The recent announcement of the smoking ban and the growing prominence of the Breathe Easy Campaign has fractured the McMaster community Some seem adamantly opposed to the legalization of weed and its association with an academic community, others feel that we should take a more open-minded perspective. The most interesting feedback were the students who conveyed a stance against excluding weed from the McMaster smoking ban. Given that Canada has made room for marijuana by legalizing it federally in Canada, making room for the substance on campus should also be considered. [continues 635 words]
The stigma needs to be addressed and I'm here to address it In light of a protest promoting medical marijuana on campus, we should reconsider our attitudes and understanding towards weed. The Breathe Easy campaign, on a provincial and national spectrum, seems to have a positive impression on certain audiences. However, on others such as myself, the campaign is not a positive one. Marijuana has long held a stigma comparable to smoking cigarettes but far more dramatic. But Christopher Lawson, the local activist who was responsible for the 4:20 protest on Oct. 6, was onto something. [continues 500 words]
WATERLOO REGION - Potential locations for supervised injection sites in Waterloo Region will be made public by January, as Waterloo Region Public Health begins a feasibility study into whether the harm reduction service is needed here, what concerns the community might have and how to address them. A supervised injection site would provide a safe, clean place for people to use their own drugs under the care of trained staff. Its goals would be to reduce overdose rates and overdose deaths; reduce transmission of diseases from shared needles; help drug users connect to other health and social services, including drug treatment; and reduce drug use in public places and the amount of unsafely discarded needles and other litter. [continues 567 words]
A pilot project was launched Tuesday to provide the first outdoor after-hours needle disposable drop box, with the aim of curbing the high rate of hepatitis C, locally. The sharp disposal kiosk is located on the property of AIDS Support Chatham-Kent at 67 Adelaide St. S. in Chatham, which has partnered with the ChathamKent Public Health Unit to provide a safe place to dispose of needles. When looking at best practices of other communities where these types of sharp disposal kiosks are available, it's a program that's been tested, said Steve Pratt, harm reduction program manager with AIDS Support C-K. [continues 284 words]
With the legalization of pot scheduled for next year, a cannabis delivery company is advertising its services by distributing hot pink flyers to city mailboxes amid complaints questioning its methods. Riverdale resident Pauline Stanley received an advertisement late last week from Weedora, offering seven free grams of marijuana with the purchase of one ounce of a "high end" strain. Interested parties would reach out via text message for service. Stanley, a mother of two children, aged 9 and 14, reached out to the company under an alias to gather more information. She said prices for an ounce - with names such as "Chemo Kush," or "UK Cheese 2.0" - are $150 to $250. [continues 350 words]
KL municipal officials have mixed views on proposed Crown corporation to manage marijuana sales in Ontario KIRKLAND LAKE - The province's proposal to create a Crown corporation to manage the sale of marijuana in Ontario has received a mixed review from Kirkland Lake's top elected municipal officials. Ontario Minister of Finance has written a letter to mayors and councillors across the province in regards to cannabis legislation. In the letter Charles Sousa states "our government is proposing to retail cannabis through a government-operated Crown Corporation, as a subsidiary of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO). This approach would meet the standards of control and social responsibility that Ontarians expect, while responding to consumer demand and displacing the illegal market." [continues 807 words]
The solution lies in public education, not punishment, writes Terry Lake. Recently, I attended a meeting hosted by We the Parents, a Kanata organization trying to address the challenge of addictions and the very real tragedies that befall affected families. I saw grieving parents struggling to understand both the complexities of addiction and the way our health and criminal justice systems are responding to it. Understandably, many who attended were looking for straightforward, actionable solutions to this crisis. They were met with a response by one former senior police officer that those selling drugs should be given harsher sentences. While it may seem appealing to go after the dealers instead of the user, in fact, many dealers are themselves struggling with addiction and using whatever tools are at hand, including selling drugs, to cope with that addiction. [continues 590 words]
Students, teachers, families part of plan to combat pervasive problem A new strategy focused on getting drug-addicted high school students the help they need was launched Monday at LaSalle's Villanova, one of the many area secondary schools where police say the problem is pervasive. Principal Amy Facchineri said the Windsor Essex County District School Board decided to initiate the program at Villanova because of a growing problem with drug use by students everywhere and an advisory from LaSalle Police last spring. [continues 517 words]
ALDERVILLE - There are different opinions on whether a marijuana dispensary located on Alderville First Nation is legal. The Medicine Wheel Natural Healing - Indigenous Healing Through Medicinal Cannabis is located on County Road 45 in Alderville, north of Cobourg. It had a "soft" opening in June and has been doing a brisk business since then. Owner Rob Stevenson, who lives on Alderville First Nation and belongs to the Bear Clan, said in a interview on the business's Facebook page that it is a holistic healing centre and "creating a economic boom for the community," and also helping people "rise up from poverty." [continues 996 words]
