Re: "Managing future of legal marijuana is inside job," Sept. 16. Michelle Hauser joins millions of other concerned parents over what legalized marijuana means for their young children. Studies in the United Kingdom, America and here have all shown conclusively that marijuana can cause psychosis and other mental problems to those who use this drug when young. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's idea that legalization is the best way to curb black market sales, thereby keeping it away from our children, is right out of fantasyland. In both Colorado and Washington states, organized crime is involved in the distribution of marijuana since it was made legal there. There has been a rush on Colorado emergency rooms by young people who had used the drug. Expect organized crime groups to quickly get involved here, meaning access to our youth. [continues 160 words]
PORT HOPE - A detailed report about how the local health unit is battling opioid overdoses and fatalities does not yet include a safe injection site like the one established this summer after a volunteer pop-up tent appeared in Toronto. After receiving the Medical Officer of Health's (MOH) report about how the inventory, supply and control of Naloxone has been established and the first "pop up" Naloxone community event was held at the hospital in Lindsay last month, board members of the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit asked if there were plans in place to react to a "pop-up" safe injection site should it occur in the health unit's own tri-county jurisdiction. [continues 118 words]
ALDERVILLE - Alderville First Nation's Rob Stevenson had just opened his marijuanadispensary, Medicine Wheel Natural Healing, on County Road 45 in Roseneath when the provincial government announced its plans to close dispensaries in Ontario and set up 150 government-run stores to sell cannabis. This is to happen within the next year. Stevenson, a member of the Anishinaabe of the Bear Clan who lives in Alderville First Nation, said that the Ontario government doesn't have that right when dealing with Indigenous people. [continues 401 words]
The government selling weed to anybody is a terrible idea. So is the creation of a subsidiary of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario to create and run a retail network. I was browsing Ontario's sunshine list on Monday, the phone-book sized document that catalogues public-sector salaries of more than $100,000. The LCBO has either 359 or 313 employees on the list - honestly, it was like counting jelly beans in a giant jar - including a president and CEO who made $494,308 in 2016. [continues 549 words]
Owner of Medicine Wheel Natural Healing marijuana dispensary wants to keep open dialogue with police ALDERVILLE - The owner of Medicine Wheel Natural Healing of Alderville First Nation says he has an ongoing dialogue with Northumberland OPP to ensure he meets their concerns about public safety and to let the police know what he is doing. The new healing, medical marijuana dispensary is located at 8986 County Road 45 and Rob Stevenson says he sells both cannabis and noncannabis products. "I hope (the police) will respect our rights," Stevenson said in an interview at the business that saw hundreds of people visit during last Saturday's official opening and to register at the first Indigenous medical cannabis dispensary outside of Tyendinaga. [continues 782 words]
HAMILTON TOWNSHIP - Former police officer and Hamilton Township Deputy Mayor Gary Woods asked that council support letting people know that the consultation period for matters surrounding the legalization of cannabis in Ontario is fast approaching. Individual members of the public and individual councillors can respond to an online survey by July 31, e-mail responses to cannabis@ontario.ca or mail them to the Ontario Legalization of Cannabis Secretariat, Ministry of the Attorney General, 720 Bay St. Toronto, ON M7A 259, Woods read out from an information sheet. The survey is available at www.ontario.ca/form/survey-cannabis-legalization-ontario. [continues 66 words]
If your objectives are to protect public health and safety, keep marijuana out of the hands of minors and cut illegal profits flowing to organized crime - then the law as it stands today has been an abject failure. Law enforcement agencies in Canada spend an estimated $2-3 billion a year trying to fight pot, yet Canadian teenagers are among the heaviest users in the western world. And criminals walk away with $7-8 billion every year in illicit proceeds. We have to do better. [continues 401 words]
This July 1 is canada's big 150th birthday bash. But July 1, 2018, could be a more interesting celebration. That's the date, according to reports, when marijuana might finally be legal. In a weekend news leak that had the added benefit of diverting attention from an insipid federal budget, CBC reported the Liberal government will unveil its marijuana legalization bill in the next few weeks. Under it, federal authorities would take charge of licensing producers and regulating suppliers. It would set 18 as the minimum legal age for use, though provinces could set it higher. [continues 303 words]
"Dad jokes" abound, following the leak of a planned timeline for legalizing marijuana. Late Sunday, CBC reported the Liberals are gearing up to deliver on a key campaign promise to regulate recreational marijuana sales by July 1, 2018. Headline writers, always fond of a pithy pun, are having a good time. "Clear the haze soon around marijuana," demanded an editorial in the Ottawa Citizen, one of many outlets to invoke the psychedelic heyday of Jimi Hendrix. Regional coverage across the country was seasoned with herb. A headline in the Windsor [continues 480 words]
COBOURG - The owner of a full service pot dispensary store that was busted last year pleaded guilty to two charges in February in Cobourg court. South Shore Wellness - Full Service Cannabis Dispensary, which was located at 8987 County Road 45 in Roseneath, was busted on Aug. 17, 2016 by members of the Ontario Provincial Police Central East Drug Unit, assisted by Northumberland OPP. The operator of the facility, Timothy Tucker, was arrested at the scene and taken away in handcuffs. He faced four charges under the Criminal Code including using a forged document, possession for the purpose of trafficking (marijuana), proceeds of crime (less than $5,000) and possession for the purpose of trafficking (cannabis resin). [continues 187 words]
