Is Marc Emery a secret agent for the Conservative Party of Canada? It sure looks that way. It's impossible that you have not heard of the World's Most Famous Pothead. But, in the event that you have been in a coma for the past while, consider this a primer, gratis. Marc Emery is from B.C. Presently, he is a guest of the U.S. prison system, but is returning to Canada this month. He got himself in prison by selling drug stuff in the U.S. His business was called Marc Emery Direct Marijuana Seeds, which pretty accurately describes what he does for a living. [continues 563 words]
Is Marc Emery a secret agent for the Conservative Party of Canada? It sure looks that way. It's impossible that you have not heard of the World's Most Famous Pothead. But, in the event that you have been in a coma for the past while, consider this a primer, gratis. Marc Emery is from B.C. Presently, he is a guest of the U.S. prison system, but is returning to Canada this month. He got himself in prison by selling drug stuff in the U.S. His business was called Marc Emery Direct Marijuana Seeds, which pretty accurately describes what he does for a living. [continues 562 words]
In Politics: Ground Shifting Rapidly on Pot Prohibition WASHINGTON - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau might have an ally in Canada's Prince of Pot - whether he likes it or not. Marc (Prince of Pot) Emery is likely to throw his support behind Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau when he returns to Canada, says fellow marijuana activist Allen St. Pierre. Allen St. Pierre - executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, the oldest pro-legalization group in the U. S. - knows Marc Emery from their time fighting pot laws. He says Emery's likely itching to return to the fray after serving time in U.S. prison for marijuana distribution. [continues 252 words]
Is Marc Emery a secret agent for the Conservative Party of Canada? It sure looks that way. It's impossible that you have not heard of the World's Most Famous Pothead. But, in the event that you have been in a coma for the past while, consider this a primer, gratis. Marc Emery is from B.C. Presently, he is a guest of the U.S. prison system, but is returning to Canada this month. He got himself in prison by selling drug stuff in the U.S. His business was called Marc Emery Direct Marijuana Seeds, which pretty accurately describes what he does for a living. [continues 564 words]
It's Possible for Someone WHO Sells Marijuana to Do More Jail Time Than Someone WHO Produces Child Pornography My sense of justice is always most outraged by crimes that directly harm others, particularly when the motive is self-enrichment. With ex-London, Ont., mayor Joe Fontana's expenses forgery, we see both: Mr. Fontana left taxpayers on the hook for $1,700 that they didn't owe, and, according to the judge who sentenced him, "personal gain appears to be the only motive." Mr. Fontana is now facing four months of house arrest and 18 months of probation. [continues 523 words]
In 2010, marijuana legalization activist Marc Emery was handed a five-year jail sentence in a Seattle courtroom for selling seeds that grow into the cannabis plant. He's due for release this week and today, in the same city where he was led away in cuffs, you can walk into a brand new storefront, slap down a $20 bill and walk out with a gram of perfectly legal recreational marijuana. In his campaign, Emery has gone from the butt of jokes to martyr and now the father of a movement that has picked up some powerful allies in academia, economics, medicine, law and politics. [continues 153 words]
Today, we observe the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking. In a year that has already seen everything from the legalization of cannabis in two U.S. states to the Pope condemning drug legalization, Canadians should take pause and assess where our drug policy is, and where it should be heading. In 1998, the UN aimed to eradicate all coca and poppy plants within a decade, but in 2009, that goal was abandoned in favour of trying to keep drug use below 5 per cent of the world population. This shift to what academics have called the "less heroic stance" of the new drug war has been mirrored elsewhere, as societies realized that enforcement-based prohibition models simply cannot win. [continues 458 words]
Former UFC Champ Writes Letter Cournoyer, Awaiting Sentencing for Drug Trafficking, Is a 'Really Good Friend' A Quebec man who is awaiting his sentence in a case in the U.S., where he pleaded guilty to trafficking in massive amounts of marijuana, has support from a pretty heavy hitter. Jimmy Cournoyer, 34, who has been dubbed The King of Pot by some in the media who have covered his federal case in New York, recently filed his position on his upcoming sentence and it includes a letter of support from Ultimate Fighting Championship superstar Georges St-Pierre. [continues 779 words]
Legal Appeal: Chronic Offender a Poor Choice to Test Minimum Sentence Provision B.C.'s highest bench has given part of the Conservative Government's tough-on-crime agenda a judicial nod of approval by refusing to hear a constitutional challenge to mandatory minimum drug sentences. Although Ottawa's anti-crime legislation has been badly bruised in the courts, the three-justice Court of Appeal panel cast a gimlet eye at those opposing a 12-month jail sentence for anyone with a recent drug prior found guilty of trafficking hard drugs. [continues 743 words]
VANCOUVER LAWYERS RETURN to court today (June 5) in a case that could see the Conservative government's mandatory minimum sentences for drug offences eventually repealed. Earlier this year, a B.C. provincial court judge ruled unconstitutional an automatic one-year prison term for a person repeatedly convicted of dealing narcotics. Judge Joseph Galati found that a mandatory minimum sentence violates section 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that every citizen has the right to not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment. [continues 250 words]
