Gregory Schellenberg had already been approved to grow medicinal marijuana when police raided his Winnipeg home. Unfortunately for Schellenberg, he didn't have a licence to show police, as it was lost in the mail, a casualty of last summer's postal strike. Schellenberg pleaded guilty to one count of production of marijuana Tuesday and was fined $1,500. "He had a licence," said defence lawyer Greg Brodsky. "What he didn't anticipate was that it wouldn't come because of a postal strike." [continues 185 words]
Re: Robert Sharpe's letter (Regulate 'soft' drugs, Dec. 7) proposing the legal sale of marijuana while continuing the prohibition of hard drugs. Even if pot were legalized, drug peddlers would continue to sell it, as they do now, to children too young to buy it legally, while still exposing them to hard drugs. Selective legalization is equivalent to permitting the sale of wine and beer, while keeping spirits illegal. It leaves criminals in control of a lucrative market, while exposing addicts to all kinds of risks. Helping kids avoid drugs should be the responsibility of parents in conjunction with anti-drug public-service announcements. Winnipeg [end]
Over 500 New Prison Spaces Slated for Manitoba As the federal government's bill C-10, aka the Safe Streets and Communities Act, is poised to make its way to the Senate, opposition of the omnibus crime bill shows no sign of slowing down. The bill is currently in its third and final reading in the House of Commons, before going to a final vote on Monday. On Nov. 25, Justin Pich=E9, an assistant professor of sociology at Memorial University, gave a lecture at the U of M via Skype titled =93Building Our Way Towards Safer Communities? Prison Capacity Expansion and the Need for an Alternative Approach.=94 [continues 802 words]
Re: the editorial Mr. Harper's marijuana pipe dream (Dec. 2). There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls. Separating the hard- and soft-drug markets is critical. As long as organized crime controls marijuana distribution, consumers will continue to come into contact with sellers of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin. This "gateway" is a direct result of marijuana prohibition. [continues 78 words]
There can be no illusion about the enormous costs of the Harper government's tough-on-crime agenda -- locking more people up for longer periods will add tens of millions of dollars more every year to the tab. Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page, in fact, has estimated all the government's new measures combined, including the elimination of double credit for pre-sentence jail time, will cost billions more annually. Attorney General Andrew Swan's demand now for more cash from Ottawa to share the cost of legal aid that will rise when the federal omnibus crime bill is passed is a sign of poor strategy. Manitoba's NDP government has been leading the charge for many of the amendments that will get tougher on criminals. Negotiating costs ought to have been part of the lobby early. [continues 261 words]
Coincidental with word that a British Columbia seed company has won second place at the annual High Times Cannabis Cup in the Netherlands, comes news of a speech delivered by Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Vancouver defending Canada's get-tough laws against the use of that drug. The two countries could hardly have different approaches to how to deal with the problem of drugs. Both agree that drug use is a definite problem, just as the abuse of alcohol and tobacco is a problem. In Holland, however, the sale and use of marijuana and hashish are controlled and regulated -- one does not need to go to the Mob to buy, for example, Hydra, the hashish that was crossbred between the strains Warlock and Haoma and brought the silver medal to Canada this week. [continues 299 words]
Like those generals who used to discover nuclear weapons were not a good thing about 20 minutes after they took off their uniforms and started collecting their pensions, we have had a parade of former presidents who knew that the war on drugs was a bad thing -- but only mentioned it after they were already ex-presidents. Now, at last, we have one who is saying it out loud while he is still in office. President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, the country that has suffered even more than Mexico from the drug wars, is an honest and serious man. He is also very brave, because any political leader who advocates the legalization of narcotics will become a prime target of the prohibition industry. He has chosen to do it anyway. [continues 772 words]
About 250 people rallied against the Harper government's omnibus crime bill outside the Manitoba Legislative Building today. Speakers and people in the crowd said the anti-crime measures in the bill, currently before Parliament, will only put more people into jail for minor crimes and ratchet up prison costs at the expense of social programs. Former city police officer Bill VanderGraaf, who now represents Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said the bill is a form of bullying particularly against medical marijuana users. [continues 267 words]
