Re: Pot isn't a gateway, Letters, Jan. 11. I survived the drug culture beginning in the '60s and '70s and count myself extremely fortunate to have escaped with most of my faculties. And, no, I'm not a recovering addict - anything but. I've also heard all the 'potaganda' puffed out by the pro-pot population for the last 30 years or so. Let's talk 'gateway' drug for a minute. During the years I indulged, almost everyone I knew who went to pot, so to speak, invariably indulged in other drugs of the day; namely mescaline, LSD, MDA and the like. It all starts with pot. The quest for an ever-better high is irresistible. [continues 197 words]
To the editor: Re: Legalized marijuana will be a gateway drug, Letters, Dec. 28. I read with interest the opinion that marijuana will lead to becoming a junkie. From the age of 25 to around the age of 55, I smoked pot every day. I never encountered the day the marijuana failed to get me high. Some strains were more effective than others, but with the hundreds of fellow smokers I met over this time, only a few would go on cocaine benders but never made it a habit. There were doctors, lawyers, mechanics, school teachers and just about every walk of life who enjoyed a puff every day. In my life I have seen many more lives ravaged by booze than pot. [continues 72 words]
To the editor, Re: Providing drugs would curb crime, Letters, Nov. 9. The question is not when our government will decriminalize personal possession and provide a safe clean drug source, like we do for alcohol and soon to be marijuana, but how many more families will be devastated with the loss of a loved one before a government is brave enough to value lives over votes. In Portugal, possession is not a criminal offence if you have a 10-day personal supply in your possession. By decriminalizing personal possession, we can then start to rid the negative stigma that is associated with addiction. [continues 208 words]
Re: Island Health has no appetite for edibles, March 23. I find myself feeling rather disturbed after reading the News Bulletin account of the Vancouver Island Health Authority's decision to regulate cannabis edibles being sold in dispensaries. Dr. Richard Stanwick cites that the problem is that the cannabis used in these edible products does not come from an approved source. Is this standard maintained in all food products sold in our health region? I do not believe that it is. [continues 133 words]
Nanaimo marijuana dispensaries want a good neighbour agreement with the City of Nanaimo that would cap their numbers and distance dispensaries from schools and daycares. The Nanaimo Cannabis Coalition, representing local marijuana dispensaries, called on council during Monday's committee of the whole meeting to hold town hall meetings around legalization and regulation, as well as to support recommendations to lay out guidelines, help it self-regulate better and prevent dispensaries from opening next to daycares. Matthew O'Donnell, coalition spokesman, said Nanaimo is looked upon in the industry as a "wild west environment." It's unregulated and experiencing an influx of dispensaries from outside Vancouver Island. A month ago a dispensary opened next door to a daycare centre, which made them decide action needs to happen, he said. [continues 361 words]
It's high time for federal pot laws and it's been high time for awhile now. Canadians were probably anticipating the Liberal government to move more quickly on a campaign promise to legalize, regulate and restrict access to marijuana. Finally, we've been told that pot will be legal by July 1, 2018. In the meantime, we'll continue to be something of a wild west for weed, and that's created challenges. Since the federal government came to power in the fall of 2016, the expectation of legalization has brought about complications. Laws against dealing and possessing weed remain in place, alongside a scattered strategy of ignoring, regulating or raiding dispensaries, or an unpredictable combination of those approaches. [continues 239 words]
Authority will take action on marijuana dispensaries that sell food items such as brownies Pot dispensaries run the risk of action from Island Health if they continue to sell marijuana edibles, according to the health authority's top medical health officer. Marijuana-infused food, from cookies, to candies, brownies and chocolate bars have appeared on the menus of Nanaimo dispensaries but Island Health is now making it clear that preparing, selling or distributing the edibles is not allowed. Island Health banned the sale of marijuana edibles at Victoria's Gorge Medijuana Dispensary after environmental health officers responded to a complaint about sanitation in the customer service area and that it was selling edible products. It's through that process that the health authority learned several other dispensaries are also selling edible marijuana products, according to an e-mailed statement. [continues 754 words]
