Higher-potency opioids lead to concerns about how to keep inmates and staff safe Alberta correctional facilities have recorded more than 120 overdoses in the past two years, and dozens more in federal prisons in the province, new statistics show. Postmedia obtained the data after a string of overdoses at the Edmonton Remand Centre. Since Nov. 29, at least three inmates at the remand centre have been found unresponsive in their cells after apparent overdoses, one of whom died. Despite efforts to keep contraband out of correctional institutions - including the use of ion scanners, body scanners and detector dogs - the statistics show deadly opioids such as fentanyl are still getting in. [continues 600 words]
Alberta correctional facilities have recorded more than 120 overdoses in the past two years, and dozens more in federal prisons in the province, new statistics show. Postmedia obtained the data after a string of overdoses at the Edmonton Remand Centre. Since Nov. 29, at least three inmates at the remand centre have been found unresponsive in their cells after apparent overdoses, one of whom died. Despite efforts to keep contraband out of correctional institutions - including use of ion scanners, body scanners and detector dogs - the statistics show deadly opioids such as fentanyl are still getting in. [continues 465 words]
Opioids linked to 95% of overdoses in provincial facilities through 2016 Alberta correctional facilities have recorded more than 120 overdoses in the past two years, and dozens more in federal prisons in the province, new statistics show. Postmedia obtained the data after a string of overdoses at the Edmonton Remand Centre. Since Nov. 29, at least three inmates at the remand centre have been found unresponsive in their cells after apparent overdoses, one of whom died. Despite efforts to keep contraband out of correctional institutions - including use of ion scanners, body scanners and detector dogs - the statistics show deadly opioids such as fentanyl are still getting in. [continues 602 words]
The proliferation of personal yet industrial-scale marijuana farms, licensed and shielded by health privacy laws, has created a shadow market in which individual patients are collectively churning out as much marijuana as some commercial producers - with none of the scrutiny. Although they operate under the guise of legitimacy, a Globe and Mail investigation has found that these personal grow-ops are prime targets for robberies and abuse by organized crime. As the federal government edges closer to scrapping Canada's longstanding prohibition against the sale of recreational marijuana, the country's two-tiered medical marijuanaregime serves as a major obstacle to one of Ottawa's frequently stated legalization goals: the elimination of gangsters from a legal marketplace. [continues 3069 words]
Turns out, this bud isn't just for you. True Leaf Medicine International Ltd., a small Canadian company operating in the country's fast-emerging marijuana industry, plans to sell dog chews containing cannabis extracts. True Leaf already makes hemp-seed infused products for dogs to ease joint pain, anxiety and inflammation. It intends to raise C$10 million ($7.8 million) through an equity crowdfunding in the U.S. to build a marijuana production facility in British Columbia, eventually allowing it to extract cannabidiol -- a cannabis compound without psychoactive properties -- to treat medical conditions in both humans and animals. [continues 216 words]
Regarding your editorial "High on Incentives" (Nov. 2): After the 21st Amendment lifting prohibition in 1933, the excise tax rate on alcohol was adjusted down to around 5% to undercut moonshiners and to eliminate any continuing profit for the mob. Later, the excise tax rate was adjusted up to approximately 15%. Mentor Capital's elasticity analysis of the cannabis tax load in various locales versus illegal marijuana-market activity shows a roughly inverse linear relationship. That is if the tax rate is 45%, the illegal market will be 45% of the whole cannabis market. [continues 83 words]
Remand Centre hopes technology cuts in-custody overdoses, boosts staff safety Edmonton Remand Centre inmates will go through an electronic body scanner to counter the smuggling of increasingly toxic drugs and other contraband into the lockup. The scanner, similar to those used by airport security, takes a full body X-ray. The remand centre, which showed off the new equipment Wednesday, is the first correctional facility in Alberta to test the technology. New inmates, transferred inmates and inmates suspected of having contraband will be put through the scanner, said Ken Johnston, security director of the remand centre, which houses about 1,500 people in custody awaiting trial. [continues 314 words]
In 1805, German apothecary Friedrich Serturner revolutionized the practice of pharmacy by isolating morphine from opium. Opium, the latex exuded by the bulb of the poppy plant on scoring with a sharp instrument, has a long history of use dating back to about 3400 BC. The Sumerians, living in the region that is modern day Iraq, are known to have cultivated the poppy and were aware of the effects of consuming its juice, referring to it as the "joy plant." Judging by artwork depicting Sumerian medicine men carrying poppies, they were also aware of opium's painkilling abilities. [continues 744 words]
Largest drug seizure in OPP history has three men facing charges ORILLIA - The OPP showed off the largest ever drug seizure of its nearly 110- year history Monday morning. Three men have been arrested, accused of importing 1,062 kilograms of pure cocaine. The drugs were displayed by police during a press conference in four specially constructed glass containers, each with a dimension of about four feet tall by eight feet wide. "This is a massive seizure, bigger than I've ever seen in my 33 years of policing," OPP Commissioner Vince Hawkes said during the press conference at OPP Headquarters in Orillia. [continues 825 words]
Metric tonne found after force tipped off The cocaine was hidden inside hollowed-out quartzite stones packed onto shipping containers coming from Argentina - the drugs were concealed so well that even police dogs couldn't detect them. It was a tip from the public that ultimately led to the largest drug seizure in the Ontario Provincial Police's history as the force carried out an investigation into an international cocaine-smuggling ring with ties to Mexican cartels. Altogether the force seized 1,062 kilograms of cocaine during a months-long investigation that culminated in July, according to OPP deputy commissioner Rick Barnum. [continues 394 words]
