DENVER - Congress is showing an increased willingness to let VA doctors talk to veterans about medical marijuana in states where it's legal, although final approval is far from certain. The House approved a measure last week that would let Veterans Affairs Department doctors help their patients sign up for state medical marijuana programs, something the VA now prohibits. "I'm certainly open to it," Rep. Mike Coffman, a Republican and former Marine from pot-friendly Colorado, said Friday. A Senate committee approved a similar measure last month but the full Senate hasn't voted. [continues 248 words]
A Liberal Senate forum held earlier this year signified the Trudeau government taking its first tentative steps down the road to legalization. Yet, many questions remain unanswered as the government contemplates a homegrown solution. Can I smoke it now? The government ultimately is the only body with the power to put laws on moratorium, but Karla O'Regan, a St. Thomas University criminology professor, said some police forces might already be inclined to turn a blind eye to marijuana possession related offences. [continues 855 words]
Regarding Mayor R.T. Rybak's Opinion Exchange piece on July 23: Every time I read something about how marijuana causes crime ("Boycott murderers"), I nearly shout out loud (and sometimes I do), "Take the crime out of marijuana!" That is, legalize it. This would solve the problem of suburbanites giving money to north Minneapolis gangs. Or do you think that allowing adults to purchase cannabis legally in a controlled environment (same as alcohol) is worse than what we have in north Minneapolis? [continues 76 words]
Officer Might Strip Whole Newsroom If He Suspected A Reporter Of Dealing Drugs If police believed a Daily News reporter was dealing ecstasy or a date-rape drug out of his Burnside office, they wouldn't hesitate to strip-search his colleagues. At a Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing yesterday, Halifax Regional Police Sgt. Robin McNeil testified he would strip-search crime reporter Brendan Elliott or other reporters, if police had the same suspicions of him as they did of organizers of a Halifax rave last year. [continues 312 words]
Strip Search Extreme, Rave Workers Tell Civilian Police Board Tribunal Being subjected to a police pat-down before a Halifax rave last year wouldn't have bothered Aleashia Stanley or Aimee Kindervater. What alarmed them - and is now the focus of a Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing - is the fact Stanley, 19, and Kindervater, 24, were strip-searched. The pair told a civilian tribunal yesterday they were both working at a Maynard Street warehouse called The Underground on Jan. 29, 2000 when police stormed the building. [continues 326 words]
Judge Stayed Charges Conrad Would Have Faced In Court Today Cole Harbour rave "pioneer" Derek Conrad was scheduled for trial today, charged with possessing ecstasy for the purposes of trafficking. Instead, Conrad's family is mourning his death. Conrad, 28, died Monday in the QEII Health Sciences Centre after a wild weekend drug binge. He overdosed Sunday morning at his home. News of his death spread quickly through the metro rave community, with several people turning to a local Internet chat site (www.ravehalifax.com) to express their sorrow. [continues 311 words]
Several people charged in last Friday's pre-dawn drug raid of homes in Hammonds Plains are questioning the validity of the police searches. "This wasn't a police raid, it was a home invasion," declared one man facing a single count of marijuana possession resulting from the sting. Four men and one woman arrested in the take-down, as well as a community member upset with the "heavy-handed" Tantallon RCMP tactics during the raid, sat down with The Daily News on Wednesday night. [continues 367 words]
Morning Bust Nets Nine; All Released Dragged from bed by police before breakfast yesterday, nine suspects in an early morning Hammonds Plains drug bust were released from court before supper. Not one of the six men and three women arrested during the raid on nine homes in the Tantallon and Lower Sackville RCMP catchment areas was detained on their charges. Some were released on conditions; others simply walked away from the Spring Garden Road courthouse on a promise to return when ordered. [continues 307 words]
Halifax Regional Police won't be disciplining the officers involved in a controversial strip-search performed last February at a downtown rave. "We find none of the actions of these officers constitutes discreditable conduct or abuse of authority," Insp. Cliff Falkenham and Staff-Sgt. Frank Chambers concluded in their seven-page internal police report. Drug investigators raided The Underground, a Maitland Street warehouse, Jan. 29 on a tip there would be 200 vials of the date-rape drug GHB and a jar of ecstasy pills hidden above the ceiling tiles. [continues 309 words]
Woman Lodging Complaint Over Strip Search Aimee Kindervater plans on taking her Grade 12 law teacher's advice. "He came into the store the other day and said, `I have one thing to say: call a lawyer.'" Halifax West High School teacher David Williamson's comments came after the controversial strip-search Halifax Regional Police conducted on almost 50 people preparing for an all-night downtown dance party last month. Police raided the Underground, a dilapidated Maynard Street dance hall Jan. 29, on a tip there would be 200 vials of the date-rape drug GHB, and a jar of ecstasy pills, hidden above the ceiling tiles. [continues 278 words]
When police raided a Halifax rave last month, they expected to find 200 vials of the date-rape drug GHB hidden in the dance-hall ceiling. Instead, investigators discovered nothing in the ceiling, and after a thorough search of everyone inside the Maynard Street building, only two bags of marijuana and an assortment of unidentified pills were found. No charges have been laid. According to a search-warrant made public yesterday, Halifax Regional Police Const. Andrew Pattison was convinced a virtual illicit drugstore would be discovered in the downtown club's ceiling. [continues 292 words]
Proceeds-of-crime law helps Mounties get their house The Mounties are proud owners of a log home in the rural Annapolis Valley. Under federal proceeds-of-crime legislation, brothers Daniel and Todd Barnes of Aylesford Lake have been forced to hand over the keys to their 180-square-metre home, and 10 hectares of surrounding land. The pair pleaded guilty in Kentville provincial court last Friday to a number of drug-related charges. As a condition of their guilty pleas, the men admitted the property - assessed at $95,000 - was purchased with money obtained through their elaborate drug operation. [continues 258 words]
