I write in regard to your item "U.S. pot opponents focus on risks to brain health." It is appalling to see conclusions drawn haphazardly and interpreted in a way that suits the purpose of those trying to strike fear into the hearts of the public. The article states that heavy users of cannabis are six times more likely to develop schizophrenia. Have they considered that perhaps people struggling with schizophrenia are six times more likely to experiment with cannabis, in a desperate search for something that might help them function better? It is not at all surprising that individuals with mental health issues, who may be undiagnosed, or who have found the side effects of pharmaceuticals to be unbearable, would seek something that might help. [continues 114 words]
RCMP Arrested Man Earlier This Month With Suspected Links To Red Scorpions The special enforcement unit that deals with organized crime across the province says the city of Nanaimo has emerged as a hub or thoroughfare for drug traffic serving Vancouver Island. The Nanaimo RCMP displayed a seizure of drugs and cash valued at over $180,000 on Jan. 16 after they arrested a man believed to be linked to the Red Scorpions gang in Nanaimo earlier this month. That find has led to a renewed call by local voices to end the "wasteful" drug war. [continues 651 words]
Canada Providing Non-Lethal Equipment To Help Latin American Nation In Planning, Military Training Spillover from Mexico's violent drug war is prompting the Harper government and the Canadian military to become more involved in helping defend the tiny Central American country of Belize. A series of internal reports, obtained by The Canadian Press under the Access to Information Act, show the government has quietly increased co-operation with the Commonwealth nation, formerly known as British Honduras. Canada is providing non-lethal equipment for security services and helping with strategic planning and the training of soldiers. The documents, which all date from the spring of last year, describe the situation in Belize as deteriorating in the face of ultraviolent drug cartels that are battling not only Mexican and U.S. law enforcement, but each other as well. [continues 403 words]
The head baker of the Cannabis Buyers' Club of Canada has been acquitted of two drug charges in a case that legal experts say could have national ramifications - but the fight may not be over yet. Owen Smith, 30, appeared in court in Nanaimo on Thursday in relation to marijuana possession charges he received after a December 2009 police raid on his Victoria apartment. Officers found a large amount of cannabis-infused cooking oils and baked goods that were destined for sale through the Cannabis Buyers' Club. Smith was charged with possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking. [continues 396 words]
(Re: Grow ops pose risk to us all, Dec. 27, Daily News) Contrary to what Health Canada says the proposed Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations (MMPR) won't prevent illegal grow ops from cropping up in neighbourhoods or communities. What the proposed regulations will do, however, is deprive sick, disabled and dying Canadians of reasonable access to a legal source of cannabis for medical purposes. The particular brand of bureaucratic disentitlement Health Canada is waging on MMAR exemptees has resulted in the same being disregarded as stakeholders then painted in a less than favourable light to appease those various "services" sectors which have demonstrated concern. [continues 81 words]
Re: 'Medicinal pot needs to be dispensed by doctors' (Your Letters, Dec. 20) We are a medical marijuana clinic. Our patients must have a prescription from their doctor and/or their MMAR forms from Health Canada. There is a list of over 80 medical conditions that marijuana is useful for on our website and we have over 280 members and rising quickly. We are no closer to any schools than the local methadone clinic. Our store does not intend to harm the community, we do not sell to minors or non-medicinal patients. [continues 192 words]
There will be a lot of smiling and nodding and happy faces at the news that federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq is taking aim at marijuana growers who are hiding behind current laws to operate illegal drug businesses. Nobody wants illegal grow-ops in their neighbourhoods or in their communities. We all pay for the electricity they steal. We all pay for the service costs they dodge. Nobody wants the dangers associated with living next door to such operations. There is always the very real risk that their colleagues in crime will bring violence to their "place of business" - which can easily spill onto the streets as they "protect their interests" or into nearby homes through "mistaken identity" or even into local shopping malls as they engage in open battle. [continues 65 words]
New medical marijuana access rules don't go far enough, say Nanaimo's medical health officer and a Vancouver Island University criminologist. By March 2014 Health Canada will no longer produce and distribute medical marijuana, or licence patients to access medical pot, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced Sunday. Cannabis sold for $5 a gram through the program is heavily subsidized and the government plans to offload production to authorized suppliers, while making doctors the sole "gatekeepers" to the drug. Having marijuana prescribed by doctors, rather than licensed by Health Canada could eliminate access delays of up to six months for patients. [continues 159 words]
Only Companies Meeting Security Requirements Can Grow and Sell the Drug Ottawa's decision to snuff its role in dispensing medical marijuana has ignited a debate over how the move will impact public health and safety. A range of groups - including those representing law enforcement officials, physicians and medical cannabis advocates - were reacting Sunday after the federal health ministry announced it will stop producing and distributing medicinal pot in favour of opening the market to private companies. The current program has allowed anyone with a government permit to grow it themselves, including in their own homes. But the Conservatives argue that with 26,000 permits handed out over the past decade, the system has become unwieldy and resulted in "unintended consequences." [continues 336 words]
