The 81 barangays in Cebu Province that were initially declared by the police as drug-free are still subject for validation, a top-ranking official said Tuesday, January 3. Chief Superintendent Noli Talino, Police Regional Office (PRO)-Central Visayas director, said that it is up to the Cebu Provincial Anti-Drug Abuse Office (CPADAO) to declare a barangay free from drugs. "Yung sa amin, hindi pa naman final yung report ng Cebu Province. Ang sabi ko sa kanila for recommendation as a drug-free barangay pero hindi pa final yun. Ipapa-validate pa natin 'yun (For our part, the report from the Cebu Province is not yet final. What I told them was only to submit a recommendation of drug-free barangays but these are not yet final. This (recommendation) will still be validated," said Talino. "So if I will not approve it then it's back to zero." [continues 158 words]
Doctors may reduce opiate dosage for patients suffering chronic pain "Funny story," the email begins. What follows is anything but. Recounted are five years of pain, suffering and a gradually increasing prescription drug dependency, which even now is barely enough for the storyteller to make it through the day looking after two kids. The storyteller has a spinal injury. Surgeons initially refused to operate; a couple of years later they determined it had been operable, but now it was too late. The storyteller now has chronic pain that includes tingling and burning down one arm and into the thumb and pointer finger. [continues 792 words]
It took me awhile to perfect the cookie recipe. I experimented with ingredients: Blueberry, Strawberry, Sour Diesel, White Widow, Bubba Kush, AK-47 -- all strains of cannabis, which I stored, mixed with glycerin, in meticulously labeled jars on a kitchen shelf. After the cookies finished baking, I'd taste a few crumbs and annotate the effects in a notebook. Often, I felt woozy. One variation put me to sleep. When I had convinced myself that a batch was okay, I'd give a cookie to my 9-year-old son. [continues 1942 words]
LUBBOCK, Texas - Across from a sprawling cotton field, among mobile homes in varying states of decay, one stood out: a double-wide with a new, expansive metal garage and the only paved driveway on the dead-end street. It was here that an unemployed former computer repairman with a bad back ran what a drug informant called the biggest fentanyl ring in Lubbock. All Sidney Lanier needed was a computer and an elementary knowledge of chemistry to order shipments of the potent synthetic opioid from China and turn it into a highly profitable - and dangerous - street drug. [continues 1455 words]
A VicPD officer explains why the opioid is so easily available Staff Sgt. Conor King has been a Victoria Police Department officer for 16 years, is an expert on fentanyl and other drugs from a law-enforcement standpoint, and serves in VicPD's Investigative Services Division. He shares his thoughts on the province's growing opioid crisis. I spent Christmas 2015 sitting at my kitchen table, smartphone in hand, tracking overdose deaths across Greater Victoria. Eight people had died in seven days, three in the preceding 24 hours. Two of them died on the street, one in a parkade, the rest at home. [continues 915 words]
I spent Christmas 2015 sitting at my kitchen table, smartphone in hand, tracking overdose deaths across Greater Victoria. Eight people had died in seven days, three in the preceding 24 hours. Two of them died on the street, one in a parkade, the rest at home. This included Miranda, the 22-year-old daughter of one of my co-workers at the Victoria Police Department. She died in her bedroom a few hours after opening Christmas presents with her mom and stepdad. [continues 916 words]
Victoria Police Staff Sgt. Conor King shares his thoughts on B.C.'s growing opioid problem. I spent Christmas 2015 sitting at my kitchen table, smartphone in hand, tracking overdose deaths across Greater Victoria. Eight people had died in seven days, three in the preceding 24 hours. Two of them died on the street, one in a parkade, the rest at home. This included Miranda, the 22-year-old daughter of one of my co-workers at the Victoria Police Department. She died in her bedroom a few hours after opening Christmas presents with her mom and stepdad. [continues 916 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) - No one knew what was in the baggie. It was just a few tablespoons of crystalline powder seized back in April, clumped like snow that had partially melted and frozen again. Emily Dye, a 27-year-old forensic chemist at the Drug Enforcement Administration's Special Testing and Research Laboratory, did not know if anyone had died from taking this powder, or how much it would take to kill you. What she did know was this: New drugs were appearing in the lab every other week, things never before seen in this unmarked gray building in Sterling, Virginia. Increasingly, these new compounds were synthetic opioids designed to mimic fentanyl, a prescription painkiller up to 50 times stronger than heroin. [continues 2297 words]
BEIJING -- U.S. assertions that China is the top source of the synthetic opioids that have killed thousands of drug users in the U.S. and Canada are unsubstantiated, Chinese officials told the Associated Press. Both the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy point to China as North America's main source of fentanyl, related drugs and the chemicals used to make them. Such statements "lack the support of sufficient numbers of actual, confirmed cases," China's National Narcotics Control Commission told DEA's Beijing field office in a fax dated Friday. [continues 1179 words]
Yes, there is a fentanyl crisis, but it is one we made ourselves in our all-fired enthusiasm to control everything. The Drug War had its origins almost exactly 100 years ago when legislation was created both in the U.S. and Canada to "control" cannabis and opium, and were largely racially-inspired attacks on unpopular minorities who used these substances (eg. Chinese labourers working on the CP railway, and disposable artsy types). Since the Second World War, the drug problem has grown like Topsy, each ill-advised exacerbation of the laws being reliably accompanied by an increase in prison populations, in the U.S. from 500,000 in 1980 to about 2.2 million in 2013. [continues 181 words]
