As a national opioid crisis wages on, Toronto police have decided to equip their downtown frontline officers with the opioid antidote naloxone.

"This is about life and death, and that's what we signed up to do," Chief Mark Saunders told the Toronto Police Services Board at their meeting Thursday.

Chief Saunders was tasked last year with submitting a report to the board on how the service might go about deploying the antidote, which can be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

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Re: Opioid vending machines won't help B.C.'s addicts. Jeremy Devine, Feb. 14 This piece, written by my classmate, Jeremy Devine, contains misinformation and stigma. I felt compelled to write a response because his views do not reflect mine or those of many of our fellow medical school classmates at the University of Toronto.

The article suggests that British Columbia's harm reduction approach is some ill-conceived mistake that jeopardizes the lives of people who use drugs. In fact, Mr. Devine's ideological stance is not based on evidence, and if enacted, could endanger countless lives.

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Re: This is your brain on pot, Douglas Todd column, Feb. 17.

Again, kudos to The Vancouver Sun for Douglas Todd's column on the potential health risks of marijuana.

Educators have been warning about this for a long time, but the negative effects on adolescents has been blanked out by politicians looking for easy tax dollars.

Just wait for the weeping and wailing that will follow the legalization of marijuana as youth damage their brains while participating in what they see as a rite of passage to adulthood.

Ted Cooper, Powell River

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It would be interesting to know if the delay in implementing the new marijuana legalization legislation will mean police will continue to waste time and resources dragging people through the courts for "pot" related offences, right up until 11:59 p.m. on the eve of the day it becomes legal.

Scott Campbell



Grow-ops will still be illegal even after pot isn't.

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It is hard to pinpoint reasons for a large increase in the number of physicians authorizing the use of medical marijuana, but a local pain specialist has some theories.

"Cannabinoids are showing great promise as medicines, especially in the myriad of non specific conditions like anxiety, insomnia, fatigue, mild to moderate pain, unhappiness, recurrent stress and dysphoria conditions which pharmacotherapy has offered little and doctors are ill equipped to treat," said Dr. Gaylord Wardell, anesthesiologist and pain specialist, Sante Surgi, Medicine Hat. "Patients are dissatisfied with their doctors and their drugs."

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Judge nixes jail for Stones guitarist, orders community service instead

More than 40 years have passed since the Royal Canadian Mounted Police had to "slap'' Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards awake at a Toronto hotel so they could arrest him for possession of heroin for the purposes of trafficking.

The charge, which carried a minimum of seven years upon conviction, was based on the 22 grams of heroin found on Feb. 27,1977, during a raid of Richards' room at the Harbour Castle Hilton (now Westin Harbour Castle), while he was sleeping.

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Fifty North Bay and area landlords have revived the Near North Landlords Association in response to the province's new standard lease form, which takes effect in April, and the legalization of marijuana later this year

Landlords are concerned that, as of April 1, they won't be able to refuse a tenant who has a dog, explains group member John Wilson of North Bay.

"If there is a fourth-floor apartment available for rent and the person who wants the place has a German shepherd and the building isn't pet-friendly we can no longer refuse him," he says.

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Regulatory upheaval under the Trump administration in the U.S. cannabis industry is providing Canadian companies with the chance to be global leaders. However, disagreement between the different gatekeepers of Ontario's financial markets may squander this opportunity.

In 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice under the Obama administration issued a memorandum indicating it would not enforce federal prohibitions on marijuana in states that authorized its use. This was referred to as the "Cole Memorandum" (after then-deputy attorney-general James Cole). It essentially allowed marijuana producers in certain states to operate their businesses despite the federal laws that technically made the production of marijuana illegal.

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British Columbia is expecting legalized cannabis to bring in $75-million a year to the province in taxes, with legal sales estimated to be worth a billion dollars.

This week's provincial budget estimates that once the drug is legalized later this year, the province will take in $50-million in the current fiscal year and $75-million in 2019-2020, the first full fiscal year under legalization.

That represents the province's 75 per cent share of a federal excise tax, which Ottawa has said will be $1 per gram, or 10 per cent of larger purchases, whichever is higher. While that translates to about $1-billion in sales in the province, B.C.'s Finance Minister says it could be higher.

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A number of on-the-fly changes were proposed

Calgary city councillors have proposed a number of relaxations on proposed cannabis retailer rules.

On Wednesday, during a council committee, administration presented their land use bylaw rules to ready the city's policies ahead of marijuana legalization. But just like rolling your first joint, the process wasn't easy. The rules will now be smoothed over and sent to an April council meeting before being passed into official law.

If council approves the changes made at the committee level, cannabis stores won't be restricted by distance when it comes to opening up shop near post-secondary institutions.

