Re: "Trudeau wrong on marijuana," Oct. 7. Ken Robertson seems to think the best way to protect children from drugs is to abdicate the responsibility of regulating drug sales to organized crime. That's the status quo. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has the right idea with his proposal to tax and regulate marijuana and create age controls. Legally regulating marijuana sales would close the gateway to hard drugs by taking distribution out of the hands of criminals that sell cocaine, meth and heroin. [continues 121 words]
Harper keeps droning on about how the Liberals will create large deficits. However, the Liberal costing plan did not take into consideration the huge financial windfall from legalizing marijuana. The state of Colorado legalized it recently and now rake in as much tax revenue from it as they do from alcohol. That is huge and completely changed their economic picture, as well as lowering crime rates. We should expect the same in Canada. We won't have a deficit under Trudeau. We'll probably end up in surplus! Bonita Poulin (It's looking more and more like we might find out if Trudeau will follow through on his promise to legalize pot.) [end]
A number of supporters want to help Glenn Price pay the bills for his fight in court. Todd Cook has organized a benefit show to be held at the Windsor Hotel on Friday to raise money to help the owner of Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters to help cover the costs of his legal fees. Price was thrust into the spotlight this summer when his operation was selling medical marijuana without the legal right to do so. He was eventually arrested and now faces the legal battle. [continues 203 words]
I heard Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promoting legalization of marijuana and asked, why aren't Canadian leaders speaking out? As a parent, I have serious concerns. Some may view me, a former police chief, as an ideologue, but I've considered both sides of this issue. It's said that for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong, and Trudeau's proposal meets this standard. Public opinion and criminologists have questioned the success of the war on drugs. As a former police officer, I admit it hasn't been a resounding success. The goal was to reduce the supply of drugs and its toll. Police have worked hard, but still, the problem continues. [continues 439 words]
City 'should be ready' for potential decriminalization of drug: Eadie TWO Winnipeg city councillors want zoning regulations in place to restrict where marijuana and related products can be sold should the drug be legalized or decriminalized. But while local advocates applaud the move - and Vancouver continues to push ahead with its decision to create zoning regulations for medical marijuana-related businesses - a national advocate against legalizing marijuana says city councillors should mind their own business. Couns. Ross Eadie (Mynarski) and Matt Allard (St. Boniface) brought a motion to city council Wednesday asking administration to look at how other Canadian municipalities are regulating marijuana and what may work in Winnipeg. [continues 804 words]
Councillors Want Medical-Pot Rules in Place Locally Before National Legalization Two Winnipeg city councillors want to explore how the city could regulate marijuana-related businesses. Coun. Ross Eadie (Mynarski)'s motion calls on city staff to report on possible rules and restrictions for medical marijuana dispensaries, head shops and others selling pot-related products before the drug is potentially legalized under federal law. If elected, the federal Liberals vowed Wednesday to begin legalizing marijuana "right away." "Society is changing. It's very clear. So let's get on top of this," said Eadie. "The majority of the people in this country believe that cannabis is harmless." [continues 434 words]
Only days after Conservative Leader Stephen Harper booted two candidates from his party for past indiscretions, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau declined to do the same. Now-former B.C. Liberal candidate Joy Davies was interviewed by HuffPost Thursday for comments she'd made prior to the election concerning her marijuana advocacy. "The children of the mothers who used (marijuana) during pregnancy had higher IQs and were better socially established than the children whose mothers didn't," Davies told the news site. [continues 506 words]
Re: Glenn Price. His heart might be in the right place but he still broke the law and must face the circumstances that the courts determine. As for one of his backers that is upset with not being allowed to enter the courthouse with his bong, as far as I know it's still illegal to light up anything except sweet grass for aboriginal ceremonies indoors at a public place so they had every right to not allow him in. The fact he has permission to use marijuana for something like glaucoma still amazes me. Marijuana doesn't cure anything just makes you feel like nothing matters at the moment. Luis M. Cabral (The courts will decide if he broke the law, and pain management is a big part of health care.) [end]
I wonder if Stephen Harper and the neo-cons will ever face reality, and admit that the war on drugs is an abject failure and stop throwing away our tax money into this bottomless pit. If pot was regulated, like liquor or tobacco, and sold in specific outlets, who have a vested interest in keeping their licenses and therefore would only sell to age-appropriate patrons, you would end this problem of kids having easy access to it overnight. It seems to me that money fighting the war on marijuana could be better spent on education and rehabilitation programs. David Reid (The government will eventually come to that realization. Just a matter of which government.) [end]
THE owner of a medical marijuana shop is vowing to fight criminal charges - possibly while acting as his own lawyer - as part of a service he feels he owes the community. Glenn Price made his first court appearance Thursday. The matter was adjourned until Sept. 3. He was charged with possession and trafficking of marijuana, along with proceeds of crime, following an Aug. 4 raid on his Main Street business, Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters. "If I can't raise enough money (to hire a lawyer), I'll defend myself," Price said on the steps of the downtown Law Courts. He was surrounded by a handful of supporters and former customers, including one man who made a point of lighting up a joint as a woman tried to pull him out of camera view. [continues 285 words]
