We are just a few months away from marijuana being legal for recreational use in Ontario. For legislators, one of the trickiest aspects of navigating the road to legal pot, has been the question of how to handle/discourage drugged driving. How much pot constitutes too much when it comes to cognitive ability? What's the best way to test for it? A sobering poll, conducted last year by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), suggests that when it comes to public education on drugged driving, we have a long way to go. [continues 332 words]
Picture this: You're an injection drug user, and, you're worried the next time you use, you might die. So, you head for the Shepherds of Good Hope, where there's a special trailer. There, you can use your drugs - and someone will save you if you overdose. Upon arrival, though, there's a police cruiser outside. Apparently it's there a lot, at least according to Ottawa Inner City Health, which runs the injection site, and officers are questioning staff and clients. [continues 667 words]
I happened to spend three days over New Year's in Las Vegas. Work! On the Star's dime! What a pleasure it was to smoke indoors again, a rarity in our world, with all the casinos tobacco-friendly. A city built on vice recognizes that gamblers are smokers and drinkers. But on New Year's Eve, when venturing out onto the Strip, I immediately recoiled from the stench of cannabis. Had forgotten that Nevada is one of eight American states where recreational marijuana is now legal. Clark County, in which Vegas is situated, boats some 80 dispensaries selling recreational (as opposed to medical) pot. Anyone over the age of 21 can buy up to one ounce of cannabis (or one-eighth-ounce of concentrate) at a time. [continues 1022 words]
New report offers control options for odour, light, noise Norfolk County may soon have well-defined rules governing the production of recreational and medicinal marijuana. Marijuana production facilities have proliferated unchecked in Norfolk over the past two years. These are medicinal in nature and loosely governed by Health Canada regulations. These facilities are not subject to provincial planning policies. As such, increased production has occurred in a policy vacuum that has given rise to land-use conflicts related to smell, noise and light pollution. [continues 188 words]
Surveillance intimidates clients, staff at Inner City Health's safe injection site All is not rosy at Ottawa's first sanctioned safe injection site in Lowertown. The executive director of Ottawa Inner City Health, which operates the legal drug-taking site from a trailer at Shepherds of Good Hope, said Ottawa police regularly have a cruiser parked by the steps to the facility. "We are having really significant problems currently and we're hoping we can resolve them," said Wendy Muckle. [continues 735 words]
Number has tripled over the past year, according to city report A new report shows the number of marijuana dispensaries operating in the city has tripled in the past year despite increased bylaw enforcement efforts. According to the report released Friday, there are 46 marijuana dispensaries operating in Hamilton, compared to 15 in operation last January. While the federal government is expected to legalize marijuana this summer, marijuana dispensaries are illegal, according to the report - prepared by Ken Leendertse, Hamilton's director of licensing and bylaw services. [continues 328 words]
London police are warning the public that cocaine seized in November contained the deadly opioid fentanyl. Health Canada tests confirmed the presence of fentanyl - an opioid 100 times more powerful than morphine - in drugs found on a 33-year-old London man after he was arrested. "This is the first time in London that both cocaine and fentanyl were discovered in the same sample," police said in a news release Sunday. "It is not confirmed if the drugs were intentionally or inadvertently mixed." [continues 334 words]
First Nations invest in KL marijuana business KIRKLAND LAKE - Canada's marijuana industry is expanding rapidly and some First Nations are looking to cash in on the emerging economic opportunities. Phil Fontaine, an Indigenous politician turned marijuana executive, has spent the past year travelling the country and talking to First Nations about jobs, wealth and training opportunities the burgeoning marijuana business could bring. "Everywhere we've been, it's been the same reaction, interest, excitement," said the former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. "First Nations are speaking about possibilities and potential. So it's been very encouraging. "Marijuana businesses represent "tremendous potential" for First Nations, partially because communities are able to get in on the ground floor, instead of fighting to catch up years later as has traditionally been the case, Fontaine said. [continues 521 words]
Re: "Sleeping driver found with drugs," Dec. 28. This may well be an indication of what we can expect when marijuana becomes legal next summer, and it should trouble everyone, especially the police. Since pot was legalized in Colorado and Washington states, the number of road deaths have doubled. In Canada, there still is no simple roadside test for impairment by marijuana consumption, as Trudeau placed the cart before the horse by legalizing pot so quickly. Unlike alcohol, which is excreted from the system in about 12 hours, the THC in marijuana that causes someone to get stoned remains in the system for many, many days. This means someone may ended up driving impaired without having smoked marijuana recently, or having smoked a small amount. No wonder the chiefs of police have said they simply are not ready for marijuana legalization. Larry Comeau Ottawa [end]