Re: Tories put MDs on the hook for pot (Oct. 30). As a therapeutic herb, or natural health product, cannabis cannot be subjected to the sort of clinical trials applied to pharmaceuticals. More important, herbs cannot be patented, so there is no incentive for private pharmaceutical companies to shepherd them through the expensive drug-approval process. Cannabis, however, already surpasses the accepted standards for natural health products. According to the U.S. Institute of Medicine, the benefit-risk profile of cannabis is well within that of many commonly used pharmaceutical drugs. A far greater number of studies have already demonstrated the health benefits and safety of cannabis than exist for such medical standbys as Aspirin, penicillin and codeine. [continues 136 words]
Craig Jones' commendable article Gang wars -- the law is to blame (Oct. 4) exposes prohibition's folly well enough. However, it's past time for governments to "commission" an "analysis" of how well prohibition is performing. Anyone who doesn't know prohibition is destructive, at every facet, may not be fit to run a government. Prohibition, specifically cannabis (marijuana) prohibition, is a monster that must be put to death. Political leaders must stop feeding the monster. Citizens must stop feeding politicians who feed the monster. Dillon, Co. [end]
Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz says, "We know that gangs are in Winnipeg, just like they are in every city in North America, big and small, and we're going to have to deal with it... I don't think they're going to go anywhere," (National Post, Oct. 2). The mayor's fatalism is misplaced. It's true that gangs are ubiquitous in human communities, and always have been, but criminally violent gangs are a creation of failed public policy. They are the unintended, but completely predictable, consequences of drug prohibition -- just as they were the unintended but completely predictable consequences of alcohol prohibition in the 20th-Century. Why is this? [continues 400 words]
Reading Craig Jones's Oct. 4 article, Gang wars -- the law is to blame, prompts me to expand on his observation that gangs resort to internecine violence to protect drug profits. While I completely agree with him, the corollary is worth mentioning. Drug-related criminal behaviour is a frequent motivator for armed robbery, burglary and street muggings, committed by desperate addicts seeking funds for their next fix. The ludicrous response from authorities who call for more police and harsher penalties is shown to be without any merit when one considers that police states such as Singapore impose the death penalty for possession of more than 15 grams of heroin, and yet still execute about two dozen people a year for drug offences alone. The government's tough-on-crime stance relating to drugs reminds me of an Albert Einstein quote. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Michael Dowling Winnipeg [end]
Drug addicts in Vancouver's downtown east side now have the protection of the Supreme Court of Canada to avail themselves of a medical facility, the Insite clinic, where they may inject themselves with heroin under medical supervision. Now: What about drug addicts in the country's prisons? Can they expect the court's ruling to change the way they are treated? This is no academic question but one which the members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and Security may soon be seized. [continues 483 words]
The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday shredded the Harper government's vacuous arguments for shutting down North America's first government-sanctioned safe-injection site and ordered Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq to immediately exempt Vancouver's Insite from federal drug laws. It was the third time a panel of jurists has ruled against Ottawa and its bewildering agenda to close a clinic that has cut disease and death among thousands of addicts in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. After five years of fighting, the staff at Insite now can simply concentrate on doing their job. It is not easy work. Most Canadians can be led to see the value of a clinic that opens its doors to addicts who otherwise share needles to shoot up in darkened doorways and alleys. But how many could tolerate the sight of a pregnant woman frantic to find a good vein to deliver another hit of cocaine? Instinctively, Canadians expect swift intervention to protect the vulnerable. [continues 519 words]
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is getting tougher on pot growers than he is on rapists of children. Under the Tories' omnibus crime legislation tabled Tuesday, a person growing 201 pot plants in a rental unit would receive a longer mandatory sentence than someone who rapes a toddler or forces a five-year-old to have sex with an animal. Producing six to 200 pot plants nets an automatic six-month sentence, with an extra three months if it's done in a rental or is deemed a public-safety hazard. Growing 201 to 500 plants brings a one-year sentence, or 11/2 years if it's in a rental or poses a safety risk. [continues 451 words]
AUTHORITIES at Stony Mountain Institution are grappling with a sky-high number of drug packages being tossed in over the fence. And they're asking the public to help thwart the "throw-overs." In the past month at the medium-security federal prison, marijuana, hashish, cocaine and pharmaceuticals with a behind-bars value of more than $47,000 have been seized as a result of outsiders' attempts to lob packages into the exercise yard, the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) said. [continues 263 words]