Police cite parents' concerns over health and safety Nanaimo Mounties have closed a marijuana dispensary that opened next door to a children's daycare centre. Leaf Labs Medical Cannabis Services, at 679 Terminal Ave., was shut down Monday, three days after it opened, when police checked the business and allegedly observed evidence they believe contravened Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The dispensary was closed and secured until a search warrant was granted to search the premises.Police seized about 0.7 kilograms of marijuana. [continues 347 words]
I find our government's action in easing access to alcohol surprising, especially in consideration of the extreme caution shown in regard to providing legal access to cannabis. Alcohol causes many deaths each year, yet regulations regarding use continue to be eased. Although we have been promised legally regulated access to cannabis, the process is extremely cumbersome and slow. People continue to be arrested, gaining life-impairing criminal records, as we wait for the fulfillment of the promise to legalize. Cannabis has never caused an overdose death and has many medicinal benefits, while we have a good awareness of many physical and social harms caused by the widespread abuse of alcohol. Our current situation, in which cannabis availability for non-medical use is left in the hands of the illegal market, provides easy access to minors and no protocols to assure the safety of the product. [continues 53 words]
Island Health aims to open an overdose prevention site at Nanaimo's Wesley Street supportive housing complex this month. At a special council meeting Thursday, Nanaimo council authorized the use of 437 Wesley St., a supportive housing complex for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, to be used for Island Health's temporary overdose prevention service. Council also called for changes to the lease agreement between the city and province on the building and to the operating agreement to allow the property to be used for overdose prevention services through the existing operator, Canadian Mental Health Association, as well as to move forward on a joint public engagement process with Island Health for this site and a more permanent service. [continues 360 words]
Opioid overdose deaths didn't suddenly become a crisis, but maybe now the issue will be treated that way. After 25 people in Nanaimo died from using fentanyl in 2016, the need for a supervised consumption site became overwhelming for some observers. An unsanctioned location, supported by one or more city councillors, popped up in the city hall parking lot after Christmas and hasn't been shut down. It's got people talking about the issue of supervised consumption. Many argue that government and health officials shouldn't be complicit in illegal drug use. And there could be costly liabilities. On the other hand, there are hard-to-calculate costs of doing nothing. A supervised consumption site isn't meant to promote or even normalize drug use - it's a harm-reduction measure. These sites help save a few lives, among the few per cent who choose to visit them, and lives are precious. [continues 198 words]
To the Editor, The death toll is rising, and many resources are required to deal with the current fentanyl crisis. This is a result of the tactics of the failed war on drugs. Prohibition of drugs provides a very lucrative opportunity for criminal organizations. Drug addiction is a health issue, and should be treated as such. Much of the problem has been with heroin that has been adulterated with fentanyl. Providing heroin maintenance to addicts who have not had success with treatment would strike a serious blow at the illegal market. Users could have a safe supply, and a more normalized life, not centred around the primary goal of sourcing heroin and the money to purchase it. The issues of addiction that affect our society are caused more by the lifestyle resulting from addiction to a criminalized substance than they are by the substance itself. [continues 60 words]
To the Editor, Re: Unsanctioned injection site forces closure of two municipal buildings in Nanaimo, Dec. 29. I am mystified and angered that city hall was closed because the city manager had safety, legal and health concerns regarding the users of the safe injection site in the parking lot. Apparently drug users are all violent and out to get city staff and local citizens minding their own business. What nonsense.This site is staffed by highly skilled health workers who are volunteering their time and efforts to save lives. [continues 116 words]
Located in a parking lot next to Nanaimo's city hall sits a large white tent. A small fire burns inside the tent, keeping volunteers, who are surrounded by donations of medical supplies and food, nice and warm. It's a place where individuals can come and safely inject drugs, without the fear of being humiliated or shamed. It also happens to be unsanctioned. Established by Nanaimo city councillor Gord Fuller and a group of concerned residents, the tent has been acting as a safe-injection, or safe-consumption site as its organizers call it, since Boxing Day. [continues 499 words]
