It was a bold statement. "We will legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana." The 2015 federal Liberal election promise caught the attention of Canadians and attracted votes of many who supported the long-overdue legalization of marijuana. Many citizens believe that smoking a joint is no worse than having a beer. Many Canadians - even prime ministers - have tried it. Polls indicate a majority favours legalization. Medical marijuana use has smoothed the drug's acceptance and eased concerns. What's the big deal? The government is finally ready to table legislation to legalize marijuana by July 1, 2018 - much too late for many Canadians. Do we really have to wait another 18 months for proclamation, when 60,000 Canadians are convicted each year for simple possession or personal use? [continues 374 words]
It was a bold statement. "We will legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana." The 2015 federal Liberal election promise caught the attention of Canadians and attracted votes of many who supported the long-overdue legalization of marijuana. Many citizens believe that smoking a joint is no worse than having a beer. Many Canadians - even prime ministers - have tried it. Polls indicate a majority favours legalization. Medical marijuana use has smoothed the drug's acceptance and eased concerns. What's the big deal? [continues 419 words]
Legalization But advocate hopes province finds innovative ways to sell weed A recreational pot supporter in Halifax is applauding the expected announcement by the federal government that recreational marijuana could be legal by July 1, 2018. Chris Henderson, general manager of Halifax's High Life Social Club, said he hopes the impending move will encourage more people to be open about their pot usage. "Younger people are more open about their usage, you don't hear about the older generations and cannabis," he said in an interview on Monday. "I hope this encourages older people." [continues 127 words]
Dana Larsen's "quiet revolution" envisions more and more Canadians growing pot until the laws prohibiting it are unenforceable. The Vancouver cannabis activist and author will be in Bedford at the Legion Hall (1772 Bedford Highway) on Monday from 7-9 p.m. to dispense advice, solutions to the crisis of fentanyl and other opioids - and maybe even a few cannabis seeds. Larsen is the founder of the Overgrow Canada campaign and distributed more than 2.3 million cannabis seeds in spring 2016. He's doing a larger seed giveaway now, which started in January. [continues 422 words]
Anyone hoping for major hints about the government's plans to legalize, regulate and tax cannabis in Wednesday's federal budget likely came away disappointed. Cannabis is mentioned just twice in Budget 2017 - the first time to direct existing Health Canada funding of $9.6 million over five years, with $1 million per year ongoing, to support "marijuana public education programming and surveillance activities" ahead of legalizing the drug for recreational use. The second time, in a section that deals with raising duty rates on alcohol, the budget says as the government moves forward with a new taxation regime on cannabis, "it will take steps to ensure that taxation levels remain effective over time." [continues 786 words]
This letter concerns Addiction Services' and the Nova Scotia Health Authority's new approach towards the treatment of opioid addicts in this province. According to a CBC News report (Dec 8, 2016), this new strategy involves a move to "eliminate hospital-based Detox for opioid addicts." Essentially, the Nova Scotia Health Authority intends to withhold inpatient treatment to opioid addicts at their eight Detox Units across the province saying that (for opioid addicts) "detox alone is not working." The preferred approach now is to kick the problem out to family physicians who may or may not have methadone licenses or to other community programs and services already overwhelmed by the problem. [continues 423 words]
For years, cannabis has been a counter-cultural symbol-a plant that can be grown almost anywhere, giving it little marketing potential. That's about to change. At a show last summer, a musician friend said to me, "This is Pineapple Express-I bought it legally in Kensington Market." Legal. Weed. Kensington. Toronto. That stuck in the memory banks, and I followed up next time I was in Toronto, visiting several locations of one well-reputed dispensary, sampling as many marijuana strains and concentrates as my budget would afford. [continues 512 words]
Two federally regulated medical marijuana companies caught up in a tainted-cannabis scare are facing proposed class-action lawsuits from patients who unknowingly ingested banned pesticides. Mettrum Ltd. and OrganiGram Inc. were both found selling medical marijuana that contained unauthorized chemicals, including the controversial pesticide myclobutanil, which produces hydrogen cyanide when combusted and can lead to serious health problems. The suit against OrganiGram was filed in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Monday by Halifax=based Wagners Law Firm, while a separate action against Mettrum was filed in Ontario Supreme Court by the firm Roy O'Connor LLP. [continues 926 words]
Bad record keeping to blame for some 3,000 missing items according to police Halifax police are adamant that bad record keeping rather than any criminal activity by its officers was behind the "misplacement'' of 3,000 of nearly 10,000 drug-related exhibits uncovered in a recent inventory. Among the unaccounted for items were cocaine and other drugs, and more than 200 cash items totalling $100,000. Police Chief Jean-Michel Blais told reporters Monday the force was confident there had been no wrongdoing. [continues 482 words]
Thousands of dollars, drugs still missing from audit Tens of thousands of dollars and several kilograms of illicit drugs are still missing from Halifax Regional Police evidence, but the chief says there's no indication anything "untoward" has happened within his force. Chief Jean-Michel Blais presented an update on the Drug Exhibit Audit to Monday's meeting of the municipality's Board of Police Commissioners, and outlined the preliminary results of a full inventory, conducted between September 2016 and February 2017, of all 12,792 drug-related exhibits in the police database. [continues 589 words]
