This was not your ordinary cooking class. Barb Mahy was making her basic "canna chocolates," a simple mix of semi-sweet chocolate, coconut butter and a cannabis tincture mix with glycerine and water which she melted and poured into moulds. About a dozen people sat at tables and chairs to watch the demonstration Saturday upstairs in The Barn, a wellness co-operative in a refurbished barn along Highway 26 between Meaford and Thornbury. Along with 20 vendors and five practitioners, the co-op has an education mandate fulfilled with events like this. [continues 965 words]
A Needle Exchange Program operates in several sites across the county in Clinton, Seaforth and Goderich. In Clinton it is offered through the Huron County Health Unit, in Goderich it is offered through Choices For Change and in Seaforth it is through Dr. Datema's Methadone clinic. However, the Health Unit in Clinton is used the most due to its accessibility. The health unit's website states: "Like all health units in Ontario, the Huron County Health Unit offers a needle exchange program at several sites across the county. [continues 322 words]
Linda Birks was only a handful of kilometers away from her new home in Port Albert when she became caught in a thunderstorm and drove her car off the road, down a ditch and into a hydro pole. The trip was supposed to have been the beginning of a new start, she said. Her plan that night of Aug. 17 was to drive her car, loaded with most of her belongings, the two hours to her new apartment, unload and then head back to Guelph to care for her 10 cats and four ferrets that were waiting for her. [continues 1580 words]
The popularity of cocaine with 18 to 25 year olds in Huron County is growing, said Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Detective Constable Max Miller of the Huron County Drug Office, Community Drug Action Team. All street drugs are present in Huron Count y , but cocaine is becoming more popular with this demographic because it is seen as a party drug that has fewer negative side effects than methamphetamine, the detective said during a public forum the night of Oct. 19. "It's hard for us to combat cocaine usage because you can be a functioning addict but hold down a 9-to-5 job. So it's hard for us to kind of get into the cocaine scene because it's not like methamphetamine where people are doing anything they have to to get it," he said. [continues 789 words]
Clean, Safe And Addressing A Growing Need Clean needles keep everyone safe. The Huron County Health Unit is still working with community partners to implement a new needle exchange program. The program has been in place in the county since November, when it was passed at the Board of Health. While there are a couple locations for intravenous drug users to get and return clean needles currently in the county, the need for increased accessible service is still very prevalent. Prior to the implementation of a local program, Huron County users were traveling to Middlesex and Perth counties for needles and supplies. While it is not an exact number, Public Health Nurse at the HCHU, Shelley Spence, said county residents used between 5,000- 10,000 needles a month - mostly obtained at exchange clinics in London. [continues 414 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. "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]
The Supreme Court of Canada has issued a rather noteworthy ruling, reminding police and school officials that our high school students do not leave behind their rights to privacy when they walk through the doors and hallways of our school system. The ruling stemmed from a case in 2002 in a Sarnia high school when a police dog uncovered narcotics in an unattended backpack during a search of the premises. As a result, a 17-year-old student was charged with drug offences. [continues 196 words]
"I'll run it low for the next couple of days," says John - who asked his real name not be used - as he inspects the progress of his hydroponic plants. "See those leaves and how they're curling up at the edges? It could be because the fan is drying them out or because they are getting too much fertilizer." Here, tucked in an upstairs corner of a Huron County home, high-pressure sodium (HPS) lightly casts a pinkish glow over 15 neatly arranged marijuana plants, each poking out one-and-a-half to two feet above a plastic insulating sheet. [continues 2054 words]
To the Editor: After all the government says about cannabis (marijuana / the devil weed) through the years, how do citizens know they are telling the truth about meth (Council On Drug Abuse Give Students The Facts About Meth, Feb. 28, 2007)? According to the government, cannabis is the biggest problem in North America, just ask the Drug Czar who just propagandized in Canada. Today's pot is more like cocaine, causing cancer and all. Cannabis is a Schedule I drug, while meth is only a schedule II drug; so meth must not be a big deal, right? What's the truth? Truthfully, Stan White Dillon, Colorado [end]
The Crystal Meth Explosion Reached The Classrooms Of Goderich District Collegiate Institute Wednesday The crystal meth explosion reached the classrooms of Goderich District Collegiate Institute Wednesday, with a presentation by the Council on Drug Abuse. Heather Hodgson Schleich delivered the presentation, bringing years of experience with her, both as a police officer and as an educator. To begin with, she outlined the basic functioning of the brain, the transmission of information and the effects various drugs have on it. Once the focus shifted to meth, things got much darker. [continues 458 words]
Goderich Signal-Star - Dear Editor: (Re Court ruling on drugs good news, Jan. 7) You appear ecstatic that Parliament is now supreme when it comes to criminalizing the dietary choices of Canadians. That body is now free to authorize the imprisonment of those who choose to ingest or sell substances it deems harmful to society. Given the resources at its commend to "prove" that this or that substance is indeed harmful to self or society, who can doubt that the way is now clear for the state to ban the possession or "trafficking" of alcohol, tobacco, coffee, sugar, chocolate, milk, tea, licorice, etc., etc.? [continues 55 words]
Goderich Signal-Star - Dear Editor: Thanks for publishing this letter by Robert Sharpe. Neither my country, nor yours, can endure another 80 years of a failed policy such as our drug war. Many citizens don't realize how many of our problems are related to prohibition and not the drugs themselves. Not to discount the problems experienced by addicts. The fact is that the majority of drug users don't have any problems until the criminal justice system gets involved. The crime, corruption, death and disease that are so rampant in our nation are due to prohibition, not the drugs themselves. [continues 222 words]
Dear Editor: There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs (Court ruling on drugs good news, Jan. 7). Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers will continue to come into contact with addictive drugs like cocaine. This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. [continues 206 words]
Dear Editor: In last week's editorial (Court ruling on drugs good news, Jan. 7) you wrote that "the court ruled 6-3 that making marijuana possession a criminal offence does not violate Charter of Rights guarantees of liberty and security of person." You continued by saying "following the decision, Martin said the government would reintroduce a marijuana bill that died in November when Parliament was prorogued. The bill would decriminalize the activity, which means people caught with small amounts would face fines rather than prison. [continues 434 words]
They finally got one right. After months of debate and discussion the Supreme Court of Canada must be commended They finally got one right. After months of debate and discussion the Supreme Court of Canada must be commended for ruling that possession of marijuana should remain a criminal offence until the government decides to change the law. Their decision to uphold the law, announced just before the Christmas holidays, was somewhat lost during the holiday hype. Supreme Court lawyers were forced to make a ruling after three B.C. men launched an appeal arguing it was unconstitutional to use the law to punish a harmless activity. The court ruled 6-3 that making marijuana possession a criminal offence does not violate Charter of Rights guarantees of liberty and security of person. [continues 192 words]
