If you've got the munchies for cannabis edibles, you'll have to go to the liquor store. The province has tapped the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. - which already sells dried and fresh cannabis, cannabis oil and cannabis accessories - - to sell edibles, extracts and topicals. "The NSLC has done a good job in preparing and implementing our new retail model as recreational cannabis was legalized across Canada," said Karen Casey, the minister responsible for the NSLC, in a news release Monday. [continues 244 words]
Both the Nova Scotia and federal Liberal governments are blowing the chance to rectify years of anti-black prejudice with their marijuana legislation. For years, the government's "tough on crime" strategy gave police officers carte blanche to harass people of colour. Now that the government has decided to legalize recreational marijuana, they have no plans to issue pardons for marijuana possession convictions. Thousands of people have been charged with pot possession over the past decade. Things got so bad under the Harper government that the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police advocated for ticketing to replace criminal charges for simple possession. [continues 700 words]
A New Brunswick-based medical marijuana producer in partnership with both the provincial government and the Trailer Park Boys has had a lawsuit against it expanded to include possible health effects. A class action was filed on March 3 against Health Canada-certified medical cannabis producer Organigram Inc. for containing unauthorized pesticides. Halifax-based injury lawyer Ray Wagner, who is representing the plaintiffs, told The Chronicle Herald the suit was originally economic in nature - essentially to return to clients the money they paid for the recalled product - but last month it was expanded to take into account the health impacts of using the tainted product. [continues 573 words]
The owner of a Halifax marijuana dispensary says the province's recreational pot policy announced Thursday will drive more people to the black market. But Chris Enns said he doesn't fear that widespread access to pot next July will threaten his business. "I've had no less than half a dozen individuals call me this morning literally in tears, worried I was going to shut down or be shut down by these new regulations and that they wouldn't have a source for their medicine anymore," said Enns, owner of Farm Assists Medical Cannabis Resource Centre, in an interview Thursday. [continues 338 words]
Allowing private sector to take point on distribution a sensible policy Newfoundland and Labrador made a common-sense decision last week on the distribution of cannabis in that province. They've opted for a private-sector distribution model, breaking away from the ill-considered public-sector monopolies being set up in Ontario and New Brunswick. As part of the Newfoundland and Labrador plan, the government says it will allow the sale of cannabis by private retailers, while the regulation, distribution and online sales will initially be carried out by the Newfoundland Liquor Corporation. On this issue, the government listened to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. [continues 371 words]
For months, Ralph (all names have been changed), neighbour to my friend The Chairman, has left his house only for doctor visits and a couple of hospital stints. That's not for lack of trying. Prescribed mind-numbing meds put the former coal miner into a fog. Several times he insisted that he needed to go outside, rolled his wheelchair to the front door, tried to stand but instead tumbled, like laundry out of a basket, like a milk bottle smashed on the floor. [continues 471 words]
Health Canada doesn't want kids smoking pot. The federal agency responsible for the health of Canadians issued a tender call Thursday for a marketing campaign to raise awareness among youth aged 13 to 24 about the harmful affects of smoking marijuana on their still-developing brains. It also wants pre- and post-campaign monitoring of the awareness of youth of the affects. The advertising campaign will roll out in anticipation of Canada's legalizing marijuana next year. Ed McHugh, a professor at St. Mary's University's marketing department, offered a warning. [continues 277 words]
Tasty Budds president Mal McMeekin is "very sorry" about alleged illegal activities that police say were occuring at his company's storefronts. "We want to be very clear that the alleged illegal activity was occuring at one Tasty Budds location (Sackville Location)," reads a written statement sent to The Chronicle Herald and attributed to Mal McMeekin. "This only came to our attention through the recent police activity and investigation. This is a gross violation of our code of conduct, our ethics, and everything that Tasty Budds stands for." [continues 343 words]
Some so-called experts say the human brain keeps growing until age 25 and a CTV poll found a majority of people said the legal age for marijuana should be 21 or 25 This does not make sense to me. In Canada, you can join the military at 18, get a driver's licence at 16 and vote at 18. A lot of kids 18 and younger are smoking marijuana. Bought legally, it will be safer than from the black market. Government, instead of organized crime, should be profiting from the sale of cannabis. Drug stores are the best place to sell marijuana and the legal age should be 18. [continues 55 words]
