The editorial writer ("Have your special brownie, and eat it too - in jail," the Muse Vol. 58, Issue 23) may need to upgrade his education on medical cannabis, but he knows an "asshole" when he sees one. Marc Emery has done more harm to the cannabis cause than Emily Murphy, and that's not just my opinion but that of most people I know. Charlie McKenzie [end]
McGill's Harm Reduction Centre will host the first annual meeting of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) this weekend. Speakers and student activists from across Canada and the U.S. will discuss domestic and international drug policies, harm reduction and policy reform initiatives, as well as setting up other CSSDP chapters across Canada. Students for Sensible Drug Policy, an international grassroots organization founded in 2003, is presently forming Canadian chapters in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. The McGill conference will develop terms for a national mandate and hold elections for the first ever board of directors for Canadian SSDP branches. [continues 220 words]
Liberal Convention Debates Marijuana Buried amidst the hype and hoopla of their leadership race, but not entirely unnoticed in certain smoke-filled quarters, federal Liberals seem to have finally grasped that marijuana is a growth industry in Canada. A contentious "pie-in-the-sky" resolution was presented to the convention's social and justice workshop calling for legalizing marijuana under eventual provincial administration. The resolution also suggested that existing "compassion centres" could be incorporated into Health Canada and there be a general amnesty and destruction of criminal records for the 1.5 million Canadians convicted of simple marijuana possession since 1923. [continues 218 words]
High Noon In Montreal A Tale Of Two Solitudes On May 8, 2006, undercover narcs and their handlers from around the globe will meet behind closed doors at Montreal's Hilton Bonaventure to share intelligence and devise "drug war" strategies. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which is footing the bill, the conference will be conducted in English, Spanish and Russian - French is conspicuously absent. The RCMP, pseudo co-sponsors, suggest visiting the DEA's website, www.dea.gov/programs/idec.htm, for additional rhetoric and negligible information. [continues 457 words]
High Noon in Montreal U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration prepares "drug war" strategies at Montreal conference On May 8, 2006, undercover narcs and their handlers from around the globe will meet behind closed doors at Montreal's Hilton Bonaventure to share intelligence and devise strategies for the "war on drugs." According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which is footing the bill, the conference will be conducted in English, Spanish and Russian - French is conspicuously absent. The RCMP, pseudo co-sponsors, suggest visiting the DEA's website (www.dea.gov/programs/idec.htm) for additional rhetoric and negligible information. [continues 480 words]
Forget Jesus and the loaves and fish, look what the Mounties can do with a bag of pot seeds Following a 14-month investigation, RCMP officers recently uncovered a Montreal organization selling marijuana seeds via the Internet. Trumpeting their latest victory against "the scourge of marijuana" - their term - the Mounties claim that the amount of seeds seized would fill 500 greenhouses with 400 plants, representing 42 million joints on the street. That seems comparable to the infamous "angels on the head of a pin" query that has forever plagued scholars and barflies alike. Even with all the CSI toys and tools at their disposal, how could the Mounties possibly calculate the number of joints in a bag of seeds? [continues 466 words]
Following a 14-month investigation, RCMP officers recently uncovered a clandestine cyber cartel selling marijuana seeds via the Internet. Seven persons were subsequently charged with a variety of cannabis-related offences. Trumpeting this latest victory against the "scourge of marijuana" -- their term -- the Mounties claimed that the amount of seeds they seized would fill 500 greenhouses, each with 400 plants, representing 42 million joints on the street. This reporter once saw 500 prerolled joints at a hippie-Doukabor wedding in the East Kootenays, but the spectre of 42 million joints clearly boggles the mind. It easily compares to the infamous "angels on the head of a pin" query that has so long plagued scholars and barflies alike. Even with all the CSI-toys and tools at their disposal, how could the RCMP possibly know the number of joints a bag of seeds would ultimately produce? [continues 498 words]
