Re: Welcome to 'legalized dope-pushing' (SP, July 24). With respect, I must disagree with Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti, president of the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), regarding medical marijuana. His comments in the cited article are misinformed and misleading. After I recently reviewed the medical literature on cannabis for a presentation to my colleagues, I can attest that there are, in fact, hundreds of studies that show the benefits of cannabis in treating conditions as varied as cancer and the effects of chemotherapy, chronic pain, HIV, multiple sclerosis, intractable epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, and many others. [continues 484 words]
The political debate over marijuana legalization in Canada could soon intensify following a New York Times editorial that calls for the U.S. federal government to repeal its 44-year ban on pot. The influential newspaper, which says the question of legalization should be left up to individual U.S. states, is running a six-day series on the issue and has reignited a hot debate among Americans. It concluded the ban has inflicted "great harm on society just to prohibit a substance far less dangerous than alcohol." [continues 291 words]
OTTAWA - Licensed medical marijuana companies are sending representatives to doctors' offices as part of a push to get hesitant physicians to prescribe the drug more often. It's a development that has dismayed Dr. Louis Hugo Francescutti, the president of the Canadian Medical Association, who says that a largely unproven treatment is now being thrust upon doctors, leaving them caught between at least some patients looking to score drugs and the vendors looking to peddle them. "I'm actually quite frightened," he said. [continues 699 words]
Veterans Affairs Canada is considering capping its medical marijuana program, limiting how many grams of pot former military personnel can receive, and how much the government will pay. Veterans Affairs wants to ensure costs for the burgeoning program don't spiral out of control. The cap, proposed last month, is also aimed at addressing medical concerns over the efficacy and safety of using marijuana for medicinal reasons. Federally, Veterans Affairs Canada is the only publicly funded payer for medical marijuana. Veterans who have a doctor's note for marijuana can receive regular benefits from the government to cover all, or most, of the costs. [continues 184 words]
Police in Ontario search a car and discover almost $30,000 cash and items suggestive of marijuana production. There isn't enough evidence to charge the driver under federal criminal laws, but authorities seize the cash under provincial civil forfeiture laws. In Edmonton, a man and woman get into a fight at a nightclub. Police do not file assault charges. Instead, they slap a $500 fine against one of them under a municipal bylaw that prohibits public fighting. In Canada, the authority to create criminal laws is supposed to be the exclusive domain of the federal government. Yet there has been a worrisome and "growing trend" of provinces and municipalities enacting "criminal law through the back door," says a newly published article in the journal Canadian Public Administration. [continues 468 words]
Canada's health regulator is proposing new rules to prevent abuse of the medical marijuana system by patients and doctors. Health Canada is proposing that licensed commercial medical marijuana suppliers be required to periodically hand over to provincial authorities records showing the names of doctors who have authorized marijuana use, as well as basic information about their patients, including the quantities prescribed to them and period of use. These measures, officials say, will help to monitor for and prevent doctors from prescribing "high dosages" and patients from going to more than one doctor to get prescriptions ("double doctoring") or going to more than one producer. [continues 138 words]
Hard Evidence Sought An upcoming clinical trial from Saskatoon's CanniMed Ltd. will test the safety and efficacy of using medical marijuana to manage arthritic pain, the first study of its kind. Health Canada recently approved an application from Prairie Plant Systems, CanniMed's parent company, to test the use of cannabis in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee. With scant medical evidence to back up anecdotal evidence, doctors are looking for reliable proof cannabis can help pain management, said company president and CEO Brent Zettl. [continues 485 words]
WASHINGTON - A pair of newly released reports show two countries moving in opposite directions on law and order: Canada gearing up for stricter sentencing laws just as the tough-on-crime era winds down in the United States. Canada's auditor general issued a warning last week about increasingly overcrowded prisons in an era of stiffer jail terms. Meanwhile, in the U.S., these are tough times to be tough on crime. The prison population actually receded in the U.S. in recent years, a new study shows - a dramatic shift from a decades-long trend that made the United States the undisputed world leader in incarceration with more than two million prisoners, or one-quarter of the entire international total. [continues 743 words]
Given Saskatchewan's dubious distinction of being a national leader with a rate of impaired driving fatalities that's more than three times the Canadian average, the Traffic Safety Act changes in June that will adopt zero tolerance for drug or alcohol use by novices behind the wheel is laudable. Although further provisions that will subject all drug-impaired drivers to the same sanctions as alcohol-impaired drivers - such as roadside licence suspensions and vehicle impoundment - also are in keeping with the spirit of protecting the public as well as the drivers themselves from the consequences of their actions, SGI could be creating a lot of business for lawyers on cases that end up being tossed out of court. [continues 411 words]
Province toughens consequences for high drivers despite uphill battle to convict A heavy hammer will come down on new drivers who use any amount of alcohol or drugs after changes to the Traffic Safety Act take effect June 27. Vehicles will be impounded immediately for three days and driving suspensions will double to 60 days for drivers charged with driving over the legal limit, refusing to give a breath sample or driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol. Drivers under the age of 19 or in the graduated licensing programs for vehicles or motorcycles will also be required to take driving without impairment courses within four months of being charged, even if they are not found guilty in court. [continues 679 words]
