Academy Helps Potential Growers Navigate Process Protesters called out a familiar refrain from a blue haze at Riverside Park last weekend, but never before have the words "legalize pot" been taken so seriously. About 100 marijuana advocates gathered for the annual 4:20 Freedom Fest on Sunday to demand the right to use weed recreationally. The possibility of legalization feels closer than ever in Canada after six states south of the border declared pot decriminalized last year. And an Angus Reid poll of 799 British Columbians last October showed 75 per cent felt it should be taxed and regulated rather than prohibited. [continues 1110 words]
Another April 20, another 4/20 rally in which recreational pot enthusiasts gather en masse, light up their doobies in defiance of the man, and let the world know they think marijuana should be legal, or at least decriminalized. It may seem like a juvenile act of insubordination, but the 4/20 rallies have evolved from futile gatherings and spawned a larger and far more credible pro-marijuana legalization campaign. The movement to reform the country's ridiculous pot laws now wears a suit or lab coat, not a Bob Marley T-shirt. [continues 207 words]
Why do some people want to have marijuana legalized so badly? A newscaster suggested recently that the candidates running in the B.C. election should make it an election promise. Why? Does it not click in that drugs cause depression, and affects your heart and lungs? Any politician that thinks legalizing marijuana will be good for his career is living in la la land. Drugs, and marijuana is a drug, turns nice folks into rotters. We don't need this kind of election promise. Eileen Nattrass Saanichton [end]
Pat Pimm, Liberal candidate There is no doubt in my mind that there are many people that smoke marijuana in our Province and there will always be those that smoke marijuana. I think there is some merit in legalizing and regulating the product just as we did with alcohol but I can say that this is a topic that I will not consider endorsing until the Federal government decides to legalize marijuana and it is also a topic that I will not spend any more time on once I have wrote this response. [continues 180 words]
Abbotsford council voted unanimously on Monday to amend its controversial bylaw prohibiting any harm reduction measures in the city. The current anti-harm reduction bylaw enacted in 2005 bans such programs or measures such as the distribution of condoms, needle exchanges, marijuana dispensaries or supervised injection sites. Fraser Health has repeatedly urged the city to allow needle exchange services as a means to prevent disease transmission and lower Abbotsford's high rate of hepatitis C infections, believed to be tied to addicts re-using dirty needles and crack pipes. [continues 248 words]
Another April 20, another 4/20 rally in which recreational pot enthusiasts gather en masse, light up their doobies in defiance of the man, and let the world know they think marijuana should be legal, or at least decriminalized. It may seem like a juvenile act of insubordination, but the 4/20 rallies have evolved from smoky, alternative gatherings into an establishment-based pro-marijuana legalization campaign. The movement to reform the country's ridiculous pot laws now wears a suit or lab coat, not a Bob Marley T-shirt. [continues 200 words]
Another April 20, another 4/20 rally in which recreational pot enthusiasts gather en masse, light up their doobies in defiance of the man, and let the world know they think marijuana should be legal, or at least decriminalized. It may seem like a juvenile THE act of insubordination, but the 4/20 rallies have evolved from smoky, alternative gatherings into an establishment-based, pro-marijuana legalization campaign. The movement to reform the country's ridiculous pot laws now wears a suit or lab coat, not a Bob Marley T-shirt. [continues 200 words]
Fort Langley-Aldergrove's candidates vied for support in front of prospective voters. At several points on Wednesday night, candidates for Fort Langley-Aldergrove's provincial seat reflected that it was difficult to answer tough policy questions in 60 seconds. Yet the four candidates gave it their best shot as they fielded numerous questions in front of an audience of about 90 people at the Langley Events Centre. Incumbent Liberal Rich Coleman, NDP candidate Shane Dyson, Rick Manuel of the BC Conservatives and independent Kevin Mitchell were asked a series of policy questions that covered health care, agriculture, taxes and tolls, debt and deficits, seniors, and marijuana. [continues 709 words]
Maple Ridge Council Has Asked For Changes To Bylaw Wording, Which Will Lead To Another Public Hearing Maple Ridge council sent a bylaw about zoning for medicinal marijuana grow operation back to staff for revisions after concerns were raised at a public hearing. Council was considering a bylaw, which would have restricted grow-ops to agricultural areas, but concerns were raised about proposed setbacks and parcel sizes. The issue is not whether marijuana is good or bad, he added. "I've heard some compelling accounts of the medical side and how it's benefited people in some really tough situations," Daykin said. However, he added, council wants to remove it from residential areas. [continues 97 words]
Ottawa - Bad maps are being blamed after Canadian naval reservists participating in the U.S.-led war on drugs last year sparked a diplomatic flap by firing their weapons and intercepting fishing trawlers in Jamaican waters - without Jamaica's permission. The embarrassing incident, which has never before been publicly reported, broke international maritime law - not the first time legal questions have been raised about Canada's increasing involvement in the drug war. On March 27, 2012, HMCS Goose Bay and Kingston were patrolling south of Jamaica as part of Operation Caribbe, Canada's contribution to an ongoing, U.S.-led anti-drug trafficking mission in the Caribbean and East Pacific. [continues 772 words]
