Keewatin-Patricia public school board trustees not up for blowing smoke Legalized marijuana concerns public school board trustees. With the legalization of marijuana closer to becoming a reality the Keewatin-Patricia District School Board is concerned how the new law could impact its students. During the Dec. 12 monthly board meeting the educational aspect of the topic was brought up, though everyone agreed to wait until the Ministry of Education provides some direction on how to proceed with the issue. Many of the board members expressed concern students might acquire the stimulant "off the streets" since they wouldn't be of legal age to purchase it in stores. [continues 284 words]
To combat organized crime on pot sales in Ontario, legal marijuana is going to have to be competitive with the black market on price, availability, quality and variety. With legal pot coming July 1 - unless Prime Minister Justin Trudeau delays the law - Premier Kathleen Wynne's provincial government already appears to have conceded the field on price and availability. Finance Minister Charles Sousa said this week Ontario is looking at selling legal pot for about $10 per gram. That compares to an average street price in Ontario of about $8.64 per gram, according to a report by the federal parliamentary budget officer late last year. [continues 276 words]
Without question, the Ontario government's plan to regulate marijuana once the drug is legalized makes eminent sense. There's no doubt that Canada is entering unchartered waters; caution should be the watchword. We are, for the first time, legalizing the recreational use of a street drug whose broader long-term impact on the population remains uncertain and the last thing we need is to plunge into this with careless abandon. No, the provincial Liberals are not taking us back to the 1950s with the measures they have announced to control the sale of cannabis. The government is simply taking it one step at a time, and it is the right strategy. [continues 459 words]
Regulated and legal marijuana limits capacity for criminal organizations to profit Whether or not you have smoked marijuana, you could probably identify the scent of its smoke. You can smell it everywhere: parks, streets, concert venues, and even on occasion, the lawns of Parliament Hill. It has become an unauthorised part of life in Canada. However, it seems that it's unauthorized status could soon be changing. In the wake of a report issued by the Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation this past November, the Liberal Government recently tabled marijuana legislation in the House of Commons. So, with the idea of legalization quickly gaining traction, I talked with Conservative MP Bruce Stanton to get a better understanding of the implications. [continues 585 words]
Melting snow brings out the natural beauty of a community, unfortunately it also brings into sight garbage which was previously hidden underneath the snow. Among the garbage can be discarded needles, which Kenora residents have been reporting, mainly through social media, that they have found at various places, including Anicinable Park. The Northwestern Health Unit's needle exchange program, which is part of its Harm Reduction Program services, has been blamed as the source of these needles. Gillian Lunny, manager of the health unit's harm reduction program, said she cannot confirm whether the number of needles being found around Kenora in the spring of 2016 is higher or lower than in previous years. [continues 696 words]
Coderre Says Move Is About 'Public Safety' Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre didn't hold back during a joint news conference with Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau on Thursday, promising to ensure proposed drug-injection sites open in the city - even over federal objections. The mayor, who met Trudeau to discuss issues including safe injection sites, has previously said he would give the federal government until the end of the summer to approve four locations in Montreal. Coderre made it clear he will move ahead regardless. [continues 401 words]
Whitefish Bay First Nation Votes to Warn Bootleggers and Drug Dealers Whitefish Bay First Nation members voted to send a warning to alleged bootleggers and drug dealers in the community on Wednesday night. The First Nation held a band meeting and voted to kick a non-band First Nation member out of the community and create mandatory drug testing for chief and council to show the younger people in the community their leaders are drug-free. Darrell Mandamin helped start a community petition to say people have had enough with the crime in the community. As of Thursday, the petition had 164 signatures. [continues 353 words]
Substance Abuse And Mental Health Task Force Outlines Its Initiatives From Past Year The leaders of the Kenora Substance Abuse and Mental Health Task Force's five different pillars stood up at their AGM on Thursday morning, Nov. 27, to lay out what their branch of the task force has been up to for the past year and what they plan to do in the next several months. The task force has adopted a five-pillar approach to combating the variety of social ills in Kenora that stem from substance abuse and mental health problems in the community. The pillars are treatment, harm reduction, enforcement, prevention/education, and the newest pillar adopted last year: housing. [continues 1022 words]
OTTAWA- The NDP and Liberals say the Conservative-dominated health committee report on marijuana is biased, inherently flawed, and omits evidence that contradicts Conservative ideology. The health committee's report, called "Health Risks and Harms of Marijuana," recommends the government try to prevent marijuana use in Canada as well as raise awareness to the drug's harmful effects. Health committee chairman and Conservative MP Ben Lobb did not return QMI Agency's request for comment on Tuesday. The NDP and Liberals rejected the committee's majority report. New Democrats on the committee said testimony "that did not support (the Conservatives') pre-conceived views about marijuana ... was dismissed and eliminated." [continues 105 words]
