And nation responds. Director says thousands called, faxed, mailed in complaints about new medical marijuana law Sensible BC led the charge for thousands of Canadians across the country to challenge the new Marihuana Medical Access Program laws which came into effect Tuesday, April 1. Dana Larsen, director of Sensible BC, said thousands of people across the nation protested the new regulations - which he said hurts patients who require marijuana for medical reasons - by sending in calls, faxes and letters to both Health Canada and the office of Minister of Health Rona Ambrose. [continues 261 words]
With new federal regulations cracking down on exactly who can grow medical marijuana taking place April 1, the Vancouver Police Department says it won't change how they enforce the law. "The new laws that are coming into play April 1 have nothing to do with the sale of medical marijuana," said Cst. Brian Montague. "It has to do with the growing of medical marijuana. So many of the current growers will no longer be allowed to do that. That's where the law is changing." [continues 85 words]
City Puts Medical Marijuana Facility On Notice The City of Coquitlam is trying to shut down a grow-op in Maillardville whose four tenants were licensed by Health Canada to grow medical marijuana for personal use, but which never had a business licence from the city allowing it to operate. The tenants are represented by high-profile lawyer John Conroy, who has provided legal services to "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery, as well as the Insite supervised injection site in Vancouver, VANDU (the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users) and the BC Compassion Club. [continues 1030 words]
Cpl. Bryson Hill is making good on the commitment he made when he first arrived here more than two years ago to crack down on drug-related crimes in the area. As reported in our Jan. 5 issue, Nakusp RCMP were recently involved in two more drug busts both in Nakusp and the Slocan area. Regionally, in 2010, the West Kootenay RCMP brought down 96 marijuana grow-operations. This is an increase from the 88 sites that were taken down in 2009. [continues 497 words]
Thanks to Jonathan Hoffman for this piece (Guest Commentary, Oct. 17). There are several rights incorporated in the Constitution that "trump" the drug war, but the ongoing assault on an individual's freedom seems to numb folks out to the point of giving up. By some estimates (from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws and the Drug Enforcement Administration), the drug market is now around $100 billion per annum. Half of that amount could be used for the salvation of the social system, and the grower/distributor would stay fat, and the consumer would be happy. Sam Smith [end]
The war on drugs was the first major test by the country's elite to see if Americans would willingly surrender their constitutional rights. It turned out that they would and so for the past twenty years invasions of civil liberties increased, America threw more and more of its young people into prison, while exploding drug war budgets did nothing to stem the growth of the drug industry. Further, the drug war was a useful testing ground for repressive measures instituted following September 11. [continues 332 words]
The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz joins those trying to make a campaign issue out of George Bush Jr.'s past cocaine use while maintaining the media code of silence about W.J. Clinton's much deeper involvement in the coke culture. Kurtz' spin continues the fiction that the only drug questions about Clinton concerned his use of marijuana while a student. Interestingly, Kurtz also writes: "Questions about the personal lives of candidates have become far more common in the hyper-competitive media climate of the '90s. But they are often triggered by specific allegations, such as when Gennifer Flowers charged in 1992 that she had had a long-running affair with candidate Bill Clinton." Kurtz is apparently unaware of Flowers' more recent allegation that Clinton offered her cocaine. [continues 130 words]
