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 502 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 U.S. 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 599 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 317 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 286 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. On that same day in Canada, 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. "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. [continues 165 words]
Over the past several years, the federal government has amended the Criminal Code so as to create a dizzying array of mandatory minimum sentences for offences ranging from marijuana production to firearms possession. Predictably, these amendments have occasioned rank injustice as a result of the inevitable variability of human affairs. The press releases that accompany these amendments conjure images of dangerous streets and gangs running wild, when the reality in Canada is a declining crime rate, due largely to the impact of demographics. There simply are not a lot of elderly bank robbers. [continues 442 words]
OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. "These are things that we are willing to look at in the new year, but there's been no decision taken." [continues 369 words]
Fines considered for simple possession OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. [continues 444 words]
OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. "These are things that we are willing to look at in the new year, but there's been no decision taken." [continues 424 words]
Revision of marijuana laws nears OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That d o e s n ' t mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. [continues 470 words]
OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. "These are things that we are willing to look at in the new year, but there's been no decision taken." [continues 448 words]
As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. "These are things that we are willing to look at in the new year, but there's been no decision taken." [continues 448 words]
OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. "These are things that we are willing to look at in the new year, but there's been no decision taken." [continues 425 words]
OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines i n addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. "These are things that we are willing to look at in the new year, but there's been no decision taken." [continues 425 words]
OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. "These are things that we are willing to look at in the new year, but there's been no decision taken." [continues 430 words]
Introducing Fines for Possession of Small Amounts of Marijuana May Be Considered OTTAWA - As the year ends, Justice Minister Peter MacKay is strongly hinting that steps to modernize Canada's marijuana laws might be just around the corner. Fining pot smokers for possession of small amounts is one policy the government will likely consider. "That doesn't mean decriminalizing or legalizing, but it does mean giving police options, for example, to issue fines in addition to any other sanctions, or as a substitute for other sanctions," MacKay told QMI Agency. [continues 447 words]
For years, writers on these pages have decried needless government intrusion into our lives. That we need to be nannied in every aspect of our lives is something we don't take lightly. Lorne Gunter, Anthony Furey, Ian Robinson, Colman Byfield and others, myself included, have taken to task the notion that the government has any business dictating what we eat, what sports we play, where we buy booze, what guns we can own or what substances we smoke. "It criminalizes commerce. It criminalizes gardening," Furey wrote about pot prohibition earlier this year in a piece entitled "The conservative pro-pot argument." Exactly. So while it is somewhat encouraging to see any federal politician take on the hazy issue of pot prohibition, it's maddening the person doing it is a big-government liberal and, worse, a hypocrite. [continues 492 words]
The only policy issue that Justin Trudeau speaks about with any interest or passion is marijuana. Sure, he reads speeches about the economy and asks questions in question period about other subjects. But they're prepared by the policy wonks in the Liberal research department. Marijuana, though, is something he keeps bringing up, unscripted. The man couldn't find Syria on a map. Probably not Calgary, either, come to mention it. But he knows his pot. [continues 613 words]
P. E. I..' s Federal Cabinet Minister Criticizes Liberal MPs' Support of Legalization As politicians around the country are being asked if they ever smoked marijuana, P. E. I.' s only representative in cabinet says she has never tried it. Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was responding to questions from the media after she released a statement Monday morning in which she criticized the Island's Liberal MPs for supporting Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's stance on marijuana legalization. The statement was a rare criticism of her fellow Island MPs from a cabinet minister who usually stays away from personal attacks on politicians from the opposition parties. [continues 316 words]
Gail Shea says she has never smoked marijuana. As politicians around the country are being asked if they ever smoked marijuana, P.E.I.'s only representative in cabinet says she has never tried it. Fisheries Minister Gail Shea was responding to questions from the media after she released a statement Monday morning in which she criticized the Island's Liberal MPs for supporting Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's stance on marijuana legalization. The statement was a rare criticism of her fellow Island MPs from a cabinet minister who usually stays away from personal attacks on politicians from the opposition parties. [continues 317 words]