Force believes missing money placed in police bank account Halifax Regional Police have located 34 of 72 exhibits that were missing from their evidence storage, but the remaining 38 - including nearly $5,000 in cash - are still unaccounted for. Chief Jean-Michel Blais will present a report to the municipality's Board of Police Commissioners on Monday updating the force's progress on finding the missing items from the Drug Exhibit Audit released last year. That audit was conducted between June and November 2015 after an officer was accused of stealing from an evidence vault. Police originally found 90 per cent of the drug exhibits in one vault were unaccounted for, and 55 per cent of the evidence in the money vault wasn't where it was supposed to be. [continues 278 words]
It's a tough call, whether companies soon to be marketing recreational marijuana should be allowed to brand their product. A precedent is in the works with tobacco, to deny manufacturers the right to have distinctive packaging. Some would extend that same caution to pot. It's an issue that government will ultimately have to grapple with - while hearing from proponents on both sides of the argument. Garfield Mahood of Vancouver, president of the Campaign for Justice on Tobacco Fraud, campaigned for decades to get the federal government to force tobacco companies to use plain packaging. [continues 345 words]
A month after it opened, a downtown business specializing in marijuana paraphernalia was searched by police on Thursday. Dr. Greenthumb was searched by members of the Cumberland Integrated Street Crime Enforcement Unit on Thursday with assistance from the Amherst Police Department. This whole pending legislation has created a challenge for police across the country. Some people are trying to get ahead of it because the government is saying legislation is coming, but it's not here and they have to be patient and wait for the legislation. Ian Naylor, Amherst Police Chief [continues 298 words]
Vince Rigby remembered for work with veterans Friends of Vince Rigby are remembering him as a strong advocate for veterans across Cape Breton. Rigby's body was found by firefighters in an abandoned Robert Street building during a fire in Whitney Pier on Monday. Cape Breton Regional Police investigated the fire and ruled out any suspicion and foul play in the death of the Sydney man. The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. Ron Clarke, a Korean War veteran, said he will remember Rigby as a "strong advocate for veterans." [continues 323 words]
A Nova Scotia human rights board has ruled that a patient's medical marijuana should be covered by his employee insurance plan in a potentially precedent-setting case. The decision, issued Jan. 30, ruled in favour of Gordon Skinner's claim that he faced discrimination when trying to access insurance coverage for his disability. Independent human rights board of inquiry chair Benjamin Perryman said that medical marijuana should be an eligible expense since it requires a doctor's authorization and thus didn't fall within the plan's exclusions. [continues 341 words]
Man injured in workplace accident A Nova Scotia human rights board has ruled that a patient's medical marijuana should be covered by his employee insurance plan in a potentially precedent-setting case. The decision, issued Jan. 30, ruled in favour of Gordon Skinner's claim that he faced discrimination when trying to access insurance coverage for his disability. Independent human rights board of inquiry chair Benjamin Perryman said that medical marijuana should be an eligible expense since it requires a doctor's authorization and thus didn't fall within the plan's exclusions. [continues 332 words]
Nova Scotia's human-rights board has ruled that a man suffering from chronic pain must have his marijuana prescription paid for by his employee-insurance plan, with advocates saying the decision opens the door for patients across Canada to push for similar cannabis coverage. Gordon Skinner, from a community just outside Halifax, had argued that he faced discrimination when he was denied coverage by the Canadian Elevator Industry Welfare Trust Plan. He has been using medical cannabis to treat pain from an on-the-job car accident that forced him from work as an elevator mechanic more than six years ago. [continues 535 words]
HALIFAX - A human-rights board has determined a Nova Scotia man's prescribed medical marijuana must be covered by his employee insurance plan, a ruling that advocates said will likely have impact nationwide. Gordon Wayne Skinner, of Head of Chezzetcook, suffers from chronic pain following an on-the-job motor vehicle accident, and argued that he faced discrimination when he was denied coverage. In a decision Thursday, inquiry board chair Benjamin Perryman concluded that since medical marijuana requires a prescription by law, it doesn't fall within the exclusions of Skinner's insurance plan. [continues 478 words]
Former corrections employee sentenced on drug trafficking A Sydney Mines woman was given a two-year federal jail sentence Monday after pleading guilty to drug trafficking at the Cape Breton Correctional Centre. Special federal prosecutor David Iannetti told the court that Nicole Marie Smith, 46, came to the attention of jail officials when a letter was found in which an inmate thanked Smith for bringing marijuana into the facility. Smith worked part time in the kitchen at the provincial jail and had struck up a friendship with a male inmate who also worked in the kitchen. [continues 316 words]
Police forces in Canada testing out devices over February Next time you come across a police checkpoint in Halifax, you might be asked to help test a roadside drug-screening device. Halifax Regional Police (HRP) began a new Public Safety Canada pilot project a week and half ago, and have until the end of February to collect 100 saliva samples from anyone who'd like to anonymously volunteer for the testing in a regular traffic stop. "This is for us. It's not about any of the public, it's about how user-friendly are these devices for the police at roadside," Const. Kristine Fraser of the HRP traffic unit said Thursday. "If you say 'um, no,' (it's) 'okay, thank you for your time,' and you drive away.'" [continues 283 words]
Inside Nova Scotia
