Just how horrific Ontario's opioid crisis has become came into sharp focus this past week with the release of timely new data from Ontario's chief coroner, Dirk Huyer. Sadly, from May to July of this year, there were 336 opioid-related deaths in the province, up from 201 in that same period last year. That represents a staggering 68-per-cent increase. Health Minister Eric Hoskins put a human face on the startling statistics when he reminded Ontarians that "each and every one of these numbers is a person: someone who was loved by their family, someone who won't be coming home this holiday season." [continues 589 words]
Community Drug Strategy steps up efforts to combat opioid crisis Some 52 people were admitted to hospitals in the Sudbury area in the past six months due to drug overdose, official say. Members of Sudbury's Community Drug Strategy also said Friday they have had preliminary discussions about the need for an overdose prevention site in the city. They made the comments in response to the Ontario government's decision Thursday to expand the provincial opioid response, which they called good news. [continues 756 words]
Currently, some of the city's drug users have set up supervised sites in their own homes Contamination of the street drug supply with substances such as fentanyl has forced some of the city's drug users to set up their own supervised consumption sites in their homes. The agency that works most closely with drug users says the home sites indicate that Kingston needs a formal, government-sanctioned consumption site. "We definitely know there is a need because we are aware of people using their homes right now as safer places to use," said Dr. Meredith MacKenzie, a physician for Kingston Community Health Centres' Street Health Centre who described a home site as a "not perfectly safe, but safer, environment to use in." [continues 444 words]
Fed-up landlord cracks down Ontario's threat of huge fines or jail time for landlords who rent to illegal pot shops has spurred at least one in Ottawa to take quick action, in the latest chapter of Canada's move to legalize and regulate weed. Police arrived at the popular Cannabis Culture dispensary on Bank Street on Thursday morning with a bailiff, who changed the locks and posted a notice on the door saying the lease was being terminated. Five people working inside were released without charge, according to staff who gathered outside. [continues 1438 words]
Council does not want LCBO's legal dispensary to be located in town "Thanks but no thanks." That was the answer Monday night from local councillors to a suggestion Richmond Hill should be one of the first host towns for legal recreational marijuana sales. The town of Richmond Hill received a letter Nov. 28 from the Ministry of Finance announcing a cannabis store may be coming to town in July 2018. "We are not interested," Mayor Dave Barrow said at a committee of the whole meeting this week. [continues 455 words]
Pot shop weeded out Another one has gone up in smoke. And just like with the other potshop closures, it appeared as though the void, at least in part, was immediately filled by street drug dealers. "Actually, there are four or five guys," said one retailer in the Kensington Market area. On Wednesday morning after the raid that shut down The Toronto Dispensary at 33 Kensington Ave., you could see street dealers lurking nearby as people who hadn't yet heard the news were looking for their buzz. [continues 290 words]
The Ontario government says it will delay opening branches of its new cannabis retail chain in municipalities that object to having them. A handful of mayors in the Greater Toronto Area have said they do not want a marijuana store in their areas, even though they recognize they are powerless to stop Queen's Park. Among them is Dave Barrow of Richmond Hill. His town council has received a deluge of complaints from residents about the province's plan to open one of the provincially controlled stores in the suburb north of Toronto, and is expected to vote No to it on Monday. [continues 535 words]
Cambridge resident Cindy Watson wants the Region of Waterloo to put the brakes on the proposed use of safe injection sites. During the region's community services committee Tuesday, Watson spoke in front of councillors asking them to think hard before moving forward with safe injection sites. "You will be making one of the most important decisions of your career," said Watson. "Don't be pressured into using a broken model the model itself is broken." Watson said harm reduction is needed, but needs to be balanced with public safety and livelihood of downtown cores. [continues 514 words]
