MONTREAL - The main hospital in Quebec's Eastern Townships has put governments on the spot with its policy on pot. Doctors, dentists and pharmacists at CHUS hospital this week unanimously approved marijuana use by patients who are federally licensed to own the drug. The patients will have to use vapour machines and bring their own pot into the hospital. Administration is expected to decide soon if it will formally approve the doctors' recommendation. The Canadian Medical Association wouldn't comment on the case Friday, but the CHUS doctors appear to be out of step with the CMA on the issue. [continues 140 words]
Good people of Scarborough-Agincourt, we give you Liberal Party candidate Arnold Chan. You should vote for him not so much for what Arnold has done - but for what the Conservative Party hasn't. To be precise, the Conservative Party hasn't behaved itself in the Toronto riding, which was formerly the domain of one Jim Karygiannis. This week, the ruling party circulated noxious flyers all over Scarborough-Agincourt, much in the way the Axis used to drop propaganda leaflets on advancing Allied troops. As in that case, the Tory propaganda is unlikely to defeat the Grit forces. [continues 507 words]
Municipality Sells Land In Business Park To Medical Marijuana Company A medical marijuana production company is setting up shop in Hanover. Hanover council passed a bylaw at a special meeting Tuesday night to sell 3.7 acres in the town's business park to Alternative Medical Solutions Inc., which plans to build a 45,000- to 50,000-square-foot facility to grow medical marijuana. Mayor Kathi Maskell said the company will bring new tax dollars and jobs to town. "We are looking at probably 40 full-time jobs to start and that is a good news story for any of us in southwestern Ontario," Maskell said Wednesday. [continues 617 words]
Hoffman Is Just the Latest Celebrity to Die Because of Addiction Celebrities are public figures who generally work hard to maintain a private life, but death tends to slam all the public doors shut. It's strictly a private affair for the friends and family left behind. Philip Seymour Hoffman was a hugely successful actor, and as such, was public property - for better or worse. Thanks to his work, a large audience of followers developed feelings of attachment and ownership about him. Double that for New York City, where people could see him on stage at the theatre or stand next to him in the grocery store. Now, since death belongs to the private realm, that's left a lot of people on the public side wondering what to do with their emotions. They tweet condolences. They write letters. They bring flowers and gifts to a makeshift shrine outside the building where Hoffman lived. [continues 527 words]
MP Sends Flier to Constituents Slamming Trudeau's Plan to Legalize Pot OTTAWA - The Tories are trying to smoke out some details about Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's promise to legalize marijuana if his party forms government. Conservative MP John Williamson has sent constituents in his New Brunswick riding a flyer that slams Trudeau's policy, saying the "Liberals plan to sell marijuana in N.B. stores." "I'm trying to take Trudeau's argument to its logical conclusion," Williamson said Monday. "If the point is not to make marijuana available in stores, what's the point of legalizing it?" [continues 189 words]
Shortly after being elected about 2 1/2 years ago, Prime Minister Stephen Harper told his cabinet that "Conservative values are Canadian values" and that the "Conservative party is Canada's party." You'd be hard pressed to see that in recent developments around social issues. Developments over same-sex marriage, safe injection sites, marijuana and most recently prostitution are moving towards progressive positions in the courts and in public opinion. The Conservatives, however, are fighting these developments. Harper's election platform in 2006 promised to revisit the legalization of same-sex marriage that was made legal under Prime Minister Paul Martin. A free vote in Parliament put an end to Harper's agenda, and today civil unions among same-sex partners remain a Canadian right. Canadian attitudes have long favoured this. [continues 437 words]
Treatment preferred to jail Talk of jailing a drug-addicted man took an unexpected turn when a substitute federal Crown handling the case said he himself is an alcoholic and expressed doubt that sending the man to jail was appropriate "with his illness." Scott Weiler, 25, of 537 8th St. E., Owen Sound, pleaded guilty in the Ontario Court of Justice Thursday to breaching probation by failing to pay restitution between July 6 and Aug. 5 and for possession of morphine Oct. 1 in Owen Sound. There was a joint position on sentence arrived at during a pretrial, which called for a 60-day jail sentence for the drug possession. [continues 750 words]
Uh-oh, does someone have some 'splainin' to do? Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay is hinting the Conservative government might consider modernizing Canada's marijuana laws when it comes to possession of small amounts of pot. He told QMI Agency so in an exclusive interview this week. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing," he said, "but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," the nation's top justice official said. So far, so good- except ... Except, the same Conservative government, in a widely aired radio attack ad, made political hay this fall out of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for promoting legalizing and taxing pot. Listen, and you can still hear the worried-sounding parent in the ad- a school bell ringing in the background- as she wonders about the Grit leader's judgment. [continues 228 words]
Lots of Opposition to Grit Pot Position OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's pot legalization stance may be a hit with the Grit grassroots, but not so with the governing Conservatives, the pontiff and at least one international ally. Mexican Foreign Secretary Jose Antonio Meade Kuribrena said his country is open to an alternative to the war on drugs, but legalizing drugs - even pot - isn't on the table for his government. "We personally don't believe drug legalization is a solution, but we welcome (the idea) that a debate should be held around those issues," he said during an official visit to Ottawa on Thursday. [continues 328 words]