DRIVING to work the other morning, I passed the grow-op up the street from my house. It's about 100 metres from an elementary school and when it vents, it stinks. In fact, the interior of my car still reeked when I arrived at the office 15 minutes after driving through that cloud and it really annoyed me to think the guy who stunk up my car likely has a more lucrative income than I do and probably most of people reading this. [continues 463 words]
Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay was hoping to introduce a motion to city council Monday that limits proximity of marijuana dispensaries to minors. McKay planned to direct staff to draft a bylaw prohibiting marijuana dispensaries from being situated within 500 metres of any facility where people under 19 years old gather, such as parks, childcare centres, schools and recreation centres. Melissa Burke, owner of Kidz Kompany Childcare Group, is concerned a dispensary could be opening next to her Terminal Avenue location. While there are legitimate reasons for medicinal marijuana, some are accessing dispensaries illegitimately, Burke said. [continues 303 words]
Nanaimo city councillors want to know how the City of Victoria plans to regulate marijuana dispensaries, but there was agreement, something needs to be done about the pot shops here. Nanaimo continues to see dispensaries open and sell bud to brownies and T-shirts despite still being illegal. After an RCMP crackdown on dispensaries in December, council agreed to look at licensing regulation options, but the issue hasn't landed on the table for discussion yet with a staff report still in the works. [continues 366 words]
The federal government will start clearing away some of the haze about marijuana legalization. Health Minister Jane Philpott announced April 20 that the government is a year away from introducing legislation to legalize pot. The particulars are unknown and, presumably, undetermined, but the feds stressed they will look to keep the drug away from children and the profits away from gangs. Legalization strategies will be developed in consultation and co-operation with law enforcement. Whatever the model, it will be complicated, as legalization comes with related considerations such as taxation, education, and laws and campaigns against stoned driving. [continues 210 words]
Dispensary Outlets Balloon on Island Justin Trudeau has made a large group of Vancouver Island entrepreneurs very excited and left a larger group of public officials desperately seeking guidance. Since Trudeau's election in November, the interest in marijuana dispensaries on Vancouver Island has ballooned as business interests have tried to leap ahead of the queue on the legalized sale of pot. Led by more than 30 dispensaries in the city of Victoria, the informal count of Vancouver Island pot shops is now around 50, and includes facilities in communities like Sooke, Sidney, the Cowichan Valley, Chemainus, Nanaimo, Port Alberni and Campbell River. [continues 1144 words]
Medical Health Officer Hopes To Launch Discussion About Safe Consumption Sites An Island Health medical health officer hopes the public health emergency declared across B.C. today can launch a serious discussion about safe consumption sites on Vancouver Island. The province declared an unprecedented state of emergency this morning in response to an epidemic of drug-related deaths so far this year. Victoria and Nanaimo are ground zero on the Island, which has added more than 40 people to a 2016 provincial body count that is on pace to obliterate last year's total of 474 overdose deaths by more than 300 people. [continues 564 words]
My recent columns on B.C.'s struggle with the growing westward migration of transients have produced responses that fall mainly into two groups. The largest is people relieved that somebody is questioning the urban media narrative. That's the one where drifters, drug addicts, welfare shoppers and thieves are the victims and working people, whose hard-earned communities are being degraded, are the problem because of their selfish, uncaring attitudes. Then there are readers so marinated in our nanny-state education, media and political system they object to anything other than a big-government response. They tend to ask, what's your solution, Tom? [continues 511 words]
To the Editor, Re: Pot shops had to be closed, Editorial, Dec. 3. You need to step into the 21st century with growing a healing plant. This plant takes you off toxic addictive pharmaceuticals. I've grown my own medical cannabis for over 16 years. A drunk driver ruined my ability to work at all. Your lack of research on this issue is appalling. How cannabis gets to a dispensary is basic and sterile. How does organic medical marijuana get to the dispensary? In a container, glass or plastic, usually. [continues 66 words]