While regional councillors have heard bits and pieces about the opioid response in the region, they heard it from the horse's mouth on Tuesday. Members from various regional and community groups spoke before council in a public meeting to encourage a broad understanding of the complex issue. The public meeting was broken down into core areas, such as policing, mental health services and public health services. Bruce Lauckner, CEO of the Waterloo-Wellington Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), said opioids have become similar to cancer, where the general population is impacted by one or two degrees of separation at most. [continues 1113 words]
Poetic Riposte OTTAWA - With the Liberal cannabis legalization bill now being debated in the Senate, the Conservative Party's health critic used poetry Friday to ask for sober second thought. Marilyn Gladu implored the upper chamber to "keep our great country safe from all the weed" Friday after the Senate's first debate on Bill C-45, a federal framework for legal marijuana, got underway Thursday afternoon. The House of Commons passed the federal bill Monday. It must get through an unpredictable Senate before it can become law. So far, eight provinces and territories have unveiled plans ahead of the government's July 1, 2018, deadline for Canadians to access legal pot. [continues 429 words]
A Carlington pot shop won't reopen after a fire now being probed by arson investigators, says a city councillor who's long been opposed to the illicit enterprise. The owners of Ottawa Cannabis Dispensary did not respond to an interview request but Coun. Riley Brockington said that they told him Friday that the Laperriere Avenue shop had closed before it was gutted by an early morning fire and they are no longer in the business. Brockington is disappointed that arson is suspected in the fire, which was near homes and across the street from a Montessori school. Nearby businesses include an auto body shop with a stack of tires, and a chip truck out front with a large propane tank. [continues 409 words]
Legalized marijuana will 'enslave our youth" and turn the federal government into "the new pusher on the block," a Chatham politician says - drawing a rebuke from the community's top publichealth official. Dave Van Kesteren said that nothing about the federal government's Cannabis Act is good, but he's particularly concerned about how it allows youth ages 11 to 17 to carry up to five grams of cannabis. "Doctors have been saying, psychiatrists have been saying, that because the brain is still forming and is not fully formed by the time somebody is 25, somebody below that age should certainly not be using it," the Conservative member said in an interview. [continues 426 words]
Why is Canada being changed for the worse? For example, young peoples' brains are definitely adversely affected by THC in marijuana and yet we are legalizing this garbage? We, soon, will be a nation of idiots. Why is it that our judiciary is letting a convicted murderers out on un-escorted passes i.e. Melissa Todorovic and Tara Sanderson. Are the victims granted life again? NO, but the murderers are not punished. They just get a slap on the wrist and their lives go on. Why is it that I think that Canada's judicial system is a joke? Our bending over backwards to be oh-so accommodating is turning logic and common sense upside-down. Where is this "Oh aren't we so tolerant and accommodating" going to end? We have to get back to logic and common sense. J.R. Baldwin Omemee [end]
Grey-Bruce task force expands mandate from mostly meth to other drugs, substances The Grey Bruce Task Force on Crystal Meth and Other Drugs is expanding its mandate. As part of the expansion, the group, which involves a network of over 30 local partners, has changed its name to the Community Drug and Alcohol Strategy. "We recognize there continues to be crystal met husein the community, so we are not saying we have solved the problem and it is time to move on to something else," Alison Govier, coordinator of the Community Drug and Alcohol Strategy said Friday. "But we are also seeing a trend in polysubstance use -- dependence on more than one substance at a time -- so we feel as a community our efforts are better spent to expand the mandate to include all substances." [continues 610 words]
It will become legal next year, but the local health unit is grappling with what role it will play in dealing with recreational cannabis. The federal government has laid out the legal framework to legalize recreational cannabis use by June, and the province has already set out how it plans to regulate use throughout Ontario. The sale of marijuana will only be allowed through government-regulated stores overseen by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) and the proposed minimum age to use, purchase and possess will be 19. [continues 475 words]
Re: Marijuana legalization I agree with the letter to the editor from Rita Dillon. Don't we have enough situations that degrade we Canadians at this time? Do we have to have marijuana for entertainment purposes? Is there not enough sickness around that cannot be controlled? One day the use or possession of marijuana is against the law of the land, then it's encouraged to be used. Talk about sick. Maybe some of our politicians need a good looking at, starting from the top. Norphy Rosetto Niagara-on-the-Lake [end]