PORT HOPE - Naloxone, administered as a nasal spray or by needle, is being distributed to stakeholders in the community (including emergency responder), to temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, says Peterborough AIDS Resource Network prevention and education co-ordinator, Chris Jardin -a membert of the Harm Reduction Programming Committee of the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit. But Jardin says it should be spread more widely. Key training is taking place among the key stakeholders of the communities in the tri-county area of the health unit, Hardin said, and the Port Hope-based health unit itself will become a distributing site for Naloxone. [continues 237 words]
One of the most important and pressing challenges of 2017 will be Canada's response to opioid addiction. The sheer scale of overdoses from heroin and other opioids has already led British Columbia to declare a public health emergency, and the crisis is sweeping east. Fentanyl has washed over the West Coast like a deadly tsunami. The synthetic opioid can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine. It's not just hardened addicts who are dying. Overdose deaths have spiked among occasional drug users, with fentanyl detected in street drugs ranging from heroin to marijuana. [continues 521 words]
New legislation around medical marijuana - including its licensing and distribution - is expected in April, 2017. And it will be created after a task force that is working right now provides a report, Northumberland Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd told Hamilton Township councillors Tuesday. The council had asked the MP to the council session to answer questions about marijuana because of past complaints about grow ops in the township of which they knew nothing, members said, until they received a phone call from a neighbour. [continues 406 words]
A new coordinator has been hired to help develop a regional drug strategy, says the area medical officer of health (MOH). Dr. Lynn Noseworthy, the MOH of the Haliburton Kawartha Pine Ridge District Health Unit, provided some information about the strategy to the health unit board during its most recent meeting in Port Hope. Coordinator Charles Shamess started work with the group this summer, the health unit's local drug strategy spokesperson Krista Skutovich stated in an e-mail. The $285,000 Trillium grant covers three years and "is for the development of a local drug strategy [continues 404 words]
Plans to open GW Weed Emporium downtown shelved over new Health Canada regulations on medical marijuana The downtown isn't getting a medical marijuana dispensary after all. GW Weed Emporium was supposed to open Sept. 1, on George Street next to Minh's Chinese Grocery. But a new handwritten sign was posted in the empty storefront window Tuesday night stating the store isn't opening after all. "GW Weed Emporium regrets to inform you we will not be opening, due to Health Canada's new regulations which commence Aug. 24," the note reads. [continues 274 words]
South Shores Wellness at Alderville First Nation Was Raided by Opp on Wednesday ALDERVILLE - A marijuana dispensary was taken down by provincial police on Wednesday afternoon. The Ontario Provincial Police Central East Drug Unit, assisted by Northumberland OPP, executed a search warrant at South Shore Wellness - - Full Service Cannabis Dispensary located at 8987 County Road 45 in Roseneath. The store selling marijuana to people with proper licenses was opened approximately two months ago and has a steady business. Just last week owner Tim Tucker said as a result of a story in Northumberland Today his business increased. [continues 594 words]
ALDERVILLE - The owner of a full service marijuana dispensary says his pot business is growing since a story was published in Northumberland Today. "Particularly I'm getting a lot of seniors coming in," said owner Tim Tucker. "It brought in a lot of people that are already smoking, but they wanted to become legal. It's done a good thing." Northumberland Today first published the story on Thursday about the South Shore Wellness Full Service Cannabis Dispensary located at 8987 County Road 45 in Roseneath. [continues 627 words]
ALDERVILLE - A marijuana dispensary appears to be the first of its kind in Northumberland County. The store is called South Shore Wellness - Full Service Cannabis Dispensary and is located at 8987 on Hwy. 45 in Roseneath. The store has been open for approximately two months at the location and after a recent visit by Northumberland Today, it seems business is flourishing. It is located in an area where there is another store which would be for this type of product including a hydroponic store. [continues 482 words]
Ottawa Health Centre Joins List of Proposed Safe-Injection Sites OTTAWA - Public consultations begin Monday on a controversial proposal by the Sandy Hill Community Health Centre to give injection-drug users a safe place to feed their addictions. The health centre wants to add a small-scale facility - with room for four or five injection drug users - to its existing cluster of services. "The goal for us is to provide some education to the local community in terms of some of the myths and misunderstandings about a supervised injection service," said health centre executive Rob Boyd. "And we want to hear what they have to say about our service model." [continues 711 words]
NORTHUMBERLAND - Northumberland-Peterborough South MP Kim Rudd wasn't in her Cobourg office when a post-New Year's present arrived last week: a plastic bag containing marijuana. Rudd is just the latest in a series of MPs across the country whom author Dana Larsen has written, including in his package a copy of his book, Cannabis in Canada: the Illustrated History, plus some of the actual topic of his book, in dried form. Rudd's communications director Jamie Simmons told Northumberland Today in an interview they had heard "someone was sending marijuana to MPs." [continues 319 words]
