Police want laws to change regarding the drug naloxone Special Investigations Unit spokesperson Monica Hudon said the organization is mandated to investigate all deaths and serious injuries involving the police, and that includes cases "where the extent of alleged involvement was simply the administration of a medication such as naloxone." "Whether or not the administration of the drug by a police officer was the only interaction with a person who subsequently died or suffered a serious injury is for the SIU to determine," she said. [continues 537 words]
In wiser times, cigarettes were considered poison: protect the kids, reduce health-care expense, ban that toxin almost everywhere. As a result, we all breathe easier. Now it's 2017 - set up shops and fill them with pretty coloured weed balls, like lollipops. Who cares how many more toxins are in those? Huge numbers of young people in their 20s are still in school and still dependent on their parents. Is the medical community thrilled to welcome a new mind- altering drug we can all enjoy? Is there enough paper to list all the side- effects? [continues 212 words]
There are concerns that once pot is legalized for recreational use, it'll be flying off the shelves at such a rate that those who justifiably need it for pain - medical users - won't be able to get their stash. Cannabis growers have been expanding their operations as fast as possible, and Health Canada is issuing more licences, but it still might not be enough to meet the coming demand. Some analysts expect a countrywide shortage once the cannabis market goes legit in July 2018. [continues 310 words]
Grow Up Expo features Jodie Emery as speaker at convention focussed on impending legalization of marijuana next July Jodie Emery laughs when reminded of her last visit to Niagara Falls seven years ago. It started with a trip to MP Rob Nicholson's office on St. Paul Avenue for a protest. It ended waiting for two members of her group to be released from the Niagara Regional Police station on Morrison Street after they were arrested. Emery and several pro-marijuana advocates were hoping to speak with Nicholson, Canada's justice minister at the time, about the extradition of her husband Marc, who was facing five years in a U.S. federal prison for selling mail-order pot seeds across the border. [continues 746 words]
Wainfleet planning staff will consult with the township's lawyer before a report comes back on a possible municipal licensing policy to deal with proposed medical marijuana growing facilities, council heard last week. Township planner Sarah Ivins said Wainfleet doesn't have a municipal licensing policy and staff had questions as to whether it could implement one to deal with a medical marijuana facility or that specific type of use. "We want to make sure we cover all of our bases before we propose options for council there's a lot to consider before a staff report," she said, adding one may be ready by the first week of October when council next meets. [continues 539 words]
Concern about dangers of discarded injection paraphernalia has prompted the tattoo artist James Takeo to launch an online petition which asks Welland city council to investigate installing sharps containers in public places such as city parks. Takeo said he posted the petition on social media during the second week of this month. He said as of Tuesday it had racked up 715 signatures. He is pleasantly surprised by the response. The petition says: "Too many times there have been incidences of needles being improperly disposed of in city garbage cans or in other public places in our community. This poses a safety risk for all members of the community, especially city workers and staff who often must take the responsibility of disposal of these sharps. [continues 919 words]
With fentanyl killing young people all across North America, the primary goal of the revised drug education in Alberta schools, and in the home, should be harm reduction. I am encouraged to see that school boards in Alberta are looking to update their education around drugs. But educators and parents need to urgently discuss more than marijuana. Fentanyl is being found in almost all street drugs, with the exception of marijuana. The primary goal of all drug education should be to keep students, and parents, and educators alive. Lesson No. 1 is that in Alberta people can access a free opiod-reversal naloxone kit, without giving their name, or health-care number, as mandated by Alberta Health Services. Lorna Thomas Edmonton [end]
I have to admit, I felt less than enthusiastic a few weeks ago when I heard the Canadian government was going to follow through on its promise to legalize cannabis. We knew this was an election promise the Liberals were destined to keep. And yet, I did not share the enthusiasm of the activists blowing smoke on camera as the dates for introducing the legislation and the July 2018 implementation were announced. I am pretty much a law and order kind of citizen. My exposure to cannabis has mainly been limited to the times when I encountered teens smoking in parks, behind high schools or occasionally in high school washrooms. My only addiction, at least what I am willing to admit publicly, is dark roast coffee. [continues 726 words]
If your objectives are to protect public health and safety, keep marijuana out of the hands of minors and cut illegal profits flowing to organized crime, then the law as it stands today has been an abject failure. From the very beginning, health and safety objectives have been in the forefront of our approach to cannabis. The new legislation we introduced last week reflects that - to do a better job of protecting our kids and fighting crime. We have benefited from the thorough, balanced and thoughtful advice of an expert task force which gathered the best available data, medical and legal input, the experiences of other jurisdictions around the world and the views of a vast array of Canadians. Our proposals are in line with their recommendations.The new law would create a strong framework for legalizing, strictly regulating and restricting the use of cannabis: [continues 320 words]
The parliamentary secretary to the minister of justice says the federal government will be looking to Niagara's agricultural sector for guidance when framing legislation to legalize marijuana. Scarborough West MP Bill Blair, the former Toronto police chief, said Thursday the knowledge of Niagara's farming industry will be invaluable for a government trying to determine how to regulate production of pot. "The interesting thing about coming to Niagara is that the region has a vibrant agricultural sector, including all the wineries," Blair said. "That experience is very useful." [continues 251 words]
