I can see the reasoning behind both sides of the marijuana issue; what bothers me is that those in favour of legalizing marijuana want to do so before it becomes the law of the land ( City, police service mired in reefer madness, Aug. 6). Local police should not be choosing which federal laws they prosecute. Those laws are established by Parliament, and until they are either struck down by a Supreme Court ruling or changed by Parliament, they should be enforced by Canadian law enforcement. If you want the selling of marijuana legalized, vote for Justin Trudeau and the Liberal party; that seems to be a major plank in their campaign. Cal Paul Winnipeg [end]
THE owner of Winnipeg's sole medical-marijuana dispensary faces drug-trafficking charges after police arrested him and shut down his business Tuesday. Glenn Allan Price, 54, was arrested at his unlicensed Main Street dispensary and is charged with drug trafficking and possession offences, as well as possession of the proceeds of crime after police issued two search warrants at his home and business. He was released from custody. The Winnipeg Police Service said the dispensary was an illegal drug-trafficking business, from which they seized two pounds of the drug. Officers seized two ounces of marijuana from the accused's residence above his storefront in the 1400 block of Main Street, police said. [continues 401 words]
Storefront filled need, advocate says DELTA 9 Bio-Tech, the only federally licensed medical-marijuana operation in Manitoba, says it has room for 200 new patients this month. Others will turn to their own stash of pot. And as a last resort, there's always the street. Police shut down Winnipeg's only storefront medical-pot dispensary, Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters, in a raid Tuesday. Owner Glenn Price faces drug charges. The reality for many medical-marijuana users is that the options are limited, despite the optimistic rhetoric, one vocal advocate said. [continues 647 words]
Glenn Allan Price will get his day in court, but does the prosecution of purveyors of medical marijuana really serve the public interest? Well, if you're the federal Conservative government, pursuing an out-of-touch political agenda, clearly it does. Mr. Price, owner of a recently opened, unlicensed medical marijuana dispensary on Main Street, was charged by Winnipeg police with trafficking and possession following a raid Tuesday. Many speculate an anti-marijuana activist in Vancouver, where dispensaries have proliferated and are licensed by city council, triggered the raid with a complaint to the Winnipeg Police Service earlier this month. [continues 501 words]
THERE are the obvious differences: the mountains, the sea, the climate and, of course, the housing prices. But this week, our police service officially delineated another difference between Vancouver and Winnipeg. It's an attitude. Specifically an attitude toward medical-marijuana dispensaries. In Vancouver, where there have been unlicensed medical-marijuana dispensaries for at least five years, the police service has stood by, watched the numbers reach at least 100 and decided illegal pot-to-manage-pain storefront operations are not a policing priority. And only will be if there are concerns about public safety. [continues 786 words]
Follow Through on Warnings to Close Shop TUESDAY'S police raid on a medical-marijuana store puts a spotlight on how differently Winnipeg is handling federal pot regulations compared with cities such as Vancouver, where there are dozens of dispensaries and politicians aim to regulate them. Police arrested Glenn Price, his wife Sandra Price, and an unnamed client Tuesday morning at the fledgling Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters at 1404-A Main St. As the day wore on, workers removed the shop's sign while police investigated inside the shop. The couple's daughter was frantic. "I have no idea what's going on. The police won't tell me anything," Stacie Price said after repeatedly calling police. [continues 806 words]
Now that neighbouring U.S. states have legalized marijuana, Ottawa can no longer claim Canada must uphold marijuana prohibition in order to maintain good U.S. relations ( Conservatives losing the war on drugs, Editorial, July 22). Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a chronic case of reefer madness best cured with medical marijuana - the drug's not nearly as dangerous (or exciting) as Harper seems to think. Consider the experience of Canada's southern neighbour. Despite a history of zero tolerance, the U.S. has nearly double the rate of lifetime marijuana use as the Netherlands, where marijuana has been legally available for decades. [continues 92 words]
THERE is no better evidence of the change in attitudes about marijuana than the forbearance demonstrated by the Winnipeg Police Service in connection with a man who is openly selling pot from a storefront operation. The police service issued a news release Monday saying it would not tolerate the lawless conduct of Glenn Price, who has been selling what he calls medical marijuana even though he is not licensed by Health Canada and his product has not been acquired from authorized government dispensers. [continues 552 words]
