HALIFAX - A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of a Halifax lawyer accused of passing drugs to a client in jail. Anne Calder's right to a fair trial was violated when the Crown disclosed new evidence against her last Friday, Justice Peter Bryson ruled Wednesday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court. Bryson said the evidence, which is banned from publication, was "highly prejudicial" to Calder and that its late disclosure breached her right to make "full answer and defence" to the charges against her. [continues 387 words]
Students At Amherst Regional High School Are No Different From Teenagers Anywhere Else In The Province. The arrest and suspension of 36 students as a result of a drug raid at the school last week could happen at any high school, say the town's mayor, police and school board officials. "This issue is like the spoiled apples in a great big barrel," Mayor Robert Small said Thursday. "This is a school of high achievers, with great kids and a great staff and a small percentage of those who are doing wrong. [continues 298 words]
Number Of Amherst Regional High Students Under Investigation Rises To 36 AMHERST - The number of students at Amherst Regional High School under investigation in relation to a drug bust at the school last week has increased to 36. Amherst Police Deputy Chief Ian Naylor confirmed Wednesday that interviews with those arrested last Friday and information gathered from the surveillance led to an additional 14 students being investigated. " There were some people who weren't in school on Friday and were identified from the surveillance," Naylor said. [continues 424 words]
Twenty-Two Students Arrested, Suspended By School Board AMHERST - It could be several days before police are in a position to announce what charges will be laid, if any, following a drug raid at Amherst Regional High School on Friday. "This is an ongoing investigation and like any investigation a decision on charges is pending the completion of that investigation. There haven't been any decisions (on charges) yet," Deputy chief Ian Naylor of the Amherst Police Department said Monday at a press conference. [continues 431 words]
The Chignecto-Central regional school board has suspended 22 students who were arrested in a drug sweep at Amherst Regional High School Friday. School administrators interviewed the students and suspended them as of noon on Monday, said board spokeswoman Carolyn Pierce. More students could be suspended as the school continues to review the situation, but Pierce said further suspensions are not dependent on more students being charged by police. The suspensions levied on Monday were all for five days, the maximum length that can be imposed by the school. If administrators think some students require a longer suspension, they can make that recommendation to the board's suspension review committee. [continues 186 words]
Twenty-Two Students Arrested For Alleged Drug Use On Arhs Property AMHERST - Police and school officials are planning to hold a news conference today to answer questions about a drug bust at Amherst Regional High School on Friday. A small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia were seized and 22 students arrested following a raid by members of the Cumberland Integrated Street Crime Unit. " We had received complaints from the community about alleged drug use in the parking lot at the school. The street crime unit set up surveillance at the school and took the appropriate action," Amherst Police Deputy Chief Ian Naylor said. [continues 427 words]
Halifax woman overwhelmed after province ordered to pay for her medical marijuana Sally Campbell no longer has to choose between buying a bag of apples or a few grams of marijuana. The Halifax woman is on social assistance and the subject of a Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruling that the Community Services Department must now pay for her medical marijuana. "I'm really glad it's over," the 61-year-old woman said of her five-year court battle to get her federally approved marijuana covered as a special need by the department. [continues 690 words]
A legal decision ordering the province to pay for a woman's pot has Justice Minister Ross Landry musing about the merits of decriminalization. Landry suggested to reporters at Province House on Thursday that his department will probably eventually discuss whether prosecuting someone for possessing a small amount of marijuana is a good use of resources. "We have to be more administratively efficient when dealing with people in the small uses of marijuana," Landry said. "We have to be more efficient on how you process someone who's in a small possession of marijuana, and the cost to justice. Whether it goes beyond that at this time, I think it needs further examination and reflection." [continues 323 words]
HALIFAX - Nova Scotia has been ordered to pay for the medical marijuana used by a woman on social assistance. In a decision released Wednesday, Nova Scotia Supreme Court ordered the Community Services Department to pay for Sally Campbell's prescription pot. She suffers from a number of ailments and has a certificate from Health Canada permitting her to use marijuana to help alleviate her pain and nausea. The province had denied Campbell's request that it increase her monthly allowance to cover the cost. [continues 422 words]