This week, the B.C. Court of Appeal hears the first major challenge to the latest symptom of a punitive plague: mandatory incarceration for a drug crime. The defendant, 25-year-old Joseph Lloyd, lives in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, where he struggles with addiction and regularly interacts with the court system. In the past, local judges could use their expertise to craft an individualized punishment for people like Lloyd. Community supervision, drug programming or specific amounts of jail time could target his specific circumstances. [continues 727 words]
Re: A blow to the justice system, Editorial May 20 A blow to the justice system, Editorial May 20 Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to catch up with the 21st Century. Even Americans have turned their backs on mandatory minimum prisons sentences. If harsh penalties deterred illicit drug use, Canada's neighbour would be a "drug-free" America. The U.S. drug war has done little other than enrich violent drug cartels. The former "Land of the Free" now has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Meanwhile, U.S. rates of drug use are higher than European Union countries that have declared drug peace. This type of extreme government failure is expensive for taxpayers and certainly not worth emulating up in Canada. [continues 107 words]
Of all the many parts of the federal justice budget, the Conservative government has found exactly the wrong one to cut. A Canadian Press report last week revealed that in April, $1.2 million was removed from the department's research budget - 20 per cent of the total. As a result, eight researchers have lost their jobs. The dual purpose of the cut, in the convoluted, vaguely ominous words of Justice Minister Peter MacKay: "To ensure that we bring value to hard-earned taxpayers' dollars" and that "research is . . . undertaken to obtain information to support priorities of government." [continues 504 words]
Have you gone to buy any Mexican limes or avocados lately? The price for both has skyrocketed in recent months, with a wholesale case of limes worth as much as four times what it cost just a year ago. So what's the culprit? Bad weather? Trade embargo? Greedy farmers? No, according to Mexican sources, it has much to do with a drug cartel, calling itself the Knights Templar, which has recently decided that extorting money directly from growers in the lucrative lime and avocado export business is a great way to diversify their "industry." Thus, the artificially inflated price of these items on supermarket shelves can properly be described as a collateral effect of the war on drugs. [continues 519 words]
Re: "Food shoppers paying price for war on drugs," Kevin Brooker, Opinion, May 12. Prime Minister Stephen Harper needs to catch up with the 21st century. Even Americans have turned their backs on mandatory minimum prison sentences. If harsh penalties deterred illicit drug use, Canada's southern neighbour would be drug free. The U.S. drug war has done little other than give the land of the free the highest incarceration rate in the world. Putting non-violent drug offenders behind bars with violent criminals provides them with a taxpayer-funded education in anti-social behaviour. This can backfire when inmates are released years later with a PhD in criminality and no means of gainful employment. If the goal is to discourage unhealthy choices, there are cost-effective alternatives to mandatory minimum prison sentences that destroy lives and tear families apart. [continues 78 words]
Getting tough on crime has been a focus of our federal government. Here in Canada, it has been viewed by many as a shift to more of an American-style form of punishment. For years, tough-on-crime agendas have been common south of the border, as critics in the United States have often scoffed at the light sentences received north of the border. The United States, however, is home to a significant chunk of the world's prison population, as a result, with a high degree of focus on the war on drugs. A recent report by the London School of Economics pointed to the collateral damage that war has levied on American society in general, which is part of the reason the United States imprisons more of its citizens than any other country, by a very wide margin. [continues 493 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 actually receded in the U.S. in recent years, a new study shows - a dramatic shift from a decades-long trend that made the United States the undisputed world leader in incarceration with more than two million prisoners, or one-quarter of the entire international total. [continues 743 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 actually 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 929 words]
American poll shows addiction treatment favoured over jail 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 actually receded in the U.S. in recent years, a new study shows - a dramatic shift from a decades-long trend that made the United States the undisputed world leader in incarceration with more than two million prisoners, or one-quarter of the entire international total. [continues 893 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]
Sentencing in this country is getting tougher, but it's easing in the U.S., writes Alexander Panetta. A pair of newly released reports show Canada and the U.S. are inching in opposite directions on law and order, with Canada gearing up for an era of tougher sentencing just as the United States shortens its traditionally harsher terms. 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 actually receded in the U.S. in recent years, a new study shows - a dramatic shift from a decades-long trend that made the United States the undisputed world leader in incarceration with more than two million prisoners, or one-quarter of the entire international total. [continues 764 words]