Manitoba's highest court is weighing whether to reinstate perjury charges against two Winnipeg police officers who walked free on an unusual legal technicality. Const. Peter O'Kane and Const. Jess Zebrun were cleared last February of any criminal wrongdoing in a decision that likely saved their careers. Their lawyers successfully filed a motion for a dismissal of the case, saying the Crown attorney failed to have any of his witnesses properly identify the two accused in court, as required by law. [continues 502 words]
Decriminalizing pot could help squelch gang rivalry, add to tax coffers Depending on your perspective, the summer of 2011 is either the most amazing in recent memory or one of Winnipeg's worst. On one hand, it's been so hot and sunny in the Red River Valley this summer, the mayor of Phoenix is probably thinking about spending a holiday in Winnipeg for a change. The mosquitoes are all but non-existent. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are 6-1. Even better, the Saskatchewan Roughriders are 1-7. According to a joke making the rounds on Twitter, Mosaic Stadium in Regina has been declared a tornado shelter, as touchdowns are considered so unlikely there. [continues 860 words]
Canada's association of lawyers is justifiably worried about the effect new sentencing laws will have on aboriginal offenders. The mandatory minimums for some offences in the federal government's proposed omnibus crime bill run contrary to the philosophy that reasonable, alternative measures to jail ought to be canvassed where appropriate. And with disproportionately more aboriginal people charged with crimes, they are likely to feel the effect disproportionately. If Canada's jails begin filling up because the Harper Tories aim to throw more people found guilty of selling marijuana in the slammer -- one target of mandatory minimums -- they are bound to house more aboriginal people, particularly on the Prairies where native populations are higher. [continues 259 words]
THE prison population in Canada is expected to grow by more than 30 per cent in the next few years. Ironically, this is not because the crime rate is increasing. The crime rate is actually going down. It is because the federal government has concluded fewer people should spend more time in jail so that it can appear that Stephen Harper's Conservatives are getting tough on crime, as they have long threatened to do but were prevented from doing by their minority status. [continues 360 words]
Sitting in drug treatment court feels like a visit to the principal's office. Each week, two dozen program participants appear before Judge John Guy for a brief face-to-face talk and review of their progress. Like the best principals, Guy knows when one of his charges needs some words of encouragement or when it's time to get tough. "I view myself as part of the treatment team. I bring the carrot or I bring the stick," Guy said. [continues 311 words]
One can't make the same argument to prove opposing points. But Walter Cavalieri of the Canadian Harm Reduction Network tried. Cavalieri's argument, made on my Toronto radio show, is the war on drugs has not worked, so we need a different approach. He favours facilitating drug users with free needles and crack pipes along with medical assistance and supervision. But it seems that hasn't really worked either. How do we determine that the war on drugs has not worked? By the fact drugs are still readily available and many people are addicted to them? [continues 483 words]
A seven-year-old program that sees Winnipeg health officials hand out free crack-smoking kits to addicts could be reviewed if the Tories win October's provincial election. Ian Rabb, the Tory candidate in Fort Garry-Riverview and a former Addictions Foundation of Manitoba board member, said the Conservatives need more hard data about the program's success from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority before agreeing to "subsidize addiction." "My concern is the WRHA is paying to subsidize addiction without any real benefit," said Rabb, an admitted former crystal meth addict himself. [continues 330 words]
Addicted to crack and living on the street, Glen Colton knew his life could go one of two ways. "I was lucky it took me to jail rather than the cemetery," Colton, 31, said in a recent interview. "When I was arrested I was almost relieved. I got a couple of good nights sleep and that really opened my eyes." It was in jail in 2007, charged with possession of crack for the purpose of trafficking, when Colton made a choice that finally set him on the road to a new life of sobriety and promise. Colton agreed to participate in the Winnipeg Drug Treatment Court program, a pilot project geared to steering drug addicts out of the justice system. [continues 446 words]
Re: All we can offer Janet Goodin is a sincere apology (July 30). I feel bad that this lady was harangued, but at the same time, having a medical marijuana licence, I am forbidden entry into the U.S. One lady in B.C., who had no pot with her, had a sample of her DNA taken by U.S. officials and was told never to try entering the country again. She had never been charged with anything; she was being denied entry due to a medical condition. So as much as I sympathize with this woman, anyone crossing the Canada-U.S. border is walking on thin ice and should expect to get soaked. Nepean, Ont. [end]
