Cannabis sales likely won't prove a financial bonanza. Those counting on help from cannabis sales to balance the provincial budget are in for a disappointment. As far as Statistics Canada can tell, cannabis prices in this country have been dropping for the past three years, perhaps the past dozen years. Since weed-market watchers in the United States have found roughly the same thing, it's probably true. Canada's provincial treasurers, along with private investors in the cannabis trade, may still be able to turn a profit, but the bonanza that used to beckon has probably evaporated already. [continues 618 words]
Investment firm head says he'd spend $25,000 to fight cannabis-impaired driving provisions As experts warn of flaws with the cannabis-impaired driving provisions of Bill C-46, a high-profile Canadian cannabis industry executive has vowed to bankroll a future court challenge against that aspect of the proposed law. Chuck Rifici, the CEO of cannabis industry investment firm Wheaton Income Corp., and the former chief financial officer of the Liberal Party of Canada, said he would commit up to $25,000 to fund such a challenge. [continues 1087 words]
A NORTHERN Manitoba First Nation is building a permanent checkstop on the only highway into the community to combat the illegal drug and liquor trade. "It's like a border crossing and you'll have no choice but to go through it. And if you don't want to be searched, you're not going to go in," Norway House Chief Ron Evans said. The small building next to Highway 373 looks a bit like a transport safety weigh station. As of this month, the Norway House Cree Nation Safety and Security Checkpoint will be open 24/7. Its official opening is scheduled for Feb. 24. [continues 1309 words]
OTTAWA - Setting up tattoo parlours and needle-exchange programs in penitentiaries would help reduce the spread of hepatitis C, the federal prison service has told the Trudeau government. A Correctional Service memo obtained under the Access to Information Act advises Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale to round out existing and planned measures to fight hepatitis and HIV in prison. Prison tattooing and needle-exchange programs for drug users have generated intense controversy over the years, and the March 2017 memo says detailed research should be carried out before embarking on a syringe needle program, in particular, "to avoid unintended and negative consequences for inmates." [continues 459 words]
Bowman wants help getting promised provincial funding for infrastructure OTTAWA - Mayor Brian Bowman says he wants Ottawa to push the Pallister government to cough up more funding for infrastructure projects in the city, and to also give the city a handsome portion of tax collected from legalized marijuana. "The challenge many of the big city mayors are having is ensuring that those funds are flowing through the provinces, and getting to municipalities to support municipal priorities," Bowman said Thursday, on the sidelines of the Big City Mayors' Caucus in Ottawa. [continues 676 words]
Police seize 5.8 kg in January - half of what was seized in 2017 MAKE no mistake: Winnipeg has a meth problem. That's the message city police drove home Thursday at a lengthy news conference, painting a dark picture of a city in the grips of a methamphetamine epidemic and the strain placed on front-line services that are trying to contain the street drug. "The emergence of methamphetamine that we're experiencing in our community is getting to the level where it's starting to keep me awake at night," Winnipeg Police Service Chief Danny Smyth said. [continues 944 words]
Liberals insist recreational marijuana will be legal in July OTTAWA - The Trudeau government insists it's on track to legalize recreational pot in July - but whether that means it will actually be on sale by then is uncertain. Health Minister Ginette Petitpas Taylor told senators Tuesday that provinces and territories have indicated once Bill C-45, the legislation setting up a legal cannabis regime, is given royal assent, they'll need another eight to 12 weeks to prepare for retail sales. [continues 583 words]
Excluding convicted drug dealers from exoneration unfair, cannabis advocate says PRIME Minister Justin Trudeau must have expected questions about cannabis legalization at his town hall event in Winnipeg on Wednesday night, but he might not have anticipated this one. In light of the Liberal government's plans to offer some kind of amnesty to Canadians with cannabis possession convictions, Manitoba cannabis advocate Steven Stairs asked: "Would your government be considering pardons for people who are being convicted of trafficking cannabis? "Small-time drug dealers, pot sales, guy on the corner, whatever you want to call them, but those people are just as peaceful, mostly, as the other people that have been charged, and I don't find it fair that you would exclude them from the pardon system," he said. [continues 724 words]
Includes cannabis purchased for medical and recreational purposes IT'S official, according to Canada's government statistics agency: Canadians spent a ton of money on weed last year. To be exact, Statistics Canada estimates 4.9 million Canucks between the ages of 15 and 64 shelled out $5.7 billion for marijuana in 2017. For comparison, Statistics Canada offered 2016 household spending data for two other popular drugs - $22.3 billion on alcohol, and $16 billion on tobacco. The $5.7-billion figure, released Thursday morning, covers cannabis purchases for both medical and recreational purposes. More than 90 per cent of that spending was on cannabis used for non-medical purposes. [continues 823 words]
CITY council voted overwhelmingly Thursday in favour of a ban on smoking tobacco and marijuana around restaurant patios. Two councillors - Ross Eadie (Mynarski) and Jason Schreyer (Elmwood-East Kildonan) - voted against the bylaw. Eadie said a ban would further stigmatize smokers. Smoking in any form - cigarettes, cigars, pipes, e-cigarettes, water pipes, hookahs or other devices - won't be permitted on outdoor patios where food and drink are served. Council made an exception for smoking within Indigenous-led ceremonies. The bylaw will come into effect on April 1, though the amount of the fine is not yet clear. [continues 236 words]
