MINFORD, Ohio - Inside an elementary school classroom decorated with colorful floor mats, art supplies and building blocks, a little boy named Riley talked quietly with a teacher about how he had watched his mother take "knockout pills" and had seen his father shoot up "a thousand times." Riley, who is 9 years old, described how he had often been left alone to care for his baby brother while his parents were somewhere else getting high. Beginning when he was about 5, he would heat up meals of fries, chicken nuggets and spaghetti rings in the microwave for himself and his brother, he said. "That was all I knew how to make," Riley said. [continues 1851 words]
They Choose to Ignore the Current Laws VANCOUVER, British Columbia The Cannabis Culture Lounge has everything a pothead might need to feel right at home: $3 marijuana buds, bongs for rent, bags of Skittles and Doritos for sale, and black leather couches where customers can recline in zoned-out contemplation in a pungent haze. Never mind that it is all technically prohibited by Canadian law. Still, some enthusiasts have higher hopes for the business, which opened more than a decade ago as a kind of speak-easy for marijuana smoking long tolerated by the city's authorities. The lounge began selling marijuana after Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister in November. [continues 759 words]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - The Cannabis Culture Lounge has everything a pothead might need to feel right at home: $3 marijuana buds, bongs for rent, bags of Skittles and Doritos for sale, and black leather couches where customers can recline in zoned-out contemplation in a pungent haze. Never mind that it is all technically prohibited by Canadian law. Still, some enthusiasts have higher hopes for the business, which opened more than a decade ago as a kind of speakeasy for marijuana smoking - long tolerated by the city's authorities. The lounge began selling marijuana after Justin Trudeau was elected prime minister in November. [continues 1218 words]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Dave Napio started doing heroin over four decades ago, at 11 years old. Like many addicts these days, he heads to Vancouver's gritty Downtown Eastside neighborhood when he needs a fix. But instead of seeking out a dealer in a dark alley, Mr. Napio, 55, gets his three daily doses from a nurse at the Crosstown Clinic, the only medical facility in North America permitted to prescribe the narcotic at the center of an epidemic raging across the continent. [continues 1298 words]
VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Dave Napio started doing heroin over four decades ago, at 11 years old. Like many addicts these days, he heads to Vancouver's gritty Downtown Eastside neighborhood when he needs a fix. But instead of seeking out a dealer in a dark alley, Napio, 55, gets his three daily doses from a nurse at Crosstown Clinic, the only medical facility in North America permitted to prescribe the narcotic at the center of an epidemic raging across the continent. [continues 927 words]