Told Border Officials Any Drugs Were His After a 66-year-old Minnesota woman was detained at a Manitoba border crossing on allegations of heroin trafficking, customs officials reportedly received a call from her son saying any drugs they found belonged to him. An audio tape of Janet Goodin's bail hearing on April 27 records Crown attorney Kathleen Tokaruk telling provincial court Judge Lee Ann Martin about the call from Alan Goodin, Janet's son, saying "he was upset with the fact that his mother was being detained at the point of entry. He indicated that whatever drugs that were found in the vehicle belonged to him and not his mother." [continues 484 words]
You never know where the next column is lurking. Or who will lug it to your door. Paul "Willy" Williamson, the Free Press's big Buddha of an auto writer, dropped by my newsroom cubicle this week with an idea that sounded like it had wheels. Until the brakes were applied. Initially, Willy's idea seemed doable. If the Canadian government won't say it's sorry for the humiliating and unnecessarily punitive way Warroad, Minn., grandmother Janet Goodin was treated last spring, maybe Canadians can apologize in a collective way for the way she was strip-searched and cuffed at the border, then tossed in jail for 12 days on suspicion of smuggling heroin in a jar. And Willy really did mean apologize in a collective way. [continues 737 words]
Daughter's Vehicle 'Torn Apart' At Border Not long before Janet Goodin endured 12 days in jail because of a faulty drug test, her daughter's vehicle was "torn apart" by officers at a different border crossing, another daughter says. Janet's daughter Tina Goodin, who lives in Buffalo Point, Man., said her sister Angela was interrogated for five hours at the Roseau border crossing "not too long" before April 20, the date Goodin was stopped at the Sprague crossing. "They just tore apart the whole vehicle," Tina said. As an explanation, border officers told Angela they were simply carrying out a random search, Tina said. [continues 474 words]
They're Right 99 Per Cent of the Time, Official Says THE erroneous drug tests that sent Janet Goodin to jail are accurate more than 99 per cent of the time, the Canadian Border Service Agency says. "False positives occur infrequently -- less than one per cent," Lisa White, a communications agent with the agency, wrote in an email. She said the agency collects data on the performance of its drug-detection technologies and performs "service" on them when necessary. "However, CBSA officers are trained to understand any/all limitations of the CBSA's detection technologies and that is why these tests are used only as an indicator during their examination," White wrote. [continues 341 words]
The appalling treatment of an American grandmother who was jailed for 12 days in Winnipeg on suspicion of trying to smuggle heroin into Canada exposes the problem of relying on fallible technology at the expense of common sense and human intelligence. Janet Goodin, 66, was ensnared in an Orwellian nightmare when Canadian border agents arrested her after a roadside drug test determined a jar of what she assumed was motor oil was heroin. She was locked up at the Winnipeg Remand Centre while the motor oil/heroin was sent off for tests, a process that took 12 days, even though the results were requested on an urgent basis. [continues 455 words]
The Minnesota grandmother who was wrongly jailed at the Winnipeg Remand Centre for 12 days on suspicion of smuggling heroin into Manitoba says federal officials owe her an apology and compensation for the debt incurred to cover her legal costs. Janet Goodin, 66, said she is pleased the Canada Border Services Agency is preparing a report on her arrest, but said she's owed more than that. "I would like an apology and I would like the charges to be withdrawn," Goodin said. "My daughters had to borrow at least $5,000 to cover my legal costs, and that money should be recouped, too." [continues 458 words]
WINNIPEG =AD The Minnesota grandmother who was wrongly jailed at the Remand Centre for 12 days on suspicion of smuggling heroin into Manitoba says federal officials owe her an apology and compensation for the debt incurred to cover her legal costs. Janet Goodin, 66, said she is pleased to know that the Canada Border Services Agency is preparing a report on her arrest but said she's owed more than that. I would like an apology and I would like the charges to be withdrawn,=94 Goodin said. =93My daughters had to borrow at least $5,000 to cover my legal costs and that money should be recouped, too.=94 [continues 291 words]
Minnesota grandmother Janet Goodin crossed the border to play bingo and ended up in a Winnipeg jail for 12 days, after a forgotten jar of motor oil in her van mistakenly tested positive for heroin. The 66-year-old widow and retired Girl Scout administrator from Warroad, Minn., was questioned, strip-searched and jailed until officials discovered the error and released her. "This was so out of context and so preposterous that it's just literally turned my life upside down," she told the Post's Sarah Boesveld by phone from her quiet trailer home about six kilometres from the border. "It was so surreal." The Canada Border Services Agency said Tuesday officials at the Sprague border followed protocol, but Public Safety Minister Vic Toews said he has requested a "full report" on Ms. Goodin's detention from the agency's president. While sitting in the Winnipeg Remand Centre, Ms. Gooding began chronicling her ordeal in what would become a nearly 4,000-word journal entry, which she shared with the Winnipeg Free Press. Here is the entry, edited for length and clarity by the Post: [continues 1026 words]
