You're about to legalize a drug that poses more serious risks to young people than it does to adults. You want to make sure young people know about these risks so that they don't see legalization as a green light to start or continue using the drug. (The drug will still be legally off limits for those under 18 at least, but this doesn't tend to mean a lot in practice.) What do you do? Creating successful anti-drug campaigns is tricky. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program has been used in U.S. schools since the eighties and has proved popular and pervasive. [continues 408 words]
You're about to legalize a drug that poses more serious risks to young people than it does to adults. You want to make sure young people know about these risks so that they don't see legalization as a green light to start or continue using the drug. (The drug will still be legally off limits for those under 18 at least, but this doesn't tend to mean a lot in practice.) What do you do? Launch an educational campaign, of course. That's why, in anticipation of Canada's legalization of marijuana in 2018, Health Canada has put out a new tender. They're looking for a contractor to create marketing events - geared mostly to teenagers and young adults - that will raise awareness of the health and safety risks of cannabis. Which is a good idea... if the department, and the firm they hire, do their homework first. [continues 659 words]
People who want the legalization of marijuana to succeed in Canada should welcome the Ontario Chamber of Commerce's recent suggestion to Premier Kathleen Wynne that private retailers be permitted to sell the drug. Wynne has mused about selling marijuana exclusively through Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) outlets, which currently hold a virtual monopoly on liquor sales in the province. Consigning pot to this limited, bureaucratic, union-mired distribution method would negate many of the free-market advantages that are supposed to accrue from legalization: for example, opportunities for consumers to buy the product in convenient, varied ways that best suit them. [continues 472 words]
It's all a little confusing. A decision by Vancouver city council to regulate and license marijuana dispensaries has been vehemently opposed by federal Health Minister Rona Ambrose. In the lead-up to the passage of the bylaw, Ambrose warned that the new regulation would increase marijuana use and addiction. Once it passed, she stated that she was "deeply disappointed" and that "storefronts selling marijuana are illegal and under this Conservative government will remain illegal." The confusion comes in because at the same time as the federal government was conjuring up visions of an explosion of pot consumption, Vancouverites' options for obtaining medicinal marijuana were being rather dramatically curtailed. The bylaw requires marijuana dispensaries to obtain a costly $30,000 license and to be spaced at least 300 metres away from schools, community centres, houses and other stores selling marijuana. [continues 637 words]
It creates dangerous incentives when the people charged with seizing private property (the police) stand to benefit from the value of whatever they acquire The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) recently issued new guidelines to prevent local and state police from using federal law to seize private property without a warrant or proof of a crime. But it's a little early to be celebrating the end of civil forfeiture abuse. Most U.S. states have their own civil forfeiture statutes, as do seven Canadian provinces, which means that in most of North America, police are still free to take people's property - their homes, their cars, their cash - without even charging them with a crime, let alone proving one beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. [continues 566 words]
Medical marijuana is legal in Canada. Well, sort of legal. At least some of the time. In certain ways. Health Canada helpfully clarifies all on its website by explaining that "dried marijuana is not an approved drug or medicine in Canada ... [pause for a beat] but courts have required reasonable access to a legal source of marijuana when authorized by a physician." So, make no mistake, the government still hates marijuana. It's not going to endorse the stuff, or admit that pot might do any kind of good in any circumstances. It's definitely not going to call it medicine. [continues 716 words]
This backward legal process is being used regularly - even when the province can't make a criminal charge stick In what is just the latest example of the havoc that civil forfeiture laws wreak on property rights, the Ontario government has gone after the house of an Oshawa couple even though all criminal charges against the pair were dropped. As reported by the Toronto Star, when police raided the home of Denis and Margaret Deneault in August 2006, they found illegal drugs, including hashish, cocaine and ecstasy. The Deneaults were charged, and the police bragged about their conquest in multiple press releases. But here's the crucial point: The Denaults were never found guilty of any drug (or other) crimes related to the police's storming of their house. In 2009, the government abandoned its prosecution of the couple for unknown reasons (this time with no crowing press releases). And that should have been the end of the matter. [continues 660 words]
It's Possible for Someone WHO Sells Marijuana to Do More Jail Time Than Someone WHO Produces Child Pornography My sense of justice is always most outraged by crimes that directly harm others, particularly when the motive is self-enrichment. With ex-London, Ont., mayor Joe Fontana's expenses forgery, we see both: Mr. Fontana left taxpayers on the hook for $1,700 that they didn't owe, and, according to the judge who sentenced him, "personal gain appears to be the only motive." Mr. Fontana is now facing four months of house arrest and 18 months of probation. [continues 523 words]
The Nudists And Weed Smokers Of Wreck Beach Are Hardly A Public-safety Threat If you've been deeply troubled by the notion that booze and weed are being sold illegally at a remote Vancouver-area nude beach, take heart: You are not alone. In fact, you're in esteemed company. The RCMP - Canada's royal gendarmerie - is so concerned about "public safety" at Wreck Beach that is has proposed setting up a tent there every day this summer. The goal, Sgt. Drew Grainger of the RCMP told The Province newspaper, is "to proactively enhance our presence on the beach." [continues 654 words]
Either our government has learned nothing from the failed war on drugs, or it lacks the courage to put what it has learned into practice Could the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police have gotten it any more backwards? In a statement praising the Canadian government's decision to make the stimulant MDPV illegal, a representative of the association, Staff Insp. Randy Franks, called the ban "an important step in stopping organized criminal groups from acquiring and profiting from this illegal substance." A couple problems: The substance, which is a key ingredient in the drug known as "bath salts," was obviously not illegal before the ban. So it's circular to credit the ban for stopping the acquisition of something illegal. [continues 796 words]
Toronto's Drug Policy: A Debate Let's agree on this: The "war on drugs" is lost, and we would all be better off if these damaging substances were legalized. Until that happens, however, government-sponsored safe injection sites, crack-pipe giveaways and other so-called "harm-reduction" efforts are a terrible way to approach the problem. The government's power to take away our liberty (i.e., throw us in prison) is an awesome one, and not to be taken lightly. It is cruel hypocrisy for government officials to exercise this power in regard to some drug users, while coddling the junkies who happen to live in Vancouver, Toronto and other cities that have adopted trendy harm-reduction strategies. When the government shows this kind of disdain for the law, how can it possibly expect the rest of society to take it seriously? [continues 281 words]