KIRKLAND LAKE - Councillor and Finance Chair Pat Kiely is skeptical municipalities will see extra revenue from an excise tax on cannibis. The Trudeau government says it is willing to give provinces and territories a bigger share of the revenue from a federal excise tax on cannabis, provided that the extra money is devoted to helping municipalities cope with the impact of legalizing recreational pot. The feds have proposed giving provincial and territorial governments half of the estimated $1-billion annual excise tax take once weed becomes legal next July. [continues 792 words]
Two community agencies on hand to lend support for initiative which is expected to be paid for by province The city has endorsed a supervised injection site for downtown Hamilton but it's up to a community agency to step up to run such a facility. The city's board of health endorsed the findings of a long-awaited study Monday that recommend adding at least one permanent site in the core for people to safely inject illegal drugs under the watchful eye of health professionals. [continues 575 words]
Ontario is in the middle of an opioid crisis, Grey Bruce Health Unit program director Lynda Bumstead and Hope Grey Bruce member Dave Roy told Brockton council. Bumstead said one person dies every 10 hours in Ontario from an opioid overdose. In 2016, there were eight deaths in Grey Bruce linked to opioid overdose. "There are many, many more individuals suffering from overdoses and addictions every day in Grey and Bruce," Bumstead told council last week. Overdoses due to opioids killed more people in 2014 than car accidents, and the number of deaths due to opioid overdose continues to rise. [continues 550 words]
Re: Alberta betting on marijuana boom, Opinion, Nov. 28 I read with interest Gillian Steward's column about the cannabis industry in Alberta. I write to clarify some of her comments. Residential marijuana grow-ops have destroyed houses and injured neighbourhoods. When I had the privilege of serving in office, we sought to address this issue with a task force that focused on what could be done from a provincial level. One of the frequent comments we heard was that the decriminalization of cannabis, a federal issue, would decrease the incentives for such activities. [continues 73 words]
Facing the reality that Hamilton needs at least one supervised injection site is not pleasant. In an ideal world, such a thing might not be needed. People with drug addictions would get counselling and support to break their addiction. Until then, they could ingest drugs in a safe and clean environment. But this isn't an ideal world. We're in a historic and growing street-drug crisis. And those qualities - access to support and a safe environment - are exactly what you get with a supervised injection site (SIS). [continues 410 words]
First co-ordinator of drugs strategy says community role key to success As the first co-ordinator of a plan to address local drug use, Lacey DaSilva knows she has been handed a weighty task. The Brantford-Brant Community Drugs Strategy, officially launched earlier this month, sets out goals to delay or prevent substance abuse and keep those already using safe and healthy. It also aims to ensure residents have timely access to services and to reframe addiction from an issue of criminal justice to one of public health. [continues 701 words]
Far too many young people still think driving while under the influence of drugs is somehow less risky than drinking and driving. So R.I.D.E. Checks - an organization that works with cops to promote road safety - has teamed up with the licensed marijuana producer Beleave Inc. to launch a campaign called, Consequence Strains, to spell out the dangers of driving high. "There still seems to be a common misconception where it's not as bad as having a few drinks and getting behind the wheel. People say, 'Oh, I can focus more,'" Dr. Roger Ferreira, Beleave's chief science officer, said Wednesday at Humber College's Lakeshore campus where police from services across the province gathered to kick off this year's RIDE program. [continues 88 words]
In wiser times, cigarettes were considered poison: protect the kids, reduce health-care expense, ban that toxin almost everywhere. As a result, we all breathe easier. Now it's 2017 - set up shops and fill them with pretty coloured weed balls, like lollipops. Who cares how many more toxins are in those? Huge numbers of young people in their 20s are still in school and still dependent on their parents. Is the medical community thrilled to welcome a new mind-altering drug we can all enjoy? Is there enough paper to list all the side-effects? [continues 212 words]
