MONCTON, N.B. -- New Brunswick RCMP are no longer burning the marijuana they seize at grow operations around the province. They've instead decided to bury the stuff, but they're not saying where. "We've been looking at this issue for years," Sgt. Gary Cameron said yesterday of the decision to stop incinerating confiscated marijuana. "It's an environmental thing. Anything that you burn, it goes into the environment." Besides the pollution, police have been forced to find a suitable incinerating device each time they make a major haul, something happening with greater frequency around the province in recent summers. [continues 101 words]
Moncton -- New Brunswick RCMP are no longer burning the marijuana they seize at grow operations. They've instead decided to bury the stuff, but they're not saying where. "It's an environmental thing." Sergeant Gary Cameron said. "Anything that you burn, it goes into the environment." [end]
Codiac RCMP Nab 5,000 'High End' Plants From High-End Neighbourhoods In ritzy Royal Oaks Estates the houses are "high-end,' and so is the marijuana, say the RCMP. Thirteen suspects whom police described only as "being of Vietnamese descent" are expected to appear in Moncton provincial court today on charges connected to a months-long RCMP investigation that climaxed in dramatic fashion yesterday. Police seized more than 5,000 plants of "high-end marijuana," said RCMP "J' Division media relations officer Sgt. Gary Cameron, meaning expensive, highly concentrated pot destined for markets outside the province with a potential "street value' exceeding $10 million. [continues 897 words]
Six weeks into his prison term at the Springhill Institution for conspiring to traffic marijuana, Michael Patriquen suddenly became very ill. His joints and muscles began to burn. His cognitive skills began to dim as insomnia took over. Extreme flu-like symptoms and fatigue meant even walking became a painful ordeal. It took two fellow inmates to carry the Nova Scotia man from his cell to the prison cafeteria just to fetch a coffee. [continues 3270 words]
Marijuana Party Candidate Believes He Can Make A Difference In Ottawa Jim Wood can still remember the first time he did jail time for trafficking in marijuana. It was 1991 and Wood was sentenced to six months in the provincial penitentiary. Today, more than a decade later, he still gets angry at the memory. "I'm not a bad person," Wood said recently. "To put a 21-year old in jail for 6-months and basically ruin his life.it is just ridiculous." [continues 628 words]
MIRAMICHI, N.B. Three doctors here have gone ahead with a methadone clinic after the province axed the Miramichi Regional Health Authority's methadone clinic - days before it was scheduled to open. The doctors, who were to have worked at the health authority's clinic, decided to go it alone and will bill the New Brunswick medical plan for services provided. The three are licensed to dispense methadone. The authority had earmarked more than $200,000 for the clinic and outfitted a facility owned by the hospital. Authorities said there is an urgent need for the clinic. It's believed there are 500 to 1,000 addicts in the community of 49,000 people. However, the province cancelled the clinic with no warning, saying there wasn't money to fund similar programs across the province. [continues 173 words]
SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- A city cafe was busted by police yesterday for allegedly selling marijuana. Sgt. Kim Phillips of the Saint John force said officers executed a search warrant at the Cannabis Cafe after a lengthy investigation. About eight months ago the store's owner announced his shop would provide pot at the counter. Phillips said the store has contributed to drug problems in the area, particularly involving high school students. He said charges of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking would be laid. [end]
In Most of N.B., Checking Up on Offenders at Home Means Phone Calls, A Few Surprise Visits and Chance The 26-year-old drug dealer had been convicted eight times on drug-related offences. He was nabbed again by police last fall and ended up in court in December. He told the judge he wanted to kick his drug habit and asked to serve his sentence under house arrest. Later, he would admit he knew he would never successfully complete the sentence. [continues 1939 words]
Without methadone, he might be dead: addict Fredericton doctor has assumed a responsibility most physicians aren't willing to bear Every Thursday a Cambridge-Narrows doctor and a Miramichi man make parallel journeys to a methadone clinic in Fredericton. As one of the few New Brunswick doctors licensed to prescribe methadone to drug addicts, Dr. Dianne Stackhouse has been making the trip to the Community Health Centre for the past 15 months. One of those addicts hopes his weekly trek will lead him on the road to recovery. [continues 1092 words]
A police team that focuses on the Moncton area has seized cash and drugs valued at more than $2 million in little more than a year of operation. They've been instrumental in detecting drugs and drug money being sent through the area via a courier service. In another case, they seized more than four kilograms of marijuana on its way to Newfoundland. Last year they broke up what is believed to be a large drug smuggling ring. In all, drugs worth $2.2 million have been seized along with $205,000 in cash. A number of "persons of interest to the police" were also checked out. [end]