Neron is asking Town of Moonstone to amend its licensing bylaw to allow sale of marijuana. MOONSTONE - A long-time user and advocate of medical marijuana has revealed plans to open a dispensary in his home town of Moonbeam. "I am asking the town to make an amendment to their business licence bylaw to include marijuana dispensary so I can function legally," said Robert Neron, who intends to make a presentation to Moonbeam council on Nov. 6. A number of cities across Canada already allow medical marijuana dispensaries to operate through municipal licensing agreements. Most of the medical marijuana dispensaries currently operating in Canada are located in British Columbia. [continues 502 words]
Analysis of 50 cases sheds light on how people often suffering from poverty or other disadvantages were tarred by test results indicating that they were drinkers or drug users In an Elliot Lake, Ont., courtroom in 2011, a woman fighting for custody of her step-grandchild tried to convince the judge that Motherisk's results were bogus. The Children's Aid Society of Algoma had submitted Motherisk's tests of the woman's hair, which were positive for cocaine and opioids, as proof she had recently used drugs. The woman, identified by the court as L.G., argued the lab must have miscalculated because she had been clean for several months. The judge was not swayed. [continues 2243 words]
As legalized pot looms, an ER physician argues we're unprepared for a serious health syndrome That was definitely vomit, I thought as I stepped in a slippery substance and caught the rail of the stretcher to avoid sliding underneath. That bilious smell does not come out of shoes. After ordering an intravenous, a cocktail of anti-emetics - and a change of footwear for myself - I run through a mental list. What causes a 14-year-old patient to vomit like this? Appendicitis? Meningitis? Overdose? [continues 656 words]
A grandparent's prayer on the move to legalize marijuana use In speaking of how we were all united in so many simple but important ways on this earth, John F. Kennedy once said: "Our basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal." What follows is this mortal grandfather's prayer for his grandchildren. For as it is true that we all cherish our children's future so do we hold so dear that of our grandchildren. In a way, we perhaps see them as our envoys into a future time. As they give us hope for a better world, our heart aches with longing for a world of many tomorrows that will at least be safe and welcoming for them. [continues 507 words]
Schools want say in where dispensaries are located The Toronto District School Board wants a say in how close the city and province will allow legal marijuana dispensaries to set up near schools. The board plans to send a letter to Mayor John Tory and Premier Kathleen Wynne requesting they be consulted on any decisions on the regulations for pot sales. Ottawa plans on legalizing pot by next July and the city and province are in discussions on where marijuana will be sold and used. [continues 244 words]
Trustees at the Toronto District School Board want a say on the location of shops that sell marijuana to make sure they're "as far away from schools as possible." With legalization less than a year away, they're seeking assurances that the school board will be consulted in all discussions about regulations concerning retail stores and medicinal marijuana dispensaries in the city. The request, outlined in a motion passed unanimously at a board meeting this week, comes as school boards across the country start to wrestle with the implications of cannabis legalization, which the federal government is aiming for next July. [continues 633 words]
For 17 months, Toronto police and bylaw officers have been cracking down on illegal pot dispensaries, raiding more than 200 locations, laying hundreds of criminal charges and issuing thousands of dollars in fines. Their attack has been relentless, yet the city still has an estimated 65 shops open for business at any given time. The campaign, code-named Project Claudia, began with a headline-grabbing first round of raids in May, 2016, and has now cost millions of dollars in police, staff and court time. [continues 1607 words]
Hair testing by Motherisk was presented as evidence in a murder case. It was deemed not up to forensic standards, tossed out and even mocked by the judge. That was in Colorado - 22 years before the Motherisk scandal blew up Twenty-two years before controversy shuttered the Motherisk lab, before its hair-strand drug tests were deemed unreliable, before the outcomes of thousands of child protection cases were called into question, a Colorado court threw out Motherisk's evidence in a hearing that foretold the crisis that is now playing out across Canada. [continues 2352 words]
After admitting the medicinal pot in his possession had been illegally supplemented by some non-medicinal pot, a Sarnia man again pleaded guilty Wednesday to drug possession - but to a different judge. These "additional facts" temporarily put to rest a legal conundrum and likely a Canadian first - whether a lawful prescription becomes unlawful due to use - that delayed a decision on the drug possession charge originally expected in August. Anthony Francis Barr, 27, of St. Clair Township near Sarnia, had previously pleaded guilty to both driving while impaired and to possessing marijuana. While convicted and fined $1,000 for the impaired driving charge by Justice Mark Hornblower, Barr's prescription for marijuana to deal with an anxiety condition made the possession charge hazier. [continues 409 words]
When did Ottawa become such an unlawful city? I can't believe that illegal pot shops and injection sites are allowed to operate. Why do the police and the city not have the gumption to shut them down? What about taxpaying residents who want safe access for their families to this park? Their rights are being violated by the very people who are supposed to protect them. This is not right. Sue Warren, Ottawa [end]
Inside Ontario