Province grants cannabis store to Niagara Falls Niagara Falls will receive at least one government-run pot shop when recreational marijuana becomes legal next July. On Tuesday night, Coun. Wayne Thomson read a letter from Ontario Ministry of Finance sent to the city and dated Nov. 28 that the popular tourist destination has been identified "for the location of at least one initial cannabis retail store by July 2018." Thomson, along with Mayor Jim Diodati, voiced their disappointment when the Honeymoon Capital wasn't among the first 14 cities announced earlier this month by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to host a legal pot shop next July. [continues 929 words]
Host's company says event aims to add legitimacy to community What do you do if you're a budding awards show trying to create a buzz around Canada's $8.7-billion cannabis market? First you weed out the best producers from the very large crop of products out there. Then you book a swanky joint and roll out the red carpet for business types looking to get in on the potential pot of gold surrounding legalization next summer. The CEO of Lift Co., the online marketplace for the medical marijuana industry that is holding the event, says it was high time for a grass gala to highlight the fourth annual Canadian Cannabis Awards - previously held only online - in an effort to add some legitimacy to the often stigmatized cannabis community. [continues 389 words]
In wiser times, cigarettes were considered poison: protect the kids, reduce health-care expense, ban that toxin almost everywhere. As a result, we all breathe easier. Now it's 2017 - set up shops and fill them with pretty coloured weed balls, like lollipops. Who cares how many more toxins are in those? Huge numbers of young people in their 20s are still in school and still dependent on their parents. Is the medical community thrilled to welcome a new mind- altering drug we can all enjoy? Is there enough paper to list all the side- effects? [continues 212 words]
Handful in B.C., Alberta permit snorting or orally taking drugs A PROPOSED SITE for supervised illicit drug use in Hamilton's core would only allow for substances to be injected and prohibit snorting, smoking or taking narcotics orally. The Board of Health will decide Dec. 4 if it supports a supervised injection site (SIS) to be located between Queen Street North and Ferguson Avenue North and bordered by Main Street East and Barton Street East. "There have been rising deaths, emergency department visits, hospitalizations and paramedic responses related to drug use," states a needs assessment and feasibility study by Hamilton Public Health Services in partnership with McMaster University. "In particular, harms from opioid use are a growing urgent concern among the community." [continues 800 words]
RE: Safe injection sites in Hamilton Drug addiction is a major problem. Just look at the statistics. Safe injection sites are all about health care and saving lives. Why not make it part of our health-care system and set them up in the hospitals? Bruce Scott, Burlington [end]
Red Ribbon Campaign gets started, with emphasis on drivers who use marijuana Action Sudbury has kicked off its 29th annual Red Ribbon Campaign with an emphasis on educating the public about the use of cannabis, as the federal government is set to legalize recreational marijuana. "The biggest thing for the youth is to ensure they're aware of how cannabis can possibly effect their ability to operate a motor vehicle," OPP Sergeant Dave Wallbank said. Wallbank showed a presentation of drug evaluation and classification to those in attendance, including students from Confederation Secondary School and Marymount Academy. [continues 411 words]
KITCHENER - At gatherings with family and friends, it's common for people to sit and chat as they enjoy a glass of wine. Drinking alcohol is legal and regulated by the government, but too much of it causes impairment and your long-term health could be at risk. The same could be said for marijuana. The now illicit drug will soon be legal, regulated and sold by the government. Smoking it daily could lead to a dependency, healthcare professionals say. But the stigma associated with dope smoking remains. [continues 749 words]
Officers can't nab owners because of resource woes, says Doug Kirkland A Citizen report Nov. 18 quotes Judge Norm Boxall on the Ottawa Police Service's failure to charge the owners and backers of illegal marijuana distribution shops. Sentencing a young budtender from a Rideau Street shop, he said: "I just don't understand how the police cannot shut down a dispensary." I understand the context of his statements, but the judge, despite his distinguished legal background, has the wrong target. [continues 344 words]