One of the enduring legacies of Pierre Trudeau's time as prime minister is the legal supremacy of the individual, as articulated in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We are seeing this played out with greater force than ever today, by an activist high court that swatted aside Stephen Harper's attempts to restrain it, and now orders a meek, politically correct Justin Trudeau government to do its bidding. The Federal Court decreed last week that people have the right to grow their own "medical" marijuana. This ruling is unlikely to be appealed, given that Trudeau the Younger is committed to legalizing marijuana for everyone. [continues 501 words]
Report Looks at Process to Regulate Medical Marijuana Nanaimo city officials will explore options to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries as advocates call for standards. It's an important and positive step in the right direction, says Matthew O'Donnell, Nanaimo Cannabis Coalition spokesman and operations manager for Phoenix Pain Management Society, of the recent decision. "Realistically this is where the real work begins," he said. "The discussion is actually starting." Nanaimo city council called on staff last week to report on licensing regulation options for medical marijuana dispensaries, and will also consider a joint letter with the City of Victoria, asking Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when the federal government will have guidelines for municipalities on dispensaries and legalization. [continues 401 words]
Nanaimo's hospital is the first on the Island to offer a take-home antidote for fentanyl. Nanaimo Regional General Hospital's emergency department began handing out two-syringe Naloxone kits last week to offer people a take-home antidote for opioid overdoses like fentanyl and heroin. AIDS Vancouver Island in Nanaimo also offers the kit and Harris House plans to begin dispensing it in January, seeing it as a life-saving tool akin to EpiPen. The kits are paid for through the B.C. Centre for Disease Control and in part, a response to an increasing use of fentanyl in illicit drugs. [continues 436 words]
To the Editor, Re: Pot shops had to be closed, Editorial, Dec. 3. I've only lived in Nanaimo for a few years, but I get the impression that few people here know much about cannabis or the fact that humans have been using the plant for medical, spiritual, and social reasons for thousands of years. The News Bulletin says it supports the police raids of local medical marijuana dispensaries because "they were dealing drugs" and not providing education and other trappings that come with legalization. I find this surprising, partly because I learned more about cannabis from medical marijuana dispensaries than I did from years of working as a writer at an addictions research office. (I had read and written about cannabis many times, but I didn't really 'get it' until I got bone cancer and survived my first soul-crushing chemotherapy session. It turned out cannabis was the only drug that could stop me from throwing up and giving up, and it still helps with mood and bouts of debilitating fear.) Dispensary staff taught me which products and methods worked best for nausea, anxiety, mouth sores, and so on. [continues 106 words]
To the Editor, Re: Pot shops had to be closed, Editorial, Dec. 3. We categorically reject the editorial's painting of all dispensaries with the same brush. Trees Dispensary has worked very hard to be a legitimate business that contributes to the local economy and the health of the City of Nanaimo. We employ over 40 people at a living wage, and offer health and dental benefits. We stand behind our employees. We are now paying their legal fees, and we will continue to pay their wages even though they are now prohibited from returning to work. The "regulation, taxation, and education" the editorial speaks of is something that we have been working very hard on for over a year. We pay payroll taxes, GST, and income tax. We have an account with Canada Revenue Agency and have paid over $200,000 of taxes to the federal govenrment since we began operations. [continues 136 words]
A steady stream of customers returned to Trees Dispensary Nanaimo on Friday, just three days after police raided the Bowen Road pot shop. The dispensary is back in business, although not without challenges. The store is short-staffed with the arrest of three employees, the phone wasn't working and credit cards were being run up manually without a point-of-sale machine. Even the display cases were looking a little empty. Where there used to be about five to six pounds (two and a half kilograms) of bud, there's now only one or two, says store manager Anita Roy - and that's only thanks to restocking efforts by the Trees chain, whose executives are determined to keep the Nanaimo store open. [continues 654 words]
