A group of mothers who have lost adult children to drug addiction - sometimes by taking just one fentanyl pill - are pushing past their grief to mobilize changes in health policy they say could save many other lives. Moms United and Mandated to Saving the lives of Drug Users, or mumsDU, kicked off a cross-Canada media campaign in Saanich last week, breaking the silence they say surrounds addiction-related deaths, on the rise due to the synthetic painkiller fentanyl, which is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine. [continues 551 words]
A woman who alleges Harris County sheriff's deputies held her down for a cavity search in a Texaco parking lot contends her rights were violated in a complaint filed Thursday with the sheriff 's office, her attorney said. Charnesia Corley, 21, of Spring, alleges deputies violated her Fourth Amendment protections by conducting a vaginal probe in public without a warrant. In her official complaint, Corley describes the encounter that transpired after she was stopped for a traffic violation around 10:30 p.m. on June 20. [continues 157 words]
Son's Death After Years of Struggle Led to Video Talk SYDNEY - Of all the things she loved about her son, it is his captivating smile that she remembers the most. Vince Keating beamed so brightly he could light up a room, all the while distracting others away from his darkness. "He was a really handsome guy, physically fit; you'd never know he had issues looking at him," said his mother, Debbie Keating. "When he'd talk to you, he'd make you feel like you were the only person in the world. He had this real special way of communicating to people, yet he was hiding it all inside of him." [continues 688 words]
One of the most promising themes in Governor Baker's plan to stem the surge of opiod overdoses is his vow to stop treating addicts like criminals. As Baker noted when he released details of the plan in June, addiction is a disease, and arrest and incarceration are no way to treat substance abuse. A good way for Baker to start putting that sentiment into action would be to end the Commonwealth's practice of sending women with substance abuse problems to a medium-security prison - even when they face no criminal charges. [continues 534 words]
Mary Quinn wants to make one thing perfectly clear - she does not grow pot. The southwest Santa Rosa woman emphasized the point this week when she erected three large white-and-yellow banners in her pasture identifying two neighbors as growers. Quinn said pot gardens near her home off Stony Point Road emit strong odors and attract thieves who have cut her fences to get to them, causing injury to her horses. After living with the smell and the trespassing for more than four years, she said, she got fed up and decided to out her neighbors with the signs. [continues 787 words]
SANTA ROSA (TNS) Mary Quinn wants to make one thing perfectly clear - - she does not grow pot. The southwest Santa Rosa woman emphasized the point last week when she erected three large white-and-yellow banners in her pasture identifying two neighbors as growers. Quinn said pot gardens near her home off Stony Point Road emit strong odors and attract thieves who have cut her fences to get to them, causing injury to her horses. After living with the smell and the trespassing for more than four years, she said, she got fed up and decided to out her neighbors with the signs. [continues 288 words]
State Among 10 Defendants Named in Wrongful Death Complaint SANTA FE - Just shy of the second anniversary of the death of Hannah Bruch, a 14-year-old Santa Fe girl who died after ingesting a hallucinogenic drug while attending a rave concert at Expo New Mexico, a lawsuit alleging negligence was filed against 10 defendants in Santa Fe District Court on Monday. In the wrongful death complaint filed by a representative of Hannah Bruch's estate, the defendants are listed as the state of New Mexico, three companies that co-promoted the event, two security companies, an ambulance company, a hospital, and two paramedics who provided emergency medical care at the show. [continues 751 words]
Two Victor Harbor girls have travelled more than 14,000 kilometres to trial a medical marijuana treatment for the degenerative lung disease they share. Tabetha, 12, and Georgia-Grace Fulton, eight, travelled to Victoria, Canada, to access the politically-controversial cannabis treatment. Their parents, Bobby and Marcus Fulton, believe the treatment may save their daughters' lives. Tabetha and Georgia-Grace live with a degenerative diffuse lung disease, which prevents their cells from absorbing oxygen properly, leaving the girls hooked to oxygen tanks 24 hours a day. [continues 501 words]
Martha Fernback was just 15 when she took the fatal dose of ecstasy that was 91 per cent pure, and her mum Anne-Marie Cockburn believes, had regulations been in place, she might still be alive On a sunny day two years ago Anne-Marie Cockburn's phone rang. At the end of the line was a stranger who told her that her 15-year-old daughter was gravely ill and and they were trying to save her life. Martha had swallowed half a gram of white powder. [continues 935 words]
If you need another reason to legalize marijuana, look no further than a young woman's dreams to volunteer with children and homeless people being quashed because of pot prohibition, despite never being arrested or charged. Kerry Morris's daughter's life is now forever negatively impacted by anti-marijuana laws, far more so than by any alleged marijuana use. Stories like this demonstrate how prohibition harms people and deprives us all of their ability to contribute to society. Prohibition affects millions of Canadians who use marijuana and millions of our fellow citizens have been arrested for it. Millions more have been in the same situation as this young woman. Interaction with police because of the pot laws can follow you forever. This young woman's plight is just one more example of why I and many others campaign for legalization. Anti-marijuana laws do far more damage than marijuana ever has. Jodie Emery, Vancouver [end]
