Plenty of hard work goes into training police service dogs to sniff out illicit substances For the vast majority of the dog population, sitting, shaking their paw and possibly rolling over is more than enough to get a treat, or some time with their favourite toy. For police service dogs Astor and Flint, some of the highest praise comes after sniffing out drugs hidden in a home or a vehicle. The Medicine Hat Police Service is two weeks into training PSD Astor to detect drugs and to notify his handler of any illegal substances he may sniff out. [continues 383 words]
A safe-injection site could be coming to Medicine Hat. Though still early in the process, HIV Community Link executive director Leslie Hill says this is something communities around Alberta could be seeing over the course of the next year or so. "Right now we have a researcher in Medicine Hat working on creating a survey to get to drug users," she said. "We are doing this in response to a rise in opioid use across the province and we are trying to be proactive with this." [continues 562 words]
A few dozen Hatters gathered in front of city hall Thursday to light up a joint and raise awareness of the proposed legalization of cannabis in Canada. The group met downtown at 3 p.m. and talked to anyone interested before lighting up some joints at 4:20 p.m. and marching to the provincial building. Armed with signs, pamphlets and pins, the group's main goal was to raise awareness and, more importantly, spread education on the topic of the proposed legalization, said group spokesperson Caelan Walton. [continues 328 words]
