With changes to marijuana laws on the horizon, a former star athlete's lawyers argue that sending him to jail for marijuana trafficking would shock the community and violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Seamus John Neary, 25, was in Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench Tuesday for sentencing arguments after he was found guilty of trafficking 9.5 kilograms of marijuana. The crime does not carry a mandatory minimum, but federal law changes in 2012 removed the option of a conditional sentence order, or jail sentence served in the community, for trafficking more than three kilograms of pot.

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With changes to marijuana laws on the horizon, a former star athlete's lawyers argue that sending him to jail for marijuana trafficking would shock the community and violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Seamus John Neary, 25, was in Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench Tuesday for sentencing arguments after he was found guilty of trafficking 9.5 kilograms of marijuana. The crime does not carry a mandatory minimum, but federal law changes in 2012 removed the option of a conditional sentence order, or jail sentence served in the community, for trafficking more than three kilograms of pot.

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Province to Provide Input on Roadside Testing Ahead of Legalization

Premier Brad Wall wants to know more about driver safety and marijuana.

With the federal government planning to have legalization legislation next spring, the province is putting together a team to study what impact that could have on Saskatchewan roads.

The Justice, Corrections and Policing and SGI ministers will all examine the issue before reporting their findings to a federal task force focusing on regulatory issues surrounding marijuana.

"We want to make sure we're part of the process recommending some things back to the federal government, in terms of keeping our roads safe, in terms of public safety issues that may arise from marijuana legalization and normalization, to the extent that will happen," said Wall.

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Province Plans to Offer Input on Federal Roadside Testing Legalization

Premier Brad Wall wants to know more about driver safety and marijuana.

With the federal government planning to have legalization legislation next spring, the province is putting together a team to study what impact that could have on Saskatchewan roads.

The Justice, Corrections and Policing and SGI ministers will all examine the issue before reporting their findings to a federal task force focusing on regulatory issues surrounding marijuana.

"We want to make sure we're part of the process recommending some things back to the federal government, in terms of keeping our roads safe, in terms of public safety issues that may arise from marijuana legalization and normalization, to the extent that will happen," said Wall.

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There was a day where the fight against marijuana was considered crucial to the health of our nation and most people were on the same page. Pass on grass was a common sentiment.

Now, as we are well into the 21st century, attitudes have changed dramatically, and recreational marijuana use is more socially acceptable than it has ever been. In more and more jurisdictions in North America, the use of pot has been or soon will be legalized, or decriminalized, and that includes right here in Canada.

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Contamination in houses used to produce illegal drugs can easily be overlooked during routine inspections, which is why the province needs a comprehensive registry of former marijuana grow-ops and methamphetamine labs, according to the Association of Saskatchewan Realtors (ASR).

"The information's available (to police), and we think it should be made available to our members and to potential buyers, so they're able to make an informed decision when they look to buy a house," ASR CEO Bill Madder said.

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There are discrepancies about safe dosages, its use in treating PTSD

Auditor general Michael Ferguson has raised important questions about the increasing use of medical marijuana by Canadian military veterans.

As authorities contemplate enforcement actions and zoning bylaws relevant to marijuana dispensaries, and the federal Liberal government prepares for legalization in 2017, Ferguson is urging the Department of Veterans Affairs to address the amount of medical cannabis being prescribed to veterans. He found the quantity prescribed was "poorly documented" and not always evidence-based.

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Saskatoon Police Service Cst. Matt Ingrouille Headed A Blunt Conversation About Drugs On Saturday

Last year saw then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper declare; "Marijuana is infinitely worse" than tobacco.

At the time, he cited nonexistent "overwhelming and growing scientific and medical evidence" that he said would support his claim.

Those educated on the subject toned him out, just as they've toned out certain anti-drug messages whose purported "facts" don't align with reality.

It's this kind of condescension that Saskatoon Police Service Cst. Matt Ingrouille avoided during a direct conversation about drugs and addiction with a Prince Albert audience on Saturday.

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Pending final approval from Health Canada, Mark McCaul plans to sell medical marijuana in downtown Prince Albert as soon as possible.

His intent is to expand his "unorthodox medicinal supply shop," The Hum (62 13th St. W.), into the property next-door once all of his legal ducks are in a row.

But first, he has some misconceptions to dispel; an effort he's been striving to accomplish through his own actions as a medical marijuana advocate.

Surrounded by bongs and other paraphernalia associated with marijuana in his shop, McCaul admits that a common assumption is that he's some "major stoner."

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Local Marijuana Advocates React To The Announce Of Now Pot Laws Next Spring

It's the most wonderful time, literally, of the year for marijuana users across Canada.

This year's 4/20 (April 20) is extra special for marijuana users across country since federal Health Minister Jane Philpott announced earlier in the day that the federal government plans to begin marijuana legalization by next spring.

"I think it's about time," said Brent Bekter, owner and operator of Watch Tower Glass at 420 High St. "I think if they do it with etiquette and intelligence, it should work out for everyone."

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Some Prince Albert city councillors are balking at a suggestion that legalized pot could help reduce binge drinking in the city.