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Liberal MP says he wasn't thrilled about it at first, but changed his views

Cannabis was on the menu at the Belleville & District Chamber of Commerce's monthly breakfast Wednesday at the Travelodge Hotel, and Bay of Quinte MP Neil Ellis was pushing it - from a business point of view.

With Bill C- 45, the Cannabis Act, expected to be law by July 1, Ellis said the business of marijuana will provide many opportunities, not just from production of both recreational and medical cannabis, but from the many sideline businesses it will create.

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Much like a self-learning robot that improves with every step, Edmonton city hall hopes to tweak recreational cannabis bylaws now, and after it is legalized.

"We're still in a little bit of a state of confusion or complexity as to the way it'll all shake down as far as where can the stores be located," Ward 6 Coun. Scott McKeen said Wednesday. "I suspect we'll continue to struggle with these for a couple of years as we tweak the regulations and make sure we get things right."

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TORONTO - Ontario's provincially run cannabis retailer is open to sourcing product from growers of all sizes across the country, according to a spokesperson for the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

The approach appears to be in contrast to the one taking hold in provinces such as Quebec, where the government-run Societe des alcools du Quebec recently opted to sign sizable recreational cannabis supply agreements with a select few large licensed producers.

In Ontario, "the process for procuring cannabis supply for the (Ontario Cannabis Retail Corp.) will be open to all Canadian licensed producers," said LCBO spokesperson Nicole Laoutaris in an email, adding that "the OCRC has not yet entered into any supplier agreements."

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Medical marijuana added to health-insurance plan

Medical marijuana will soon be part of health insurance for students at UBC Okanagan.

The one-year pilot program will begin in September. University of Waterloo began a similar plan in 2014.

The idea was initiated by Michelle Thiessen, chairwoman of the Okanagan chapter of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and a UBCO graduate student.

Without coverage for medical marijuana, students are left covering 100 per cent of the costs while still paying into the student health insurance plan, she said.

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As the B.C. government sets policy on the legalization of marijuana, the towns of Oliver and Osoyoos are still wondering what that will look like.

Oliver Mayor Ron Hovanes said his council has to have a formal discussion on the topic.

"We had most recently suggested that any sale (of marijuana) should take place through a government agency and the province has decided against that."

Hovanes previously questioned if municipalities should have any role in marijuana legalization. Council recently supported a call for local governments to receive a share of the cannabis revenue to cover social and policing costs.

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Policing issues played a minor role in Tuesday's Ward 4 budget town hall, with only one exception: Cannabis enforcement costs.

The Regina Police Service has estimated the cost of policing a legalized marijuana system between $1.2 million and $1.8 million. That number evoked shock from one resident who came to the meeting.

"It stretches the bounds of believability," she said. "Give me a break."

Coun. Andrew Stevens tried to steer clear of the RPS during the town hall, only once repeating his earlier warnings about the force's "uncontrolled" costs.

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City officials are looking for input as they deal with the ramifications of legalized recreational marijuana.

"There are a lot of questions, a lot of unknowns and I think it's important that we try to come up with a 'made in Brantford' solution to some of these issues," Mayor Chris Friel said Tuesday.

"I think we need to hear from more people, let them know what the issues are and see what we can come up with.

"We need to hear from the chamber of commerce, the health unit, police, real estate people as well as our own staff in social services and bylaw enforcement."

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York Regional Police tweeted on Tuesday that marijuana doesn't increase the growth of breasts in men, after one of its officers told high school students at a panel last week that "doobies make boobies."

"We're no health experts, but we're pretty sure getting high does not cause enhanced mammary growth in men," York police tweeted. "We are aware of the misinformation about cannabis that was unfortunately provided to the community by our officers. We're working to address it."

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Retailers watch on as city drafts regs on where shops can open

The cans and can'ts for Calgary cannabis retailers are taking shape this month, but some prospective shops are pointing out that perception could still be tainting the city's proposed bylaws.

On Wednesday, councillors will see administration's land use amendments to add cannabis retail store rules to the city's bylaws. These tweaks will go before the council in an April public hearing.

Out of three options, the city's going with one that would treat cannabis retailers a little like liquor stores - but not entirely the same as booze businesses.

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This is a follow-up of my two letters in The Daily Press dated March 29, 2017 titled "PM's head going to pot" and Dec. 20, 2017 titled "Medical marijuana has no medicinal value."

I managed to get an updated publication dated April 13, 2017 titled "Health Effects of cannabis" from Health Canada.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and readers can find this Health Canada publication with an online search.

The publication clearly summarizes the short-term health effects, long-term health effects, risks of illegal cannabis, mental health effects, health effects on youth, health effects on pregnancy and children, and addiction.

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