Have you gone to buy any Mexican limes or avocados lately? The price for both has skyrocketed in recent months, with a wholesale case of limes worth as much as four times what it cost just a year ago. So what's the culprit? Bad weather? Trade embargo? Greedy farmers? No, according to Mexican sources, it has much to do with a drug cartel, calling itself the Knights Templar, which has recently decided that extorting money directly from growers in the lucrative lime and avocado export business is a great way to diversify their "industry." Thus, the artificially inflated price of these items on Calgary's supermarket shelves can properly be described as a collateral effect of the war on drugs. [continues 573 words]
Resources better used elsewhere, experts claim The Conservative government seriously needs to pay attention to a new London School of Economics report that concludes the global war on drugs has failed, drug-policy experts said Friday. The 82- page report, titled Ending the Drug Wars and signed by five Nobel Prize economists, urges countries to redirect massive resources away from law enforcement-centred policies toward "public health based policies of harm reduction and treatment." Under strict monitoring, states should also be encouraged to "experiment" with alternative drug policies - such as the recent legalization and regulation of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state - to determine which ones work best, the report said. [continues 447 words]
Economists Tell Canada to Follow Colorado's Lead on Marijuana The Conservative government seriously needs to pay attention to a new London School of Economics report that concludes the global war on drugs has failed, drug-policy experts said Friday. The 82-page report, titled Ending the Drug Wars and signed by five Nobel Prize economists, urges countries to redirect massive resources away from law enforcement-centred policies toward "public health-based policies of harm reduction and treatment." Under strict monitoring, states should also be encouraged to "experiment" with alternative drug policies - such as the recent legalization and regulation of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state - to determine which ones work best, the report said. [continues 447 words]
Canadian Experts Urge Conservative Government to Heed London School of Economics Report The Conservative government seriously needs to pay attention to a new London School of Economics report that concludes the global war on drugs has failed, drug-policy experts said Friday. The 82- page report, titled Ending the Drug Wars and signed by five Nobel Prize economists, urges countries to redirect massive resources away from law enforcement-centred policies toward "public health based policies of harm reduction and treatment." Under strict monitoring, states should also be encouraged to "experiment" with alternative drug policies - such as the recent legalization and regulation of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state - to determine which ones work best, the report said. [continues 395 words]
The Conservative government seriously needs to pay attention to a new London School of Economics report that concludes the global war on drugs has failed, drug policy experts said Friday. The 82-page report, titled Ending the Drug Wars and signed by five Nobel Prize economists, urges countries to redirect massive resources away from law enforcement-centred policies toward "public health-based policies of harm reduction and treatment." Under strict monitoring, states should also be encouraged to "experiment" with alternative drug policies - such as the recent legalization and regulation of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state - to determine which ones work best, the report said. [continues 346 words]
Tories Urged to Heed Advice on Policy Changes The Conservative government seriously needs to pay attention to a new London School of Economics report that concludes the global war on drugs has failed, drug policy experts said Friday. The 82-page report, titled Ending the Drug Wars and signed by five Nobel Prize economists, urges countries to redirect massive resources away from law enforcement-centred policies toward "public health-based policies of harm reduction and treatment." Under strict monitoring, states should also be encouraged to "experiment" with alternative drug policies - such as the recent legalization and regulation of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state - to determine which ones work best, the report said. [continues 449 words]
Report Tells Canada to Follow Colorado's Lead The Conservative government seriously needs to pay attention to a new London School of Economics report that concludes the global war on drugs has failed, drug-policy experts said Friday. The 82-page report, titled Ending the Drug Wars and signed by five Nobel Prize economists, urges countries to redirect massive resources away from law enforcement-centred policies toward "public health-based policies of harm reduction and treatment." Under strict monitoring, states should also be encouraged to "experiment" with alternative drug policies - such as the recent legalization and regulation of marijuana in Colorado and Washington state - to determine which ones work best, the report said. [continues 438 words]
