Fentanyl crisis overtaking marijuana in Alberta You won't find many, if any, people working in law enforcement ready to admit that marijuana trafficking isn't still on their radar. In fact, they will go to great lengths to tell you otherwise. But when you are dealing with the emergence of the province's deadliest killer drug fentanyl - a synthetic opioid 100 times more toxic than morphine - limited policing resources have to be focused on saving lives. More than 400 Albertans have died from fentanyl overdoses since 2015 and there is an even more deadly version waiting in the wings. When you factor in the possible legalization of marijuana by the Trudeau government, the argument could be made that policing the production, possession and trafficking of marijuana has dropped down the priority list. [continues 726 words]
You won't find many, if any, people working in law enforcement ready to admit that marijuana trafficking isn't still on their radar. In fact, they will go to great lengths to tell you otherwise. But when you are dealing with the emergence of the province's deadliest killer drug fentanyl - a synthetic opioid 100 times more toxic than morphine - limited policing resources have to be focused on saving lives. More than 400 Albertans have died from fentanyl overdoses since 2015 and there is an even more deadly version waiting in the wings. When you factor in the possible legalization of marijuana by the Trudeau government, the argument could be made that policing the production, possession and trafficking of marijuana has dropped down the priority list. [continues 721 words]
Panic, Clayton Prince says - flat out panic is what caused him to flee from Calgary police officers one night last July. The 34-year-old Calgary man doesn't deny he ran, and he doesn't deny he had marijuana on him, but several months later he still doesn't understand how that led to his being laid up in a hospital with broken ribs, a collapsed lung and infected wounds. Now three officers are accused of assaulting him and two of the three are also accused of lying to see him charged with crimes he didn't commit. [continues 379 words]
Three police officers charged with assault, two accused of lying Clayton Prince doesn't deny he ran and he doesn't deny he had marijuana on him. Photos provided by Clayton Prince show injuries the 34-year-old Calgary man says he suffered at the hands of police. But several months after he fled Calgary police officers one night last July, the 34-year-old still doesn't understand how that led to his being laid up in a hospital with broken ribs, a collapsed lung and infected wounds. [continues 482 words]
Resort town top for per-capita cases of marijuana possession in Canada It's Canada's other Rocky Mountain high. The resort hamlet of Lake Louise has consistently led the country in per-capita cannabis possession incidents, as reported by RCMP. Since at least 2008, the mountain village of a mere 800 souls has been in the statistical clouds, with 7,938 possession incidents per 100,000 people in 2014, and 3,675 last year. That compares with 58 and 46 respectively in the waning war on pot in Calgary. [continues 430 words]
The federal government may be moving toward legalizing marijuana within the next couple of years, but supporters of the move fear the stigma associated with cannabis use will not fade so quickly. "I think because the stereotype of the stoner has been allowed to stay around, that's what people expect," said Chrystal Vondran, whose husband uses medical marijuana. "Things will change over time, but I think it will take around five or 10 years." Vondran was one of hundreds of Calgarians who attended the city's first HempFest Cannabis Expo at the Big Four Building on Saturday. There were stands laden with pipes and bongs, psychedelic clothing, organic soils and quick-grow LED lights. [continues 414 words]
Picturesque mountain resort town sits on major cross-country pot pipeline It's Canada's other Rocky Mountain high. The resort hamlet of Lake Louise has consistently ascended to the peak of per-capita cannabis possession incidents in the country as reported by RCMP. Since at least 2008, the mountain village of a mere 800 souls has been in the statistical clouds, with 7,938 possession incidents per 100,000 people in 2014 and 3,675 last year. That compares to 58 and 46 respectively in the waning war on pot in nearby Calgary. [continues 501 words]
Re. "Downtown Residents fed up with parade of addicts, drunks," David Staples, Oct. 12 I was dismayed with the language used in David Staples' column, the message of the column and especially the headline. We lost our youngest son to a fentanyl overdose in 2014 and I can tell you, in spite of the fact that he struggled with addiction, he was first and foremost a loving son and a wonderful person. People who use, or misuse, substances deserve compassionate treatment for the medical condition we call addiction. Furthermore, those in the inner city deserve housing and services in the neighbourhood they call home. [continues 82 words]
Alberta Health Services data shows more than 400 opioid deaths have been prevented across the province since the introduction of take-home naloxone kits. "It's important to note that that's certainly an underestimate," said Dr. Nick Etches, AHS medical officer for the Calgary Zone. "Because very often, if not the majority of the time, when someone uses one of these kits, they will not report it to us that they've used it." "So really that's a dramatic underestimate in all likelihood in terms of the number of kits that have been used to save lives." [continues 414 words]
Wants feds to share tax revenues from sale of legalized marijuana Hand over a share of the tax revenue and give up the addresses of medical marijuana grow ops. Those are among the requests City of Calgary officials have for Ottawa along with a zero-tolerance policy for drivers under the influence of cannabis as the feds hammer out legislation for legalized pot. In an Aug. 24 submission to the federal government's Task Force Marijuana Legalization and Regulation, City Manager Jeff Fielding calls for ongoing discussions "throughout the legalization process to ensure clear delineation of roles and expectations" between the three orders of government. [continues 339 words]
