

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City councillors are asking if new marijuana dispensaries should be kept away from schools and restricted like liquor stores.

Worried about a proliferation of dispensaries and grow-ops when Ottawa legalizes recreational marijuana, Coun. Mike Nickel introduced a lengthy zoning inquiry at council's planning committee Wednesday.

"We can't bury our heads in the sand anymore on this . ... We need to be proactive," Nickel said, pointing to the way marijuana dispensaries spread in Vancouver, rivalling the number of Starbucks.

Vancouver has since restricted how close each pot shop can be to the others, similar to how Edmonton limits liquor stores to being 500 metres from a competitor. Liquor stores here must also be 100 metres from a school.

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