'Not Going Anywhere' Despite Police Order IN the three weeks since he started selling his product, Glenn Price of Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters has had highs and lows. What he's made clear is, although police have ordered him to stop, he's not going up in smoke. After a brief hiatus, Price began selling medical marijuana again Tuesday morning, despite being ordered not to by police a week earlier. After a tumultuous few days including two police visits to his shop, a "smoke-in" at Winnipeg police headquarters and a near-doubling in customer interest, Price said Tuesday he's "not going anywhere." [continues 505 words]
Any unlicensed seller will be shut down, police say After a week of turmoil, including two police visits to his shop and a "smoke-in" outside Winnipeg police headquarters, the owner of Manitoba's only medical cannabis dispensary has vowed to reopen today.. Glenn Price was first visited by police last Tuesday at his store, Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters (1404 Main St.). He said he was told to stop selling medical marijuana just two weeks after starting, and although he halted sales for a few days, he promised to start up again. [continues 373 words]
Re: Winnipeg marijuana dispensary closed due to complaint from Vancouver (July 15). Fifteen per cent THC is the average strength of marijuana. Australians are growing the strongest strain at 40 per cent, hardly four times stronger, as Pamela McColl of Smart Approaches to Marijuana would have us believe. She leaves the impression that all marijuana is four times stronger than in her smoking days, when, in fact, it is a small percentage. If you zero in on the very few negatives of marijuana, the 40 per cent strain in particular, and dismiss the myriad of positives, you are doing a major disservice to the public, unlike the service that Glenn Price provides. The independent researchers, not the brain-washing Big Pharma people, have proven the benefits of marijuana use. [continues 55 words]
Plans to Hold Peaceful Rally at His Shop Next Week THE owner of the only medical-cannabis dispensary in Manitoba has vowed to stay open, despite being told by police to stop selling his product. Glenn Price opened Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters at 1404 Main St. in March and started selling to Winnipeggers July 1. On Tuesday, Winnipeg police ordered the store to stop, following a service complaint lodged by a group fighting storefront pot sales. Price doesn't have a licence to sell from Health Canada, meaning his operation is illegal. He hasn't sold any cannabis since last Tuesday, but said he has been giving some away to his customers. He said he's going to resume selling his products on Tuesday, whatever the consequences. [continues 397 words]
WINNIPEG police have told the man running a medical marijuana dispensary from a store on Main Street to stop selling cannabis. Nearly two weeks after Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters began selling medical marijuana at 1404 Main St., a group fighting storefront sales of pot claimed victory Wednesday when police told the store owner to stop. "We said shut them down - it's illegal," Pamela McColl with Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM) Canada said Wednesday night. "They're trafficking in narcotics," said McColl from her home in Vancouver. She said she contacted the Winnipeg mayor's office and the police service Tuesday to file a service complaint the police weren't upholding the law by allowing the storefront sale of medical marijuana. [continues 150 words]
Locally owned pot shop set to open here July 1 MEDICAL marijuana users will soon have a local joint to buy their weed. Your Medical Cannabis Headquarters, a marijuana dispensary, is set to open officially at 1404 Main St., on July 1. It's the former home of Vapes on Main, a medical marijuana cafe. Owner Glenn Price, a medical marijuana user himself, said he has been open with both the city and the province about the nature of the business he is opening. [continues 262 words]
THE Harper government is quickly becoming its own satire of the mouldy propaganda that portrayed marijuana as the road to mental illness, crime and unemployment. Health Minister Rona Ambrose, for example, said last week she was shocked and "outraged" after the Supreme Court of Canada ruled medical-marijuana users can consume the product in a variety of ways, not just through smoking. Of course it was ridiculous for the government to take this matter all the way to the top court when common sense made the answer obvious. Why, for God's sake, would the state insist on smoking only, when less harmful methods, such as baked goods and other products, are available? [continues 512 words]
"SPECIAL" brownies could soon be the running special at a Winnipeg bakery near you. After a unanimous Supreme Court decision Thursday ruled in favour of legalizing the production of edible medical marijuana products such as pastries, cooking oils and teas, Winnipeg tokers celebrated with cannabis-infused beverages and pastries at Vapes Off Main on Albert Street. The 18-plus smoking lounge licensed for medical marijuana users has high hopes for new programming possibilities, thanks to the new rules. It will start selling baked goods and provide cooking classes now that the grey area surrounding edibles is gone. [continues 461 words]