Visiting British Columbia is like going to a foreign land without using your passport. Having spent most of my early life there, it's always fun to see how much has changed. When I was a kid, for example, there was a major moral panic over marijuana use and another about Vancouver being the heroin gateway to North America. The drug scene today is the opposite of a moral panic. It's more an everyday complacency. With pot soon to be legal across the country, B.C. provides a glimpse of our future. If you wander through B.C. today, as we did over the Christmas break, more or less normal Albertans might be forgiven for thinking that the whole province is stoned. [continues 484 words]
It is time to face reality. We must actively seek new solutions to address the fentanyl crisis and be more proactive on an emergent basis. The existing strategies to treat the disease called drug addiction are not working - more than 800 people will die in B.C. this year. We expect this number to continue to grow as more and varied compounds are introduced both domestically and from overseas. Think of the steps that were implemented immediately to prevent and treat SARS and the Zika virus. [continues 353 words]
Long ago, a higher power put marijuana plants on Earth for a purpose. Free of charge. Most governments and big industry want to thwart this giveaway. Some say marijuana use leads to stronger drugs - not necessarily so. Excessive drinking creates alcoholics. Drunk drivers injure, maim and kill people. Smoking leads to cancer, heart disease, respiratory ailments and often death. Pharmaceutical companies are drug pushers, also. Some are hooked on legal drugs - with side effects and OD, which can clause death: thousands of people die yearly from smoking, drinking alcohol and legal drugs. [continues 116 words]
Jeff McGuire doesn't envy the position his former police chief colleague Bill Blair is in. Blair, who served as the Toronto Police chief from 2005 until his retirement in 2015, is now the parliamentary secretary to the federal Liberal justice minister, and is handling the government's pot legalization file. "I got a lot of respect for Bill Blair," said McGuire, who is chief of the Niagara Regional Police. "It's a big job, it's a big move, it's not simple, and it will be interesting to see how quickly they're able to move forward on this." [continues 897 words]
The aftershock of an armed robbery at a medical marijuana farm in Port Colborne last month is still rippling through city council chambers. On Tuesday night, councillors discussed what could be done to ensure what happened at the Pinecrest Road property in September doesn't happen again. Ward 4 Coun. Ron Bodner brought a motion forth to urge the federal government to appoint inspectors for medical marijuana growing facilities that were grandfathered under the Medical Marihuana Access Regulations, such as the one on Pinecrest Road, and to crack down harder on properties violating those regulations. [continues 337 words]
Vance Badawey recalls arguing against a proposed medical marijuana greenhouse on Pinecrest Road back when he was Port Colborne's mayor. Now as Niagara Centre's MP, Badawey feels he's in a better position to deal with the issue that city council was then powerless to prevent. At the time, he said was concerned about the impact growing medical marijuana could have on the residential properties surrounding the greenhouse, and suggested it would be better suited to an industrial property. However, because the greenhouse land was already zoned agricultural, the city's hands were tied. The medical marijuana facility on the city's rural east side, formerly operated as Muileboom Greenhouse, was the scene of a violent robbery Sept. 19 in which two people were held at gunpoint. [continues 351 words]
Port Colborne will ask Health Canada to revoke licences to grow medical marijuana at a greenhouse on Pinecrest Road, in the wake of last week's armed robbery there when two people were held at gunpoint. Niagara Regional Police reported last week that while searching the property, officers found 3,400 plants growing in the greenhouse. That's about 3,000 plants - worth $1.5 million - more than the facility was permitted to produce through the three licences it was operating under. [continues 837 words]
Third time's a charm. After twice being sent back to staff, a motion regarding pot regulation and control has received approval from Niagara Region's public health and social services committee. The motion, to be sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, provides recommendations from Niagara Region should the Canadian government move forward with the legalization of marijuana. Pelham Mayor Dave Augustyn, who previously took issue with the document's wording, felt the latest version properly captured the Region's stance on the issue. [continues 156 words]
As the federal government works on rolling out its new marijuana laws, police officers are dealing with a hazy perception of current drug regulations by using a wide range of discretion, Niagara Regional Police Chief Jeff McGuire said. The ruling Liberals recently announced - on the pot-users unofficial holiday of 4/20 of all dates - they will introduce legislation to legalize marijuana in Canada in spring 2017. As it stands, it is legal to purchase and consume marijuana with a prescription, but it remains illegal and a criminal offense to do so without the proper paperwork. [continues 370 words]
Supreme Court Rules Two Tough-On-Crime Laws Unconstitutional OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has struck down two federal laws from the previous Conservative government's tough-on-crime agenda, ruling both to be unconstitutional. The decisions mean an end to rules for minimum sentences for specific drug crime convictions and limits on credit for pre-trial detention in certain conditions where bail is denied, giving trial judges more leeway in how they deal with offenders. In both decisions, the top court said Parliament has the right to set laws to maintain public safety, but the rules should not be so overly broad that they capture offenders whose incarceration would benefit neither themselves nor the public. [continues 610 words]