The Nanaimo RCMP decided that where there's pot smoke, there's fire, and they snuffed it out. Police raided local medical marijuana dispensaries on Tuesday and it was something that needed to be done. We agree with a lot of the arguments to legalize or decriminalize marijuana, but we recognize that those sorts of laws aren't in place yet. When we disagree with the laws of the land, we can protest them, but Nanaimo's dispensaries were basically flouting the law and going far beyond a little bit of civil disobedience. [continues 208 words]
ARRESTS MADE, products seized at three locations. Empty jars, T-shirts and the lingering smell of marijuana were nearly all that was left at Limelife Society dispensary Tuesday, as the owner closed up shop in the wake of police raids. Hash, bud, cookies and candy advertised in an online store menu were gone from the Nicol Street storefront. Twin paper cups had been left on a coffee table next to a crinkled scrap of rolling paper and a Nintendo controller, there were boxes of rolling paper on a shelf and the fridge was almost bare. [continues 522 words]
CITY STAFF concerned for children's safety at Maffeo Sutton Park Twelve drug needles found dumped in Maffeo Sutton Park children's playground this fall was a shock to city horticulturalist Margaret Mills, who says it's a rare find and "very upsetting." But it's nothing new for the downtown community, which is grappling with an uptick in discarded drug paraphernalia. A parent alerted Mills, who maintains the waterfront park, on Oct. 20 that there were 12 needles left in the children's playground. Six were still in a package, while the other half were used. [continues 518 words]
Dispensaries Hope They'll Get a Reprieve Police have taken no enforcement action against medical marijuana dispensaries since the deadline for storefronts to shut down passed last week, giving the Nanaimo Cannabis Coalition hope it's won a cooling-off period. But the Nanaimo RCMP never said enforcement would come on day eight or nine, says Supt. Mark Fisher. Ten medical marijuana dispensaries were given a seven-day deadline from the Nanaimo RCMP on Nov. 12 to shut down or face potential enforcement, including arrests of employees and patrons on site. [continues 372 words]
To the Editor, Re: Pot dispensaries advised by RCMP to close up shop, Nov. 17. I am writing after reading your article and wish to state our support for the RCMP doing their job - which is to uphold the Criminal Code of Canada. The dispensaries or pot stores are a public health threat. There is a legal method for people to get marijuana for a medical purpose which is the Marijuana for Medical Purposes Regulations and it is correct for the RCMP to act in closing the pot stores operating in Nanaimo. They pose a public health threat and the operators were willing to flaunt the law - act above the law in both purchasing marijuana for resale and reselling it on the main streets of Nanaimo. We have ways to change laws in this country and if you do not like the law you do not just break it and suggest others do the same. Pamela McColl Smart Approaches to Marijuana Canada [end]
To the Editor, Re: Pot dispensaries advised by RCMP to close up shop, Nov. 17. Considering Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's mandate, last week, to Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould, to begin the process of legalizing and regulating cannabis in Canada, isn't it time for any and all police agencies along with the RCMP to put a moratorium on terrorizing and extorting cannabis dispensaries? Stephen Harper is history and cannabis prohibition will soon be history; all that's left is formalities and calling the dogs off citizens. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
To the Editor, A municipal council can and does tell the local RCMP what community priorities are, which the police then apply to their community policing strategy - one that reflects the practices of the community they serve. So, Nanaimo council could have easily chosen to inform the local detachment that dispensaries are a very low-priority item, and they could have also politely requested that police leave the people's medicine providers alone. Our council chose not to do this. Since they have not, I am of the opinion that our council have given its implied consent to having the outlets raided and the medicine people need seized. Sad, yes, but also a cop out and a letdown of thousands of people. Terry Lee Wagar Nanaimo [end]