Giving physicians control over who can get medical marijuana would be welcomed by operators of Nanaimo's newest compassion club, but some doctors worry about the move. Health Canada recently consulted doctors on giving them sole authority to issue medical marijuana licences to patients. Proponents say cannabis is useful to treat pain, nausea and as an appetite stimulant for such conditions as cancer, HIV/AIDS and multiple sclerosis. Users must have a licence from Health Canada to legally own or grow small quantities of the drug. [continues 323 words]
Don't look too hard for the reason in the federal government's policy on drugs. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq rejected a plea from her provincial counterparts this week to ban oxycodone. It raises questions about where, exactly, this government stands on substance abuse, when it involves big corporate interests. Oxycodone is a powerful narcotic, usually sold as a pill that addicts can grind up and inject, for a high similar to heroin. And it's equally addictive. Last year the manufacturer replaced it with a version that is more difficult to inject, easing at least some of the concerns about its misuse. [continues 401 words]
Marijuana is legal in the great state of Washington. To find out how this new law will impact the pot industry in British Columbia, I spoke with a person whose livelihood is dependent on the drug trade - namely, a drug dealer. The drug dealer will remain anonymous for reasons too obvious to enumerate. Samuel Kirz: Some speculate that the marijuana business contributes approximately $6 billion to the economy of British Columbia annually, and that B.C. produces 40% of all marijuana consumed in Canada. Are these numbers accurate? [continues 649 words]
Advocates buoyed by U.S. vote Marijuana use should be a health issue, not a legal issue, says a Nanaimo doctor and addictions expert. Voters in Washington and Colorado passed ballot initiatives Tuesday to legalize marijuana for recreational use. It legalizes possession of up to one ounce of marijuana for anyone over 21 and farmers can be issued state licences to grow it and sell products in standalone stores. Nanaimo residents who support the legalization of marijuana hope this decision will have ramifications across the border, boosting the bid to legalize the drug in Canada. [continues 555 words]
Given that Nanaimo Mayor John Ruttan cannot imagine refraining from criminalizing cannabis consumers, young and old, casual or chronic, unless he becomes "really able to believe" that cannabis is not "harmful in any way," one wonders what other potentially harmful substances and recreational pastimes he would attempt to suppress with our overburdened criminal justice system. Television? Junk food? Sports? The question before us is not whether or not cannabis should exist, but rather, what is the optimal (not utopian) regulatory model for mitigating the relatively insignificant harms cannabis causes. Abdicating control of the market to criminals and teenagers makes matters worse. [continues 197 words]
Mayor's opinion remains unchanged The call to legalize marijuana is getting louder, says a Nanaimo criminologist. Three-quarters of B.C. residents support the taxed sale of cannabis to adults, similar to alcohol and tobacco, according to an Angus Reid poll commissioned by Stop the Violence B.C., a pro-legalization group Of almost 800 people polled, 75 per cent said they would choose government regulation and taxation of the drug over maintaining pot's outlaw status. Last year 64 per cent supported legalization. [continues 347 words]
A Union of B.C. Municipalities vote in favour of a resolution that supports the decriminalization of marijuana is drawing mixed reaction from Nanaimo city council members attending the annual conference. The resolution, brought forward to the annual convention by the municipality of Metchosin, calls for UBCM to lobby the federal government to decriminalize cannabis and research regulating and taxing the substance. It was passed Wednesday. The debate over whether to decriminalize the substance has sowed division between experts who argue that the federal prohibition on the substance has cost taxpayers millions while providing a windfall for organized crime, and police and criminologists who argue that decriminalization will have little impact on reducing crime. [continues 154 words]
The decriminalization of marijuana is still a far-off goal for municipal representatives who support the measure, delegates heard at a panel debate at the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in Victoria on Monday. Former B.C. attorney general Geoff Plant, a member of the panel, said that while some elected municipal officials have expressed a desire to allow licensing and medical marijuana within their jurisdictions, any such measures "are down the stream" because the federal government has a policy of prohibition for the substance. [continues 234 words]
RCMP urge parents to talk to kids about the harms of using 'bath salts', which is gaining more attention The appearance of a dangerous designer drug known as "bath salts" on Vancouver Island streets has police and drug education officials worried the week before school resumes. A Duncan RCMP officer uncovered a significant quantity of the drug methylenedioxypyrovalerone, or MDPV, during a routine check of a vehicle parked on the Trans-Canada Highway early Sunday morning. The drug, known under a variety of street names, including "ivory wave," "purple wave," and "vanilla sky," was created by chemists looking for a legal way to manufacture drugs similar to the illegal stimulant methamphetamine. [continues 375 words]
Cool weather, stricter amendments to Canada's criminal code and dropping prices have slowed down the outdoor production of marijuana on Vancouver Island this year. According to data compiled by the RCMP, B.C. produced the most amount of marijuana plants per grow-op, with an average of 918 plants. While police could not comment, people involved in the industry say this has been the third dismal production year in a row. "A lot of plants went out early," said Ted Smith, who teaches a free Hempology 101 course and recently published a textbook on the history of hemp. "It wasn't until July that it really got warm." [continues 212 words]
Citizens concerned that new business could offer methadone, potentially boosting social problems A company's attempts to get a business licence for a pharmacy on Nicol Street has worried residents in the south end. Concerns have been raised that the pharmacy could attract drug addicts and former drug addicts to the area. The application, from Vancouver businessman Ziad Sultanali, was turned down by the City of Nanaimo because the desired location, 123 Nicol St., didn't have the required parking space. [continues 423 words]
