It's all about harm reduction and improving community health outcomes No doubt some Hamiltonians are chuckling to hear city council is considering banning sugary drinks from city buildings to protect people's health. With good reason. The proposed ban by the public health department lands at the same time the city is moving ahead with opening its first safe injection site for drug addicts. It's more than a little ironic that the city may be cracking down on sugar while enabling the use of illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine. [continues 581 words]
Medical cannabis take-up hampered by lack of research and red tape I picked up a View magazine while I was waiting for the bus a few weeks back. There was an article on the 15 or so uses of cannabis, so after I caught up with CATCH (Citizens at City Hall), I turned to the article on cannabis looking for some useful information. By this time, I was on the bus, seated on a side seat, next to an elderly woman. I could feel she was reading over my shoulder, so I turned to her slightly. She asked me the name of the paper and we started a conversation about cannabis. [continues 633 words]
City's fatality rate is now nearly double Ontario average, fuelling more concern Opioid-related deaths in Hamilton have soared more than 80 per cent in one year. From January to October, 75 Hamilton residents died from an opioid overdose in 2017 compared to 41 during the same period the year before. "Opioids are continuing to have a devastating impact on individuals, families, and the community," Hamilton's medical officer of health Dr. Elizabeth Richardson said in a statement Friday. "The sustained trend of rising opioid related deaths, which are preventable, in Hamilton is very concerning." [continues 437 words]
Can we please stop with the "more" research on marijuana? The only research that is needed is to determine how much good it can do medically. Everyone knows why it was banned decades ago - so they could sell more pills. There is not one recorded death due to overdose, no one has ever gotten stoned and gone on a killing spree, no one has ever smoked pot and driven 150 km/h on the highway. Just recently we are finding out about CBD's helping people with Parkinsons, arthritis, and seizures. [continues 53 words]
The AIDS Network is putting itself forward to run Hamilton's first supervised injectionsite at its downtown Effort Square location. The AIDS service organization is preparing proposals to the provincial and federal governments for a permanent site where people can inject illegal drugs under the watchful eye of trained staff without fear of arrest. Meanwhile, it is also proposing a smaller temporary overdose prevention site as a stopgap that would allow supervised injection until the permanent location was approved and operating. [continues 417 words]
Twenty years ago this Sunday, when Ross Rebagliati was told he had tested positive for a banned substance, he didn't have to ask which one. It was THC, an active ingredient in marijuana, and it was going to cost him the first Olympic gold medal ever awarded in snowboarding. Three decades later, Rebagliati still has his gold medal, Canada is five months away from fully legalized weed sales, Rebagliati owns his own major medicinal cannabis supply company (the pun-ish Ross' Gold), and snowboarding is a lot more mainstream. [continues 923 words]
Come as city officials prepare to discuss future of storefronts Police are cracking down on illegal storefront pot shops across Hamilton even as dispensary advocates prepare for "roundtable" discussions with city officials about their future. Operators of five MMJ and Pacifico medical marijuana dispensaries - spread across the lower city and on the Mountain - told The Spectator they were raided by police late last week. Britney Guerra, a vocal dispensary advocate and former owner, said she has heard from four other raided shops - one as recently as Monday - but none of those operators were willing to speak to The Spectator. [continues 377 words]
The only thing clear about research into medical cannabis is that more research is needed. That was a conclusion expressed by many experts who gathered at the first cannabis conference hosted by the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Medical Cannabis Research at St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton West 5th Campus on the weekend. "This conference is really the initial offering we have to the scientific community," said McMaster University associate professor Jason Busse, an expert in chronic pain and a co-director of the cannabis centre that opened in October. [continues 459 words]
Dundas mom says 17-year-old is on 'lockdown' in home after knife-wielding outburst When his father roused his son from a drug-induced slumber, he flew into a rage. The 17-year-old ended up pulling a knife and locking his dad out in the freezing cold. Now, his parents take turns watching him - constantly. "We just kind of keep him down on what we call 'lockdown,'" says his mom, a school teacher who lives in Dundas. Her son is addicted to drugs and alcohol. He has tried to kill himself, been in and out of hospital, in homeless shelters and jail. [continues 875 words]
453 people were revived 'from the brink of death' in 2017, Hamilton city officials hear More than one-quarter of naloxone kits distributed through Hamilton Public Health last year were used to revive someone from an overdose. Of the 1,700 opioid antidote kits handed out in 2017, 453 were reportedly used to revive a person. "Four-hundred and fifty-three people revived from the brink of death. It's hard to imagine that's anything but a success," said Michael Parkinson, who works with the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council and the Municipal Drug Strategy Coordinators Network of Ontario. [continues 633 words]
Millions of criminals are Canadians buying pot from Canadians, writes Jeremy Kemeny Everyone smoking recreational marijuana right now is a criminal. That is according to Canadian law and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who - planning to legalize this summer - has encouraged authorities to enforce these rules. There are a lot of criminals. In 2016, an estimated 4.9 million Canadians between the ages of 15 and 64 years old spent money on pot, which translates into $5.7 billion according to a new Statistics Canada report. And 94 per cent of that, the agency said, was consumed illegally. Your child, sibling or parent might be guilty. You probably have a cousin that's guilty. Some of your friends are likely guilty. That's millions Canadians guilty of possession of cannabis. [continues 662 words]