WATERLOO REGION - The public school board is considering stocking every school with an emergency kit to fight drug overdoses, at the cost of $119,000 per year. Kits contain the medication naloxone. By injection or nasal spray, it temporarily reverses the effects of an overdose of an opioid drug such as fentanyl or heroin. Currently, local schools are to call 911 if an overdose is suspected. "If that was my child I would want someone to do something," trustee Cindy Watson said, after pressing the Waterloo Region District School Board to buy overdose kits and train staff to use them. [continues 465 words]
Homicide victim attacked outside after looking for place to smoke pot, cops say Police believe a teen who was fatally stabbed in Vanier was just looking for a place to smoke weed purchased at an illegal dispensary when he wound up inside a crack den, the Citizen has learned. Zakaria Iqbal, just 18 years old and a Gloucester High School student, died Monday night after an attack on Montreal Road. Detectives believe that Iqbal and his friends purchased marijuana at Dr. Greenthumb dispensary, also on Montreal Road. Employees at the dispensary said police visited the pot shop Tuesday as part of their homicide investigation, asking questions about who was there and when. [continues 562 words]
Group wants billboard near kids' music school taken down Should a billboard claiming that marijuana legalization isn't harmful be hanging over a kids' music school in North York? That's the question being posed by Prevent, Don't Promote, an organization opposed to the legalization of marijuana in Canada. Prevent, Don't Promote is particularly sensitive to anything that looks like advertising or marketing to children. The billboard in question hangs over Little Jammerz, a music school that caters to children from Kindergarten to Grade 6, according to their website. [continues 338 words]
Re: Hazards of cannabis - Nov. 11 Thanks to Ron Wagner for his informative letter regarding marijuana. We taxpayers have spent billions of dollars through the government ads regarding the dangers of smoking. I have lost two members of my family to lung cancer, both heavy smokers of filter-tip cigarettes. The advertising has worked and very few cigarette butts litter our streets. However, when money is spent foolishly, a source of income must be found. The sale of marijuana will help. Lloyd Mundy Waterloo [end]
Mayor backs scheme, says time to get it out of alleyways and off railway lands A decision on whether to authorize a supervised injection site in Hamilton's core is expected to be made Dec. 4 by the Board of Health. The proposed site would be located somewhere between Main Street East and Barton Street East and bordered by Queen Street North and Wellington Street North. "It's high time we tried to get these injection issues out of the alleyways and the railway lines and make sure people who are doing drugs, do it safely," said Mayor Fred Eisenberger. "People are drug addicted and that's just the reality. Turning our mind away from that or sticking our head in the sand is delusional." [continues 785 words]
Organization wants billboard near music school taken down Should a billboard claiming that marijuana legalization isn't harmful be hanging over a kids' music school in North York? That's the question being posed by Prevent, Don't Promote, an organization opposed to the legalization of marijuana in Canada. Prevent, Don't Promote is particularly sensitive to anything that looks like advertising or marketing to children. The billboard in question hangs over Little Jammerz, a music school that caters to children from Kindergarten to grade six, according to their website. [continues 242 words]
So far it looks like Alberta will be the go-to province for marijuana entrepreneurs lining up to get in on the action when selling pot becomes legal next summer. Unlike Ontario and Quebec, Alberta has taken a free market approach. Recreational marijuana will be sold in privately owned retail stores and there could be a lot of them because at this point there is no limit on the number. No drab stores run by liquor control boards for Alberta. And there will surely be way more stores than the 15 Quebec has designated for the entire province (Ontario is planning 40) in the first year of legalization. [continues 631 words]
Re: Judge blasts Ottawa police for failing to shut down illegal marijuana shops, Nov. 18; Police as frustrated over pot shops as this judge is, Nov. 25. When the CannaGreen Marijuana Dispensary opened on St. Joseph Boulevard in Orleans, I was concerned. I knew what was being sold in such dispensaries in Colorado and Washington. Some of the best-sellers are products such as soft drinks, cookies and bars infused with cannabis. I have 10 grandchildren in this Orleans neighbourhood and I don't want them exposed to these dangerous and illegal products. [continues 349 words]