Explosive hash oil extraction operations that cater to electronic cigarette users wanting to get high are not yet a concern in Saskatchewan, law enforcement officials say. Provincial RCMP shared its view on the problem shortly after the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team warned citizens about the dangers of volatile hash oil production operations, which are believed to be increasing in number as the popularity of electronic cigarettes surges. Hash oil - which can be produced by soaking marijuana leaves, stems and buds in liquid butane or isopropyl alcohol and then boiling away the liquid to leave a potent resin - can be easily and inconspicuously "vaped" through the vapour-cigarettes. The process of extracting the resin is highly volatile and has been blamed for a handful of fatal fires in the United States and Alberta. [continues 432 words]
PENTICTON, B.C. - When a retired police officer from Summerland, B.C., left his job after 25 years, he hardly imagined fighting for his little granddaughter to be given marijuana. Chris Nuessler, along with his wife, Elaine, wants Canada to allow two-year-old Kyla Williams to be given a form of medical marijuana known to prevent seizures resulting from epilepsy. The girl's parents, Jared and Courtney Williams, along with the Nuesslers, have been researching medical pot use and speaking with experts to build what they're calling "Kyla's medical team." [continues 549 words]
OTTAWA - They might have a temporary reprieve, but pain-stricken Canadians who grow their own medical marijuana say they could soon face a difficult choice: go without the weed they need or break the law to get it. A Federal Court judge recently granted an injunction that allows thousands of patients to continue cultivating their own marijuana at home, or designate someone to grow it for them - at least until their legal challenge of planned new rules can be argued more fully. [continues 683 words]
A Corporation. a Family Farm. Two Views on the Coming Boom in Medical Marijuana Come harvest time at Saskatoon's CanniMed Ltd., six employees wearing masks and gloves crowd around a short conveyor belt handpicking stems from mounds of dried marijuana as the product is pushed into a large, clear plastic bag. It's not a common site anywhere in Canada, and to see it is a revelation of industrial marijuana production. It's also one of 281 points of quality control CanniMed's parent company, Prairie Plant Systems (PPS), developed in its 13 years of supplying Health Canada with medical marijuana. [continues 1695 words]
Unlike politicians who are riding high in the polls, I have never used pot, or any other illegal drug for that matter. That puts me out of touch with voters both north and south of the border, which more or less is the story of my life. I am in good shape locally, as Saskatoon has the highest percentage of arrests for pot possession in the country. In Halifax you have an 82 per cent chance of being let off by the police if you are caught with a small amount of marijuana, while in Saskatoon you have an 82 per cent chance of being charged. You are 35 per cent more likely to be charged if you are in possession of some pot in Saskatoon than anywhere else in Canada. [continues 664 words]
In City police lay most pot charges (SP, Jan. 18) Dana Larsen, director for a group campaigning to decriminalize cannabis in B.C., denigrated Saskatoon police for charging 82 per cent of people they encountered in possession of marijuana compared to police in cities such as Halifax who only charged 18 per cent. The story had a negative connotation toward Saskatoon police when in reality the people of Saskatoon can be very proud of the officers they have hired to enforce the laws. Those of us whose brain cells are not yet fried understand that Canadians make the laws and we hire and train police officers to enforce those laws until we decide to change them. [continues 112 words]
Far Above National Average Pot activists say new data shows Saskatoon police have a chronic urge to charge people for lighting up. "Saskatoon is known as being one of the prohibitionist places in Canada," said Dana Larsen, the director of Sensible B.C., which is campaigning to decriminalize cannabis in that province. Saskatoon police are more likely to charge someone caught with small amounts of marijuana than authorities in any other big city. Incident reports obtained from Statistics Canada for 2012 show that police in Saskatoon laid marijuana possession charges in more than 82 per cent of incidents involving possession of less than 30 grams. [continues 495 words]
VANCOUVER - As it turns out, Nov. 6, 2012, was a big day for marijuana laws. Voters in Colorado and Washington state approved initiatives to legalize pot, setting the stage for the regulated production and sale of the drug. Several other jurisdictions in the U.S. have since followed suit. In Canada, the same day two American states were effectively abandoning part of the war on drugs, provisions of a new federal law came into effect that imposed strict mandatory minimums for drug-related crimes, including marijuana production. [continues 286 words]
Although it is an idea that has percolated for decades and has grown in acceptance even in the traditionally conservative United States of late, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau appears to have kicked over a can of worms with his apparently off-the-cuff call for legalizing marijuana. Mr. Trudeau's declaration to a crowd in Kelowna last month that his thinking has evolved from one of supporting decriminalization to legalization, regulation and taxation of the drug may have been a cynical attempt to tap into potential young voters who almost overwhelmingly support more liberal drug laws. But his position is neither radical nor unique - it reflects a growing global movement to shift from the decade-old, failed war on drugs to more pragmatic and less harmful strategies. [continues 402 words]
By promising to legalize marijuana, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau seeks to capture the all-important stoner vote. Stoners will want to think twice, however, before they power down the Xbox, haul themselves off the couch, brush the Oreo crumbs off their chests and rush out to vote for Trudeau's Liberals. Trudeau says marijuana should be legalized so it can be regulated and taxed by government. The result almost certainly will be higher prices, lower quality and reduced availability. The opposite of what stoners want, in other words. [continues 586 words]
