Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee appeared on CBC Compass on Friday to detail financial problems that the city foresees in preparing for the legalization of marijuana in 2018.The mayor did so but also took the opportunity to become the first leader in Canada to explain why the country will be making a huge mistake in legalizing the drug. He spoke the truth.

Congratulations Mayor Lee, your remarks were right on and should be required listening for all federal and provincial politicians.

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Charlottetown Mayor Clifford Lee appeared on CBC Compass on Friday to detail financial problems that his city foresees in preparing for the legalization of marijuana in 2018.

The mayor did so but also took the opportunity to become the first leader in Canada to explain why the country will be making a huge mistake in legalizing the drug. He spoke the truth. Congratulations Mayor Lee, your remarks were right on and should be required listening for all federal and provincial politicians.

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In a recent Canadian Public Health Association discussion paper, "A New Approach to Managing Illegal Psychoactive Substances in Canada," the point was made emphatically that our current approach to managing risk is not working.

Here are some of its highlights:

- - A psychoactive substance is a chemical that changes brain function and results in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness or behaviour. Societies mitigate the health, social, and economic consequences of the use and misuse of psychoactive substances such as alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, opioids, amphetamines, cocaine, tranquillizers and sleeping pills in a variety of ways with varying degrees of success. Their effects on population health, however, are often overshadowed by our fascination with the direct effects of substance misuse on individuals [e.g. recent rise in the opioid death rate due to adulteration of the drug supply with fentanyl and its analogues]. Currently, western societies manage illegal psychoactive substances largely through prohibition and criminalization and legal drugs, like tobacco and alcohol, through regulation, restricted availability and price control. The laws and systems initially introduced to control these substances reflected the times ! and prevalent issues of the day, but no longer reflect current scientific knowledge concerning substance-related harms to individuals, families, or communities.

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There was a Letter to the Editor on the subject of legalizing marijuana by a person who is in the business of treating youth who have addiction issues. I agree with what the person is trying to relay on this very important issue. The people who are in the business of treating people with addictions know first hand the dangers of this great idea that the government is bringing on and that is legalizing of marijuana.

I know that from my own experience with addiction, that the results from the disease are so damaging and far reaching it boggles my mind how government can justify the legalizing of a drug that caused so much pain and suffering to addicts, family, friends and taxpayers.

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The Atlantic provinces have some blue-sky thinking to do, and not much time to do it. Or more to the point: maybe they have some blue-smoke thinking to be doing.

Last week, the federal government announced its plans to legalize marijuana and, in so doing, threw the ball into the provincial court. The provinces will have the final say on how weed will be marketed in their regions, and also on things like the minimum age of purchasers. And that's only the beginning. In fact, the provinces have more than a little heavy lifting of their own to do in the 15 months before the federal government's changed rules become law.

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Summerside couple opening store selling glass pieces for legal herbs and medical marijuana

It's a cause close to Megan Patey and Tommy Biggar's hearts.

"I use it for my anxiety and PTSD. And since starting it, I've been functioning a lot better," explained Patey.

The "it" is medicinal marijuana prescribed by a physician.

Biggar added, "It's incredible. It went from her nails being below the skin, to being able to paint them, to having to cut them. It was incredible to see how it helped her."

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As spring approaches, so does the federal government's promise to introduce legislation to legalize marijuana. The Justin Trudeau government announced back in April of last year that it would be introducing new legislation next spring. So now that spring is almost upon us, will that bill be coming soon?

Even when that bill arrives, it still needs to pass through the House of Commons and the Senate.

That could take months, perhaps extend into early 2018, and even then, the passing of the bill doesn't mean legal marijuana will be available right away.

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Police stepping up patrols of Queen Elizabeth Park after incident involving needle

A Summerside family is reeling this week after one of its young members was scratched by a needle while playing at Queen Elizabeth Park.

Ethan Skevington, 11, was playing at the baseball complex Sunday with a group of kids when the incident occurred. He went home and told his family what happened and was taken to hospital.

On the way to the Prince County Hospital, the family stopped at the ball fields with the intention of retrieving the needle in case doctors needed it.

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MLAs hear methamphetamine has replaced prescription pills as biggest drug issue in P.E.I.

It used to be prescription pills. Now if anyone asks RCMP Cpl. Andy Cook what the biggest problem drug is in P.E.I. he says it's methamphetamine. "We've gone from a downer to an upper as our biggest problem here," he said. Cook joined RCMP Chief Supt. Joanne Crampton for a presentation Friday to MLAs on the health and wellness committee. During the presentation, Cook said he wasn't going to give the credit to the police for the reduction in opiate use. "To me it's the methadone program has made the biggest difference in regards to the prescription opiate problem here," he said.

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It's back to school time and, for many parents, that means serious discussions with their children about the many challenges that can arise in the schoolyard and the classroom: bullying (both on and offline), peer pressure, test anxieties and other stress, budding sexuality, alcohol and drugs.