In saying she was "outraged," Health Minister Rona Ambrose chose the right word but misapplied it. It is outrageous that a minister in a democratic government would attack judges of the Supreme Court. It is outrageous that a health minister would prefer sick people took up smoking rather than consuming medical marijuana in a brownie. Has the minister no scientific experts to guide her through these decisions, or does she treat scientific experts with the same disdain as legal ones? Dan Prowse Winnipeg [end]
Once again, the Harper government proves itself the masters of misdirection (High court rules no crime to eat pot, June 12). The Supreme Court's unanimous, common-sense ruling that other forms of consumption of medical marijuana must be legal is not a medical judgment, as Health Minister Rona Ambrose has said. The medical efficacy of marijuana has been resolved by doctors long since; she knows that full well. The legal ruling offends the Harper government's sense of entitlement to govern without comment from anyone -- the Supreme Court's habit of speaking out against bad laws is the real issue. Richard Lockhart Winnipeg [end]
Says Law Infringed on Rights Under Canadian Charter THE Supreme Court of Canada has ruled unanimously medical marijuana can be legally consumed in products such as cookies, brownies and teas, a decision that "outraged" the federal government but elated the baker at the centre of the case. Federal regulations had previously stipulated authorized users of physician-prescribed cannabis could only consume dried marijuana. But the high court said in a 7-0 decision Thursday limiting medical consumption to dried pot infringes on liberty protections under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. [continues 522 words]
Tory justice critic blames overcrowding BRANDON - More contraband was seized at the Brandon Correctional Centre in 2014 than at any other Manitoba jail. A total of 98 items - drugs, weapons, tobacco, home brew, ink and tattooing supplies - were seized by corrections officers in the western Manitoba jail, a jump of 10 per cent from 2013. Tory justice critic Kelvin Goertzen, whose office distributed the information following a freedom-of-information request, said overcrowding is behind the problem. "It makes it harder to keep (contraband) out," he said. [continues 323 words]
A Winnipeg drug dealer who claims his rights were violated when police tactical team members used "Wild West" tactics to storm into his Fort Rouge home with a battering ram, flash bang and high-powered weaponry, lost his bid for freedom Thursday. Queen's Bench Justice Herbert Rempel ruled police acted properly and within their mandate in the case of Christopher Li. "They had reasonable grounds to believe there was a real risk of violence," Rempel said. Li was seeking to walk free on the grounds police violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms during the so-called dynamic entry in which he was caught with close to $6,000 worth of cocaine, more than $2,000 in cash and various drug paraphernalia. [continues 371 words]
Conditional sentence for pot grow-op A so-called Freeman on the Land will not have to plant his roots in jail following a conviction for running a marijuana grow operation. Scott Peters was given a 13-month conditional sentence Thursday that allows him to remain free in the community. He was placed on daily house arrest and must perform 100 hours of community-service work. The Crown was seeking up to six months behind bars for Peters, who was convicted by a jury last month following a bizarre, three-day trial. [continues 287 words]
The strip search of a Quebec teen at her school for drugs, by school staff, is an unjustified breach of her privacy and assault on her dignity. If school officials can defend such a move to root out a bit of marijuana, searches of body cavities can't be far behind. School boards in Manitoba and elsewhere in Canada ought to take this example of abuse of authority as a lesson in the perils of unchecked arrogance. The stripping of the teen was initially defended by Quebec's government, but now it appears it, too, has recognized the offensive nature of the search. [continues 552 words]
I would like to thank David Asper for coming out of the cannabis closet and advocating for a regulated market (Time to regulate marijuana, Jan. 24). The time for that action was 30 years ago; it is now long past due that we repeal the entire war on drugs. It is prohibition that brings the harm to society. Chris Buors Winnipeg [end]
OTTAWA - Non-violent drug addicts who break the law will again have the option of rehab instead of jail time as federal funding revives the Winnipeg Drug Treatment Court. Ottawa finally committed to renewing funding for the court, offering $1.2 million over the next three years, the provincial government confirmed Friday. The court stopped accepting new clients last spring because Ottawa had not agreed to extend the funding beyond the end of March. "This successful program addresses the root cause of criminal behaviour to give participants the supports and strategies they need to live a productive and positive lifestyle," Manitoba Justice Minister James Allum said in a news release. [continues 414 words]
