Some remain skeptical the proposed Cannabis Act (Bill C-45) will achieve one of its primary objectives: protecting youth from cannabis-related harms. Some feel the minimum age should be higher than the minimum age for alcohol, worried that those under 25 seem more vulnerable to dependence and health problems linked to long-term, heavy use.

Critics of the proposed minimum age may be overlooking another primary objective: displacing the black-market. Young adults aged 18 to 24 represent one third of the market. The act attempts to strike a balance between keeping marijuana away from minors and cash away from criminals.

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Doctors who treat youth have serious concerns about the legalization of marijuana.

With universities and schools providing few details around strategies for marijuana legalization, doctors who treat youth have serious concerns about the inevitable increase in use and the impending impacts of what can be a dangerous drug.

Dr. Chris Wilkes, Alberta Health Services head of child and adolescent psychiatry, said educators "need to ramp it up" in terms of creating environments to ensure safety and informing youths about the health effects of marijuana.

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Canada is moving closer to the legalization of recreational Cannabis this summer. Federal legislation is awaiting Senate approval and all the provinces have developed their implementation approach. Governments across the country rarely agree on anything. But as we embark on this change, they have been unanimous in agreeing that their top policy objective is the protection of youth.

We know what the approaches and commitments have been from various governments, so we are in a good position to know whether their actions reflect their words. So far, the simple answer is no.

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Brighton - People consume marijuana because it relaxes them but the prospect of its recreational use becoming legal is making police anxious.

"Anticipated issues" include "easier access for the youth population," impaired operation of vehicles, and the "facilitation of trafficking," OPP Detective-Sergeant Rick Dupuis said in a presentation to Brighton council on the implications of the federal law that is to take effect sometime after July 1.

"The provincial and federal governments indicate that this act was introduced to minimize or mitigate accessibility to our young population but in my professional opinion I believe that is ... counterintuitive," he told council Feb. 20. "It's going to make it much easier."

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Medical marijuana added to health-insurance plan

Medical marijuana will soon be part of health insurance for students at UBC Okanagan.

The one-year pilot program will begin in September. University of Waterloo began a similar plan in 2014.

The idea was initiated by Michelle Thiessen, chairwoman of the Okanagan chapter of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and a UBCO graduate student.

Without coverage for medical marijuana, students are left covering 100 per cent of the costs while still paying into the student health insurance plan, she said.

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Following the death of her son Conner in 2013, Yvonne Clark has been sharing her story with students and parents across the region.

In presentations to young people ranging from Grade 6 to Grade 12, Clark talks about her family's experience, about the dangers of fentanyl, and about the growing number of Albertans who have died of opioid overdoses.

What she hopes to include soon as part of that presentation is a series of images that will put a face to the fentanyl statistics. Clark is appealing to other Albertans who have lost a loved one to an opioid overdose to send her a photo of the victim, with the aim of educating young people across the province about the crisis.

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Dundas mom says 17-year-old is on 'lockdown' in home after knife-wielding outburst

When his father roused his son from a drug-induced slumber, he flew into a rage.

The 17-year-old ended up pulling a knife and locking his dad out in the freezing cold.

Now, his parents take turns watching him - constantly.

"We just kind of keep him down on what we call 'lockdown,'" says his mom, a school teacher who lives in Dundas.

Her son is addicted to drugs and alcohol. He has tried to kill himself, been in and out of hospital, in homeless shelters and jail.

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A new multi-site study has found that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more likely to engage in substance use than youngsters without the disorder and had higher rates of marijuana and cigarette use going into adulthood.

The study's takeaway message, suggested lead author Brooke Molina, should be that parents of children with ADHD need to keep in touch with their children's activities and friends, even into the teenage years.

"They should keep their antenna up," said Molina, a psychiatry professor with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

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Langara journalism students attended the Jan. 18 Vancouver Police Board meeting

When I'm not searching for the truth, or driving my sports-crazy kids around the Lower Mainland -- or deciding whether my tea of the day should be "super green matcha" or turmeric and ginger - I sometimes impart my semi-mad journalism skills on Langara College students.

And sometimes, like last Thursday, those students join me on the job.

We attended a Vancouver Police Board meeting, where we heard Insp. Bill Spearn of the VPD's major crime section tell us that overdose deaths in the city are still at a crisis level - at least 335 people are suspected of dying in 2017, with more than 80 per cent of the deaths connected to fentanyl.

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Young adults responded to a voluntary survey about what they think about the legalization of marijuana. Here's what they had to say:

These are some thoughts from some Prince Albert young people who were asked a few questions about what they think about the soon to be legalization of marijuana. I was interested and thought others might be too. The students were given a 10-question written questionnaire. They were aged 16 to 21.