Honest Criminal With four marijuana possession convictions, a fifth currently under appeal, and "a deep respect for the judicial process," Marc Boris St-Maurice doesn't understand why he hasn't been locked up. "I'm an incorrigible recidivist with no chance of rehabilitation," he said. "Obviously I've not learned my lesson so perhaps jail would be the most appropriate remedy." Obviously. The most recent charge came last year when he was arrested at the Bloc Pot office-cum-cafe known as Chez Marijane, when, acting without warrants, undercover narcs joined the Bloc as a pretense for gathering evidence. Found guilty and fined $300, he's taking his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. [continues 277 words]
Smoke You In Court Canadian judges are once again being asked to go where politicians obviously can't - to the bottom of the marijuana issue. In the process, a triumvirate of the hardest of Canada's hardcore marijuana militants is taking - and being taken - to the courts. Vancouver seed salesman Marc Emery, who compares himself to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, is the enfant terrible of the marijuana movement. U.S. authorities want him extradited to face a possible life sentence for selling marijuana seeds to Americans, which apparently is not a crime in this country. (While there is some talk of mounting a major public awareness campaign on his behalf, last week the ever ostentatious Emery further endeared himself to would-be supporters by calling Justice Minister Irwin Cotler "a Nazi-Jew.") [continues 257 words]
Help for the hopeless: New program to wean users off heroin Heroin addiction is hell on earth, but help for a select handful of Montreal's hardcore heroin users is finally on the way. After years of preparation, the North American Opiate Medication Initiative (NAOMI) is finally underway in Vancouver and coming soon to Toronto and Montreal. The $8-million, 21-month clinical trial will determine whether heroin-assisted therapy can help those who've not been helped by other treatments. [continues 315 words]
Pot's Grey zone Reform of Canada's pot laws may be back on the table, but they're far from the front-burner. Out on the hinterland, however, the heat is definitely being turned up. One potentially explosive case is that of Marc Boris St-Maurice of the federal Marijuana Party and a high-ranking member of Quebec's Bloc Pot. He was busted at the Bloc's Cafe Maryjane last March, his eighth such arrest, but this one differed in a deja vu kind of way. [continues 248 words]
Where There's Smoke There's Fire As Marijuana Advocates Face Off In The Run-Up To The Federal Election Canada's budding marijuana movement has some festering political fissures that could surface when activists from across the country gather this weekend on Parliament Hill. The movement is caught between two Marcs: rock musician Marc Boris St-Maurice, leader of the ever-fledgling Marijuana Party, and former ally, B.C.'s millionaire seed salesman Marc Emery, now crusading for Jack Layton's NDP. [continues 874 words]
Fill The Hill Rally Goes Ahead Despite Wrangling Between Marijuana Party And NDP Canada's budding marijuana movement could show some internal divisions when activists from across the country gather this weekend on Parliament Hill. The election finds the movement caught between two Marcs: rock musician, Marc Boris St-Maurice, laid-back leader of the ever-fledgling federal Marijuana Party, and his former ally, B.C.'s millionaire seed salesman, Marc Emery, who now crusades for Jack Layton's NDP. They'll present their respective cases at Saturday's "Fill The Hill" rally. [continues 1165 words]
Bloc Pot leader Hugo St-Onge has high hopes that Prime Minister Jean Chretien will come and smoke his retirement joint at the Bloc's Cafe Maryjane, which is expected to open soon. "In about two or three weeks we should be open for business," said St-Onge. "There's still some final details to work out, particularly with the grand opening." The Bloc initially planned to open Montreal's first "marijuana-friendly" coffee house on St-Denis in early September, but things fell through when the landlord got wind of the plan. Now, dealing with a new, more understanding landlord, the cafe project is back on track. While St-Onge wouldn't divulge the exact location - "it's going to be a BIG surprise," he said - Hour has learned that the new cafe will be located close, very close, to one of Montreal's 49 neighbourhood police stations. [continues 259 words]
The courts are in a uproar. The cops don't know what to do. Life couldn't be better for tokers. When politicians do nothing, things get done. Thus, de facto, decriminalized pot is just a shade shy of being a fait accompli and Montreal lawyer Pierre Cloutier has this free advice for local tokers: a) if busted, plead NOT guilty; and b) call him*. Cloutier is going to court, and he has precedent on his side. In July 2000, the Ontario Court of Appeal declared the pot possession laws invalid but suspended their declaration for 12 months to allow Parliament time to change the law to accommodate medical marijuana users. Parliament did nothing in response, so two weeks ago Superior Court Justice Steven Rogin upheld the original ruling that marijuana possession laws in Ontario "no longer exist." [continues 945 words]