Justin Trudeau's pot gambit is a calculated and rather clever move. The Liberal leader's revelation that he smoked dope as a sitting MP earned him an expected scolding from the governing Conservatives. But that, surely, was Trudeau's aim. The unexpected decision to highlight marijuana laws is also eerily similar to a strategy that allowed Trudeau's father, Pierre, to be Canada's prime minister for 15 years. In his attempt to outpace Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau has little manoeuvring room. On the economy, the Liberal leader's position differs little from that of Harper. Like the prime minister, Trudeau sees pipelines, resource development and free trade as the keys to Canada's future. [continues 541 words]
On Thursday federal Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau revealed that he's tried marijuana five or six times - including an incident three years ago while serving as an MP. The most recent times was at a dinner party Trudeau hosted at his Montreal home. He said a friend lit a joint and passed it around. Trudeau admitted having a puff. It wasn't a mistake; he did inhale; and he made no apologies for doing it. On Friday, the predictable reefer madness ensued in Ottawa. [continues 619 words]
Pot Activist Denies Toking With Trudeau Pro-pot activist Marc Emery is offering his mea culpas to Justin Trudeau from a U.S. jail for saying he'd smoked pot a few times with the Liberal leader. But Emery said he did get high once with Trudeau in August 2003 on a restaurant patio in Vancouver, though it was Emery "doing most of the smoking." Trudeau said Friday Emery was "flat out lying" about the '09 allegations, only met Emery once, and abstained from any pot use with the activist. [continues 284 words]
Pot activist denies toking with Trudeau OTTAWA - Pro-pot activist Marc Emery is offering his mea culpas to Justin Trudeau from a U.S. jail for saying he'd smoked pot a few times with the Liberal leader. But Emery said he did get high once with Trudeau in August 2003 on a restaurant patio in Vancouver, though it was Emery "doing most of the smoking." Trudeau said Friday Emery was "flat out lying" about the '09 allegations, only met Emery once, and abstained from any pot use with the activist. [continues 271 words]
OTTAWA - Pro-pot activist Marc Emery is offering his mea culpas to Justin Trudeau from a U.S. jail for saying he'd smoked pot a few times with the Liberal leader. But Emery said he did get high once with Trudeau in August 2003 on a restaurant patio in Vancouver, though it was Emery "doing most of the smoking." Trudeau said Friday Emery was "flat out lying" about the '09 allegations, only met Emery once, and abstained from any pot use with the activist. Emery apologized in an e-mailed response to questions about his remarks. [continues 163 words]
Canada's police chiefs deserve credit for proposing a less punitive approach to minor drug offences If you're caught knocking back a beer in a Toronto park, the worst rap on the knuckles you're likely to face is a $125 fine. Get busted smoking a joint and you could be unlucky enough to get a date with a judge and face a $1,000 fine or six months in jail, or both. To Canada's police chiefs, this is harsh. And they're right. By now millions of Canadians have rolled a joint or two, and the courts wisely tend to go easy on first offenders and those caught with small amounts. But Ottawa perversely continues to criminalize the possession of even tiny quantities of cannabis. [continues 538 words]
Liberal leader - and lawmaker - is trivializing the use of drugs and pretending he's for the middle class The only policy issue that Justin Trudeau speaks about with any interest or passion is marijuana. Sure, he reads speeches about the economy and asks questions in question period about other subjects. But they're prepared by the policy wonks in the Liberal research department. Marijuana, though, is something he keeps bringing up, unscripted. The man couldn't find Syria on a map. Probably not Calgary, either, come to mention it. But he knows his pot. [continues 616 words]
Liberal leader - and lawmaker - is trivializing the use of drugs and pretending he's for the middle class The only policy issue that Justin Trudeau speaks about with any interest or passion is marijuana. Sure, he reads speeches about the economy and asks questions in question period about other subjects. But they're prepared by the policy wonks in the Liberal research department. Marijuana, though, is something he keeps bringing up, unscripted. The man couldn't find Syria on a map. Probably not Calgary, either, come to mention it. But he knows his pot. [continues 613 words]
His Credibility 'Up in Smoke,' Mackay Says OTTAWA - Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau's marijuana mea culpa has sparked some serious reefer madness on Parliament Hill. Trudeau's confession that he smoked a joint after becoming an MP has put the pot-smoking predilections of politicians - if any - under the microscope. It now seems every parliamentarian is being asked if they've ever fired up a fattie. For the record, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says he has stayed away from the drug after seeing a U.S. Supreme Court nominee withdraw after it emerged he smoked marijuana in college. [continues 442 words]