The province has been ordered to pay for the medical marijuana used by a woman who is on social assistance. In a decision released this afternoon, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia has ordered the Department of Community Services to pay for Sally Campbell's prescription pot. She suffers from a number of ailments and has a certificate from Health Canada giving her permission to use marijuana to help alleviate her pain and nausea. The province had denied Campbell's request that it increase her monthly allowance to cover the cost of the marijuana. Campbell appealed that decision to a one-person appeal board, which also denied her request. [continues 438 words]
In "The myth of a peaceful, pot-legalized world" (March 19), columnist Laurent Le Pierres mentions Prime Minister Stephen Harper's claim that "the reason drugs are illegal is because they are bad." Undisclosed in the column are the facts. Drug use was criminalized in Canada on the grounds that poverty, prostitution, alcohol and drug abuse were caused by immigrants of colour. In the United States, Harry Anslinger successfully convinced Congress that marijuana caused white women to seek relations with negroes. [continues 100 words]
Columnist Laurent Le Pierres must have flunked North American History 101. After the States repealed alcohol prohibition in 1933, all the violence and corruption of the bootleggers went away; this despite alcohol being heavily taxed. Canada is smart enough to tax cannabis below the point where smuggling and the black market would come back. Let us have some faith in Ottawa. Certainly, public safety will improve as my profession stops wasting time on cannabis users, grow-ops and other such activities. With the extra time, we will arrest more deadly DUIs, child molesters and other true public safety threats. Detective/Officer Howard Wooldridge (retired), Drug policy specialist, Citizens Opposing Prohibition, Washington, D.C. [end]
A Deadly Dilemma THE level of extreme violence in northern Mexico was off the charts long before Ottawa issued a travel advisory, after daylight executions of two U.S. consular officials on the streets of Ciudad Juarez a week ago, warning Canadians to avoid trips to that troubled region. Ever since Mexican President Felipe Calderon's controversial war on the powerful Mexican drug cartels that ship their illicit goods across the U.S. border began in 2006, as many as 18,000 people are estimated to have died in the resulting bloodbath. Many were cartel foot soldiers involved in turf battles, but others were police officers, journalists and innocent civilians caught in crossfires or killed as a result of mistaken identity. [continues 376 words]
Marijuana is the drug of choice for traffickers in Antigonish and Guysborough counties. "That's the prevalent one," Antigonish/Guysborough Street Crime Enforcement Unit RCMP Cpl. Ron Bryce said. Bryce added ecstasy is also a "drug of choice," particularly in Antigonish. "We don't find it as much in the rural areas, but it is around." Bryce said powder and crack cocaine are also being sold in the region. "That's happening more in Antigonish as we have been informed, but it is also certainly possible in Guysborough," he added. [continues 1257 words]
As one of the country's foremost marijuana legalization activists, Dana Larsen knows the score when it comes to pot laws in Canada. He's been involved in the marijuana debate in various capacities: as a politician, an entrepreneur, and as editor of the alternative magazine, Cannabis Culture, alongside Canada's 'prince of pot,' Marc Emery. His most recent project has been the publication of a parody called Hairy Pothead and the Marijuana Stone, a sequel to which will be released in the near future. [continues 1321 words]
AMERICAN IDOL judge Randy Jackson, who has patented his own lingo, is fond of telling contestants that their performance was "dope." I guess that means he is high on it. Dawg, if you're an aspiring singer on TV, "dope" is good. Meanwhile on YouTube this week, the prime minister told his audience the opposite - that dope is bad. (Stephen Harper is a bit of a one-hit wonder himself, with his cover last year of a Beatles tune that ironically celebrates getting high with a little help from your friends.) [continues 701 words]
Counselling, Support, Treatment Will Be Available For About 30 People Addiction Services has announced a new methadone maintenance program for people with drug addictions in northern Nova Scotia. Based at Covington Place on Willow Street in Truro, the opiate treatment program is available to people in the areas served by the Colchester-East Hants, Cumberland and Pictou County health authorities. The program has room for 30 people with harmful addictions to such drugs as morphine, codeine, OxyContin and Dilaudid. Methadone maintenance has proven to be a good approach to treating people with opiate addictions, program manager Irene Gunn said in a news release on Friday. [continues 180 words]