When asked what its legalization meant to them personally, the consensus was that it was a good idea and mainly because of what they considered to be the medicinal values of the plant. They spoke of its ability to help people with cancer, seizures, and anxiety. They felt it could treat people with pain and stress. They felt it could calm people down. They saw it as a natural product as it comes from a plant. They saw its legalization as "freedom".

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Health Canada's consultation with Canadians on the regulation of marijuana is down to its final days. But what exactly does the government wants us to comment on?

Do officials want us to question the stated objectives? Or perhaps they want us to ask why they're being dishonest about their consultation process?

We're in the middle of an opioid crisis that has already killed thousands of Canadians and will likely kill thousands more. That clouds this conversation.

Yet our experience with other drugs and even ordinary consumer products tells us that government regulations to protect public health by ensuring product safety and quality control are extremely important.

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To help the local youth identify and avoid the decisions that can lead to severe drug addiction, members of the Okanagan Correctional Centre were at Tuc-el-Nuit Elementary School last week to have a frank discussion with the Grade 5, 6 and 7 students.

The conversation was led by assistant deputy warden Keith Pearce and security officer Mitch Fritz, who spoke about their volunteer experiences doing outreach in Vancouver's downtown Eastside. Joining them on their missions are players from the Penticton Vees.

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Police in Hingham are investigating after a student at the South Shore Educational Collaborative School allegedly supplied classmates with cookies that were laced with marijuana, officials said Monday.

According to a public notice posted to the department's website, police were called to the school Thursday, after the student, who wasn't named in the report, had distributed the cookies to at least five other people.

Police said the students who ate the cookies, who were between the ages of 16 and 17, were "evaluated by a school nurse who believed the students were under the influence of marijuana."

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Q: Our 16-year-old son smokes dope daily. We see his grades slipping from last year. He keeps talking about it being legalized and therefore not harmful. How do we get him to understand that he still shouldn't be smoking?

A: How one addresses the issue depends on how one understands the problem. Regular marijuana use in teens can occur if they become addicted to the substance or it may be masking an undiagnosed mental health problem such as depression or anxiety. Or your son may be otherwise well but enjoying the substance and simply not conforming to your expectations.

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The recent announcement by the provincial government that marijuana use will be restricted to private residences to help limit its impact on communities and public health ignores the rights of children to protection from second-hand smoke in their homes.

Marijuana smoke is a recognized carcinogen and as with exposure to tobacco smoke, can cause serious health risks for those involved. Nearly one-third of deaths from tobacco second-hand smoke exposure are children, many of whom are infants.

Pamela McColl,

Vancouver

[end]

Juan Luis Lagunas Rosales was born in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, a mecca for cartels and the land of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. Lagunas grew up never knowing his father. His mother left him with his grandmother as a child.

Lagunas left his hometown at the age of 15 without finishing high school, moving to the nearby municipality of Culiacan and washing cars to make a living, he said in an interview in July. It was in this adopted town that he took on the nickname that would later become known across cyberspace: "El Pirata de Culiacan," or "The Pirate of Culiacan."

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TORONTO - Ontario adolescents are drinking, smoking and using cannabis and other recreational drugs at the lowest rates since the late 1970s, suggests a biennial survey of Grade 7 to 12 students by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

But the 2017 survey released Thursday turned up a disturbing finding: almost one per cent of respondents in Grades 9 to 12 reported having taken illicit fentanyl in the previous year, raising a red flag given the opioid's involvement in hundreds of overdose deaths across the country.

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Ontario adolescents are drinking, smoking and using cannabis and other recreational drugs at the lowest rates since the late 1970s, suggests a biennial survey of Grade 7 to 12 students by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

But the 2017 survey released Thursday turned up a disturbing finding: almost one per cent of respondents in Grades 9 to 12 reported having taken illicit fentanyl in the previous year, raising a red flag given the opioid's involvement in hundreds of overdose deaths across the country.

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Health officials are disappointed that the province has set the legal age for marijuana consumption at 19 years.

The consensus among provincial and national health organizations is that the minimum age should be 21, and some believe it should be even older, said Dr. Phil Tibbo, director of the Nova Scotia Early Psychosis Program and a psychiatry professor at Dalhousie University.

"Regular cannabis use can actually have a significant impact on brain development up until about your mid-20s," he said in an interview Thursday.

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A group of Alberta's future doctors are calling on the provincial government to use cannabis tax revenue to fund mental health initiatives for youth.

At least, that will be the pitch when 40 medical students from the University of Alberta and University of Calgary get together Monday with MLAs from various parties.

The Alberta Medical Students' Association has previously used its annual meeting at the legislature to push for investments in mental health, but this time the group wants funding for young adults and children at risk of adverse childhood experience. They are also calling for the formation of a cannabis and youth advisory board to work on future prevention, education and intervention efforts.

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