An audit released Monday by the Windsor Police Services Board shows the recent handling of evidence in cases involving street drugs has been in compliance and largely free of errors. But the audit performed over two months this summer by Ontario's Ministry of Community, Safety and Correctional Services made 11 recommendations for improvements, and all but one have already been implemented, said Chief Al Frederick. The audit was triggered at the request of Frederick and the police board following questions that were raised over the 2013 disappearance of $25,000 in cocaine from a drug vault under officers' control. [continues 244 words]
Legalize and tax marijuana and the budget will balance itself. Marijuana advocates from stoners to recreational users to the prime minister have tried to convince us of this. But they're all wrong. It makes some sense that a product so commonly used should be regulated rather than criminalized, sending its newly enabled taxation revenues to the public coffers. Unfortunately, recent federal announcements and the examples of two American states tell us that a fiscal boon from legal pot is nothing more than reefer madness. [continues 489 words]
The North Bay Police Service's drug-abuse prevention program is no longer being delivered in local classrooms. Chief Shawn Devine said the long-running DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program has been cancelled and that efforts are underway to look for other ways of working with schools to provide education regarding drugs, bullying and similar issues. He said the decision to cancel the program was sparked by a loss of funding from local school boards that was used to help offset some of the costs of delivery. [continues 165 words]
To effectively combat substance abuse, marijuana tax funds should primarily be invested in prevention and education On November 10, the Canadian federal government announced an excise tax plan that will be implemented when marijuana is legalized next summer. The plan proposed an excise tax of $1 per gram, or 10 per cent of the producer's sale price, with the higher amount of the two being charged. The plan is still in its consultation stage, and there are sure to be many changes over the next few months. Hopefully the fact that education and prevention tactics provide better long-term solutions to addressing substance abuse than punitive mechanisms will guide future discussions about the tax plan. Moving forward, marijuana legalization should be approached mainly as an issue of public health - the revenue from legalization can play a major role in ensuring appropriate solutions to substance abuse are implemented. [continues 876 words]
Known for his mishandling of Veterans A airs, corruption scandals within his constabulary and, shall we say, colourful comments on race and marijuana, former Toronto and Ontario police chief Julian Fantino is launching a pot business with a former RCMP senior leader. It has rightly been met with outcry. It exposes not only his personal hypocrisies but also those of the pot legalization process. A focus on criminalizing personal use rather than public health concerns (i.e., accessibility to children, mental health issues) has contributed to the circumstances that make young Black and Indigenous people known to police. Along with carding, illegality of marijuana has introduced more young racialized, especially Black, people to the criminal justice system than is patently fair. [continues 348 words]
The chief of Attawapiskat First Nation has solutions for the illegal drug trade in his community - but he's coming up against "frustrating " roadblocks. Ignace Gull said Thursday that Attawapiskat is dealing with Canada Post, the Northwest Company and the Ministry of Transport (which owns the airport) to stop the flow of drugs. "We're trying to do our own way of making sure that those drugs don't flow through our community," said Gull. "One of the things that costs us is with these prescriptions drugs, they're destroying young people, destroying families." [continues 726 words]
Judge blasts Ottawa cops for arresting 'budtenders' while pot shops flourish An Ottawa judge has blasted the police force for failing to shut down the city's illegal marijuana dispensaries. Justice Norman Boxall said Friday he cannot understand why it's so difficult to close shops that operate openly on major streets. "I just don't understand how the police cannot shut down a dispensary where the person has a big sign up, as I drive down Rideau St', that says 'marijuana dispensary.' They brag about it on the Internet that they are selling it. [continues 557 words]
With legalization looming, doctors say province not ready to handle risks Ontario is slow to launch a public education campaign warning parents about the dangers of marijuana to children, which include the risk associated with second-hand pot smoke, the Pediatricians Alliance of Ontario warned Friday. "A lot more children are going to be exposed . . . They are the most at risk of harm. Their brains are still developing," Dr. Hirotaka Yamashiro said. "Ontario is not ready to deal with the risks." [continues 238 words]
Inside Ontario