Dog treats containing Cannabidiol, better known as CBD, a chemical compound extracted from the marijuana plant, are a growing business as owners seek ways to treat hyperactive and nervous canines. Even for a puppy, Kat Donatello's black Labrador, Austin, was hyperactive. After experimenting with natural supplements on her older dog, Donatello slipped a special biscuit to Austin. "It just kind of took the edge off of him," she recalled. The treat contained Cannabidiol, better known as CBD, a chemical compound extracted from the marijuana plant. [continues 992 words]
JERUSALEM - Israeli scientists began their pioneering research to isolate the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana with a 10-pound stash seized by the Tel Aviv police. That effort, in the 1960s, helped propel Israel to the vanguard of research into the plant's medicinal properties and lay the foundations for a medical marijuana industry. Now the nation's burgeoning pot business, backed by an unlikely coalition of farmers, lawyers, scientists, entrepreneurs and the country's ultra-Orthodox health minister, is going mainstream - and eyeing markets abroad. [continues 1086 words]
Labelling legalized marijuana products with their levels of two main active ingredients is one of the helpful recommendations released this week by a federal task force on cannabis legalization and regulation, says Saskatoon addictions expert Dr. Peter Butt. "There's no truth in labelling now because there's no testing," Butt said. He is concerned that there is no way to ensure cannabis sold for medicinal use contains any of a substance shown to produce the medical benefits marijuana is promoted to address. [continues 306 words]
Incoming packages will be inspected if there are reasonable grounds to be suspicious. This is vital when you are dealing with deadly substances like fentanyl and carfentanil. Ralph Goodale Public Safety Minister The federal government has unveiled a series of measures aimed at curtailing Canada's booming underground market in fentanyl, just as the death toll climbs and more communities sound the alarm about illicit drugs. Under Bill C-37, tabled in the House of Commons on Monday, pill-press machines used in clandestine labs to manufacture bootleg fentanyl could no longer be imported into Canada, and border guards who inspect goods coming in would have broader powers to seize and open suspect packages. [continues 697 words]
As Canada prepares to become the largest jurisdiction in the world to legalize recreational marijuana, a federal task force has told Ottawa it should also require the product to be lab-tested, safe to consume and free of harmful contaminants such as bacteria, mould and dangerous pesticides. That recommendation was part of a report released on Tuesday that will be a blueprint for new legislation expected in the spring. The call from the Federal Task Force on Cannabis Legalization for mandatory product testing and accurate depictions of potency on packaging comes after concerns were raised over a lack of regulations and consumer protection in the cannabis dispensary industry, which has proliferated this year leading up to legalization. [continues 584 words]
The federal government is looking at arming Canada's border guards with broader powers to open and seize suspect packages, as a growing volume of illicit fentanyl is smuggled into the country. Caroline Xavier, a vice-president at the Canada Border Services Agency, told a House of Commons committee examining the opioid crisis that the government is reviewing the Customs Act to determine whether restrictions that prevent guards from opening small packages should be removed. Currently, border guards who inspect goods coming into the country are not authorized to open packages weighing less than 30 grams without the consent of the recipient. They can open and inspect any package exceeding that threshold and use detection technology to screen all mail. [continues 556 words]
Study set to test oral cannabis treatment in children with rare and debilitating form of epilepsy that begins in infancy Researchers at Toronto's TORONTO Hospital for Sick Children are poised to begin a clinical trial using cannabis extracts to treat children with severe epilepsy whose seizures can't be controlled with existing medications. The trial is believed to be the first in Canada to test an oral preparation that contains both CBD and THC, compounds in marijuana that have been shown in the lab and through anecdotal reports to have anticonvulsant properties in children with treatment-resistant epilepsy. [continues 558 words]
Nanaimo firm will supply cannabis for pioneering research to help children with epilepsy Researchers at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children are about to begin a clinical trial using cannabis extracts to treat children with severe epilepsy whose seizures cannot be controlled with existing medications. The trial is believed to be the first in Canada to test an oral preparation that contains both CBD and THC, compounds in marijuana that have been shown in the laboratory and through anecdotal reports to have anticonvulsant properties in children with treatment-resistant epilepsy. [continues 821 words]
Editor's note: Reporter James McLeod had a tip: A shop in Downtown St. John's was selling pot to people who never had a prescription. He asked if we wanted him to try and buy some for a story. We said yes. The sale of marijuana is already a big issue in our community. That importance will only grow in the coming months as the federal government prepares legislation to legalize. So James proceeded and this story reflects his experience. Our hope is it informs the community and prompts necessary debate on this issue. [continues 1079 words]
Suppose 700 people died in a terrorist attack. Would you shrug it off because it didn't happen near you? Suppose 700 people died from a toxic chemical sprayed on farm vegetables. Would you still expect to see those vegetables for sale at your local supermarket? Not * likely! So why do we blandly tolerate government foot-dragging on the 700 drug overdose deaths that will happen in B.C. before the end of this year? As of October, the province had 622 deaths. Two more months will push the toll over 700. [continues 699 words]