43.5 per cent of study participants who used marijuana as a substitute for alcohol decreased the frequency of their drinking. Authorized medical marijuana patients who began using cannabis to help reduce their drinking report experiencing a reduction or even discontinuation of alcohol use, notes new research out of the University of Victoria. The finding reflects feedback from 2,102 patients registered with Tilray, a medical cannabis research and production company in Canada. The input was received as part of the Canadian Cannabis Patient Survey 2019, which gathered details on patient demographics, patterns of weed use and self-reported use of prescription drugs, alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs before and after starting medical cannabis. [continues 612 words]
Re: "Legalizing pot is proving to be a public-health disaster," column, Aug. 11. In his opinion piece on cannabis legalization, Lawrie McFarlane cites a short-term increase in the numbers of adolescents visiting emergency rooms for cannabis in Colorado - a jurisdiction with a commercialized approach to cannabis legalization - as evidence that Canada's much more restrictive public health-oriented approach to legalization has failed. However, as scientists who have carefully considered how to best measure the public-health impacts of cannabis legalization, we would suggest a thorough and ongoing analysis of Canadian data is needed to understand the effects of the new regulatory landscape. Although cannabis-related hospital visits should be a priority, we also need to ask important questions about underlying causes: if we see an increase, how much is due to increasing use among youth, and how much could be related to shifting trends in products/modes of administration (e.g., a shift towards high-THC concentrates, increased edible consumption)? [continues 114 words]
The United Nations Human Rights Council voted to launch an investigation into the alleged killings of tens of thousands of Filipinos by police in a yearslong drug war-a rare international rebuke of Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who started the campaign against narcotics. The vote passed 18 to 14 on Thursday at a meeting of the council in Geneva. The Philippines and China, both among the council's 47 members, voted against it. The remaining 15 members abstained. The resolution calls on the Philippines to carry out impartial investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings and to cooperate with U.N. representatives assigned to prepare a report on the human-rights situation in the Philippines. The report would need to be presented to the council for action in June 2020. [continues 458 words]
TORONTO - Adam Ash, 37, wasn't the least bit shy in explaining why he was at the Hunny Pot Cannabis Co., a four-story boutique on Queen Street West in the middle of the city's downtown district. "Marijuana," the Toronto resident said midday on a recent Monday, a little bewildered as to why someone would even bother asking. Glass containers of marijuana flower were laid out on tables throughout the shop, amid glass cases of rolling papers, pipes, bongs, grinders and vaporizers. Employees known as "bud tenders" worked the floors, ready to provide advice and recommendations for picking just the right strain. [continues 803 words]
WASHINGTON - Tyson Timbs would like his Land Rover back. The State of Indiana took it, using a law that lets it seize vehicles used to transport illegal drugs. Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the Constitution has anything to say about such civil forfeiture laws, which allow states and localities to take and keep private property used to commit crimes. Mr. Timbs bought the Land Rover after his father died. The life insurance money amounted to around $73,000, and he spent $42,000 of it on the vehicle. He blew most of the rest on drugs. [continues 848 words]
A marijuana user poses a joint over some ground marijuana Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 in Tempe, Ariz. Arizona voters were literally split evenly on the issue of allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, leaving the proposition far too close to call. A marijuana user poses a joint over some ground marijuana Thursday, Nov. 4, 2010 in Tempe, Ariz. Arizona voters were literally split evenly on the issue of allowing marijuana use for medical purposes, leaving the proposition far too close to call. (Matt York / AP) [continues 541 words]
Edmonton police will need about $1.4 million in ongoing and one-time funding to prepare for marijuana legalization this summer, a report to the police commission states. Cannabis is set to become legal in Canada this summer and with it comes higher policing costs, the Edmonton Police Commission heard Thursday. Police officials outlined a laundry list of new technology and training needed to enforce legal weed laws. Last month, the city approved $1.4 million in one-time and ongoing funding to help the police service deal with the impact of legal weed. [continues 538 words]
SAN DIEGO - Support for drugs like Suboxone, Vivitrol and methadone was one of the rallying cries at the annual American Society for Addiction Medicine conference this week in California. Broadly known as medication-assisted treatments, the drugs are sometimes-controversial tools for battling the growing opioid epidemic. Though they work in different ways, all three can be taken long-term to reduce the chance of relapse into drug use. "It's not a matter of ideology," said ASAM president Dr. Kelly Clark. "It's a matter of the facts show a person's risk of dying is higher when they don't take medication." [continues 546 words]
We have been here before -- a raging epidemic of addiction that destroys lives, families and communities. Who was on the front line in the 1990s, when the drug was crack and the addicts were mostly black? Drug czar William Bennett. His weapons were prosecution and prison. Today, when the drugs are opioids and the addicts are mostly white? U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, a doctor, is out there, telling the country, "We need to see addiction as a chronic disease and not a moral failing." [continues 822 words]
Studies show controlled drug use can reduce consumption of street drugs As the opioid crisis rages on across North America, a number of recent studies are pointing to cannabis and prescription heroin as viable options in curbing the consumption of lethal street opiates, reducing long-term medical and policing costs and extending the lives of users. An analysis of opioid prescriptions in the U.S.published on Monday by the American Medical Association showed a significant decrease in opioid prescriptions in states that have adopted some sort of cannabis legislation. Using data from 2010 to 2015, the analysis counted 3.7 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed in states that allow weed dispensaries, while states that allow only home cultivation saw a decrease of 1.8 million daily prescribed doses. [continues 715 words]