BEING in Arizona on a university campus and immersed in U.S. culture is fascinating generally, and especially so with regard to the debate about legalization and regulation of recreational use marijuana. I am currently teaching part time at Arizona State University as we develop a North American law degree program. What's really interesting in the Arizona and American news generally is seeing both the language patterns that are being used in the narrative as well as the legislative and political machinations around the issue of marijuana use. [continues 852 words]
DEAR READERS: People responded passionately to the disgruntled wife of a man who smokes marijuana every single night before going to bed. Here are three of those spirited letters: Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: That letter from Not a Stoner really hit home for me. Being a child of a parent who smoked pot, I think this woman should be thinking of other factors and concerns. So many people think that smoking pot isn't a big deal and don't consider it a real drug, saying it's not addictive, but it's just as serious as any other drug addiction. I grew up knowing my dad smoked, but didn't fully understand it until I was older. I found out after my parents divorced that it was a gateway drug for him that led to the occasional slide down to more serious drugs. [continues 689 words]
New rules limit medicinal producers OTTAWA'S new rules for obtaining medical marijuana are getting under the skin of some local medicinal users. Richard Barahona, 44, was diagnosed with cancer almost two years ago. He tried more traditional methods of treatment but found they were either worsening his condition or not working. He says the new system is nothing more than a money grab. "We should be able to practise our alternative and make ourselves feel better and recuperating in what we're suffering from," said Barahona, a former respite worker who is now a co-owner of Vapes on Main, a downtown medical marijuana cafe. [continues 680 words]
POLICE in Manitoba now have wider powers under provincial law to pull suspected drug-impaired drivers off the road. "Driving while impaired by drugs is dangerous, illegal and has serious consequences," provincial registrar of motor vehicles Ward Keith said. "These amendments now provide police with the authority to take immediate roadside action in cases where a driver fails or refuses adrug-recognition evaluation." That includes an immediate three-month suspension from driving and five demerit points if a driver fails the test. A driver faces the same penalty if they refuse to submit to a drug test or refuse to supply a blood or urine sample for a test. [continues 171 words]
The article on Project Distress ( Drug arrests target higher echelons, Dec. 12) has a misleading title. To the drug dealer, police drug sweeps are merely a cost of doing business, and to police, they are little more than a public relations gesture. Since the Harrison Act was passed in the U.S. in 1914, drugs have only gotten cheaper, purer and more readily available. The rational thing to do about the drug problem is legalize, standardize, and tax it, but that is not politically expedient. Michael Dowling Winnipeg [end]
No New Clients Until Feds Confirm Funding OTTAWA - The federal government is going to renew funding for the Winnipeg Drug Treatment Court, but the province won't start admitting new clients to the program again until it gets more details from Ottawa on what the new agreement will entail. Federal Justice Minister Peter MacKay's spokeswoman recently confirmed agreements to help fund six provincial drug treatment courts will be renewed after they expire at the end of March. "The drug treatment court (DTC) model is a valuable alternative to the correctional system for drug-addicted offenders," said Clarissa Lamb in an emailed statement. "Through the collaboration and co-operation between health and court authorities, positive outcomes for the drug-addicted offender are being achieved." [continues 483 words]
IF Marc Emery is "one of the most influential forces in the modern marijuana legalization movement," the movement should look for some new leaders. That is the obvious conclusion to make after viewing Citizen Marc, the Canadian-made documentary that does little more than give the so-called Prince of Pot a silver-screen soapbox to air his libertarian views on marijuana laws. Emery was released from a Louisiana prison earlier this year after serving most of his five-year sentence for exporting marijuana seeds in 2005 from his Vancouver business to the U.S. The film, directed by Vancouver's Roger Larry, retraces Emery's steps from owning a London, Ont., bookstore at 17 to becoming a perennial candidate for almost any party that will have him, whether it's the Libertarians, the NDP or, of course, the Marijuana party. [continues 307 words]
Treatment centre's call to legalize it dismissed OTTAWA - The Harper government's resolve to enforce the law against marijuana use is unshaken by a call to legalize pot from the country's largest mental health and addiction treatment centre. Justice Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday the Conservative government has no intention of heeding the call of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Indeed, the government remains committed to going in the opposite direction, said MacKay: finding ways to increase enforcement of marijuana laws, including potentially making it a ticketing offence to possess small quantities of dope. [continues 577 words]