GOOD Samaritan law aimed at saving lives during Canada's opioid crisis isn't getting enough public attention, proponents say. Members of all major political parties supported legislation that gives immunity from criminal charges to people who call for help during a drug overdose, but whether the law has encouraged people to call 911 remains unclear. Conservative and NDP health critics say the federal government hasn't done enough to advertise the Good Samaritans Drug Overdose Act since it came into effect in May 2017. [continues 604 words]
POLICE raided two locations of the Winnipeg Compassion Club last week, saying the storefronts were operating as "illegal marijuana dispensaries." Officers seized approximately $25,000 worth of marijuana, $20,000 of marijuana in alternate forms and $6,000 in cash from both locations, which were "openly selling marijuana," the Winnipeg Police Service said in a news release on Wednesday. Three men were arrested and charged with several drug-possession and trafficking offences, as well as possession of the proceeds of crime. The men, ages 45, 28 and 27, have been released pending court appearances. [continues 362 words]
DP Leader Wab Kinew demanded Friday that provincial Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen create safe consumption sites for injection drug users in Winnipeg and other communities in Manitoba. "There are people in our city who are dying," Kinew told reporters. But Goertzen said in an emailed statement late Friday that he's not considering establishing sites. Kinew said deaths and overdoses from opioids and methamphetamine have reached crisis proportions in Winnipeg. "It's time for there to be a safe consumption site in Winnipeg," he said. "We know safe consumption sites save lives." [continues 384 words]
Grieving father warns kids about dangers of drugs after son's death SMOKE from a smudging stick and the warm breath of friends and family of Jeremy Hobson filled the front yard of the house where the 21-year-old accidentally overdosed and died on the weekend, during a ceremony held Thursday. Jeremy died after taking a pill, which he thought was OxyContin, at a gettogether with friends and cousins on Saturday night, according to his father Larry Hobson. Hobson said he thinks the pill that killed his son was laced with fentanyl. [continues 792 words]
WINKLER'S mayor vows that until the smoke clears on pot legalization, his community won't vote to allow retailers to sell recreational pot. Mayor Martin Harder says his council recently decided to ignore the province's Dec. 22 deadline to vote on the issue. "Our biggest issue is the rules keep changing," Harder said on Monday. "They said you have to vote by Dec. 22 and then the next one says you can have four years to have a plebiscite. We don't want to do that. [continues 443 words]
WHEN politicians talk about the arrival of legal cannabis, they make it sound like it's going to be more trouble than it's worth. Oh, the worry. According to the narrative coming out of the federal and provincial capitals, legalizing pot is going to involve enormous costs with very little return, in terms of tax revenue. There are expected to be increased costs for provinces and municipalities in the areas of law enforcement, public education, health care and addictions treatment at a time when governments of all levels are having trouble generating the revenues needed to sustain core services. [continues 908 words]
OTTAWA - Manitoba will push the federal government to transfer all of the sin taxes collected from recreational marijuana into provincial coffers, the Free Press has learned. "This is a federal policy, with a federal timeline, with provincial obligations and responsibilities," provincial Finance Minister Cameron Friesen said. On Sunday evening, federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau hosted his colleagues from the provinces and territories for a working dinner before a lengthy meeting today examining everything from pension reform to equalization payments. It's the looming July 2018 deadline [continues 574 words]
Re: Manitoba's legal age for cannabis to be set at 19: source (Dec. 5) With legislation now tabled, it has now become obvious that the federal Liberals and provincial Progressive Conservatives still believe the lies their governments told about cannabis for the last 100 years. It is ridiculous to ask 18-year-olds to risk their lives for their country in military service but not permit them to smoke cannabis legally. The idea that government should protect children from anything is just as ridiculous. Parents are the proper authorities to protect their children from all of life's never-ending dangers. Crony capitalism seems to be the driving force in "legalization." Legalization policies will make enforcement even more expensive than Prohibition was. Chris Buors Selkirk [end]
Province's age restriction, home-growing ban lack common sense GOVERNMENTS in Canada have been playing politics with marijuana for some time now. The promise to legalize cannabis helped Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his federal Liberals achieve a majority government in 2015, and now provincial governments across the country are coming to grips with legalization according to their own political principles. Some provincial governments (Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick) are creating Crown corporations to be the legal marijuana dealers. Others (Manitoba, Alberta, Newfoundland) are letting the private sector run the stores. British Columbia just announced a retail solution that will include both the public and private sectors. [continues 893 words]
MORE than 21 per cent of adult Manitobans used cannabis in the past year and another 21.1 per cent may try it after legalization, new data from the Liquor and Gaming Authority of Manitoba suggests. The figures come from an anonymous phone survey of 1,201 adults in September. The alcohol and gambling regulator, whose mandate will include marijuana, says its sample is "quasi-representative" of the province's adult population. The survey found 55.2 per cent of Manitobans have used cannabis, with 16 being the most common age of initiation. [continues 282 words]