How did this country and the U.S. become such drug-addicted societies? A recent report states that the pain killer Oxycontin is now the number one drug used by addicts in North America. But whether it's this drug, crack cocaine, crystal meth or others, the result is always the same: wasted lives, needless deaths, crime and the spending of tons of taxpayers' money that should be used for productive purposes. It's a cop-out when ministers of health claim there's no easy answer. [continues 608 words]
Regarding Tom Oleson's June 4 column, What are you smoking?, the Global Commission on Drug Policy's groundbreaking report criticized the U.S. government for promoting a global drug war. The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy immediately rejected the commission's call for reform and defended the "balanced drug-control efforts" of the U.S. government. These "balanced" efforts have given the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. Prohibition-related violence has caused upwards of 35,000 deaths in Mexico over the past four years. [continues 55 words]
In December of 2008, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police made the largest seizure of heroin in Manitoba history at the time -- two kilograms with an estimated street value of $250,000. On Wednesday, almost three years later, a B.C. woman and former Winnipegger was sentenced to nine years in prison for her part in the smuggling operation, a long and costly court proceeding that contributed little to the safety of Canadian cities. That's pretty serious jail time, however, more time, in fact, than many people who murder other people face once they have been convicted. Crown Attorney Chris Mainella justified the punishment on the basis of the "mountain of misery" that this heroin could have caused if it had found its way onto the streets instead of being apprehended at the Winnipeg airport en route to its destination in Vancouver. [continues 651 words]
An Ontario court ruling this week has set the stage for what will hopefully be a decisive national debate on the country's marijuana's laws, which make criminals out of ordinary Canadians and deny relief for thousands of people suffering from chronic ailments. In a case involving a man who relies on marijuana to ease pain, the Ontario Superior Court ruled Canada's pot laws were unconstitutional and it gave Ottawa three months to respond. The government has three choices: Do nothing, which would effectively legalize the drug in Ontario; challenge the ruling, which would likely result in the matter ultimately heading to the Supreme Court of Canada for a decisive ruling; or rewrite the laws to make it easier for people to obtain marijuana for medical purposes. [continues 216 words]
Reaction to Judges' Decision 95% Positive Were the judges right or wrong? A man suffered spinal injuries in a car accident, leaving him with chronic pain only relieved by marijuana. His insurance company refused to pay for this medication. But Quebec judges believed that "personal experience" must be considered when deciding if a patient is helped by medication. They ruled his company must pay $5,000 so he could grow his own marijuana. When I wrote about this, I asked for your opinion. [continues 512 words]
Study casts doubts over Tory strategy on illicit drug use OTTAWA - It's not clear the Conservatives are getting a whole lot of bang for all the bucks thrown at the illicit drug problem, a new report says. A consultant hired by the Justice Department couldn't tell whether the Tory drugs strategy is working. That casts doubt over the value of a multimillion-dollar suite of anti-drug programs, which has formed part of the Tories' tough-on-crime message. [continues 610 words]
Judges See It's About Pain Relief What would you do if you were the judge? A man in his 40s (his name is protected under provincial law) is involved in a severe car crash. His spine is badly damaged, resulting in painful spasms. A variety of painkillers is prescribed to alleviate the pain, but none are effective. Would you agree to the medical use of marijuana? Patient X requested insurance coverage for marijuana, but it was refused. Not an unexpected decision, as the use of this drug has sparked controversy for many years. But an unusual event occurred in this case. [continues 603 words]
I believe that Clarence Davis in his March 7 letter is mistaken when he states that the majority of Winnipeggers "don't care how the police do (things)." He is probably correct in that the majority of people want drug dealers off the street. (I would like to see his statistics, though, if he is going to generalize to that extent.) However, when we begin to give our police carte blanche to simply act without any regard for the rules of law that we as a society have chosen for particular reasons, we are treading down a dangerous path. Ask the people in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia or any other country where the police had authority to do whatever they want how this worked for them. [continues 88 words]