If last week's meeting of provincial premiers is any indication, the issue that most unites Canadian provinces in the summer of 2017 is the timing of the introduction of legalized marijuana. Canadians should be forgiven for thinking that the premiers face more daunting and serious problems - starting with the state of provincial health care systems. A study by the New York-based Commonwealth Fund concludes Canada's health care system ranks in the bottom three in a group of 11 wealthy countries. [continues 390 words]
Approximately 200,000 Canadians have a medical marijuana prescription, but it isn't covered by most health insurance plans. (File) Since the implementation of Canada's national medical cannabis system in 2001, attitudes toward cannabis have changed significantly. What was once stigmatized as a street drug has come to be understood as a substance with broad therapeutic uses. Today about 200,000 Canadians have a prescription to use medical cannabis under a doctor's care for management of symptoms caused by chronic pain, bowel diseases, spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis, certain mental health disorders and a host of illnesses. Patients use cannabis because it works for them with manageable side effects. [continues 539 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]
Health Canada is randomly testing medical marijuana for unapproved pesticides after the chemicals were found in samples. The announcement comes one month after two medical marijuana companies voluntary recalled their product after unapproved pesticides - myclobutanil and bifenazate - were found in the marijuana. Included among the companies was OrganiGram, a Moncton-based producer of medical cannabis and Atlantic Canada's only licensed grower of the product. Health Canada's regulations only allow a list of 13 pesticides in medical marijuana, and myclobutanil and bifenazate are not approved. [continues 303 words]
Auntie's Halifax marijuana dispensary is among a nation full of shops that have begun selling recreationally, despite federal laws that promise prosecution. Raids have been conducted by police in Hamilton, Montreal and Toronto over the past year, including those of recreational marijuana shops owned by company Cannabis Culture. "The federal government has been clear that until new legislation is introduced, the current laws remain and must be followed," wrote Sarah Gillis, a spokeswoman for the provincial Department of Health & Wellness. [continues 554 words]
Police stay silent on their plan if store reoffends A leading Canadian marijuana activist is standing behind a bid by Auntie's Dispensary to reopen after a police raid shut them down. Last week, Halifax owner Shirley Martineau and three others were charged - and had their inventory seized - after complaints led the Halifax Regional Police to take action. Martineau, who hasn't returned phone calls, vowed to reopen and has volunteers working at the shop right now. Toronto marijuana legalization activist Jodie Emery, who is married to fellow activist Marc Emery, knows what Martineau is going through. [continues 682 words]
With the legalization of the recreational use of marijuana expected to become a reality in Canada in the next couple of years, there are a number of important issues to be considered as we proceed in a sensible way - in other words, with caution. This past week a federal task force released a report with a lengthy list of recommendations on how Canada should move forward with legalizing marijuana. One that causes immediate concern is the task force's troubling recommendation that would allow sales of the drug to anyone aged 18 or over. [continues 354 words]
The ink is barely dry Monday's Utility and Review Board decision declaring one medical marijuana dispensary illegal, but the owners of Auntie's Health and Wellness Centre are busy preparing to open their doors at 1547 Barrington St. this Friday - with or without a business occupancy permit. Owner Shirley Martineau's dispensary will focus on patients battling cancer. "How am I supposed to say 'no' to someone who has cancer?" Martineau said on Tuesday. "Just because the government won't allow me to stay open to save lives." [continues 515 words]
Justice Minister Diana Whalen should appoint an independent investigator to probe what happened to the money and drugs that seem to have gone missing at the Halifax Police Department. There's no way around this. After all, an internal audit completed at HPD last November found that a substantial portion of drug and cash exhibits couldn't be found where they were supposed to be. In May, auditors concluded that some money and pharmaceuticals were either AWOL (away without leave) - - or worse still MIA (missing in action). [continues 376 words]
HALIFAX - Correctional officers at a provincial jail in Cape Breton failed to follow proper procedures earlier this year when they placed a man in a cell, where he died of a drug overdose 13 hours later, Nova Scotia's Justice Department says. The department's review of the case, released Monday, says that when Jason Marcel LeBlanc was admitted to the Cape Breton Correctional Facility on Jan. 30, staff did not follow all steps in the strip search process, and they failed to complete their rounds at standard intervals. [continues 654 words]