Needle Swap Worth A Try PRISONS are closed environments. But they are no more circumscribed than the debate about how to run them. Judging by the tenor of remarks posted on our online news site, the general public went into attitudinal lockdown immediately after a report, released last week, recommended needle-exchange programs for convicts who are drug addicts. The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network makes a compelling case, backed up by 50 testimonials from ex-prisoners, for giving "harm reduction" policies a try in prisons. But the plea for reform contained in Under the Skin is falling on the deaf ears of the electorate and of elected officials. [continues 406 words]
With a mandate to prevent infectious disease, Canada HIV/AIDS Legal Network launched a report last week weighing heavily on offering a needle exchange program to offenders incarcerated in Canadian prisons. The irony of the report is that as it tries to convince the reader to side with the arguments for the needle exchange program it shames the effectiveness of our penal system. The report offers testimonials from offenders hooked on drugs before going to prison and their stories of how they found access to drugs and continued to use drugs while incarcerated but their words lacked evidence towards the effectiveness of public needle exchange programs and how they contributed, if at all, to their rehabilitation after being released from prison. [continues 266 words]
New Tests Able to Detect Various Drugs; Annapolis RCMP Have the Technology Just because a doctor prescribes it, doesn't mean the Mounties will agree a drug is safe to take before driving. The Annapolis RCMP detachment is now able to screen impaired drivers for several categories of drugs. Const. Preston Burns recently completed training to conduct Drug Recognition Exams, a series of measures that gauges levels of impairment and is able to accurately predict the presence of multiple drugs. "In the past we might suspect a driver is under the influence of drugs, but we couldn't prove it," he said. "These tests measure physical responses and the body doesn't lie." [continues 430 words]
Tenants Forced To Vacate Apartment After Complaints Of Illegal Drug Activity AMHERST - Cumberland County has seen some of its first action under the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act. The leaseholder of an apartment in a house on Charles Street has been told to vacate the premises after residents in the community complained about illegal drug activities. Cumberland Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit Const. Tim Hunter said an investigation has been ongoing with the unit, the Criminal Intelligence Service Nova Scotia and Department of Justice Public Safety for the past five months into the activities at 8 1/2 Charles Street. [continues 341 words]
An outpouring of community support has kept Sheree Halliday and her family going since learning Dec. 21 that her husband Philip was arrested off the coast of Spain in connection with a cocaine seizure. Halliday was among crewmembers of the Destiny Empress, a former Canadian Coast Guard ship that police say was carrying 1.5 tonnes of cocaine from Trinidad to Spain. The estimated value of the drugs was more than $600 million. Three weeks passed before Sheree Halliday was able to speak with her husband who was admitted to a hospital after the arrest due to gallstones. He has since been transported to a prison, about 609 kilometres northwest of Madrid. [continues 563 words]
A new charge has been laid against a Halifax Regional Police officer already accused of trying to extort money from a convicted drug dealer. An information, sworn Thursday, accuses Const. Jeffrey Buchanan, 29, of possessing marijuana. The offence was allegedly committed on Dec. 12 in Halifax. That's the same day that Const. Buchanan, a member of the force for four years, was arrested on charges of extortion and breach of public trust. Police spokesman Const. Brian Palmeter said the regional police-RCMP integrated drug unit just finished their work for the marijuana charge. [continues 233 words]
Wife Of Digby Man Arrested In Cocaine Bust Vows He's Innocent Sheree Halliday wakes up each morning optimistic she will hear something about her husband Philip, who was arrested Dec. 21 off the coast of Spain in a major cocaine bust. In an interview last week, Halliday explained how her husband wound up aboard the vessel 'Destiny Empress', which was stopped while transporting a reported 1.5 tonnes of cocaine from Spain to Britain. British police estimate the street value at over $600 million. [continues 637 words]
Wife Of Digby Sailor Nabbed On Drug Ship Says Three-Day, Pre-Trip Holiday Suspicious DIGBY - The wife of a Digby sailor jailed in Spain in connection with a large drug seizure said a red flag went up when she learned her husband and the rest of the crew received a three-day vacation after the cargo ship arrived in Trinidad last month. Philip Halliday is a former scallop fisherman who worked aboard the Destiny Express, a 45-metre freighter that was allegedly carrying 1.5 tonnes of cocaine when Spanish police boarded it Dec. 22 about 300 kilometres off their coast, said a news release from police in London, England. [continues 440 words]