How Canadian Cops Feel About Possession These Days Prosecuting pot smokers costs Canadian taxpayers $300- to $500-million a year, with 70 per cent of that used to deal with simple possession charges. In the wake of Justice Steven Rogin's confirmation of a lower court decision that marijuana possession laws in Ontario were "null and void," some police forces announced that they will no longer lay simple possession charges. Here's a breakdown of some accommodating and not-so-accommodating cops: Toronto Police Chief Julian Fantino was first to declare his department would no longer lay charges; the Ontario Chiefs of Police Association soon followed, and other municipal departments jumping on the bandwagon include Ottawa-Carleton, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Peterborough and Sault-Ste-Marie; Port Hope, Cobourg and Northumberland police, meanwhile, say they will continue laying possession charges until they're told otherwise. [continues 172 words]
Shares in GW Pharmaceuticals, a British firm pioneering in cannabis-based medicines, hit an all-time high recently when Germany's Bayer AG Inc. (the Aspirin folks) acquired rights to its first marketable product. Bayer will pay GW $41-million (U.S.) for exclusive rights to market Sativex, a cannabis-based product derived from the 40,000 marijuana plants GW grows each year at a secret location somewhere in the English countryside. The drug, which is sprayed beneath the tongue, will be available in the U.K. later this year for multiple sclerosis patients and is also being studied for treating pain caused by cancer and spinal cord injury. The British government has already indicated it will alter cannabis laws to allow doctors to prescribe Sativex. The deal also gives Bayer marketing rights for other European countries, as well as Canada. The lucrative but more difficult U.S. market (see: paranoia, stupidity, George Bush, et al.) is not part of the deal. Dr. Mark Ware, who heads a cannabis research project in pain management at McGill University, welcomes these developments. "I haven't seen the clinical trial data as yet," he said, "but arguably they [GW-Bayer] are leading the way for the non-smoking application of medicinal cannabis. [continues 118 words]
It's common knowledge that drugs are readily available in Canada's prisons - unless you have a prescription. Michael Patriquen, leader of Nova Scotia's Marijuana party and past federal candidate, has a doctor's prescription and a Health Canada permit for medicinal marijuana to help with chronic pain stemming from a 1999 car accident. But he's also serving a six-year prison sentence for various marijuana offences and Corrections Canada has a strict 'no way' policy about handing out marijuana to prisoners. [continues 239 words]
A blatant miscarriage of U.S. justice could make Ed Rosenthal, the self-styled "Guru of Ganja," into the Nelson Mandela of the international marijuana movement. U.S. embassies in Oslo, Paris and Norway have already seen demonstrations on his behalf and more are expected as his June 4th sentencing date approaches. Rosenthal, who has authored several books and articles on cannabis cultivation, was recently convicted in San Francisco on federal marijuana cultivation and conspiracy charges. The case was laced with controversy from the beginning as the charges stemmed from Rosenthal's deputation by the city of Oakland to grow medical cannabis for critically ill patients under the state's medical marijuana law. [continues 217 words]
Here's Why The First-Ever World Forum On Drugs, Dependencies And Society, Taking Place In Montreal Next Week, Will Be Bogged Down By The Weight Of Its Own Agenda A major international conference on drug, alcohol and gambling dependencies opening in Montreal next week could be hijacked. Despite its $3-million price tag, an impressive agenda and eclectic roster of participants, fallout from the Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs' recent proposal to legalize marijuana threatens to engulf the first-ever World Forum on Drugs, Dependencies and Society. [continues 766 words]
New York Police Department officers are coming to Toronto; the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has offices in Vancouver and Ottawa; U.S. Customs officers are prowling the ports of Montreal and Halifax; and FBI agents are said to be all over the place while CIA spooks could be anywhere in the country. And it's not all about Sept. 11. Two years ago, the CIA declared Canada "a major marijuana exporting nation." Sections of the border were declared "high intensity drug trafficking areas" and placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy, which co-ordinates the DEA, local enforcement and U.S. Customs. [continues 708 words]