Nanaimo medical marijuana dispensaries will remain open, despite the threat of police enforcement. Medical marijuana dispensaries have reached out to government for clarity on potential new regulations and help in the lead-up to a deadline to stop selling marijuana. But dispensaries have no plans to close, according to the new Nanaimo Cannabis Coalition. "Our coalition has stated we will remain open =C2=85 because people need their medicine," said Matthew O'Donnell, coalition spokesman. Ten medical marijuana dispensaries were given notice last Thursday by the Nanaimo RCMP to stop selling marijuana and marijuana derivatives in seven days or they could face police enforcement, including the arrest of employees and patrons. [continues 293 words]
Medical marijuana dispensary managers plan a united front and appeals to government in the wake of an ultimatum from the Nanaimo RCMP to shut down shop or face arrests. The Nanaimo RCMP put 10 medical marijuana dispensaries on notice Thursday that they had seven days to stop the sale of marijuana and marijuana derivatives or they could be subject to police enforcement. Medical marijuana shops have been growing in number in Nanaimo, selling bud, tinctures and marijuana-infused brownies. Written notice, given to dispensaries by the RCMP, advises the establishments that they are operating illegally and are trafficking cannabis contrary to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and operating outside of Health Canada regulations. If the pot shops don't close, they will be subject to enforcement that includes arrests of employees and patrons, seizure of "offence-related" property and criminal prosecutions. [continues 685 words]
Dispensaries keep opening in Nanaimo despite lack of rules. Nanaimo city officials are looking at what can be done about pot shops, as illegal dispensaries continue to open across the Harbour City. A city report on the issue of medical marijuana dispensaries is now in the works, with staff members looking at how other B.C. municipalities approached the pot retailers and what options are available to local governments when regulating shops. Medical marijuana dispensaries have been growing in numbers, openly selling bud, tinctures, marijuana-infused candy and soda despite being considered illegal by the federal government. [continues 463 words]
A labelled and bagged chocolate brownie that rested between me and a 'budtender' last week represents everything wrong with B.C.'s budding marijuana dispensaries. It was an offering by a dispensary employee, made unsolicited to a non-registered, non-prescription-holding reporter. That's not supposed to happen and it raises the question of how 'Wild West' the frontier of medical marijuana has become. There's growth in medical marijuana dispensaries and Nanaimo isn't immune, with pot shops cropping up across the city. [continues 533 words]
A steady stream of customers file into Trees Dispensary Nanaimo, one of several places to pick up medical marijuana in the Harbour City. Cookies, brownies and B.C bud can all be found behind glass cases at the Bowen Road storefront, estimated to serve 1,500 people each week. Clients don't have to be medical marijuana patients as long as they declare they have a serious medical condition. It's not the first storefront to go to pot in the Harbour City to meet demand for medical marijuana. Despite retail pot being illegal and the city's refusal to license the business, more dispensaries are on the way. Two signs advertising dispensaries have cropped up along Terminal Avenue and Nicol Street. [continues 436 words]
Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation has released an analysis of Tilray's impact on the local economy in the medical marijuana grower's first year of operation. The 14-page report, presented Wednesday at SquareOne co-working space, examined Tilray's impact on the region since the start of construction and operation of its 5,600-square-metre research and production facility. It also offered economic predictions from Tilray's proposed operations and workforce expansion. The company currently employs 120 people in Nanaimo and is on track with its expansion to become the No. 1 employer in the Nanaimo region, Sasha Angus, NEDC CEO, said at the presentation. [continues 321 words]
To the Editor, Re: Pot producers partner on study, Nov. 18. Why is Canada's first clinical trial to test the effectiveness of marijuana in treating post-traumatic stress disorder not being conducted at the brain research centre of the province, Vancouver General Hospital, where the most diagnostic equipment for imaging the brain is located? It certainly is first and foremost a question of how does it work on its own? This must be completely understood and all of the harms identified first before a new drug can be compared to others. Furthermore, the average amount of time that it takes for a new drug to go from the laboratory to the retail market is 17 years. This has been so in part to try to ensure the drug has long-term efficacy and safety. Linda Richards Nanaimo [end]