Harper's crime legislation, designed for the George Bush era, is an anachronism in the Barack Obama presidency For 40 years, the United States conducted an unremitting, staggeringly expensive war on drugs. For at least 30 of those years, Washington sent a succession of "drug czars" to Ottawa to press the Canadian government to get tough on dealers, traffickers and addicts. Finally in 2006, the U.S. got a willing partner in Ottawa. Prime Minister Stephen Harper took office vowing to crack down on crime, get drugs and guns off the streets, lock up dangerous young offenders and reduce the discretion of judges to set lenient sentences. [continues 632 words]
Believe me, if I thought for a second that prohibition worked I would be the first to call for an outright ban, enforced by the full weight of the law. I would campaign for zero tolerance and mandatory minimum sentences. I would contribute money to the cause and even stand on a street corner with a tambourine and a bullhorn if that's what it took to get legislation passed. Unfortunately, prohibition doesn't work and so I'm afraid we're going to have our ears bleed to the shrill squawk of the bagpipes for the foreseeable future. [continues 560 words]
If the Harper government needs more evidence it is heading in the wrong direction on marijuana laws, it was provided this week by the U.S. attorney general, who conceded America's drug laws have been a failure and have wrongly punished and injured millions of young people. Eric Holder told the American Bar Association the Obama administration wants to move away from a policy of handing out harsh sentences for many drug-related crimes. Low-level, non-violent drug offenders, in particular, should no longer be charged with offences that impose mandatory minimum sentences, Holder said. [continues 144 words]
If the Harper government needs more evidence it is heading in the wrong direction on marijuana laws, it was provided by the U.S. attorney general, who conceded America's drug laws have been a failure and have wrongly punished and injured millions of young people. Eric Holder told the American Bar Association the Obama administration wants to move away from a policy of handing out harsh sentences for many drug-related crimes. Low level, non-violent drug offenders, in particular, should no longer be charged with offences that impose mandatory minimum sentences, Holder said. It's a startling turnaround for a country that declared war on drugs in the 1980s, even though it already had some of the toughest laws in the western world. [continues 283 words]
If the Harper government needs more evidence it is heading in the wrong direction on marijuana laws, it was provided Monday by the U.S. attorney general, who conceded America's drug laws have been a failure and have wrongly punished and injured millions of young people. Eric Holder told the American Bar Association the Obama administration wants to move away from a policy of handing out harsh sentences for many drug-related crimes. Low-level, non-violent drug offenders, in particular, should no longer be charged with offences that impose mandatory minimum sentences, Holder said. [continues 313 words]
The Canadian government should take a lesson from a remarkably frank acknowledgment by senior U.S. justice authorities that decades of tough-on-crime laws in that country have been a miserable failure. The Safe Streets and Communities omnibus bill the Harper Conservatives passed into law two years back has been widely criticized as an ideologically driven, right-wing initiative from the moment it was rammed through Parliament. It took an excessive approach to fighting crime at a time when crime rates were in decline and prisons were already overcrowded. [continues 414 words]
The United States is curtailing the mandatory minimum sentences that helped make it by far the most incarcerating nation on Earth, and which have been a linchpin in the "war on drugs." Canada should pay heed to the lesson, as spelled out this week by Attorney-General Eric Holder: These sentences cost taxpayers far too much money, don't reduce recidivism, haven't won the drug war and are fundamentally unjust and destructive to communities. The Conservative government has been in thrall to mandatory minimums, and the number of federal prisoners has been rising even as crime rates have been steadily falling. (Canada had 12,671 federal inmates in the year Stephen Harper became prime minister. As of last month, there were 15,276.) Some of the new minimums make sense in areas such as child pornography, where judges tended not to send offenders to jail and Parliament wished to reduce judges' discretion. But a mandatory minimum of six months for growing six marijuana plants is excessive and unnecessary, spurred on by a war-on-drugs mentality that is becoming more and more discredited south of the border. [continues 225 words]
If the Harper government needs more evidence it is heading in the wrong direction on marijuana laws, it was provided Monday by the U.S. attorney general, who conceded America's drug laws have been a failure and have wrongly punished and injured millions of young people. Eric Holder told the American Bar Association the Obama administration wants to move away from a policy of handing out harsh sentences for many drug-related crimes. Low-level, non-violent drug offenders, in particular, should no longer be charged with offences that impose mandatory minimum sentences, Holder said. [continues 309 words]
Justin Trudeau's advocacy of legal marijuana is mere political pandering In drug-dabbling days of yore, there was one narcotic that I knew from the get-go could be my undoing: heroin. With the possible exception of sex, there's no euphoric feeling on Earth so sweet as a smack rush. And while I don't accept that dipping into any drug for an experimental adventure - not crack, not methamphetamines, not LSD - will automatically predispose an individual toward addiction and a life of ruin, which is what the drug interdiction racket would have you believe, there's no denying the siren song of heroin nirvana as a seductive compulsion. [continues 962 words]
