Federal Laws Governing Supply Are Ruled Unconstitutional A B.C. Supreme Court justice has endorsed a recent federal court decision saying the national marijuana program is unconstitutional. Justice Marvyn Koenigsberg gave Ottawa a year to fix the medical-marijuana access regulations so compassion clubs or producers can get together and run a common marijuana-growing operation. At the moment, the federal government restricts any licensed grower to supplying only one licensed user and prohibits more than three growers from pooling resources. [continues 269 words]
He's Guilty, Judge Rules, But Law Is Unconstitutional A B.C. judge has struck down as unconstitutional provisions of a federal law that restrict the supply of marijuana to patients authorized to use the drug. B.C. Supreme Court Madam Justice Marvyn Koenigsberg also found the man at the centre of the ruling, a worker for a marijuana compassion club on Vancouver Island, guilty of producing and possessing for the purpose of trafficking the drug, but gave him an absolute discharge. [continues 318 words]
If President Barack Obama is to succeed in convincing allies to pony up for the war in Afghanistan, he must do better than to reinvent former president George Bush's ill-conceived "War on Terror." He will have to revisit America's much older and disastrous War on Drugs. The U.S. officially has fought the latter war starting with Richard Nixon's presidency, when the fear of a country made of peaceniks and hippies convinced the Republican leader to copy former president Lyndon Johnston's short-lived but popular War on Poverty. Although the battle against poverty was an unabashed failure, at least it didn't cost the thousands of lives and countless years of lost freedoms claimed by the war on drugs. [continues 718 words]
When a judge decided more than $1-million worth of pot found near Moosomin was inadmissible as evidence, the Crown's case went up in smoke -- until the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal recently overturned that ruling. In a split 2-1 decision, the appeal court has ordered Regent Nolet and John Vatsis can be retried. But the defence now expects to take the matter to the Supreme Court of Canada. Defence lawyer Mark Brayford, one of two lawyers who handled the appeal, said the case has some significant issues that need clarity. [continues 577 words]
Two men will be arraigned Feb. 27 after a judge ruled there is sufficient evidence to hold them to answer for felony charges of cultivating marijuana in Ventura. The two defendants, who include a veteran of the war in Iraq, say they use the marijuana for medical reasons so their actions were legal under Proposition 215. The ruling came Friday at a preliminary hearing. The two men - Breze Meyer, 28 and Eric Lee Jeffrey, 24, - were arrested on Feb. 24, 2008 after officers found 77 marijuana plants growing inside the house they were renting. [continues 239 words]
The threat to the U.S. isn't due to Mexico's drug wars (Editorial, "Mexico's deadly drug war is growing threat to U.S." Jan. 28); it's due to a war over unregulated drugs. It was the same during the original prohibition with alcohol. Murder rates decreased for 10 years after ending the original prohibition and there is reason to believe ending the sequel will have the same results. At the very minimum, it's time to stop caging responsible adults for using the relatively safe, socially acceptable, God-given plant cannabis (marijuana). Re-legalizing cannabis will bring more honest drug awareness programs which will lower hard drug addiction rates. Then it will be more difficult to brainwash youth who become adults, into believing lies, half-truths and propaganda concerning cannabis. The old prohibitionist's approach can not work, that's been proven over and over. It's clearly time for credible drug law reform and re-legalizing cannabis is the key. Stan White Dillon, Colo. [end]
KENANSVILLE - A split board voted in favor of allowing the Sheriff Blake Wallace have professional architects help with site selection and preliminary designs for possible new jail. Advice from Brennan Architects LLC will cost $87,000 and will be paid for by the federal Asset Forfeiture Program. It will be of no cost to taxpayers, said Wallace to commissioners Monday, when he asked for a vote to move forward. Having architects define the county's options for a new a jail will not commit Duplin to construction of one, said Wallace when chairman Cary Turner posed a question regarding the county's responsibility. In addition to locating possible jail sites, the scope of work, according to a letter from architect James Brennan, will include conceptual designs as will preliminary estimates of the project costs. [continues 593 words]
So, bits of Canada's medical marijuana rules were ruled unconstitutional yesterday, except Ottawa was given a year to fix them, and the Victoria guy charged with growing the dope was convicted, except he got off. Huh? Saying the B.C. Supreme Court decision makes Canada's medical marijuana laws clearer is like saying cowboy boots make Danny DeVito taller -- really, it's just a matter of degree. Justice Marvyn Koenigsberg, sitting in Vancouver, struck down Health Canada regulations that say a licensed marijuana grower may only supply a single client and that bar more than three growers from pooling their resources. Her ruling echoed a 2008 federal court decision that tossed out the one-grower, one-client regulation; coincidentally, Ottawa lost its appeal of that decision yesterday. [continues 553 words]
DELPHOS - Throughout the counter-culture era, "Cheech and Chong" had "ganga" burning "up in smoke" as a war-weary nation laughed on. No longer solely associated with sandals and tie-dyed T-shirts, marijuana has transcended all social demographics. Adults and teens alike smoke it in "bongs" and fire up "blunts." Local police say the country's most popular narcotic is abused by those of various income brackets and social status. "Marijuana is fairly widespread in Delphos. I've always called it the 'universal solvent' because certain drugs seem to stay with certain demographics but marijuana transcends age, gender, race, profession, cultural background and so on," Delphos Police Sgt. Kyle Fittro said. [continues 1104 words]