One out of every five Kenora Grade 12 students smoke tobacco enough to be considered 'current smokers,' according to the Northwestern Health Unit. The health unit has released the results its annual COMPASS survey which provides a snapshot of the health and life practices of Kenora's teenagers from Grades 9 to 12. The results are based on a 30-minute survey handed out to students last April at the six high schools located throughout Northwestern Ontario. Just over 1,500 students took part in the survey, with about equal amounts of boys and girls. [continues 551 words]
OTTAWA - Marc and Jodie Emery, Canada's royal couple of marijuana, plan to take their drug-reform fight global after Marc returns home from the U.S. a free man. Soon after Marc walks across the Ambassador Bridge from Detroit into Windsor, Ont., Tuesday, Jodie said the couple will fly to Ireland and Spain on sponsored speaking gigs. Jodie has waited over four years for her husband, once the largest supplier of marijuana seeds to the U.S., to finish his sentence for conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. [continues 140 words]
Treaty Three Police's New Street Crime Unit Arrests Eight People at Powwow Treaty Three Police arrested eight people at the Wuzhushk Onigum (Rat Portage) First Nation's powwow, five of whom have been charged with drug possession. The aboriginal police service says people can expect more of the same if they decide to bring illicit drugs and alcohol to powwows elsewhere in the Treaty 3 area this summer. According to Treaty Three Police Detective Terry McCaffrey, the operation at Rat Portage's powwow was one of the first for the force's brand new Street Crime Unit, which was formed on July 1. [continues 526 words]
Handling Out Kits to Save Opiate Users From Dying of an Overdose Overdosing is one of the many dangers people addicted to hard drugs have to face every time they have to feed their habit. Almost every abuser of opiate-based drugs overdoses at some point, sometimes with fatal consequences; 300 to 400 people die every year in Ontario of a drug overdoes. To help prevent more deaths, Kenora's needle exchange programs will be giving out new take-home kits that will allow people to save the life of their overdosing friend or family member. [continues 399 words]
Three quarters of Kenora's students say they have at least one close friend who drinks alcohol. That's according to a new report published by the Northwestern Health Unit on Friday looking into local students' attitudes towards drugs and alcohol. The report is based on data that was collected from Kenora's Grade 7 to 12 students in a survey in 2010. While the study focuses mainly on the perception of drug use, it does have some indication of the rates of drug use in Kenora's young people. [continues 294 words]
Kenora's needle exchange increased 28 per cent last year - and that's normal. The Northwestern Health Unit program mostly based out of the Morning Star detox centre handed out 69,340 needles in 2011, up from 49,720 in 2010. Rather than considering the steady increases as evidence of ballooning illicit drug use, Morning Star detox centre manager Patti-Dryden Holmstrom views it as successfully injecting safety into the streets. "The needle exchange is an entry level service," she said. "People who might not access our service in any other way are coming through our doors to use that service. This is an opportunity for unit attendants at Morning Star to have other crucial conversations like safe usage patterns and safe disposal... We try to make the best use of that meeting." [continues 491 words]
This isn't your dad's weed. Studies show the levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component in marijuana, is more than nine times higher in drugs on the street today than the era of peace and love. "In the 1960s the average potency of a joint of marijuana was probably less than one per cent," Dr. Sherry Reed-Walkiewicz said. "Now, the average potency is somewhere in the order of nine to 10 per cent and so that's basically nine-times the potency, which is nine times the psychogenic effect, which is toxic to the brain and particularly so in young people." [continues 390 words]
Under the streetlights, the teenagers left their mark on the pavement. The message: Parents need to intervene to keep their children away from drugs. We Talk Fearlessly (WTF) met at 10 p.m. Wednesday in the Safeway parking lot armed with pizza and sidewalk chalk to offer empowerment tips for parents through street art. "We're doing this to get the message across and let people know that you have a voice," said 17 year-old Stefanie Adams. "We want people to know that drugs are stupid and there are so many things you could be doing that are better." [continues 140 words]
If Kenora residents want significant improvements in crime deterrence and prevention in the city, they are going to have to get involved themselves. If Kenora residents want significant improvements in crime deterrence and prevention in the city, they are going to have to get involved themselves. Kenora Police Services Chief Dan Jorgensen said this is the message he wants to convey to the community because his officers are some of the busiest in the entire province. "This is the busiest municipal police service in Ontario in terms of crime rate per capita," said Jorgensen during a recent candid interview. [continues 561 words]
People Urged To Share Ideas, Form Partnerships Assembly of First Nations speaker Dean Fontaine is urging local First Nations to focus on drug prevention. An expert on gang activity and aboriginal communities based in Winnipeg, Fontaine urged people to share ideas and form partnerships, as they fight together against crystal meth. "It's just starting up and any ideas will be beneficial to the communities," he said. His speech was part of a two-day forum sponsored by Treaty 3 at the Best Western Lakeside Inn. It's part of their new drug prevention strategy, which chiefs in assembly supported during their spring session at Lac Seul. [continues 381 words]
Whitefish Bay Residents Decided Wednesday to Take Concrete Steps Against Alcohol Bootleggers and Drug Traffickers. Whitefish Bay residents decided Wednesday to take concrete steps against alcohol bootleggers and drug traffickers. Community leaders have drafted a letter, which will be circulated to those suspected of selling contraband within the First Nation, and it will be asking them to stop their activities. Otherwise, band council will pass a resolution expelling them from the reserve. Band members are also considering implementing drug testing for band employees. [continues 497 words]