To the editor, I believe Bill C-15 is designed specifically to increase crime. It is designed to manufacture more criminals so that the new multi-billion dollar for-profit prison industry. Also, by scaring off the small time pot growers with threats of mandatory jail time, the government is handing more of the business to the gangsters who are not afraid of anything. This will result in more wealth for them, which means more violent competition. Future governments will use this inevitable increase in crime to justify the increased budgets and powers of police, the building of a dozen more jails, and the further erosion of our collective civil rights and liberties. It also helps them pander to their myopic and misinformed voter base, and paints anyone sensible as soft on crime. [continues 258 words]
To the editor, Re: Government needs to take modern approach to drug laws (Letter to the editor, Dec. 30) Bill C-15 is designed specifically to increase crime. It is designed to manufacture more criminals so that the new multi-billion dollar for-profit prison industry. Also, by scaring off the small time pot growers with threats of mandatory jail time, the government is handing more of the business to the gangsters who are not afraid of anything. This will result in more wealth for them, which means more violent competition. Future governments will use this inevitable increase in crime to justify the increased budgets and powers of police, the building of a dozen more jails, and the further erosion of our collective civil rights and liberties. It also helps them pander to their myopic and misinformed voter base, and paints anyone sensible as soft on crime. [continues 258 words]
Nova Scotia's Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Act is shutting down crack houses around the province. "I think it's been very useful," said Pat Lawrence, director of the Metropolitan Regional Housing Authority. "It's given residents within the communities the ability to anonymously (come forward) if they have concerns about a neighbour." Earlier this month, the Justice Department's public safety investigation section announced it had completed 500 investigations and issued more than 100 evictions under the act. Its most recent, court-imposed, community safety order was at 2441 Creighton St., a townhouse in Halifax run by the housing authority. [continues 643 words]
To the editor, Unknown to many Canadians, the minority Conservative government has been pursuing a radical approach to drug policy through Bill C-15 which is now before the Senate. This bill introduces mandatory minimum sentencing for various drug crimes, such as nine months for possession of a single pot plant. Mandatory sentencing has been proven through research and past experience in many jurisdictions to be ineffective. We need a modern approach to marijuana, indeed, to all drugs. It is time, not just for the decriminalization of marijuana, but for the legalization of marijuana. Governments are quite comfortable making money through the sale of more harmful substances such as tobacco and alcohol. Prohibition of marijuana has failed miserably, just as the prohibition of alcohol failed. [continues 183 words]
The chief of the Cape Breton Regional Police Service has floated the excellent suggestion that this region seek to be selected as a pilot site for a drug court. Myles Burke hasn't formally presented the idea to anyone yet but he should be able to count on broad public support when he does. Drug treatment courts are fairly new in Canada, the first one having been established in Toronto only in 1998. But they are becoming common elsewhere, including the United States, a country whose approach to illicit drugs is generally regarded as draconian rather than innovative. [continues 375 words]
LANTZ: The Halifax Regional Police officer charged with extortion Dec. 12 is to stay away from two convicted drug dealers, one of which resides in Lantz. Const. Jeffrey Buchanan can't come into direct or indirect contact or communication with Lantz resident Shawn Kenneth Banfield, 25, or Donya Rhandelle Kristen Delaney, 23, of Halifax. The 29-year-old Buchanan has also been ordered to remain living at his home in Dartmouth and prohibited from going within 150 metres of Banfield's address in Lantz or Delaney's Halifax home. [continues 241 words]
HALIFAX - Some federal prison guards should be able to scratch a crappy job from their duties next year when Correctional Service Canada takes delivery of new gear to counter drug smuggling. The official name for the equipment is "banned substances recovery equipment." It's a toilet that allows guards to safely recover drugs that a person may be trying to sneak into a prison by carrying them in their digestive system. Right now, if guards suspect someone is carrying drugs in that manner, they direct the person to a bathroom to see if they will pass the drugs. That puts the guards in the unenviable position of trying to recover the drug-filled baggie or condom from other contents of the suspect's bowels. [continues 253 words]