City also wants to see zero-tolerance approach to drivers under influence Calgary officials are urging Ottawa to consider implementing a zero tolerance policy for drivers under the influence of marijuana, sharing tax revenue from sales of the drug, and surrendering addresses of existing medicinal cannabis grow ops.. In an Aug. 24 submission to the federal government's Task Force Marijuana Legalization and Regulation, city manager Jeff Fielding calls for ongoing discussions "throughout the legalization process to ensure clear delineation of roles and expectations" between the three orders of government. [continues 393 words]
Western Canada's first medical marijuana support service focused on helping veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic pain opened in Edmonton on Saturday. Reporter Juris Graney visited Marijuana for Trauma to find out what it was all about. Who are they? "When I started this, I was suicidal," says Marijuana for Trauma CEO and company founder Fabian Henry. Deployed six times The 12-year Canadian Forces veteran was deployed six times, including two to Afghanistan. His PTSD symptoms developed from events on his last tour and when Henry returned to Canada, his life fell apart. [continues 426 words]
Government performs a balancing act by sanctioning the sale of a drug Smoking marijuana can impair one's thought processes, but all the federal government needs to do is talk about it to achieve a state of surreal confusion. Consider the situation today. Marijuana will be legalized next year. Cool. In the meantime, illegal pot stores are proliferating across the country under the guise of offering medical marijuana. Since they are illegal, and theoretically don't exist, they are unaffected by zoning regulations and business licence requirements. [continues 604 words]
Following in the steps of Vancouver, Calgary police will soon equip officers with a powerful drug used to counter opioid overdoses. In his monthly update to the Calgary Police Commission, Chief Roger Chaffin told the citizen oversight body that the deadly drug fentanyl continues to plague the city, and he's hopeful the naloxone nasal spray units will help save lives. "It's good news for the officers, it's something that is our new reality, and it's a good opportunity to make sure officers are comfortable that if they are in a situation, we can recover (drug users)," Chaffin said. [continues 192 words]
Shift in drug habits, supply chain blamed The Calgary Police Service has seen a 292 per cent increase in methamphetamine seizures in the second quarter of 2016, compared to the same time last year, according to a report presented to the Calgary Police Commission on Tuesday. Staff Sgt. Martin Schiavetta said the increase is measured in both small busts, such as a person carrying a baggy of the drug, all the way up to large busts. In conjunction with the ever-increasing fentanyl issue in the province, they're seeing some scary outcomes. [continues 116 words]
Re: "Waits add to fentanyl crisis," Sept. 21. No matter how large or small the organization is, they are dealers in death. They should be charged with manslaughter or murder and pay the penalty, not just 25 years. Ray Parkinson, Calgary [end]
According to A Drug Free World, an organization that employs education in our schools to attempt to stop drug experimentation amongst our youth, it is estimated that 25% of children are involved with drug use. As we all know, in the last year, over 400 young people have died as a result of drug use. Our emergency departments are increasingly attending young people with side effects due to drugs, including marijuana. When the government legalizes this powerful psychoactive drug, it is going to get worse. Why they are legalizing this agent is a mystery. We must start teaching our young in our schools about the true facts about drugs, both legal and illegal. (Back in the day, drug awareness lessons in school were terrifying.) [end]
A two-day expo aimed at clearing the air about marijuana use in Canada is expected to draw big crowds in Calgary. Following similar events in Toronto and Vancouver this year, the HempFest Expo will land in Calgary for the first time Oct. 15 and 16. The events have been primarily run in an attempt to debunk some myths and remove the taboo from a topic that has been making headlines for years in Canada, with decriminalization now in the sights of the federal Liberal government. [continues 149 words]
People get twitchy when you start talking about safe injection sites. A clean, safe spot where needle drug users can use needle drugs. Vancouver's still the only spot in the country but that could be changing if the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta gets their way. They voted unanimously to support a safe injection site right here in the city and people are twitching like its Footloose in 1984. "No dancing. Dancing leads to touching. Touching leads to fornicating. No safe injection sites. Because soon we'll have a town full of dancing, touching, fornicating needle drug users!" [continues 376 words]
Sometimes we hear or read things in the news that are simply questionable. Then we read further and realize that, yes, someone actually did this or said that, or accomplished this or that. And our understanding of the world grows, and our credulity is assigned new standards. There have been many of these kinds of stories in the news lately. I'm not referring to the apparently endless crassness, ignorance, maliciousness, and world endangering policies of Donald Trump here. Nor am I referring to the strange questionnaire issued by federal Conservative leadership hopeful, Kellie Leitch, about whether immigrants should be vetted for "anti-Canadian values." (What would these values be? Who decides?) [continues 709 words]
Inside Alberta