Re: Drug policy seriously outdated (Sept. 22). In a world of dark-ages drug policy, thank God for this sliver of light. Most of the civilized world is moving forward into an enlightened policy on the use of drugs. The failed policy of "the war on drugs," however, is still determinedly, stubbornly, and stupidly pursued by the Harper government, which insists on policies that defy scientific evidence, compassion, and common sense. How can a man as intelligent as Stephen Harper pursue such a futile policy? Herb Bjarnason Morris [end]
With Parliament back in session, yet another regressive bill, blatantly at odds with scientific evidence, is again on the table. Bill C-2, coming up for committee hearings, would make changes to Canada's drug laws with the clear objective of impeding supervised drug consumption services such as Vancouver's highly successful Insite. It's more of the same tired "war on drugs" ideology of the last decades. But as MPs in Ottawa grapple with this imprudent bill that would harm the health of our communities, progressive world leaders have come together to present a new vision of global drug policy that is firmly rooted in public health, human rights, scientific evidence and plain old common sense. [continues 601 words]
Position Isn't Easy One to Fill AN unknown would-be new entrant into the medical marijuana production business in Manitoba is looking for a master grower. The heavy workload and extensive experience required may make it seem like an opportunity for a black market grow-op grower to go legit, but that would not be the case. That's because Health Canada requires extensive security clearance for the senior staffers in charge of production and compliance. The list of qualifications to fill the position are as lengthy and as technical as any commercial production facility for the most special of specialty crops. They include managing everything from cloning, transplanting, feeding plants, defoliation, super cropping, topping, flushing, foliar and preventative sprays, trimming, packaging, waste disposal and inventory management. [continues 543 words]
A Winnipeg woman tearfully begged a judge for a longer sentence Thursday, saying she needs extensive help to get her troubled life back on track. Kayla Allen, 28, pleaded guilty to a residential break-and-enter that occurred in 2008. She cut herself during the incident, leaving a trail of blood behind that allowed police to submit for DNA analysis. It took four years for the forensic lab in Regina to get the result back to Winnipeg police, then another two years before investigators finally got around to arresting Allen. [continues 367 words]
Top B.C. court allows non-smoked forms VANCOUVER - British Columbia's highest court is green-lighting medical marijuana in everything from oils and cookies to teas in a ruling that finds federal health laws limiting weed consumption to the dried variety are unconstitutional. The B.C. Appeal Court released its 2-1 decision on Thursday stating medical-marijuana-access regulations infringe on the charter rights of people requiring other forms of cannabis to treat illnesses. The ruling upheld a decision by a lower-court judge over the case of Owen Smith, a Victoria man who was charged in 2009 with possession for trafficking of THC - marijuana's active compound - while working as head baker for the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada. [continues 452 words]
OTTAWA - Lawyers for the owner of a British Columbia bong shop and one of his employees will get a rare opportunity to present oral arguments as to why the Supreme Court of Canada should hear their appeal. It's a highly unusual move for the top court, which normally rules on leave-to-appeal applications based on written documents. Then again, it's a highly unusual case. Timothy Felger, the bong-shop owner and a B.C. pot activist, expected undercover police officers to respect a posted sign ordering the cops to stay away. Not surprisingly, they didn't. Felger and his employee, Natasha Healy, were charged after a sting operation at the shop in Abbotsford, B.C., in 2009. [continues 160 words]
Says He Had Problem Before Taking Office TORONTO - The stress of running Canada's largest city is not what drove Rob Ford to abuse substances, he said Wednesday, admitting he was drinking and using drugs before he was elected as Toronto's mayor. Ford returned to city hall this week after two months in rehab, pleading for a second chance. He would not answer questions after an emotional statement Monday, but was sitting down Wednesday with a handful of television networks for one-on-one interviews. [continues 700 words]
IMAGINE moving into your just-purchased home only to find out at the first block party the previous owners cooked meth in the kitchen and grew marijuana in the basement. The Manitoba Real Estate Association has heard a growing number of such stories, and it's calling on the province to help put an end to them. MREA spokesman Lorne Weiss said Realtors have an obligation to inform potential buyers about any defects a particular property may have, but the Winnipeg Police Service only tracks information about houses involved in the drug trade for a year. In addition, there is no standard for what qualifies as a full-fledged drug operation. [continues 320 words]