AMHERST - Rick Simpson, convicted once on marijuana charges, is facing more production and possession charges following a raid at his Athol home last month. A summons has been issued for Simpson, who is in Europe, to appear in provincial court Jan. 11 to answer to the charges. He's facing one count each of possession of marijuana, possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and unlawful production of marijuana. He's also facing one count of possession of a weapon while prohibited from doing so and placing a device intended for bodily harm. [end]
The Amherst-area man who believes marijuana cures cancer says he is seeking political refuge in Europe. In a video on his Phoenix Tears website, Rick Simpson said police raided his home Nov. 25 and will charge him in connection with items they seized. "If I return home, I will be arrested and put in jail without bail or medicine," Mr. Simpson wrote on his website. He travelled to Amsterdam last month to accept an award at the infamous Cannabis Cup festival, where marijuana growers vie for the approval of thousands of judges. [continues 360 words]
SPRINGHILL - One day before Rick Simpson was lauded as the Freedom Fighter of the Year at the annual Cannabis Cup in Europe, police here once again raided his Little Forks home. Simpson, who claims he has found a cure for cancer and other ailments with hemp oil, has now declared himself an exile in Europe. Twice convicted of drug charges, he has thus far been able to avoid a jail sentence, but said he fears he won't be so lucky this time. [continues 742 words]
Amherst Daily News reporter Raissa Tetanish follows police as they raid marijuana plots in Cumberland County SHULIE - For five straight hours, I scoured the woods of the Chignecto Game Sanctuary along with three members of the Cumberland Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit. What were we looking for? Marijuana. Cpl. Mike Johnson said I would be able to smell the plant before I saw it, and he was right. After arriving in the Shulie area with Johnson, Cpl. Dave Baldwin and Const. Tim Hunter, I jumped on a buggy with Hunter while Johnson and Baldwin took to their all-terrain vehicles. [continues 483 words]
To The Editor, Guess who is most pleased about this eradication policy. The 90 to 95 per cent of growers who will never be caught. This colossal waste of time and money is not only failing to fix things, it is, in fact, outrageously counterproductive. Think about it: If the police busted twice as many grows this year as last year, they would still only get about 20 per cent of them. One-fifth. Probably less. And every time they bust one grow - indoor, outdoor, small or big - all they do is make the ones they don't catch that much more valuable. Not only is the illegality of pot the very thing that makes growing it so lucrative, the police are actually subsidizing the entire industry by busting only a minority of them. [continues 163 words]
It's just before 9 a.m. on Oct. 9 and a uniform-wearing deputy sheriff allegedly meets a 22-year-old woman in a parking lot a few blocks from the Dartmouth provincial court building. They don't know that police are watching. The pair drive off in separate cars, and officers, who had started an investigation a few days earlier, quickly arrest the woman on Chadwick Street and nab the sheriff in the courthouse parking lot. Tyrone David is charged with 12 counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, marijuana, hashish, ecstasy, morphine, Dilaudid, hydromorphone, Valium and amphetamines. Kathleen Mary Kierans, 22, receives three charges of trafficking in marijuana, hashish and Valium. [continues 997 words]
PICTOU LANDING FIRST NATION - The people who marched Friday at Pictou Landing First Nation's first Parents Against Drugs event didn't do it to change the habits of longtime drug users. They didn't do it to blame drug users or make them feel unwelcome. It's all about awareness, said RCMP Const. Duma Bernard. "We're not pointing any fingers," he said. "We don't judge. This is about teaching a healthy way of life." As a school resource officer in Cape Breton, he has a lot of kids come to him and tell him they're using drugs. [continues 298 words]
Health Canada is now going to demand full payment in advance for medical marijuana to force patients to pay off old debts (Nov. 1 article). Those who can't pay will have to do without the use of this drug to combat chronic pain and other symptoms. It seems outrageous to me that they charge these people $5 a gram or $20 for 30 seeds for a plant that is essentially a free-growing weed. Many of these users are very ill and have a very marginal income. At the same time, Health Canada pays huge sums of money to have this weed grown in secret, fortified and heavily guarded underground bunkers, when more than enough marijuana is seized by the police to provide the under 5,000 people who need it. [continues 72 words]
Another layer of security to keep drugs out of Nova Scotia's correctional facilities came into effect last month. Ion scanners were installed to detect trace amounts of drugs and explosives. "Drugs are a problem in our province's facilities, as they are in any correctional facility," says Department of Justice Minister Ross Landry. "The province continues to look at ways to improve training and equipment to alleviate this issue and the new ion scanners are just one more thing we are doing to make our facilities as safe as possible." [continues 101 words]
