ST. JOHN'S - Two months after winning the battle to sell its controversial hemp ale in Newfoundland, Storm Brewing Ltd. has a much less inclement problem to weather: keeping up with a flurry of demand. Hemp Ale is selling at about double the rate of Storm Brewing's other brands, Killick, Kyle and Baccalieu Light ales, new company president and chief ale officer Michael McBride said from the brewery in the St. John's suburb of Mount Pearl. A third batch has been brewed and is about to hit store shelves, many of which had been cleaned out by thirsty hemp-seekers. [continues 720 words]
Just Practice Quebec Agency Creates Mock-Up For Tv Program If and when Canada ever legalizes marijuana, Montreal ad agency Groupaction/JWT has an advertising campaign ready to drive sales of the mood-altering herb. The "Imagine..." campaign, created at the direction of provincial broadcaster Tele-Quebec, is the subject of two episodes of "les francs-tireurs" television program. The first episode, airing in Quebec tonight, depicts the client briefing and campaign formulation. The second program, airing Nov. 18, shows the presentation of the "$2 million" campaign to the client, which is designed for television, newspapers, and billboards. [continues 135 words]
First there was hemp, hope and hype -- now comes the harvest. Canada's first legal reaping of non-hallucinogenic cannabis in 60 years is just underway and will continue through September. However, it will be a couple of years before the agricultural community finds out whether hemp is the canola of its generation, reshaping the fundamentals of the industry. It's almost a chicken-and-egg propositions for true believers trying to develop hemp as a legitimate alternative crop to oilseeds and cereals, says Peter Brown, senior manager of agriculture for Bank of Montreal. [continues 1483 words]
Drug addicts are sick people, not criminals, and should be treated as such. That's why Canadians should back a proposal made recently by the health officers of British Columbia. These doctors asked federal and provincial governments to allow them to prescribe heroin, cocaine and other illegal drugs to addicts. They want B.C. to finance a trial program allowing them to do so. But such a trial also requires federal support because there would have to be amendments to the Controlled Substances Act. The proposal, which deserves to be endorsed by all Canadian taxpayers, would make drugs available "in a tightly controlled system of medical prescription within a comprehensive addiction management program.'' [continues 595 words]
Prison population growth has cranked up the risk of infectious disease transmission "A lot of addicts in any prison share needles," says Jean-Marc. "They don't care. They even ask to share with inmates they know are sick." We are sitting in a room off the chapel in Kingston Penitentiary, a federal maximum security institution for men. Most inmates are serving a minimum of 10 years at this hard-core facility. Despite its age, the 160-year-old Kingston pen is not as daunting as you might expect. Adjacent to Olympic Harbour Park on Lake Ontario, the impressive limestone buildings are in the last stages of a seven-year, $55-million retrofit that's included everything from doors and windows to air exchange systems. The central courtyard feels somewhat like a university quadrangle, but without the bustle of students and professors. [continues 2502 words]
As a regular reader of Dr. Gifford-Jones' columns on health and an admirer of his common-sensical approach, his column, Canada And The U.S. Are Not Healthy Nations (Jan. 10-12) is the first one with which I find myself in (partial) disagreement. The disagreement stems from his views on the illegal drug problem. He feels we have "soft laws" on drugs and yet remarks, "everyone bears the cost of stolen cars and home break-ins to purchase illegal drugs." [continues 181 words]
Ted Byfield's piece, "Curbing Risk-Taking Denies An Essential Human Instinct" (Jan. 10) misses the point by a country kilometre. It's not so much that The Nanny State he so rightfully chastises would be better advised not to prohibit its citizens from taking risks, it is the fact that the Nanny State has no right to do so. One example. To its shame, "caring and compassionate" Canada imprisons thousands of innocent citizens just because they happen to prefer drugs not ingested or approved by the majority of the population. "But we're only trying to keep them from harming themselves" pontificates the sanctimonious majority and its hypocritical political representatives. Free adults have a right to ingest any drug. Drug prohibition is an obscenity. Alan Randell [end]
The death toll from avalanches in the Alberta-British Columbia mountain systems this season has already reached an impressive total - nine in one weekend alone - prompting the predictable demand for laws to restrict and/or prohibit mountain skiing. The argument is familiar. These "crazy" people are not only risking their own lives but occasion great public expense as police and park wardens conduct rescue missions. Therefore we need laws, regulations and above all "education" against such foolhardiness. [continues 650 words]
I am truly sorry the U.S. comic actor Chris Farley is dead. What I think of his abilities or lack thereof is irrelevant. The fact is the former star of television's Saturday Night Live left this world after only 33 years. He was, it seems, a man with a good heart. Not, however, a heart good enough to sustain the consistent drug abuse, alcohol abuse and self-abuse to which the 296-pound young man submitted his body. [continues 642 words]
Vancouver AIDS epidemic is not simply a regional problem When I was a novice politician struggling with my duties as minister of consumer services in the days when consumerism was fashionable (it will be again, trust me) I learned a great Canadian truth. If something is not a problem in Toronto, it's not a problem elsewhere. If it becomes a problem in Toronto, it's suddenly a major national concern. In those days, the newest consumer scourge in Vancouver was the tax discounter. He would prey upon those who needed their income tax rebates badly, and, in exchange for a bit of cash up front, take an assignment of the rebate owed. It was a scabby little scam and at my first consumer ministers' meeting in Toronto in early 1976 I proposed steps be taken to curb this pernicious practice. I drew curious looks from my colleagues and the odd patronizing murmur but no action for no better reason than the practice was unknown in Ontario. [continues 605 words]