Governments raise a lot of revenue by taxing alcohol and tobacco. Now they are turning their sights on cannabis. A lot of young people think that using marijuana is a good thing. But, like any drug, cannabis can lead to addiction and ruin a person's life, all because our greedy government wants the tax money. Alan Morris Brantford [end]
Coun. Sam Merulla wants to head off new local taxpayer costs to cover increased bylaw and policing enforcement - and public health services - - from legalized pot well before legalization happens this summer. "Fifty per cent of what we tax for now has nothing to do with city council," he said, adding that much of it is a result of services once funded by the province being downloaded onto municipalities. Merulla has put councillors on notice that he's introducing a motion at their Jan. 24 meeting to get city staff to find out the city's costs of implementing marijuana legalization - and ask the province for a commitment to fully cover those costs. The province is getting a windfall in marijuana sales taxes after all, he says. [continues 168 words]
Police in Kingston found a driver sleeping with drugs. This may well be an indication of what we can expect when marijuana becomes legal next summer and should trouble everyone, especially the police. Since pot was legalized in Colorado and Washington states the number of road deaths have doubled. In Canada there still is no simple roadside test for impairment by marijuana consumption, as Trudeau placed the cart before the horse by legalizing pot so quickly. Unlike alcohol, which is excreted from the system in about 12 hours, THC in marijuana that causes someone to get stoned remains in the system for many, many days. This means someone may end up driving impaired without having smoked marijuana recently, or having smoked a small amount. No wonder the Chiefs of Police have said they simply are not ready for marijuana legalization! Larry Comeau Ottawa [end]
The only way Canada can successfully legalize the sale of recreational marijuana in 2018 is by stamping out the illegal market for the drug at the same time. It's not enough for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to argue that ending the era of prohibition for cannabis on July 1 will make it easier for authorities to control the sale of a substance that's less harmful than alcohol and that adults should have the right to use. Fine theories are one thing. Trudeau's federal Liberals and their provincial government partners will be judged by what they deliver in as little as six months, not by their talking points today. [continues 407 words]
Deserted chocolate factory now home to world's largest publicly traded producer All it took was a little marijuana to lift this Canadian town's spirits. Smiths Falls, Ont. - population 8,885 - is seeing a revival of fortunes since medical marijuana producer Tweed Inc. set up shop four years ago in an abandoned Hershey chocolate factory. The company, since renamed Canopy Growth Corp., has become the world's largest publicly traded cannabis producer and is the town's largest private-sector employer. [continues 766 words]
Renfrew County councillors have more questions than answers when it comes to the impending legalization of marijuana by both the federal and provincial Liberal governments. Earlier this month, legislation giving the provincial Liberals a monopoly on recreational marijuana sales in Ontario passed at Queen's Park. The bill creates a provincial agency that will distribute and retail pot through storefronts and online. It also creates stiff fines that could top $1 million against companies and people who sell marijuana in defiance of the government monopoly. [continues 246 words]
Medical users fear legalized recreational marijuana may leave them behind in puff of smoke For Mandy Mcknight, the benefits of cannabis oil to treat her son Liam's debilitating seizures seem almost miraculous - the nine-year-old has gone from being wracked daily by dozens of the life-threatening episodes to having days when he experiences none. But like many Canadians authorized by doctors to use marijuana to treat a wide range of medical disorders, Mcknight is worried what will happen when recreational pot for adults becomes legally available through government-sanctioned retail outlets in July 2018. [continues 1051 words]
Owner of Green Health for Six waiting to hear from Ottawa, council, and initiated survey As far as Jeff Hawk is concerned, his marijuana dispensary is filling a void in Six Nations. Potentially deadly opiates are widely available, but safe, medicinal marijuana is not, says Hawk, owner of Green Health for Six. "There ain't really a large industry in pot anymore. That's what I'm worried about." Hawk says his dispensary on Highway 54 just outside Ohsweken has a solid customer base for weed, edibles and oils. [continues 484 words]
Q: Our 16-year-old son smokes dope daily. We see his grades slipping from last year. He keeps talking about it being legalized and therefore not harmful. How do we get him to understand that he still shouldn't be smoking? A: How one addresses the issue depends on how one understands the problem. Regular marijuana use in teens can occur if they become addicted to the substance or it may be masking an undiagnosed mental health problem such as depression or anxiety. Or your son may be otherwise well but enjoying the substance and simply not conforming to your expectations. [continues 234 words]
With the plague of opiate overdoses, some doctors are prescribing pot to get people off opioids. There are many positive medical applications which help many people with everything from mental illness, terminal conditions, to severe physical disabilities. Fact is we have never had legal recreational pot, so how can you say it's going to destroy communities? I would like to point out how legalizing it has worked for Colorado and I think the red light district in Amsterdam would also beg to differ. [continues 73 words]
Inside Ontario