Legislation to decriminalize marijuana possession was reintroduced into Parliament earlier this month, but both friends and foes of the drug are criticizing the bill. The legislation, first introduced in March of 2003, died when Parliament adjourned in November, and spent some time with a special committee before being brought back to the House. Since its last reading, the bill has been amended to reduce penalties and eliminate jail time for those caught with one to three marijuana plants. Robin Ellis is the proprietor of the Friendly Stranger and Cannabis Culture Shop, an activist organization dedicated to changing the laws surrounding cannabis use. He says they're a little frustrated. [continues 328 words]
It's Personal Safety Issues Awareness Week at the Women's Centre on UNB campus and the centre, opened last year, is hosting presentations, demonstrations, videos and discussions to help promote various topics of concern. Today and tomorrow they will be showing videos focusing on date rape and club drugs. The managers at The Cellar and College Hill Social Club are helping out by serving reminders with drinks. The aim is to raise awareness of how easy drugs can be slipped into alcoholic beverages. [continues 583 words]
Krystal*, a former St. Thomas University student, has been doing drugs since she was 13 years-old when she discovered 'magic' mushrooms growing on her neighbours lawns where she lived. Since then, she's tried more than 15 different drugs, including marijuana, acid, ecstasy, codeine, crystal meth, ephedrine, hash, crack, cocaine, Ritalin and PCP. Despite trying a variety of drugs, her favourite is still ketamine, or special K as it is often called. Her first experience with this substance was when she moved to New Brunswick to attend university. [continues 570 words]
MONCTON, N.B. (CP)-- A New Brunswick man has been handed a four-year prison sentence for a fire that broke out while he was trying to make drugs, injuring a five-year-old boy and the child's mother. Calvin Andrew Lewis, 33, of Moncton, was found guilty of arson by negligence, production of a narcotic and criminal negligence, resulting in burns to the boy and his mother. Justice George Rideout sentenced Lewis to four years, but he was credited with a year already served. [continues 179 words]
The five houses may have been nondescript, middle-class homes, but their contents have kept police busy since Friday. Investigators have been carting away millions of dollars worth of marijuana plants over the past few days in what could be the largest pot bust in city history. Acting Inspector Bill Hanley said the plants had a potential market value of up to $10 million once they all matured. Police raids uncovered thousands of plants divided between the five homes. They also found sophisticated grow operations in the homes, located in quiet residential neighbourhoods scattered throughout the city. [continues 636 words]
As a cannabis activist and obedient Christian, ending the policy of caging our brother for using a plant ("The Greatest 'Liberal' City In The East," Jan. 8, 2004) is an important issue whose time has come. While North America desperately needs credible drug law reform, Canada, as a sovereign nation, should influence U.S. voters to make Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich America's next president, since he is proposing to decriminalize cannabis (see www.kucinich.us/issues/marijuana_decrim.php) and regulate it like alcohol in the US, which would influence policy pertaining to cannabis, worldwide. - - Stan White, Dillon, Colorado [end]
My picks for 'pioneers of the year': the Cannabis Cafe and the gay pride parade organizers. A "liberal" current swept through Saint John last year that, from a distance, would have eluded even the focused gaze of our new Pioneer Man. Imagine: It's last January, 2003 and you're asked to predict what will happen in Saint John in the year to come. Who among us would have said the following events would take place? .The opening of the Cannabis Cafe in Saint John, the first one in Canada outside Vancouver, with positive coverage from local media outlets and little protest from the general public. [continues 543 words]
173 People on Waiting List for Treatment for Opiate Dependency Moncton - May 16, 2002 was an ordinary day for most people, but for Sally Clements, it was exceptional. It marked the first time in eight years she didn't need a pill to get out of bed. She wasn't weighed down by the bone-deep agony of withdrawal. She wasn't too sick to make breakfast for her nine-year-old daughter. With methadone in her system, she could function again. [continues 715 words]
It's Friday evening and, like many business owners in Canada, Lynn Wood is hard at work in the store she owns with husband Jim. However, unlike many businesses in Canada, or any in New Brunswick for that matter, Saint John's Cannabis Cafe allows people to smoke marijuana, and has recently announced that they will begin selling it as well. With two new glass display cases to fill with pipes, digital scales, bongs, lighters, seeds, magazines, and even hallucinogenic peyote tea, the main project of the evening involves Lynn and perky part-time worker Shellie rearranging back issues of the magazines they carry. These include the well-known High Times, which will feature the cafe in its November issue, and Heads, published out of Montreal. [continues 1158 words]
N.B.'S Pot Friendly Cafe If you've already seen the reversing falls in Saint John, N.B., you might want to drop by the other hot tourist attraction: the Hemp N.B.'s Cannabis Cafe, where you can flare up a doobie, if you can find a seat. Last month, with cruise ships still docking on the Saint John waterfront, the head shop and pot-friendly coffee bar was averaging some 200 customers a day. Many were "just looking." But anyone who buys a beverage can pull out their own stash, and roll a joint on the big tables provided for just that purpose. [continues 194 words]
Inside New Brunswick