Police are "picking and choosing " when it comes to marijuana enforcement, says a Whyte Avenue medical cannabis dispensary owner charged after a bust last month. The Edmonton Drug and Gang Enforcement Section (EDGE) executed search warrants Feb. 2 at two commercial addresses and a residence, turning up cannabis products with a combined street value estimated by police at $150,000. Paul Olson, owner of Whyte Cross dispensary, one of the businesses raided Feb. 2, said it was "a little bit of a surprise" when police entered his store and seized his products. [continues 417 words]
Legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use throughout the state is being revised to gain more bipartisan support in an effort to secure a veto-proof majority. State Rep. Kelly Cassidy and state Sen. Heather Steans introduced the bills last year, but the Chicago Democrats are rewriting some aspects to make the legislation more attractive to Republican counterparts. Cassidy and Skillicorn met Friday with the Daily Herald editorial board to discuss the legislation. Cassidy said having Republican support for the legislation would help get the law implemented this year since Gov. Bruce Rauner has signaled he would veto such a bill. Democrats have a veto-proof majority in the Senate, but would need at least five Republicans in the House to override a gubernatorial veto even if every Democrat supported the bill. [continues 245 words]
East Dundee Republican state Rep. Allen Skillicorn, left, has co-sponsored a bill introduced by Chicago Democratic state Rep. Kelly Cassidy to legalize recreational use of marijuana in the state. Legislation to legalize recreational marijuana use throughout the state is being revised to gain more bipartisan support in an effort to secure a veto-proof majority. State Rep. Kelly Cassidy and state Sen. Heather Steans introduced the bills last year, but the Chicago Democrats are rewriting some aspects to make the legislation more attractive to Republican counterparts. [continues 368 words]
For all the hand-wringing that we were rushing into cannabis legalization, and that there wasn't enough time to get it right, it turns out that it wasn't that hard to figure out, after all. Proponents of legalization have long argued that it makes far more sense to regulate cannabis similar to how we regulate alcohol. All along, then, the model for cannabis retail was staring us right in the face, and the Alberta government deserves credit for not missing the glaringly obvious. [continues 584 words]
Drunk driving laws have not stopped impaired drivers and pot will be no different Last Sunday, I was driving on John Laurie Blvd. when I caught up to a motorist in the passing lane who was doing 40 km/h in a 70 km/h zone. As I pulled out to pass him on the right, I could smell the stench of marijuana coming from his car. Wait until marijuana is legal in Canada and then more of these bozos will be on the road. In Colorado, where marijuana has been legal for almost four years, a recent poll by the Colorado Department of Transportation showed that 55 per cent of people there think it's perfectly all right to drive while stoned. As Time magazine reported, the poll also found that of the people surveyed who had used pot in the past 30 days, half thought it was fine to drive while high. Why should Alberta's potheads think any differently when legalization arrives here? Some of them, like the guy on John Laurie, aren't even waiting till then. [continues 499 words]
What legal recreational cannabis could look like in the Yukon come this summer has become a little less hazy. The territorial government presented a summary of its proposed legislation for the Cannabis Control and Regulation Act at a news conference Thursday afternoon. "The legislation is intended to provide for legal, controlled access to cannabis that displaces illegal and criminal activity and to prioritize public health and harm reduction," said Community Services Minister John Streicker, who will be responsible for the act once it is passed. [continues 1142 words]
To the editor: Re: Legalized marijuana will be a gateway drug, Letters, Dec. 28. I read with interest the opinion that marijuana will lead to becoming a junkie. From the age of 25 to around the age of 55, I smoked pot every day. I never encountered the day the marijuana failed to get me high. Some strains were more effective than others, but with the hundreds of fellow smokers I met over this time, only a few would go on cocaine benders but never made it a habit. There were doctors, lawyers, mechanics, school teachers and just about every walk of life who enjoyed a puff every day. In my life I have seen many more lives ravaged by booze than pot. [continues 72 words]
Legalizing marijuana will tie up police resources and risks clogging the court system, Edmonton police Chief Rod Knecht says in a blunt assessment of Canada's plan to legalize the drug by next summer. "I don't think we're going to be ready," Knecht said during a yearend interview at Edmonton Police Service headquarters. "There's a lot of work that's got to be done in the next few months." Legalization is one of the biggest issues facing police services across the country next year. Police chiefs including Knecht have warned that the timelines are too tight and there are too many outstanding issues, including ambiguity around roadside tests for marijuanaintoxication. [continues 359 words]
Higher-potency opioids lead to concerns about how to keep inmates and staff safe Alberta correctional facilities have recorded more than 120 overdoses in the past two years, and dozens more in federal prisons in the province, new statistics show. Postmedia obtained the data after a string of overdoses at the Edmonton Remand Centre. Since Nov. 29, at least three inmates at the remand centre have been found unresponsive in their cells after apparent overdoses, one of whom died. Despite efforts to keep contraband out of correctional institutions - including the use of ion scanners, body scanners and detector dogs - the statistics show deadly opioids such as fentanyl are still getting in. [continues 600 words]
Alberta correctional facilities have recorded more than 120 overdoses in the past two years, and dozens more in federal prisons in the province, new statistics show. Postmedia obtained the data after a string of overdoses at the Edmonton Remand Centre. Since Nov. 29, at least three inmates at the remand centre have been found unresponsive in their cells after apparent overdoses, one of whom died. Despite efforts to keep contraband out of correctional institutions - including use of ion scanners, body scanners and detector dogs - the statistics show deadly opioids such as fentanyl are still getting in. [continues 465 words]
