Three years after recreational marijuana was legalized in California, it still casts a cloud over most job applicants. Many employers in the state still require drug screening as a prerequisite for hiring someone, experts in the hiring field say. And while recreational use and possession are allowed for people 21 and older, failing a drug test can still prompt an employer to toss a resume into the reject pile. But with 11 states now legalizing recreational marijuana use, there are new perspectives that might be giving workers something of a break. [continues 517 words]
As California enters its third year of legal recreational cannabis sales, many expect upcoming new laws, high-profile court cases and major criminal justice reforms to shake up the industry. Marijuana advocates are wary after a challenging second year, but most also are hopeful that changes in 2020 will put them in a better position a year from now. "We always knew it would be an uphill battle," said Robert Flannery of Dr. Robb Farms, a cannabis cultivation company based in Desert Hot Springs. "But there are very few people who are not generally optimistic about the cannabis industry." [continues 971 words]
Southern California immigrant with DACA status travels to Mexico so he can become a legal permanent resident. But instead of getting the OK for a green card, he's prevented from re-entering U.S. Jose Palomar packed only a small suitcase because he thought his trip to Mexico would be brief. Seeking legal permanent residency, he had no choice but to go. But now, nearly two months later, he's still in Mexico and barred from returning to his home in the United States. [continues 1567 words]
In the next few weeks, Nicholas DiPatrizio's lab at UC Riverside will receive a shipment of marijuana. DiPatrizio, a professor of biomedical sciences, then will begin giving mice precise doses of cannabis oil to see how marijuana impacts their weight and a host of serious health conditions often linked to obesity. The study marks the first time UC Riverside has received federal approval to conduct research on marijuana -- or any other substance in the Drug Enforcement Administration's strict Schedule I category. It also marks the school's first cannabis-related grant, with $744,000 from tobacco taxes being used to finance this three-year research project on how marijuana affects metabolic health. [continues 1049 words]
Riverside County's cannabis task force says it seized more than 100 pounds of cannabis and an estimated $75,000 to $100,000 in cash Friday, Sept. 14, from three sites where The Vault Church says it uses marijuana as a religious sacrament. The task force, led by the District Attorney's Office, served search warrants at three locations operated by The Vault: 291 N. Yale St., Hemet; 5298 Mission Blvd., Jurupa Valley; and 5024 Etiwanda Ave., Jurupa Valley. At the Etiwanda location, they also found two indoor grows, seized 200 to 300 plants in various stages of harvest and found what they believe to be the remnants of a butane honey oil lab, according to a news release. [continues 223 words]
Barbara Tillis isn't sure when she'll get to see her son, Corvain Cooper, again. Every few months for the past four years, Tillis, has driven five hours with her husband, daughter and Cooper's oldest daughter, making the trip from Rialto to the federal prison in Atwater, near Merced. They'd spend the day visiting and chatting, and guards would let each family member give Cooper exactly one hug. When the visit was over, they'd reluctantly pile into the car and drive home. [continues 2434 words]
Cannabis sales likely won't prove a financial bonanza. Those counting on help from cannabis sales to balance the provincial budget are in for a disappointment. As far as Statistics Canada can tell, cannabis prices in this country have been dropping for the past three years, perhaps the past dozen years. Since weed-market watchers in the United States have found roughly the same thing, it's probably true. Canada's provincial treasurers, along with private investors in the cannabis trade, may still be able to turn a profit, but the bonanza that used to beckon has probably evaporated already. [continues 618 words]
An Inland church that uses marijuana to worship is embroiled in a bitter dispute with Jurupa Valley, which alleges the Vault Church of Open Faith is primarily a pot store and has been trying to shut it down for more than a year. An association representing the church and about 15 others like it fired back Friday, April 13, filing a claim against the city seeking $1.2 million in damages and alleging harassment and discrimination. Church leaders say they smoke marijuana or eat edibles as part of spiritual meditation as a religious sacrament, but city officials say they're using religion as a front for selling pot. [continues 887 words]
CALIFORNIA SLOW TO ACCEPT PROP. 64 Recreational marijuana is legal in California, but it probably isn't legal to buy in your city. Fewer than one in three cities in California have approved any kind of cannabis industry, and only a sliver of cities allow recreational pot shops. The Southern California News Group has tracked the rules for every city and county in California, to show the patchwork of rules governing a product that became street legal four months ago. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group) [continues 1645 words]
More than half the charges laid against London marijuana dispensary staffers and operators swept up in a series of raids on the illegal businesses in the past two years have been withdrawn, court records examined by The Free Press show. London police have launched seven raids in three separate crackdowns on city pot shops since August 2016, resulting in 49 charges against 15 people. But court records show 25 of those charges - mostly for possession for the purposes of trafficking - were later withdrawn and resolved through peace bonds, a non-plea order requiring the person to be on good behaviour for a set period of time. [continues 773 words]