Let me start out by telling you I would pass any drug test right now. I work for a company that urine-tests people at any incident. Somebody drives into my truck, I get the test. Somebody hurts me, both get urine tested. This I feel is terrible. If I smoke a joint on my days off, I shouldn't lose my job for it two weeks later. I have ADHD and I've previously dealt with depression in my life. The amphetamines the doctors hand out like Skittles disagree with me strongly and the anti-depressants I've been on have done the opposite of their desired effect, often making me worse. In one case, when I was around 19 or 20, my mother took the happy pills away from me. She was concerned I'd be a danger to myself within the week. [continues 329 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]
To the Editor, Re: Canada plays follow the leader on pot laws, Opinion, March 11. Your column misses the point of both the police and our current government's desire to ticket cannabis. The plan has nothing to do with loosening cannabis laws or their opinions of the drug and those who use it. For them it is simple pragmatism: police don't like the work of arresting a casual cannabis smoker, more so as the cases are rarely prosecuted and even more rarely successful, so they want something that hurts cannabis users and is easy for them to do. Tickets fit the bill perfectly. [continues 116 words]
Forgive us if we find the Conservatives' attitude toward marijuana is getting a little hazy. This week we learned that some in the party say they are ready to discuss issuing fines for simple possession, rather than criminal charges. But starting April 1, the thousands of sick Canadians who have earned certification from Health Canada to grow their own medicinal pot will become criminals if their plants are not destroyed. Those who didn't have the wherewithal to grow their own could buy from licensed dispensaries, but those too have been scrapped in favour of a system of delivery by mail from a handful of big companies. Medicinal marijuana users and their advocates have warned this is going to price many sick people out of access to what is often the only symptom relief they can find. [continues 125 words]
Imagine: You discover your 18-year-old growing marijuana or showing off an illegal loaded handgun to his buddies. What to do, what to do? Depending on the offence and the teen's previous record, as it were, a parent's response could range from turning him in despite his lack of a criminal record to resorting to grounding and withdrawal of privileges. I'd argue the last thing most concerned parents would do is send him off to spend all his time with rapists, armed robbers and guys who beat up people for a living. Sending an impressionable youth to live with criminals is, in my opinion, a great way to create yet another one. [continues 623 words]
Ottawa's Folly: B. C. Judges, U. S. See Flaws in Mandatory Minimum B.C. Provincial Court Judge Joseph Galati has joined a handful of his colleagues in thumbing his nose at Ottawa's tough-on-crime legislation. Along with their counterparts in Ontario and elsewhere, he and his fellow judges are finding it hard to stomach sending non-violent, chronic drug offenders to prison under recently imposed mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines. In their opinion, when dealing with these by-and-large addled and addicted adults, compassion not incarceration is the answer, and to imprison them for at least a year constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. [continues 557 words]
A B.C. Provincial Court judge ruled mandatory minimum sentences for drug convictions are unconstitutional and instead handed down a 191-day sentence on top of time served to an offender Wednesday. The controversial one year minimum sentences were part of 2012's federal Safe Streets and Communities Act. Joseph Lloyd was convicted on Sept. 13, 2013 for possession of small amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin. Lloyd's lawyer David Fai said Judge Joseph Galati found the minimum sentences were not a reasonable limit to infringements in a free and democratic society. [continues 85 words]
A British Columbia Provincial Court judge has ruled that a one-year mandatory minimum sentence for drug trafficking recently introduced by the federal government is a violation of the Charter of Rights and declared it "of no force and effect." B. C. Provincial Court Judge Joseph Galati instead sentenced Joseph Ryan Lloyd on Wednesday to 191 days behind bars, saying the 25- year- old from Alberta was a low-level dealer selling drugs to support his own addiction. "Provincial Court judges in the City of Vancouver deal constantly with drug addicts who resort to crime to feed their addictions," Galati wrote in a decision last month on an application in the case. [continues 110 words]
A B.C. judge is the latest to challenge Ottawa's tough-on-crime legislation, finding that mandatory minimum sentences for repeat drug offenders violate their Charter rights. Judge Joseph Galati sentenced Joseph Lloyd on Wednesday to 191 days in prison for three counts of drug possession for the purpose of trafficking. The sentence falls well short of the one-year minimum the law requires. In a Jan. 24 ruling in the case, Judge Galati said in situations such as Mr. Lloyd's, a one-year minimum would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, prohibited by Section 12 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mr. Lloyd was convicted on drug charges last September. His defence argued that the mandatory minimum sentence was unconstitutional, leading to Judge Galati's ruling last month. [continues 406 words]
Drug Trafficking: Judge Sentences Low-Level Dealer to 191 Days Behind Bars Instead of One Year A representative for drug users in Vancouver is applauding a court ruling that the mandatory one-year minimum sentence for drug trafficking is unconstitutional. B.C. Provincial Court Judge Joseph Galati made the ruling last month. And he put his decision into action on Wednesday, when he sentenced 25-year-old Joseph Ryan Lloyde to 191 days behind bars. The low-level dealer from Alberta was convicted in September of possessing crack cocaine for the purpose of trafficking in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. It was his second conviction, which means the judge was required to hand him a minimum one-year sentence according to federal law. [continues 271 words]