With widespread anticipation that California voters could legalize recreational marijuana use for adults next year, a generation of women growers are poised to shed the term "activist" for "CEO." About two dozen women working in the North Coast's flourishing medical cannabis industry will be rubbing elbows after business hours Thursday in downtown Santa Rosa during a launch party for a local chapter of Women Grow, a for-profit networking company. The women say they aim to break through what some call the "green ceiling" of an industry traditionally run by men, with marketing heavily skewed toward able-bodied heterosexual males. [continues 950 words]
Study Finds New Faces of Addiction Rebecca Kaczynski doesn't fit the traditional image of a heroin addict. The daughter of a bank vice president and an assistant school principal, she grew up in a loving, intact, upper-middle-class family in the Central Massachusetts town of Dudley. The 23-year-old does, however, fit an emerging demographic described in a federal study of substance use trends released Tuesday: Women, people age 18 to 25, and those with higher incomes and private insurance have been increasingly falling victim to the drug. [continues 863 words]
The Conservative Party of Canada faces more challenges scoring political points with its base over drug laws now that a court has ruled patients have a constitutional right to consume medical marijuana derivatives. The Supreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that medical marijuana users can consume edible medical marijuana products such as cannabis oils, teas and brownies. That means six-year-old Liam McKnight of West Carleton does not have to smoke joints to help ease the frequent and severe seizures he experiences as a side effect of his rare form of epilepsy. [continues 485 words]
Family of Summerland toddler 'thrilled' with Supreme Court decision that makes treating her with cannabis oil legal Overjoyed only begins to describe the reaction of Kyla Williams's family to the Supreme Court of Canada's ruling that expands the definition of medical marijuana to include extracts and derivatives. The quality of life of the three-year-old Summerland girl diagnosed with intractable seizure disorder has dramatically improved since she began treatment with cannabis oil early last year. On Thursday, the high court ruled that medical marijuana patients can use cannabis-infused cookies, tea and oils without breaking the law. [continues 546 words]
Lisa Smith is outspoken about the good effect that medical marijuana has on the symptoms of her son Noah's autism. She's so passionate about it that she spoke at a public hearing before the state committee charged with making recommendations on adding qualifying conditions under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. Actually, there may not have been hearings had it not been for Smith. A couple of years ago the committee voted against autism as a qualifying condition, and once they do that the issue is usually not revisited. But after seeing the effect that marijuana had on her son's autism after she used it to treat his epilepsy, Smith sued the state Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA), which oversees medical marijuana certifications, to force the office to take another look at it. [continues 831 words]
Young Girl's Epilepsy Has Left Her Developmentally Delayed; Oil Combats Seizures THORNHILL, Ont. - Gwenevere Repetski turns three next month and she is finally able to crawl, a milestone her parents thought they would never see. She was just an infant when she was diagnosed with epilepsy, a debilitating neurological disorder that has left her developmentally delayed. "She was kind of like a bag of Jell-O," says her mother, Reagan Repetski. When she was two years old, she could hardly roll over when she was placed on her back, adds her father, Alex. [continues 1231 words]
Gwenevere Repetski turns three next month and she is finally able to crawl, a milestone her parents thought they would never see. She was just an infant when she was diagnosed with epilepsy, a debilitating neurological disorder that has left her developmentally delayed. "She was kind of like a bag of Jell-O," says her mother, Reagan Repetski. When she was two years old, she could hardly roll over when she was placed on her back, adds her father, Alex. Sitting in the living room of their Thornhill, Ont., home, the Repetskis recall their stressful and emotional journey in search of a treatment for Gwen. [continues 338 words]
Gwenevere Repetski turns three next month and she is finally able to crawl, a milestone her parents thought they would never see.. She was just an infant when she was diagnosed with epilepsy, a debilitating neurological disorder that has left her developmentally delayed. "She was kind of like a bag of Jell-O," says her mother, Reagan Repetski. When she was two, she could hardly roll over when she was placed on her back, adds her father, Alex. Disappointed at the lack of treatment options, Alex dove down the research rabbit hole. That's when he first read articles about the success some people said they were having in reducing epileptic seizures with cannabidiol, one of several active cannabinoids found in the marijuana plant. [continues 304 words]
Lawyer suggests Sick Kids may 'have discovered more problems' The "stakes are too high" to allow the Hospital for Sick Children's Motherisk laboratory to perform hair drug and alcohol tests for use in court, the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted (AIDWYC) says. In a letter to retired Appeal Court Justice Susan Lang, who is probing the reliability of five years' worth of drug tests on hair conducted by Motherisk, AIDWYC's James Lockyer argues that such analysis should only be done in a forensic lab, which has more rigorous standards than a hospital setting. [continues 860 words]
Marc and Jodie's online magazine claims pregnant women smoking pot helps with nausea and emotions - but studies say otherwise Marc Emery's online magazine, Cannabis Culture, encourages marijuana use during pregnancy for relief of nausea, loss of appetite and to help get emotions under control. "Most studies say cannabis is perfectly safe during pregnancy, but it's controversial, of course!" said Jodie Emery, Marc's wife and well-known marijuana activist. In one online article, Dr. Kathy Galbraith, known as "Dr. Kate," writes, "Pot can be safely used during pregnancy, and can help with several of the discomforts/problems associated therewith." [continues 343 words]
