How a renowned Canadian feminist popularized our racist war on drugs Detective Joe Ricci and his partner, Alex Sinclair, were out on a routine bust in Vancouver's Chinatown. It was 1916, and Ricci and Sinclair were front-line officers in the war on opium. The drug had been criminalized in Canada eight years earlier through the introduction of the Western world's earliest drug prohibition law, and the Vancouver police department had been chasing down traffickers ever since. Ricci was a familiar sight in the neighbourhood. He had made such a big arrest in 1913 that for days after, the Vancouver Daily World reported, "not a light [was] to be seen and the ringing noise of the chuck-a-luck dice [had] stopped." But the gamblers and the opium smokers were soon back, and Ricci was out patrolling the streets again. [continues 4172 words]
What Legal Pot in the US Means for BC Drug Gangs IT'S OFFICIAL: British Columbia, once North America's pre-eminent destination for weed, now runs a distant third. This spring, the government of Washington state (hot on Colorado's heels) achieved the impossible, becoming in essence a purveyor of recreational marijuana. Just over a year after regulation was voted in, the policy apparatus is finally in place for buyers of age to choose from a variety of retailers, strains, and products, with restrictions limited to public consumption and driving under the influence. While some British Columbians may feel the sting of being replaced, they can take consolation in knowing that Washington's legalization of cannabis was partly motivated by a homegrown issue in BC: its legion of drug gangs. [continues 838 words]
With her husband Marc in jail, Jodie Emery, a Green Party candidate in the next federal election, will inherit his cannabis empire During the months while he awaited news of his extradition to the United States, parades of well-wishers regularly marched through Marc Emery's Cannabis Culture Headquarters in Vancouver. They wound their way to the modest office at the rear of the Hastings Street store, in search of the infamous crusader for the legalization of marijuana. Marc greeted them all, and offered most a trophy: a photo of themselves doing a bong hit with the Prince of Pot. He would produce an oosik-sized instrument, pack it with potent BC bud, and orchestrate the snapshot with a practised patter: inhale, smile, shoot! [continues 985 words]
Why Canada's Drug Policy Won't Check Addiction "Canada's anti-drug strategy a failure, study suggests," read the headline of a brief cbc story that circulated through a handful of news outlets before dying out early this year. The British Columbia Centre for Excellence in hiv/aids had just published a paper revealing that almost three-quarters of the $368 million allocated to Canada's Drug Strategy in 2004 2005 was spent on enforcement initiatives aimed at staunching the supply of drugs. The authors pointed out that despite this war on drugs, the rate of consumption was higher than ever: in 2002, 45 percent of Canadians reported having used illicit drugs in their lives, up from 28.5 percent in 1994. [continues 1848 words]
Long before touching down in San Francisco, LSD was primed to become a psychiatric wonder drug in Saskatoon All summers have their own record album, or at least they used to, and in 1967 the record that changed everything was simply called The Doors. I first heard it on a weekend in July when, with some friends, I drove to the Lake of the Woods district east of Winnipeg, climbed into a cramped tin boat with about ten people, blundered past nameless islands in the dark, and somehow found the cottage that someone's parents had entrusted to their son for the weekend. ("Just use your judgment, dear.") [continues 4278 words]
How A Mind-Bending Plant-based Drug Made Its Way From The Amazon Jungle To The Us Supreme Court Every tree, every plant, has a spirit. People may say that a plant has no mind. I tell them that a plant is alive and conscious. A plant may not talk, but there is a spirit in it that is conscious, that sees everything, which is the soul of the plant, its essence, what makes it alive. - Pablo Amaringo, Peruvian ayahuasquero In 1984, a young Ph.D. student at Stanford University named Jeremy Narby travelled to the Peruvian Amazon to conduct field research for his thesis in anthropology. Raised in Canada and Switzerland, Narby lived for two years with Peru's Ashaninca tribes, and had read accounts of the remarkable healing abilities of their shamans. [continues 4989 words]
Will a New Marijuana Mist Become the Aspirin of the Twenty-First Century? Philippe Lucas is apologizing for the quality of his cannabis. He is director of the Vancouver Island Compassion Society, which dispenses medicinal marijuana from behind an old storefront in Victoria. "This used to be a school of Chinese medicine," he says. "Can you feel the healing vibe?" Not at first. Apart from a comfy, well-worn couch in the waiting area, and a batik with yin-yang dolphins that you brush aside to enter the dispensing office, the place feels like a regular medical clinic. It reflects Lucas's personality: lean, clean-cut, and intense - there's nothing of the spacey stoner about him. If there's a "healing vibe," it emanates from the staff: the receptionist dressed in a fuzzy old sweater welcomes clients with "Hello, beautiful!" and "Can you use a hug?" Then she hugs. [continues 4609 words]