The Public Health Physicians of Canada are adding their support to a growing push toward supervised injection sites. The organization, which represents more than 200 public health, preventative medicine specialists and physicians in the country, called on the federal government on Thursday to reconsider proposed legislation, Bill C65, that would make it "almost impossible" for public health agencies to offer supervised injection sites. Bill C- 65 is an Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that experts say would put additional barriers towards opening more sites across Canada. [continues 171 words]
If those behind the idea of turning the arena in MacTier into a legal marijuana grow-op thought they had a fight on their hands before, No. 4 has just jumped over the boards. Bobby Orr was famous for scoring big goals and, if necessary, dropping the gloves, too. This time he's prepared to do both. In his more than half century of celebrity, Orr rarely speaks out or steps into controversy. However, when it comes to closing down an arena and community centre on his home turf to rent out to a company so they can grow medicinal marijuana, it brings out the anger in the Hockey Hall of Famer. [continues 730 words]
Are we about to see the end of the war on drugs? Following ballot measures last November, producing and selling marijuana are now legal in both Colorado and Washington state. Several other U.S. states have decriminalized simple possession of marijuana, or allowed its medical usage. The latter is also the case in Canada. The financial consequences of a complete and general legalization across the continent would certainly be huge. Over the past couple of decades, billions of dollars have been spent fighting this unwinnable war, which has fuelled corruption, organized crime, and violence. Thousands of people are killed in drug fights every year in Mexico. In Canada and the U.S., it has justified growing government intrusion in commercial and private life, from the money-laundering bureaucracies to civil forfeiture laws. [continues 279 words]
A former feed mill in Williamsford ranks among the biggest forfeitures of criminal proceeds locally Before the former Williamsford Feed Mill became a bookstore and cafe under new owners, it made news when police discovered it housed a secret marijuana grow-op in 2005. Less known were the Crown's moves to seize the old mill as offence-related property. While people dined on the main floor of the 143-year-old mill, upstairs a sophisticated hydroponic marijuana grow-op was powered by the mill's own Victorian-era twin turbines, which produce power from the North Saugeen River. [continues 557 words]
Tin foil on the windows, children's toys that never seem to move from their spot in the front yard and neighbours who don't seem to live in the home they own. These are just some of the signs of a marijuana grow operation residents should look out for in their neighbourhood, police repeatedly warn. According to a 2007 Royal Canadian Mounted Police report on drug offences, 60% of offences related to marijuana production occurred in a residence. And an Ipsos Reid study in 2012 - prompted by the Ontario Real Estate Association - said almost a quarter of Ontario residents have "seen or know of homes in their neighbourhood that have been used as a marijuana grow operation." [continues 740 words]
Health Canada has now made illegal the key ingredient in the drug known as bath salts, which took Owen Sound police by surprise earlier this year after five people were hospitalized within a 24-hour period after injecting or smoking it. It's a move the city's police department is applauding. "It's positive news for us for sure. If that substance shows up again, then we'll be able to take action," Owen Sound Police Services Det-Sgt. Mark Kielb said Thursday in an interview. [continues 420 words]
Police say crystal meth still has a grip on the region and victims of crime are paying the price. Police in southwestern Grey County arrested and charged a 40-year-old man this week in connection to a series of crimes they say were linked to his addiction to crystal meth. The West Grey man, who police say was found to be in possession of a stolen truck, allegedly broke into a home on Christmas Day, swiped a storage tank from a construction site, attempted to steal gasoline from cars and is suspected of stealing cash on Jan. 2. [continues 856 words]
New "soft evidence" suggests the number of people addicted to crystal meth in Grey-Bruce is on the decline for the first time, says a member of a regional task force that is working to combat the problem. Hanover Mayor Kathi Maskell, a Grey County representative on the Grey Bruce Methamphetamine Task Force, was careful, however, not to overstate the "encouraging" news, saying the decrease is likely only "slight" and much more work needs to be done before a more significant reduction is achieved. [continues 439 words]
OTTAWA -- A woman who's been waiting five months for an updated licence to use medical marijuana says the situation for patients is getting worse. Marie Tripp filed an application in August to change her licence after her doctor doubled her prescription for cannabis, and spoke to QMI Agency at the end of September about previous delays she suffered while getting renewals and changes for her licence. Tripp suffers from fibro myalgia, chronic fatigue and osteoarthritis, but doesn't use any painkillers other than marijuana. [continues 259 words]
Chalk up another victory in the war against drugs. Last week our highest court ruled the use of electricity-consumption data from a Calgary power supplier obtained without a search warrant did not constitute a violation of the Charter privacy right to be free from unreasonable searches. The immediate result of this ruling is the conviction of Daniel James Gomboc of Calgary on charges of producing marijuana and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. Police suspected a grow-op in Gomboc's home after receiving an anonymous tip, speaking with neighbours, and conducting surveillance of the house. Thinking they didn't have enough evidence to obtain a search warrant, police sought information from the local electricity supplier, Enmax. They received information showing cyclical patterns of electricity use indicative of a grow-op of some sort. [continues 486 words]
OTTAWA -- Criminals running marijuana grow-ops in their homes should have no expectation of privacy, according to a Supreme Court ruling issued Wednesday morning. The case, involving Calgary resident Daniel Gomboc, split the highest court three ways as justices argued over privacy rights. Police attached a digital recording ammeter, or DRA, to Gomboc's home in 2007. The DRA provided police with a pattern of electricity use consistent with a grow-op. Combined with other observations police made of Gomboc's home, they obtained a search warrant and found hundreds of marijuana plants. [continues 269 words]