VANCOUVER - A provincial court judge has ruled that a one-year mandatory minimum sentence for drug trafficking recently introduced by the federal government is a violation of the Charter of Rights and declared it "of no force and effect." B.C. provincial court Judge Joseph Galati instead sentenced Joseph Ryan Lloyd on Wednesday to 191 days behind bars, saying the 25-year-old from Alberta was a low-level dealer selling drugs to support his own addiction. "Provincial court judges in the City of Vancouver deal constantly with drug addicts who resort to crime to feed their addictions," Galati wrote in a decision last month on an application in the case. [continues 234 words]
A Vancouver provincial court judge ruled Wednesday that applying the Harper government's mandatory minimum sentence law of one year in prison to a small-time drug dealer constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" and declared it to be "of no force and effect" in B.C. Judge Joseph Galati made the ruling in sentencing long time offender Joseph Ryan Lloyd, 25, who was convicted on three counts of possession of small amounts of crack cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin for the purpose of trafficking. [continues 681 words]
Nearly 90% of people in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside have Hepatitis C. Why does the government want to make it harder for them to get clean crack pipes? If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again. Or so we're told. But when you repeatedly stare failure in the face, sometimes it's better to give up. Case in point: There's no question the war on drugs has been an abject failure. There's a policy experiment taking place right across the border in Washington state, which has legalized marijuana. [continues 663 words]
Unlike politicians who are riding high in the polls, I have never used pot, or any other illegal drug for that matter. That puts me out of touch with voters both north and south of the border, which more or less is the story of my life. I am in good shape locally, as Saskatoon has the highest percentage of arrests for pot possession in the country. In Halifax you have an 82 per cent chance of being let off by the police if you are caught with a small amount of marijuana, while in Saskatoon you have an 82 per cent chance of being charged. You are 35 per cent more likely to be charged if you are in possession of some pot in Saskatoon than anywhere else in Canada. [continues 664 words]
Society's growing acceptance of marijuana will have a huge influence on policies in 2014. In a week-long series, the Star looks at the people most impacted by the drug As of Jan. 1, the world's first pot shops opened for business in Colorado. More are planned for Washington state. In Uruguay, the first country to fully legalize marijuana, the government will oversee the sale of weed beginning this spring. And in Canada, where public support of pot has never been higher, new medical marijuana laws will usher in a free market that produces high-quality cannabis to support a rapidly growing number of users. [continues 1832 words]
VANCOUVER - As it turns out, Nov. 6, 2012 was a big day for marijuana laws. Voters in Colorado and Washington state approved initiatives to legalize pot, setting the stage for the regulated production and sale of the drug. Several other jurisdictions in the U.S. have since followed suit. In Canada, the same day two American states were effectively abandoning part of the war on drugs, provisions of a new federal law came into effect that imposed strict mandatory minimums for drug-related crimes, including marijuana production. [continues 490 words]
VANCOUVER - As it turns out, Nov. 6, 2012, was a big day for marijuana laws. Voters in Colorado and Washington state approved initiatives to legalize pot, setting the stage for the regulated production and sale of the drug. Several other jurisdictions in the U.S. have since followed suit. In Canada, the same day two American states were effectively abandoning part of the war on drugs, provisions of a new federal law came into effect that imposed strict mandatory minimums for drug-related crimes, including marijuana production. [continues 786 words]
VANCOUVER - In Canada, on the same 2012 day two U.S. states were approving initiative to legalize marijuana, provisions of a new federal law came into effect that imposed strict mandatory minimums for drug-related crimes, including growing pot. The contrast, says University of Victoria professor Susan Boyd, could not have been greater. "This new law and our revived war on drugs in Canada is so contrary to what's going on around the world," says Boyd, who specializes in drug law and drug policy. "It seemed like Canada was veering towards a very punitive model while the rest of the world was taking a closer look at mandatory minimums and abandoning them." [continues 323 words]
Canada's tighter drug laws go against world trend: writer VANCOUVER - As it turns out, Nov. 6, 2012, was a big day for marijuana laws. Voters in Colorado and Washington state approved initiatives to legalize pot, setting the stage for the regulated production and sale of the drug. Several other jurisdictions in the U. S. have since followed suit. In Canada, the same day two American states were effectively abandoning part of the war on drugs, provisions of a new federal law came into effect that imposed strict mandatory minimums for drug- related crimes, including marijuana production. The contrast, says University of Victoria professor Susan Boyd, could not have been greater. [continues 422 words]