Responses from survey questioned Ohsweken - If you ever thought the legal pot thing would go down nice and mellow anywhere, from Salt Spring Island to St. John's, or Six Nations in between, what were you smoking? Case in point. Sunday's gathering at Yogi's Barn, 2318 Chiefswood Road, Ohsweken, to discuss the results of a recent survey about cannabis use and regulation in the Six Nations community. The survey in question shows massive support (in the 80 to 90 per cent range, based on answers from 731 respondents) for the availability of marijuana in their territory and for the "sovereign right" of the Six Nations people to "determine their own path and choices regarding cannabis." [continues 587 words]
RE: Safe injection sites in Hamilton One needs only to stroll just north on John Street at King Street to see what the methadone clinic has done to our downtown core. Pretty much all the buildings on both sides of the clinic (east side of John) are closed and boarded up. As my time as a police officer walking the beat in the core, I broke up many a fight out front of the clinic, and arrested a number of drug dealers hanging around preying on the meth addicts. We don't want another repeat of this "communal disaster plan" in our core! Michael Csoke, Mount Hope [end]
RE: Legalizing cannabis I have witnessed the detrimental effects of smoking pot on a young teenager diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder. The pot interfered with his medication and he would become psychotic, often requiring hospitalization. He continued to smoke pot despite the warnings from his parents and doctors. He now boasts that smoking pot is a good thing because the government has legalized it and there is even medical marijuana. As pot is a "gateway drug," he now uses other drugs as well. This leads to his mental condition being out of control at times, but because he is an adult now who has "rights" and because of the limited beds available, he is sent home vulnerable and untreated. With legalizing pot, I predict a rise in young people experiencing psychotic behaviour and the hospitals unable to deal with this increase. But hey, smoking pot must be a "good thing" because it is legal. Trudy Leclerc, Hamilton [end]
Workers have been assaulted, but fear of raids stop some from calling police AFTER NEWS OF THE LATEST armed marijuana dispensary robbery, local cannabis advocate Britney Guerra appealed through a media release for any store owners who have been robbed to call police. The responses she got back shocked her. She knew there were robberies going unreported, but the problem was bigger than she suspected. Within 48 hours she had calls from four different Hamilton store owners who told her they had been robbed - perhaps by the same people - in the last month alone. [continues 705 words]
Number has tripled over the past year, according to city report A new report shows the number of marijuana dispensaries operating in the city has tripled in the past year despite increased bylaw enforcement efforts. According to the report released Friday, there are 46 marijuana dispensaries operating in Hamilton, compared to 15 in operation last January. While the federal government is expected to legalize marijuana this summer, marijuana dispensaries are illegal, according to the report - prepared by Ken Leendertse, Hamilton's director of licensing and bylaw services. [continues 328 words]
U.S. pot enforcement policy could give companies north of the border an advantage A move by the U.S. Attorney General to quash an Obama-era policy that allowed legalized pot to flourish south of the border dealt a blow to marijuana stocks Thursday, but observers and industry players say the crackdown is a boon for the Canadian cannabis industry. On Thursday, Jeff Sessions rescinded the 2013 Obama administration guidance that suggested the federal government would not intervene in U.S. states where the drug is legal, which has opened the door for several states to legalize pot for medical and recreational purposes. [continues 317 words]
Coun. Sam Merulla wants to head off new local taxpayer costs to cover increased bylaw and policing enforcement - and public health services - - from legalized pot well before legalization happens this summer. "Fifty per cent of what we tax for now has nothing to do with city council," he said, adding that much of it is a result of services once funded by the province being downloaded onto municipalities. Merulla has put councillors on notice that he's introducing a motion at their Jan. 24 meeting to get city staff to find out the city's costs of implementing marijuana legalization - and ask the province for a commitment to fully cover those costs. The province is getting a windfall in marijuana sales taxes after all, he says. [continues 168 words]
Owner of Green Health for Six waiting to hear from Ottawa, council, and initiated survey As far as Jeff Hawk is concerned, his marijuana dispensary is filling a void in Six Nations. Potentially deadly opiates are widely available, but safe, medicinal marijuana is not, says Hawk, owner of Green Health for Six. "There ain't really a large industry in pot anymore. That's what I'm worried about." Hawk says his dispensary on Highway 54 just outside Ohsweken has a solid customer base for weed, edibles and oils. [continues 484 words]
Q: Our 16-year-old son smokes dope daily. We see his grades slipping from last year. He keeps talking about it being legalized and therefore not harmful. How do we get him to understand that he still shouldn't be smoking? A: How one addresses the issue depends on how one understands the problem. Regular marijuana use in teens can occur if they become addicted to the substance or it may be masking an undiagnosed mental health problem such as depression or anxiety. Or your son may be otherwise well but enjoying the substance and simply not conforming to your expectations. [continues 234 words]