The city released it's "alcohol strategy" this week, a culmination of years of work to document and offer ways to combat problems with underage and binge drinking.

However, some are taken aback by the report's suggestion that legalized pot could help curb chronic alcohol abuse.

"I personally have concerns," Coun. Rick Orr said. "I think it's another one of the items that we have to deal with from a community addictions point of view."

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In a province that has led Canada since 2010 in the rate of HIV infections and in a city where researchers describe intravenous drug use as an "epidemic," the call by Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC) Chief Felix Thomas to investigate the value of establishing a safe injection site is a highly sensible idea.

It's time to put to rest the knee-jerk, anti-science attitude of the former federal Conservative government, which ignored credible data on the lives saved and harm reduced by Vancouver's Insite facility, and seriously explore whether Saskatoon might benefit from a similar service.

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Some Prince Albert city councillors are balking at a suggestion that legalized pot could help reduce binge drinking in the city.

The city released its "alcohol strategy" this week, a culmination of years of work to document and offer ways to combat problems with underage and binge drinking.

However, some are taken aback by the report's suggestion that legalized pot could help curb chronic alcohol abuse.

"I personally have concerns," Coun. Rick Orr said. "I think it's another one of the items that we have to deal with from a community addictions point of view."

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Trudeau promised to make marijuana legal. Where's that at?

Instead of "Hump Day" on April 20, thousands of Canadians will celebrate "Hemp Day" through the annual 4/20 protest against pot prohibition. With the Trudeau Liberals committed to legalizing cannabis, spirits should be high.

But the fact remains that unless you're a licensed medical user, if you possess or share marijuana at the protest, you're breaking the law.

Bill Blair, the former Toronto police chief who's the government's point man on the file as parliamentary secretary to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, made that crystal clear in a recent CBC interview.

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Saskatoon Tribal Council wants to study establishing a location in city

The chief of the Saskatoon Tribal Council wants to investigate the merits of a safe injection site in the city.

"We haven't determined whether or not there should be one here yet. My standpoint is we need to look at the facts and the data and make an informed decision," Felix Thomas said.

The new Liberal federal government appears more friendly to the concept than its Conservative predecessor - last month, Health Canada granted a four-year exemption from federal drug laws for Vancouver's Insite.

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New Zealand's retention of the Union Jack in its flag's corner was a decision taken by that country's population (in a referendum) and not by a prime minister and his cohorts.

The original flag's emblem stood for the kind of government and laws that had evolved over hundreds of years, which New Zealand, upon creation, espoused and followed. Cultural matters concern people. Referendums ask the people's opinion.

In Canada, legalizing marijuana use - in spite of its damaging effect on the undeveloped brains of children and youths (as experienced in Colorado and recently reported in newspapers) - is the kind of decision that needs a referendum.

Marijuana can affect the present population and future generations. Already, classrooms have children seriously affected by drug use. A referendum asking all Canadians whether they agree or not with such a cultural change should occur.

Christine Berriman, Regina

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The farce continues: We had a compassion club in Saskatoon, much like those in many other Canadian cities. In it, sick people helped sick people find relief from a variety of problems through the use of marijuana.

Now what do we have? The same people who cannot shut down or even reduce the underground illegal sales of marijuana are treating those compassionate people as if they are major criminals.

My heart goes out to Jamie Hagel (I am not a drug trafficker, March 16) and the other defendants in the Saskatoon Compassion Club case. There is no need to proceed with these prosecutions. Recently the SP ran a story about the only man imprisoned for violating the ignorant homosexuality laws. Who is going to be proud of enforcing the ignorant marijuana laws that are in their final days on our law books?

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The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan has added naloxone and buprenorphine to its methadone treatment guidelines.

It's a recognition of alternate drugs that are used to cope with opioid dependency, associate registrar Bryan Salte said.

The college introduced a new, more thorough 102-page set of guidelines last year based on Alberta's model. The guidelines help physicians who prescribe methadone - and now the new drugs - to patients with opioid addictions.

They spell out how to write prescriptions, assess potential patients and determine proper dosage as well as when to let patients take doses home and when to halt treatment.

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Addiction worker charged after raid on dispensary

Jamie Hagel knows drugs can ruin lives. She's worked in the area of addictions for more than a decade and helped set up harm reduction programs in Saskatoon's inner city.

She never knew Crohn's disease would take her down a path that would result in police charging her with trafficking marijuana.

"I am not a drug trafficker, nor am I a threat to this community," Hagel said in an interview.

She was one of four people arrested during a police raid on the Saskatchewan Compassion Club last October. Last week, she pleaded not guilty to charges of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime.

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A Brock University professor says Canada's provincial governments should consider distributing marijuana through public liquor stores as a way to change people's perspective on the drug following the federal Liberals' 2015 election promise to legalize it.

Dan Malleck, an associate professor of health sciences, is among the panellists scheduled to speak at a symposium on marijuana legalization at the University of Saskatchewan this week.

Malleck, who has studied the history of liquor control and drug prohibition, said provincial governments sold alcohol in the past not to perpetuate prohibition principles, but rather to normalize alcohol use for the public.

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