Another layer of security to keep drugs out of Nova Scotia's correctional facilities came into effect on Oct. 21 at four facilities across the province, including the Southwest Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Yarmouth. The Ion scanners detect trace amounts of drugs and explosives. Four of the scanners have been placed according to need throughout the province. Two are at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside, one at the Cape Breton Correctional Facility in Sydney, and the other is in Yarmouth. [continues 126 words]
Colleagues Struggle To Cope As Deputy Makes Court Appearance On Drug Charges A pall hung over the Dartmouth courthouse Tuesday as a sheriff's deputy who works in the building appeared before a judge on 12 charges of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking. "It's a horrible day. There's nothing good about it," said a colleague of Tyrone Cornell David, 40, who was arrested outside the courthouse last Friday morning after he allegedly was observed accepting drugs from a young woman at a nearby strip mall. [continues 841 words]
Dear Editor, Michael J Dee wrote, "The Prince of Pot is going to prison in the United States for selling seeds." I must strongly disagree. Yes, Marc Emery sold cannabis seeds to willing customers. He also paid taxes of over $580,000 to the federal and provincial governments, from 1999 to 2005, on those seeds. However, Marc Emery, if extradited, will not be going to prison in the United States because he sold seeds. There are many cannabis seed sellers, in Canada and the United States, who won't be going to jail. [continues 193 words]
Sources Say Man Was Going To Smuggle Cocaine Into Jail A man sworn to protect the public and safely escort prisoners has been arrested for allegedly smuggling drugs into the provincial jail system. Tyrone David was picked up Friday morning after he allegedly met up with a woman at a strip mall parking lot in the 300 block of Pleasant Street in Dartmouth. The meeting and alleged transaction took place just before 9 a.m., police said. Both the 40-year-old deputy sheriff, who was in uniform at the time, and the woman left in separate cars. She was later arrested after she was pulled over by police on Chadwick Street. [continues 876 words]
To the editor, Re: Emery's incarceration denies fundamental rights, October 3, 2009 Michael J Dee wrote the Prince of Pot is going to prison in the United States for selling seeds. I must strongly disagree. Yes, Marc Emery sold cannabis seeds to willing customers. He also paid taxes of over $580,000 to the federal and provincial governments, from 1999 to 2005, on those seeds. However, Marc Emery, if extradited, will not be going to prison in the United States because he sold seeds. There are many cannabis seed sellers, in Canada and the United States, who won't be going to jail. [continues 192 words]
HALIFAX - Halifax police arrested a deputy sheriff yesterday for allegedly trying to bring illicit drugs into a local jail. The 40-year-old uniformed officer and an unidentified woman were picked up after investigators observed what they described as an alleged drug transaction. The deputy sheriff, who was not named, was apprehended near the Dartmouth courthouse while the 22-year-old woman was arrested at a nearby intersection. Justice Minister Ross Landry said charges were pending related to "suspected drug activity." [continues 197 words]
Fredericton RCMP Officer Spills the Beans About Dangers of 'Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll' Lifestyle AMHERST - The hard, cold, brutal facts of the drug life were imparted to the Amherst Ramblers hockey team last night at the Super 8 hotel by an RCMP officer who spent many years in the drug underworld as an undercover officer. "This is not a presentation you will see in your classroom," said Sergeant Ross Gorman of the Fredericton RCMP in his rapid-fire delivery. "This presentation is going to be sex, drugs and rock and roll, the way I saw it on the streets when I was buying dope in east-end Vancouver. [continues 581 words]
To the editor, The Prince of Pot is going to prison in the United States for selling seeds. Did the seeds in the mail pose a threat to public safety? Hell no. Marc Emery is going to jail because marijuana is not a fundamental right. Lawyers and judges do not recognize marijuana as property. Never mind that the right to acquire property is a fundamental right. Never mind that Mr. Emery is being deprived of his liberty, a legitimate fundamental right. [continues 194 words]
Marijuana-Use Advocate Says Health Canada Exemptions Not Enough to Really Help People in Need of Pain Control A SERIOUS BACK AND NECK injury at work many years ago left him in chronic pain, and Harrietsfield's John Cook eventually found that marijuana provided the best relief. The married, 44-year-old father of two now smokes from five to 10 grams of it daily and says he'd otherwise need Demerol, morphine or other strong pharmaceuticals that make him too drowsy to function. He very rarely gets high or light-headed anymore and drives after smoking. He said he does not get intoxicated and hasn't had an accident in 25 years, but he advises recreational users to never drive after smoking. [continues 675 words]
Inside Nova Scotia