For thousands of Montealers and millions worldwide, the Million Marijuana March is both a fundamental right and a fun-filled rite of spring. From its beginning in May 1998, when activists faced down then-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani in a U.S. federal court and won their right to march for marijuana down New York's famed 5th Avenue, the first Saturday in May has since become an internationally-recognized day of pro-marijuana marches and festivals. Under the stewardship of the provincial Bloc Pot and federal Marijuana Party, Montreal was one of the original participating cities. [continues 214 words]
Don't Hold Your Breath It was meant to be a day of reckoning for Boris St-Maurice. Instead, Montreal's best-known marijuana advocate is yet again at the mercy of the courts, at least until the end of March. St-Maurice, leader of the Marijuana Party, and Alex N=C8ron, head of BlocPot, were first busted Feb 10, 2000, for distributing medical marijuana. Judge Gilles Cadieux was supposed to render a decision in their case on Jan 29, but has taken more time to study the case. The delay is but another example of the country's slow (stoned?) wheels of justice. [continues 750 words]
In his bizarre bid to replace himself as leader of the Canadian Alliance, is Stockwell Day courting Canadian pot-heads? In his bizarre bid to replace himself as leader of the Canadian Alliance, is Stockwell Day courting Canadian pot-heads? A visibly stunned Day evaded that question Tuesday night, but the seeds of this intriguing suggestion were planted by Day himself shortly after his federal debut in a B.C. by-election, where one of his adversaries was Marc-Boris St-Maurice, leader of the federal Marijuana Party. [continues 247 words]
To impress a quasi-concerned public and bolster police budget demands, Statistics Canada has had the questionable habit of lumping all drug cases into one figurative basket. Unimpressed, the Bloc Pot and the federal Marijuana Party recently sponsored a joint initiative to cut through the smoke and mirrors of official Ottawa and reveal a disturbing truth. "Y'a pas plus menteur qu'une police," says Marijuana Party leader, Marc-Boris St-Maurice, citing the old cop-locker-room adage, "there's no liar like a cop." [continues 201 words]
Potheads Take Feds To Court Over Dope Law To no one's surprise, civil litigation is the latest tactical weapon to surface in the drug wars. What is surprising are the litigants. A crack addict in BC is suing his alleged dealers for selling to him, claiming they should have known better. In a claim filed in BC Supreme Court, Jay Martin of Nelson, BC, asserts that the defendants --- a pair of low-rent local dealers who were arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking --- should have shown more care for their clientele. [continues 714 words]
Work Of Bringing In Pot Is Mind-Numbing, And So's The Buzz Montreal -- the call comes at the crack of noon. An old friend I haven't seen in years has an interesting proposition. Knowing how attentively I follow judicial and political marijuana developments, he asks: How would I like to cover a real bust, complete with camouflaged cops, ATVs and military helicopters? "The whole nine yards," he says cryptically. A friend, he explains, has 350 plants ready for harvest somewhere in the Golden Triangle, a lively corner of rural southwestern Quebec where, in recent years, marijuana has become a growth industry. [continues 1619 words]
Marijuana Party leader, Marc-Boris St-Maurice is considering asking for police protection. From the police. Since launching the provincial Bloc Pot three years ago and it's federal counterpart this autumn, cannabis crusader St-Maurice has, not surprisingly, drawn the attention of the authorities. "Not counting undercover cops," he said, "I've been arrested and charged three times and pulled over and hassled on at least a dozen occasions." Last winter, while doing volunteer work for the Montreal Compassion Club, he and party cohort Alex Neron were busted for trafficking marijuana. They face a february court date. [continues 373 words]
(Montreal) They went as strangers to strange lands in even stranger circumstances, virtually penniless and alone, facing formidable foes and obstacles, but in their electoral debut, two local lads from the Montreal-based federal Marijuana Party did pretty well this past week. Pretty well indeed for a one-issue party with a one-track mind. When Chretien called the two by-elections last month, Bloc Pot militants Alex Neron and Marc-Boris St-Maurice, sprang into action with Boris heading west to take on Stockwell Day and Alex east to face Joe Clark. Alex also carried a copy of a letter Joe Clark had written in 1979 in which he clearly states his belief that marijuana is a harmless herb. He would have campaigned anywhere Clark was running, but fortuitous coincidence brought them to the Maritimes. "We badly needed people here,” he said, “some local contacts who can help us organise for next the federal election.” “And now, thanks to Clark and Chretien,” he grins, “we have them.” As an outsider he anticipated a rough reception. “We had no idea how people would react to The Marijuana Party),” he said, “but people here (Wolfville, N.S.) have been very, very gentle and very, very kind. They were actually listening to us." One person who definitely did not 't want to listen was Joe Clark. Twice during the campaign Clark was presented with evidence of his previous convictions, and both times he ducked the issue by running the clock with inane ramblings about medicare. [continues 492 words]