Marc Zienkiewicz argues in a recent editorial (Time to bring an end to the prohibition of drugs, Feb 24/11) that the federal government ought to be decriminalizing all drugs because he believes that making drugs illegal increases drug abuse, and puts money into the hands of criminals who develop and sell them on the black market. He includes drugs like crack cocaine and crystal meth as examples of the types of narcotic that he would like to see sold legally over the counter. Regulating now-illegal drugs in this manner, he suggests, would eliminate the criminal element from the industry, and fix Canada's drug problem. [continues 348 words]
You would think federal Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq (Powerful hallucinogen, Letters, Feb. 24) would have at least a grade-school understanding of the failure alcohol prohibition proved to be in the 1920s. Even a Sunday-school understanding that the forbidden fruit always tastes sweeter would serve her better than going along with others jumping on the prohibition bandwagon. The black market will soon be in control of salvia sales just like the black market is in control of all the other drugs and substances the government prohibits now. If the health minister were truly worried about the health of Canadians, she would act to end prohibition, which results in adulterated drugs of unknown purity and strength being available to Canadians of all ages through the black market. Chris Buors Winnipeg [end]
Re: Feds eye ban on obscure herb (Feb. 22). This government sure loves to subsidize gangsters and endanger the public. Banning salvia will do for it what a ban has done for marijuana: make it more potent, contaminated, expensive and unregulated. It will be far easier for your kids to get salvia, because dealers never ask for ID, and instead of taxpaying shop-owners selling it, we will have it controlled by teens and gangsters. I have no doubt that this is by design. This government is not trying to protect Canadians. They are trying to manufacture inmates, using Canadians as the raw materials. How else can they justify building 12 new jails when crime is at a 33-year low? Nepean, Ont. [end]
Your Feb. 22 article Feds eye ban on obscure herb indicates a dangerous disconnect with reality and perception. Bart Stras, owner of the head shop The Joint, clearly has been smoking too much of his own product when he says "salvia has never had any issues as a herbal incense product." Of course it hasn't, because he knows that people who buy salvia want a hallucinogenic high and aren't looking to have their boudoir smell minty fresh. If it weren't so pathetic, it would be almost comical that salvia is sold as a so-called natural health product. I believe that poisonous mushrooms are also a 100 per cent natural product. Paul Doyle Winnipeg [end]
We would like to respond to the Feb. 23 editorial No need to ban salvia on the Government of Canada's recent proposal to control salvia divinorum and salvinorin A. We want to eliminate the misconception that salvia is a safer alternative to street drugs. It is not. Salvia divinorum, and its active ingredient salvinorin A, can produce powerful hallucinations similar to those associated with the use of the well-known hallucinogen LSD, which is a controlled substance. Other effects include confusion, disorientation and anxiety. [continues 115 words]
Illicit drugs were once again in the headlines this week, after news broke that the federal government is moving to criminalize an hallucinogenic herb called Salvia divinorum, a naturally-occurring plant of the sage family which grows in southern Mexico. The plant has been around since, well, forever. It's available to buy at a few "head shops" in Winnipeg. You know, those places that sell marijuana pipes and t-shirts that depict the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Che Guevara. Smoking the herb causes brief hallucinations, uncontrollable laughter, lack of co-ordination and in some cases, loss of consciousness. [continues 1073 words]
The federal government is planning to criminalize yet another substance, in this case, salvia. MP Shelley Glover states that the government is "very worried about the long-term effects" of using the herb (Feds eye ban on obscure herb, Feb. 22). Following this logic, we should soon be expecting that cigarettes, sugar and salt will also be criminalized, in total denial of the fact that, in the 1920s, the criminalization of alcohol was a massive failure that contributed hugely to the growth of organized crime in North America. [continues 92 words]
Prohibition never worked. The stress on criminalizing salvia divinorum is a terrible idea, and the reasons stated for the criminalization are weak, at best. People have the right to affect their bodies in any way that they would like, and if one were to point out that by using drugs, people damage their bodies and incur health-care costs, one would have to open their eyes to the demon that is alcohol, before their points could be taken with even a grain of seriousness. [continues 51 words]
The federal government is moving towards banning the sale of salvia, a mostly decorative plant that has hallucinogenic properties when it is smoked in one big hit. The public debate is focused on whether the government is taking too much control over people's lives, whether the government is wasting time and money on something that isn't as important as, say, health care and deficits, and whether the government is turning what should be a social concern into a legal problem. [continues 833 words]
Inside Manitoba