Vapes on Main opens as a non-profit club Winnipeg's first lounge for cannabis users touts itself as a refuge for medical-marijuana users -- and a source of information on the health benefits of pot. Vapes on Main quietly opened its doors earlier this month in rented space on the first floor of an old, two-storey commercial building in the 1400 block of Main Street. The sign on its front window bills the private non-profit club as a "medical marijuana lounge and resource center." [continues 466 words]
Supervision lax at facility where mom killed girl: judge A lack of supervision at a Winnipeg transitional shelter helped lead to the death of a baby girl who was killed by her mother, a provincial judge has found. Nicole Redhead suffocated her daughter, Jaylene, at the Native Women's Transition Centre, where alcohol and recreational drugs were used liberally. The Awasis agency of Child and Family Services, which had returned the baby to Redhead even though they knew the mother had a history of severe crack addiction, had a mistaken belief about the level of supervision at NWTC, Judge Larry Allen found. [continues 723 words]
A drug raid at a Winnipeg home has triggered an unusual lawsuit against RCMP officers after they allegedly removed a woman from a shower and briefly detained her, naked and wet, in her kitchen. The woman, 58, alleges she's suffered major negative effects from the conduct of the six male officers, including post-traumatic stress disorder, emotional trauma and lasting fears of being home alone and showering. She's now suing the RCMP for an undisclosed amount of money, including for lost wages at her job as a medical technician at St. Boniface Hospital. [continues 494 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 receded in the U.S. in recent years, a new study shows - a dramatic shift from a decades-long trend that made America the undisputed world leader in incarceration with more than two million prisoners, or one-quarter of the entire international total. [continues 923 words]
Program lauded for saving tax dollars THE future of Winnipeg's drug treatment court is in jeopardy due to a lack of stable funding and friction over which level of government should control the long-running program, the Free Press has learned. As of May 1, the drug court stopped accepting new applications from offenders because there's no guarantee its annual funding will be there as of April 1, 2015, justice sources confirmed Monday. The federal government is tired of funding the drug court without a commitment by the Manitoba government to take it over in the long term, sources said. [continues 711 words]
Sources blame drug trade for volatile situation The homicide count is rising quickly in Winnipeg this spring -- and those on the front lines say they're bracing for even more violence. Justice sources say tensions between organized-crime factions are likely behind the city's latest shooting death, just as they've been in several other recent incidents. Rustom Vito Paclipan, 23, was shot and killed outside a Main Street nightclub early Sunday morning. Two other men, aged 18 and 24, were also struck by gunfire but survived. No arrests have been made. [continues 671 words]
REALTORS want the province's help to protect home buyers from unwittingly purchasing a property that once housed a marijuana grow-op or drug lab. The Manitoba Real Estate Association said Monday it has requested a meeting with the government to discuss the establishment of a central registry where police would list properties that have been used as drug-production sites. It also wants the province to establish remediation standards for cleaning up such properties. "A drug-production-site registry is a classic example of good use of public authority - to provide standardized information that enables citizens to make informed judgments," Claude Davis, chairman of the MREA's grow-ops task force, said in a statement. [continues 431 words]
It may be the one day a year when people can smoke marijuana in public without being arrested, but the crowd toking up at the legislature Sunday was thinner than usual. "I can't believe how light (the crowds are). Probably because it's Easter Sunday," shrugged Rick Starink, a veteran toker who celebrated his 65th birthday with a joint or two Sunday. "Last year, you couldn't see the asphalt or the grass here; I think that was one of the higher turnouts." [continues 436 words]
VANCOUVER - The Conservative government's plan to move medical marijuana plants out of patients' basements and into commercial facilities was dealt a significant setback Friday, after a Federal Court judge ruled anyone already licensed to grow the drug may continue to do so. Judge Michael Manson issued an injunction exempting patients who are licensed to possess or grow medical marijuana under the current rules, either for themselves or someone else, from new regulations that would have made the practice illegal. A group of patients behind a constitutional challenge asked for an injunction to preserve the status quo until their legal case goes to trial. [continues 373 words]