Marijuana Dispenser Feels Villainized, Victimized by Justice System The man who ran Winnipeg's only medical marijuana dispensary before being arrested earlier this month made his first court appearance Thursday and said police have seized "everything I had." Your Medical Cannabis Services owner Glenn Price made a brief appearance without legal representation in a Winnipeg courtroom Thursday afternoon and, outside the Law Courts building, told reporters his best intentions of helping Winnipeggers has resulted in the justice system labelling him a villain. [continues 389 words]
Thank you for printing Bill VanderGraaf's commonsense argument in support of relaxing the marijuana laws in Canada ( Ex-cop's evolving thought on pot, Aug. 13). Having known an alcoholic, I just wish he would have replaced the 63 beers he drank each week with a few joints. This person would have been be much happier and so would everyone he affected with his drinking. How many more studies do we need to tell us what everyone (especially cops) already know - that pot smokers are much less violent than alcohol drinkers? Mark Brown Winnipeg [end]
MOUNTIES will have to give back the weed they seized after mistakenly raiding a grow-op, only to later learn the owner had a valid permit to grow medical marijuana. The property owner, Brandon resident Jerry Pomehichuk, suggests the incident highlights law enforcement isn't keeping up with medical-marijuana laws. He says police don't see marijuana as medicine, but still as a substance that needs to be controlled. "They've been trained one way for a long time, and it's very hard to train an old dog," Pomehichuk said Friday after all drug charges against him were dropped. [continues 309 words]
ONCE, as a staff sergeant of detectives, Bill VanderGraaf was a warrior leading Winnipeg's version of the war on drugs. Now, the retired former cop is the leading local voice on the decriminalization and regulation of street drugs. Pot in particular. So what happened to VanderGraaf between then and now? He is half an hour into an explanation of the journey to smoking joints as a way to help deal with a life and a career laced with psychological booby-traps when he says this: "Police work is always about doing things you don't necessarily like having to do. And the Morgentaler clinic was one of those investigations." [continues 848 words]
Winnipeg police say a business owner who invites medical marijuana smokers to light up inside his lounge isn't actually breaking the law. Glenn Price, owner of Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters, re-opened his Main Street store on Tuesday as a lounge where users can medicate with marijuana. He was arrested for selling medical marijuana without Health Canada clearance on Aug. 4. On Wednesday, Winnipeg police confirmed the new format, which no longer includes marijuana sales, is not illegal - as long as his users don't break the law either. [continues 238 words]
A man arrested for selling medical marijuana last week has re-opened his Winnipeg store with a different format. Glenn Price, owner of Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters, said he re-opened his Main Street store at 11 a.m. Tuesday and will operate a lounge within it where users can medicate with marijuana. "I'm not going away. I want to be heard," said Price. Price also hopes to sell T-shirts and other non-drug-related items. Police raided his shop and arrested him on Aug. 4, causing him to shut down the original business. But Price insists he's not afraid of being arrested again. [continues 158 words]
Re: PM shares hotel with Hell's Angels (Aug. 8). It's rather ironic that the Hell's Angels can afford to stay at the same upscale hotel as Stephen Harper thanks in part to the prime minister's pro organized-crime policy on marijuana. Wayne Ashley Winnipeg [end]
Without regulation, dispensaries will open in neighbourhoods where they're not wanted. Glen Price may not be the leader the medical marijuana movement wanted or needed, but he's what they got. Scruffy, with an eclectic storefront on Main Street and questionable prescription fees, the owner of Your Medical Marijuana Headquarters has put a question to city leaders, one that has yet to be answered. By opening Winnipeg's first medical pot dispensary and by remaining open with the knowledge arrest and closure were imminent, Price has revealed the idiosyncratic nature of marijuana law in Canada and forced an important issue to the forefront. [continues 316 words]
On a recent trip to Winnipeg, I was struck by how much the road infrastructure has deteriorated since I lived there over a decade ago. My solution: lobby the soon-to-be new federal government to legalize marijuana and then put the revenue into the roads along with addiction counselling and other vital services. Right now, that revenue is making illegal gangs rich, and they don't care about the people they sell to. In other words, use pot to fill the "potholes." Michael Barker-Fyfe Vancouver [end]
THE owner of Winnipeg's sole medical-marijuana dispensary issued his first public statement Thursday since his arrest earlier this week. "First I would like to thank everyone for their support," Glenn Price said in an email to media Thursday afternoon. "Hopefully if nothing else is gained from this, we can at least shed some light on the struggles patients have obtaining medical cannabis." Price, 54, was arrested at his unlicensed Main Street dispensary and is charged with drug trafficking and possession offences, as well as possession of the proceeds of crime after police issued two search warrants at his home and business. He was released from custody. His business was shut down Tuesday. Price used his statement to call for a Canadian standard, one that would be the same from one province to the next and would allow patients easier access to medical marijuana. [continues 267 words]
Inside Manitoba