In the case of the latter category - drinking and drugs - many of us might be tempted to tell our kids, "Just don't do it." But is that a realistic approach? Let's face it; our children, and older teens in particular, are prone to experimentation. Many of us did it and many of them will do it. It's a fact of life.

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Time for Low-Level Street Dealers to Move Out As Government Prepares to Move In

A judge seemed bewildered Friday as she sentenced a Prince Edward Island man for selling drugs out of his home.

Marijuana

Alfred William Gallant admitted to police he had been selling marijuana out his house for years.

He said he did so to pay for his own usage - about seven or eight grams a day.

A report found his common-law spouse didn't view it as trafficking because it was only marijuana and he only sold to people he knew.

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VANCOUVER - Apparent laziness caused by the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana persists even when the same amount of pot's medicinal component is added, a new study suggests.

Lead author Mason Silveira, a PhD candidate in the University of British Columbia's psychology department, said one part of the research done on rats involved giving them THC, the intoxicating part of cannabis, and having them choose between an easy or hard task to earn sugary treats.

Silveira said that under normal circumstances, most rats preferred the more difficult task to get more rewards but they switched to the easier option when given THC.

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It's nearing harvest time for marijuana crops and the RCMP on P.E.I. is calling on Islanders to help them find the illegal cash crops. The national police force discourages members of the public from actually investigating potential marijuana crops themselves, as the crops are sometimes guarded or are protected with traps, but they want concerned individuals to be on the lookout. "Often people will notice unusual activity that can be an indicator that a grow operation is nearby and officers are happy to take your information and investigate," an RCMP release indicates.

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At the request of the Canadian Medical Association, I recently completed a survey on the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

Should marijuana be legalized for recreational use? It's hard to argue against the responsible use of a plant product which has been around for thousands of years and has been used as a social and personal lubricant since time immemorial.

History teaches us that mankind has always sought respite from the stresses of daily life through chemicals, and that much of the time we have turned to psychoactive plants for relief.

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Sizing up the legal use of marijuana

I recently completed a C.M.A. survey on the legalization of cannabis (marijuana) for recreational use. I would like to share my responses with you.

It's hard to argue against the responsible use of a plant product, which has been around for thousands of years and has been used as a social and personal lubricant since time immemorial. Mankind has always sought respite from the stresses of daily life through chemicals, and often we have turned to psychoactive plants. Relief has included meditation, exercise, religion, collegial organizations, psychotherapy, and illicit psychoactive drugs such as cocaine, heroin and LSD, licit drugs such as alcohol and tobacco, as well as the consumption of fine foods.

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Marijuana For Trauma wellness centre opens in Charlottetown

Veteran Jim Grant of Brackley credits a medical marijuana support service with giving him a fresh, energetic new lease on life.

The 78-year-old Grant failed to access medical marijuana until he turned to Marijuana For Trauma (MFT) in New Brunswick for assistance.

The company helped guide him through the hoops and hurdles to get on the federal medical marijuana program.

The positive impact was immediate and major when Grant started using the drug three months ago to help address the PTSD he links to "a number of tragic events'' during his lengthy career with the Canadian navy.

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Eureka! Last week I reported it was impossible to write this column.

I had asked readers to respond to how I believe 42,000 addicts on methadone should be treated. Then my computer developed terminal cancer and I thought all your responses had been lost. Fortunately, the Geek Squad resurrected them.

From a Times Colonist reader, "Your suggestion that sending addicts to northern Canada to chop wood caught my eye. I was impressed by your research. The addicts I have known have no interest in getting off methadone and improving themselves. I say, enough of this nonsense. Why not have them chop wood? We all do some form of work to eat."

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Afghanistan veteran Dennis MacKenzie opens up about how losing six friends overseas caused PTSD and how medical marijuana has helped him heal

His face was grief-stricken, streaming with tears, as he carried the coffin of one of six friends killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan.

Dennis MacKenzie's emotions gripped the country in April 2007 when he was photographed taking part in a ramp ceremony in Kandahar for his friends and fellow soldiers, killed by an improvised explosive device in their LAV-III armoured vehicle.

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"Up in Smoke" (Cheech and Chong, 1978) may have floated the hazy notion that smoking marijuana was harmless fun, but new research shows that a woman's chance for delivering a healthy baby is actually what goes up in smoke if she lets smoke into her brain and lungs while pregnant.

Researchers from the University of Arizona looked at 24 studies of pregnancy and marijuana smoking:

They discovered that pregnant women who smoke cannabis were more likely to be anemic and their babies more likely to end up in neonatal intensive care with low birth weight.

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Smoke 'em - and tax 'em - if you've got 'em

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the latest budget brought huge debt, a two per cent increase in the HST and shutdowns of everything from seniors' dental programs to more than half the province's public libraries.

In Prince Edward Island, the HST's up one per cent, while Nova Scotia has gone through public sector wages to eke out the barest slender slip of a balanced budget. New Brunswick? It also raised HST by two points to 15 per cent and is talking about public sector job cuts.

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