Concern about dangers of discarded injection paraphernalia has prompted the tattoo artist James Takeo to launch an online petition which asks Welland city council to investigate installing sharps containers in public places such as city parks. Takeo said he posted the petition on social media during the second week of this month. He said as of Tuesday it had racked up 715 signatures. He is pleasantly surprised by the response. The petition says: "Too many times there have been incidences of needles being improperly disposed of in city garbage cans or in other public places in our community. This poses a safety risk for all members of the community, especially city workers and staff who often must take the responsibility of disposal of these sharps. [continues 919 words]
Alberta shepherds in new era in global fight against fentanyl INNISFAIL - Alberta is leading the world in fentanyl detection, having developed the first safe method for police dogs to detect the deadly drug. All but one of the 136 drug-detecting dogs schooled at the RCMP facility just north of Calgary have been trained to aid in the fentanyl crisis that's taking thousands of live. The RCMP developed a liquid solution for training because powdered fentanyl was too dangerous. The equivalent of just two grains of salt is enough to kill someone and was the reason agencies across the world didn't attempt to develop the solution themselves, said Staff Sgt. Gary Creed, senior trainer for the RCMP police dog service. [continues 219 words]
DENVER - Many college students will tell you that making pot brownies is easy - just sprinkle a little marijuana into a pan of melting butter, then follow the instructions on the back of the Duncan Hines box. But marijuana entrepreneurs in this center of cannabis innovation face a much higher bar. They have no trouble dreaming up creative treats and concoctions infused with psychoactive THC, but meeting hundreds of pages of health and safety regulations means their imagination is handcuffed. And for good reason: the rules demand precise dosing, uniform potency, and warning symbols imprinted on the food itself. [continues 1148 words]
Langley vet says she treats at least one dog a month that ingests pot In the last couple years, veterinarians have seen an increase in the number of dogs that have ingested harmful drugs, mainly marijuana. "We have seen a notable increase in the last few years of dogs coming to the hospital having ingested pot. We get at least one per month," said Langley veterinarian, Dr. Renee Ferguson of Mountainview Veterinary Hospital. "Unfortunately, it is becoming common that dogs eat pot or drugs while out on a walk or at a park," she said. [continues 409 words]
Volunteer often finds dozens of needles during daily walks through Centennial Gardens in St. Catharines Fred Bowering scoured the underbrush at the side of the trails, carefully searching for syringes and other drug-related items tossed carelessly aside. And he never fails to find them - often by the dozens - during his almost daily walks through Centennial Gardens. "They throw them into the tall grass," he said Wednesday morning while walking through the 27 acres of parkland off Oakland Avenue. "They discard them into the woods, you see there," he said, pointing to syringes partially hidden by foliage, and another jabbed into a tree trunk. [continues 1279 words]
Fred Bowering scoured the underbrush at the side of the trails, carefully searching for syringes and other drug-related items tossed carelessly aside. And he never fails to find them - often by the dozens - during his almost daily walks through Centennial Gardens. "They throw them into the tall grass," he said Wednesday morning while walking through the 10.8 hectares of parkland off Oakland Avenue. "They discard them into the woods, you see there," he said, pointing to syringes partially hidden by foliage, and another jabbed into a tree trunk. [continues 1279 words]
Legalizing pot shouldn't be this hard to get right The move toward marijuana legalization is still not as coherent as it could be, let's say. The Liberal legislation, unveiled last month, would establish rules around THC-impaired driving that may well prove unconstitutional: science has yet to establish a solid link between a given level of THC concentration in a driver's blood or saliva and his level of impairment. Frustratingly, there are still those who use this as an argument against legalization - as if it would create pot-impaired drivers where there are none today. [continues 734 words]
Flying a Canadian flag in celebration, Barrett Blackwood reflected on a time when the prospect of hundreds of pot smokers gathering in Centennial Square to collectively partake would have been out of the question. "This is unprecedented to me, to be here and see no police," said Blackwood, 43. "When I first came here [from Nanaimo] in 1980, you couldn't come to this square and have a cigarette, let alone a joint. The police station was right there [on Fisgard street] and they'd come through the parkade and shoo you away." [continues 432 words]
People in 29 states can legally use medical marijuana for a variety of problems, including the relief of pain, anxiety or stress. But what if they want to travel with it? Secure airport areas beyond the Transportation Security Administration checkpoints are under federal control, and the federal government classifies marijuana as a Schedule 1 (most harmful) substance, even in states where it is legal for adults to consume it. The laws conflict, but federal law trumps state law, making it illegal to fly with marijuana in carry-on or checked luggage. It is also illegal to transport marijuana across state lines, even if both states have legalized it. [continues 930 words]
When Jack Phillips looks at the empty parking lot at 2920 Bridge St. in Rock Bay, he sees endless possibilities. It could be transformed into a garden, a bike shop or an area for people to bring their dogs. But most importantly, he sees a community harm reduction health centre and a supervised injection site by and for people who use drugs. Phillips is a street outreach coordinator and naloxone trainer with SOLID, an organization that provides support and education to drug users in Victoria. Now, Phillips, along with SOLID and other community groups, are calling on the Vancouver Island Health Authority and the City of Victoria to open a supervised injection site on Bridge Street to combat the growing number of overdoses in the province. [continues 389 words]