Legalization a bad idea for Canada In drug-dabbling days of yore, there was one narcotic that I knew from the get-go could be my undoing: heroin. With the possible exception of sex, there's no euphoric feeling on Earth so sweet as a smack rush. And while I don't accept that dipping into any drug for an experimental adventure - not crack, not methamphetamines, not LSD - will automatically predispose an individual toward addiction and a life of ruin, which is what the drug interdiction racket would have you believe, there's no denying the siren song of heroin nirvana as a seductive compulsion. [continues 959 words]
Allan Levine's column (Canada's 100-year war on drugs, Aug. 3) was very entertaining and informative. It clearly illustrates the unmitigated failure of the war on drugs and the racist views of the 20th century that were the root cause of Prohibition in this country. Justin Trudeau has shown us leadership on an issue that is difficult to reform. Law Enforcement Against Prohibition supports his call for legalization of marijuana as an important policy that stops the criminalization of adults for non-violent consensual behaviour. Trudeau's call for control and regulation is welcome and is based on the growing evidence of positive medical science, and the fact that adults should be able to make their own choices. [continues 164 words]
In drug-dabbling days of yore, there was one narcotic that I knew from the get-go could be my undoing: heroin. With the possible exception of sex, there's no euphoric feeling on Earth so sweet as a smack rush. And while I don't accept that dipping into any drug for an experimental adventure - not crack, not methamphetamines, not LSD - will automatically predispose an individual toward addiction and a life of ruin, which is what the drug interdiction racket would have you believe, there's no denying the siren song of heroin nirvana as a seductive compulsion. [continues 961 words]
Re: "Pot shouldn't guide political agendas," Aug. 4. Contrary to Iain Hunter's admittedly uninformed opinion, the debate over cannabis policy is neither as "trivial" nor as devoid of scientific evidence today as it was when Parliament hastily prohibited the herb in 1923. If cannabis, and the social costs stemming from its prohibition, such as illicit "grow-ops" in our communities and one of the highest rates of youth cannabis use in the world are not serious issues, then why do we waste most of our drug-control budget on arresting and criminalizing people found in possession? Why did the Harper government just institute mandatory minimum prison sentences for growing as few as six plants? [continues 152 words]
It was revealed last week that her British advisers warned Margaret Thatcher when she was prime minister to beware of the "unsound personal views" of Pierre Trudeau, her Canadian counterpart whom she was about to meet for the first time. I wonder what those stuffy Brits in striped trousers would have to say to their prime minister about Justin Trudeau, should he become prime minister of Canada one day. For Trudeau fils has set himself up as the political champion of callow youth and aging hippies by advocating what's called the legalization of marijuana, meaning, presumably, that they should be able to inhale or ingest pot in its various forms without legal penalty. [continues 597 words]
AS mobs of ga-ga-eyed federal Liberals gushed at the arrival of party leader Justin Trudeau last week, the buzz that soon followed was his stance on marijuana. He favours legal, taxed and regulated pot to put Canadians in control of the substance rather than the criminals who enjoy a lucrative monopoly now. We're sure he said other things too, but that's the story Lower Mainland media ran with. His timing is fortuitous as organizers of the Sensible B.C. campaign are signing up volunteers to see if they can, via a petition, amend the provincial Police Act to specifically instruct police officers in the province to not arrest or prosecute for cases of simple marijuana possession. [continues 147 words]
Marijuana Stance Could Be Winner for Trudeau I'm not sure why it isn't bigger news, at time of writing, that Justin Trudeau now publicly supports the legalization of marijuana. (He actually publicly supported it in February, Mr. Trudeau's adviser Gerald Butts pointed out on Twitter, but somehow it was even smaller news then.) He had already found his way to supporting decriminalization, and had previously articulated the case for legalization. But he has now adopted that case and expressly repudiated decriminalization. [continues 669 words]
The federal government introduced new regulations on medicinal marijuana last month, but local users still complain of social judgment and stigma. While researching last week's story on the new medicinal marijuana regulations, The Goat contacted more than a dozen local users and growers. Four were willing to speak on the issue, but nobody was willing to speak on the record. Even those legally permitted to possess or grow medical marijuana refused to speak on the record. Pot taboo? or Pot-a-boo! [continues 1411 words]
Re: "Cory Monteith loved by many", July 18, 2013 Cory Monteith died of a combination of alcohol and a heroin overdose. Known to many people for his role in Glee, he will now play a vital role in a real life drama by helping illustrate that 'evidenced based' drug policies and the 'legalize-then-prescribe' approach to drug use/abuse issues can and should be implemented to help save lives. Sadly our federal politicians have refused to place the issue of drug use and drug addiction within a health and wellness perspective and have chosen instead to ignore science based and harm reduction approaches by continuing to embrace failed drug prohibition. [continues 125 words]