The Riverside City Council voted Tuesday, March 27, to have staff members prepare an expansive ban on marijuana-related activities. The ban, which must be approved as a city ordinance before it takes effect, would replace Riverside's current moratorium that temporarily bans most marijuana business. Councilman Chuck Conder proposed the ban, which would prohibit the retail and commercial sale, commercial cultivation, distribution, and outdoor cultivation of medical marijuana plants. He did so after a delegation of city officials who traveled to Denver, including Conder himself, gave a three-hour presentation on the effects of marijuana legalization there. [continues 469 words]
Moreno Valley officials have set the stage for a range of legal marijuana businesses to open in Riverside County's second-largest city while limiting the number of commercial pot enterprises to 27 -- eight of them dispensaries. The widely anticipated move, approved Tuesday, March 20, comes as the city is working to shut down illegal pot stores. City Attorney Martin Koczanowicz said that since last summer the city has discovered 20 dispensaries operating illegally in Moreno Valley and closed 15. It's now working to eliminate the other five. [continues 607 words]
Deadly fentanyl is tightening its grip on London's jail, with reports of several female inmates overdosing early this week, one needing five doses of naloxone spray to be revived. Twice in the last week, large amounts were found on women trying to smuggle the druginto the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre (EMDC), sources say. The province confirmed Wednesday four female inmates were found in medical distress Monday night. "Staff acted quickly in attending to the inmates and calling 911. Paramedics arrived and transported three inmates to the hospital, while the other inmate was attended to by staff at the facility," said Andrew Morrison, spokesperson for the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services. [continues 354 words]
Two people using fentanyl at London's temporary overdose prevention site on the weekend were resuscitated by a nurse after they overdosed, Middlesex-London's medical officer of health says. "These people were inexperienced, and fentanyl is a drug where it's easy to miscalculate how much you are taking. If this had happened in a back alley or stairwell somewhere, it could have easily resulted in death," Dr. Chris Mackie said Sunday. The drug users were resuscitated Saturday using oxygen, he said. [continues 492 words]
Investment firm head says he'd spend $25,000 to fight cannabis-impaired driving provisions As experts warn of flaws with the cannabis-impaired driving provisions of Bill C-46, a high-profile Canadian cannabis industry executive has vowed to bankroll a future court challenge against that aspect of the proposed law. Chuck Rifici, the CEO of cannabis industry investment firm Wheaton Income Corp., and the former chief financial officer of the Liberal Party of Canada, said he would commit up to $25,000 to fund such a challenge. [continues 1087 words]
The haze around pot revenue for cities is beginning to clear, but one Southwestern Ontario mayor doesn't like what he's seeing. Municipalities are no longer in the dark about the dollars they'll get to deal with the rollout of legalized marijuana, after the province announced Friday that $40 million from the tax on legalized marijuana will flow to cities in the next two years. Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley said the numbers don't add up, pointing to the 444 municipalities in Ontario that have to share that cash. [continues 305 words]
Nearly three weeks in, London's temporary overdose-prevention site - the first of its kind in the province - has gone from four drug users a day to 44, and front-line workers are beaming. The stripped-down supervised consumption facility opened Feb. 12, a quick, co-ordinated response to the growing number of opioid overdoses among London drug users. As of Tuesday, staff were seeing as many as 44 clients a day. "Clients are having trouble believing it. It's too good to be true," said Sonja Burke, needle exchange director at the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection. [continues 325 words]
This is a follow-up of my two letters in The Daily Press dated March 29, 2017 titled "PM's head going to pot" and Dec. 20, 2017 titled "Medical marijuana has no medicinal value." I managed to get an updated publication dated April 13, 2017 titled "Health Effects of cannabis" from Health Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and readers can find this Health Canada publication with an online search. The publication clearly summarizes the short-term health effects, long-term health effects, risks of illegal cannabis, mental health effects, health effects on youth, health effects on pregnancy and children, and addiction. [continues 352 words]
A NORTHERN Manitoba First Nation is building a permanent checkstop on the only highway into the community to combat the illegal drug and liquor trade. "It's like a border crossing and you'll have no choice but to go through it. And if you don't want to be searched, you're not going to go in," Norway House Chief Ron Evans said. The small building next to Highway 373 looks a bit like a transport safety weigh station. As of this month, the Norway House Cree Nation Safety and Security Checkpoint will be open 24/7. Its official opening is scheduled for Feb. 24. [continues 1309 words]
OTTAWA - Setting up tattoo parlours and needle-exchange programs in penitentiaries would help reduce the spread of hepatitis C, the federal prison service has told the Trudeau government. A Correctional Service memo obtained under the Access to Information Act advises Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to round out existing and planned measures to fight hepatitis and HIV in prison. Prison tattooing and needle-exchange programs for drug users have generated intense controversy over the years, and the March 2017 memo says detailed research should be carried out before embarking on a syringe needle program, in particular, "to avoid unintended and negative consequences for inmates." [continues 459 words]