MONTREAL -- Watch out, Stockwell Day! Ontario Provincial Police have in their possession a recent photograph of the Canadian Alliance leader and what appears to be a marijuana joint. The photo will be exhibit A when the interim leader of the fledgling federal Marijuana party, Marc-Boris St.-Maurice, and a colleague face marijuana possession charges in an Ontario court later this year. If St.-Maurice -- founder of Quebec's Bloc Pot party, which garnered over 10,000 votes in the last provincial election -- has his way, the pic of Stock's mug will be in the court of public opinion long before that. [continues 707 words]
Canada's Marijuana Party will take on Canadian alliance leader Stockwell Day in federal by-election Watch out Stockwell Day! Ontario Provincial Police have in their possession, a recent photograph of the Canadian Alliance leader and what appears to be a marijuana joint. The photo will be "Exhibit A" when Bloc Pot head and Interim-leader of the fledgling federal Marijuana Party, Marc-Boris St-Maurice, and a colleague, face marijuana possession charges in an Ontario court later this year. If St-Maurice has his way, it'll be in the court of public opinion long before. [continues 858 words]
You can order out for gang-free pot -- now that's progress MONTREAL -- It's sort of amusing that Toronto's dailies have been running scary stories about the Hells Angel's advance on T.O., when we here in la belle province have been living among them forever. Journalistic rumour warns that the notorious bikers control every vice biz they touch, but take it from Montreal's independent pot entrepreneurs -- the Angels don't own everything. Quebec gold It may be more difficult to manoeuvre when a bike gang's sharing your turf, but an army of local farmers, gardeners and crafty distributors, boosted by a considerable degree of law enforcement tolerance, are filling the market with a flood of Angels-free Quebec gold. And these operators are growing increasingly respectable and businesslike about wooing and maintaining their customer base. [continues 1191 words]
Charlie Mckenzie Gives Us The Inside Dope On His Decades In The Front Lines Of The War Against The War On Drugs Marijuana and its open-minded missionaries have come a long way. Shunned as a thing accursed in Emily Murphy's day (see related story), pot has come full circle and into the mainstream. Even bastions of such right-thinking thought as Lord Wannabe's National Post are jumping on the bandwagon. At last count, two private-member's bills, assorted party resolutions and committee recommendations, and an all-dressed Senate inquiry were worming their way through Parliament in the lofty pursuit of marijuana reform. [continues 1130 words]
Legalisation Advocates Have The Momentum When the delegate from St-Eustache took the floor at the federal Liberal Party convention two weeks ago, it was yet another step on a long trail that began in a Quebec pot field 15 years ago. In 1983, the ink was barely dry on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms when "Backyard Bob" Hamon of Ormstown was busted for cultivation and possession of marijuana. With little public support and zero funding, he embarked on a 10-year odyssey through the courts in the first-ever constitutional challenge to Canada's marijuana laws. His battle ended when the Supreme Court refused to hear his appeal. He was ultimately convicted, but today's pot advocates readily acknowledge his trail-blazing fight. [continues 1002 words]
The Mother of Murphy's Law by Charlie McKenzie It's still too early for dancing in the streets, but the verdict in 26year old Chris Clay's legal challenge to Canada's pot laws will be handed down in London, Ontario, today, (August 14). There have been similar, albeit unsuccessful efforts before, but a measure of tempered optimism prevails among Canada's promarijuana advocates that this time, the outcome could seriously dent 'Murphy's Law.' In 1995 hemp storeowner Clay was arrested for selling a small cannabis plant to an undercover officer. Rather than plead guilty, pay the fine, and accept a criminal record, he launched a fullscale constitutional challenge with the help of law professor Alan Young, and Toronto lawyer Paul Burstein, aimed at removing marijuana from the criminal code altogether. [continues 889 words]
