Medical Marijuana Has Become A Reality In Canada. I wonder if being too sharp and alert for my own good is considered a valid reason for a prescription. When you think about it, why is marijuana illegal while cigarettes and alcohol are not? According to the new packaging on cigarettes, tobacco related deaths kill more people than homicide, suicide and car accidents combined every year. The problems alcohol abuse can cause are numerous, the least of which being an overdose, resulting in the user's death. [continues 300 words]
SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- A judge helped prevent Jim Wood's election campaign from going up in smoke this week. Wood, a Marijuana party candidate serving a six-month sentence of house arrest for pot possession, got the legal OK on Wednesday to attend an evening all-candidates meeting. As part of his sentence, Wood must stay in his house from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. He went to provincial court Wednesday to ask to be let off for one night for an election debate. "People have a right to hear what I have to say," Wood said. The judge agreed. [end]
SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Jim Wood hopes he can attend an all-candidates meeting on Wednesday to defend the views of the Marijuana Party. That is, if a judge will let him go out after dark. Wood, 31, has been under a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew since June 28. Provincial court Judge James McNamee included the condition as part of a six-month community sentence after Wood pleaded guilty to possession of - what else? - marijuana. Wood is allowed to break the curfew only when commuting to and from work. He will ask the judge Wednesday to give him a one-night break for the election meeting. [end]
Letter-writer Mary Thurrott of the Christian Action Federation of New Brunswick claims that today's marijuana is 10 times stronger than the marijuana of the 1970s ("Smoking marijuana is not safe," Aug. 8.) If true, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Both weak and potent marijuana will yield the desired result when smoked. The only difference between the two is that strong marijuana requires significantly less smoke inhalation. If Ms. Thurrott is truly concerned about lung damage she should be happy that today's marijuana is stronger. [continues 559 words]
Cannabis has no lethal dose, and its pharmacological effects are not known to have caused a single death in 5,000 years of recorded history. The unseen driving force against medical (or unrestricted adult) legalization of cannabis is the fact that cannabis can't be patented. This precludes the need for big business to be involved and that fact makes cannabis commercially unattractive, pharmaceutically speaking. It seems that if it can't be profitized successfully, the government can't justify legalization. [continues 106 words]
Cynicism unmistakably came from the child's lips: "If cigarettes are so bad for you, why are they legal?" Part of my job is speaking in schools, camps, and youth groups about the abuse substances, so I did my best to answer the question. Since the child's cynicism had its birth in her understanding of the word "legal," which to her meant "good" or "acceptable," my mind raced to a subject often discussed today - the legalization of marijuana. If we do not hold forth truth, youth travelling down a future road may well ask, "If marijuana is so bad for you, why was it legalized?" That question demands a correct response today. [continues 366 words]
The only evidence against a man charged in connection with Atlantic Canada's largest-ever Ecstasy seizure was obtained through a serious breach of rights and should be excluded from trial, says his Nova Scotia lawyer. During an often highly charged voir dire hearing at provincial court in Woodstock Friday, Mike Owen argued police had no grounds or warrant for searching 34-year-old Richard Brian Bagnell's duffle bag following a single motor-vehicle crash along the TransCanada Highway May 8. [continues 501 words]
CRIME: The status quo will remain in effect, says Fredericton's deputy police chief An Ontario court may have ruled outlawing marijuana is unconstitutional, but it's business as usual for New Brunswick's police and prosecutors. The Ontario Court of Appeal found Monday the law prohibiting the possession of pot unconstitutional and gave Ottawa one year to amend the law. The issue went before the court after Terry Parker of Toronto was allowed to grow marijuana plants to control his severe epilepsy. [continues 381 words]
Canada's Marijuana Laws May Have Been Ruled Unconstitutional, But It's Too Little, Too Late For Jim Wood. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled Monday the law prohibiting the possession and cultivation of marijuana is unconstitutional and fails to recognize the plant's medical qualities. Mr. Wood of Saint John is overjoyed to hear this news, but he still must abide by a 7 p.m.-to-7 a.m. curfew, perform community service and consent to random physical searches - all in accordance with his June sentence for growing and possessing marijuana. Possession and cultivation, he says, that was targeted towards alleviating his severe back pain. [continues 330 words]
You don't often find a country so happy to see one of its citizens returning from abroad that it will shower the lucky soul with gifts. When a Fredericton woman arrived home from Florida and unpacked her luggage, she found a plastic bag of marijuana nestled at the bottom, with a tag identifying the previous owner as Revenue Canada, since folded into the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. What fleeting thoughts must have scampered through her mind? "If they'd asked, I'd have preferred the Walkman." Or even: "Did they mix up my luggage with Stockwell Day's?" [continues 161 words]
Former MacKenzie House resident, Derek Stapleton, has decided not to file an appeal to UNB President, Elizabeth Parr-Johnston, over his eviction from residence because of alleged marijuana use in his room. Stapleton's decision came after a discussion with John Craighead, UNB's Associate Director Residential Life. "Craighead agreed to give me visitation rights in MacKenzie House after Christmas and I am very pleased with that," Stapleton told the Brunswickan this week. "Craighead said he would talk with Chris Mercer, the Don of MacKenzie House, to see if it was all right and apparently Mercer agreed," Stapleton said. [continues 169 words]
Student Says His Eviction From Residence Was Wrongful Former UNB residence student, Derek Stapleton, plans to launch an appeal to University Secretary Stephen Strople, after being evicted from MacKenzie House earlier this week. He was evicted after an incident involving alleged use of marijuana in his residence room. Stapleton maintains his innocence and told The Brunswickan this week that neither he nor his eight friends who were partying in his room the night of October 30th were smoking marijuana. Stapleton said a friend of a friend was visiting his room and was smoking a brand of American cigarette tobacco that when smoked, did smell somewhat like marijuana. [continues 752 words]
Marijuana crops have had a bumper year, and police departments across the province are reporting seizures of all sizes. And, as reported in the media last week, New Brunswick's top cop says his officers are fighting a David and Goliath-style battle against the booming pot business. RCMP assistant commissioner Tim Quigley listed the societal ills brought on by marijuana use, and how it needs to be stopped. That got us to thinking back to the U.S.'s Prohibition days of the 1920s, and the parallels between it and the war on drugs that rages today. [continues 308 words]
No drugs were found on school property during a "controlled search" of Tantramar Regional High School on Friday afternoon. "No quantity of drugs were seized and no arrests were made," said Sackville Town Police Chief Stewart McFee. McFee said the search was simply an awareness procedure. "We wanted to send a very strong message that drugs will not be tolerated. There is no place for drugs within the school," he explained. The procedure was a joint effort with the Sackville and Port Elgin RCMP, and in conjunction with TRHS administration. [continues 327 words]
Inside New Brunswick