To the Editor: Re: City becoming a pot hot spot, Editorial, Aug. 21. It is easy to read optimistic projections from the new licenced producers and gain the impression that production of medical cannabis may far exceed what would be required, but the reality is that, in most cases, the producers are not providing anywhere near the volume projected. As a medical cannabis patient and activist, I hear many reports from patients who are signed up with licenced producers who cannot meet their needs. Tilray is the only producer that I have heard to be keeping up with demand. [continues 116 words]
To the Editor, Re: Canada plays follow the leader on pot laws, Opinion, March 11. Your column misses the point of both the police and our current government's desire to ticket cannabis. The plan has nothing to do with loosening cannabis laws or their opinions of the drug and those who use it. For them it is simple pragmatism: police don't like the work of arresting a casual cannabis smoker, more so as the cases are rarely prosecuted and even more rarely successful, so they want something that hurts cannabis users and is easy for them to do. Tickets fit the bill perfectly. [continues 116 words]
To the Editor, Re: Prescription Pot Pretense About To End, Opinion, Feb. 13 I am strongly against removing our Marijuana Medical Access Program. I am concerned that the cannabis that will be offered to personal-use patients from Health Canada will lack quality, and will be harder for them to access this medicine. I am strongly in favour of medical marijuana in Canada, as more and more medical studies are proving it to be effective treatment for many different things. If the cannabis is harder to access, costs more, or lacks quality or strain selection, I believe this will enable many more criminal organizations. I think also patients may have to rely more on harmful treatments, like opiates and other pain medications. Ryan Chypyha Merritt, BC [end]
It seems as though marijuana isn't as bad as everyone thought. Last week the federal Minister of Justice Peter MacKay floated the idea of allowing police to give tickets to people in possession of marijuana rather than haul them through the criminal justice system. He told the Ottawa press gallery that he directed his ministry to look at the issue and possibly draft legislation because the prime minister was open to the idea. This could be the turning point in federal policy on marijuana. [continues 507 words]
Nanaimo's new medical marijuana producer is on the search for skilled labour. Tilray, the face of B.C.-based Lafitte Ventures, is looking to hire up to 60 employees as it prepares to open its new production facility at Duke Point. A job fair will be hosted this weekend for positions ranging from horticulturalists and trimmers to customer service representatives, security and marketing management. Work at the new medical marijuana facility has been underway since rezoning was approved by Nanaimo city council last December. According to Tilray, total investment to buy, renovate and create a state-of-the-art facility will reach more than $10 million once it's complete. [continues 276 words]
On April 1, medical marijuana growing licences expire across the country, and only licensed commercial growers will be able to legally fill a prescription for pot. Ottawa is moving to clean up the mess it created by issuing medical licences all over the country. Since then, municipalities have complained that small-scale medical licences have been greatly exceeded, with many used as fronts for a criminal drug trade that has made B.C. infamous around the world. How big is the problem? There are about 38,000 Canadians licensed to carry marijuana for medical purposes, and half of them live in B.C. Their permission to grow their own or buy it from designated small-scale growers is withdrawn in a couple of months. [continues 496 words]
Residents and business owners in Nanaimo's north end have to fend for themselves when it comes to picking up discarded drug paraphernalia. The problem came to light recently when staff at Delicado's North, located at the corner of Aulds Road and Metral Drive, were getting ready to open for the day. Ashley Thorp, a restaurant employee, responded to an anxious knocking on the restaurant's front door by a woman warning her about five used syringes and a spoon left near the business's entrance. [continues 284 words]
To the Editor, Re: Pot petition fails despite local success, Dec. 10. Although Sensible B.C. didn't get enough signatures to make the next ballot, I'm writing to encourage citizens in British Columbia and all Canadians to continue hope and the good fight to end discrimination towards humans who use the God-given plant cannabis. The majority of North Americans support ending this government-subsidized discrimination and the day will come when the injustice is over and people look back and ask how on earth cannabis prohibition ever started to begin with? As a Colorado citizen who helped re-legalize cannabis a year ago, I can assure Canadians, the vile ignorance will end. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
