I think that marijuana should not be made legal for recreational use because there is no good way to judge impairment caused by the drug. The Denver Post says on the matter: "The evolving science of testing for marijuana, and the lack of consensus over how to measure impairment creates challenges for lawmakers, police and prosecutors, not to mention users." It goes on to say how the number of fatal car crashes from marijuana is rising. Legalizing marijuana will make our communities more dangerous for everyone. Elijah Bouma St. George, Ont. [end]
Having done drug enforcement over two decades, anyone who believes Justin Trudeau when he says "legalization is the best way to keep this dangerous drug away from our kids" is living in fantasy land. There will still be a flourishing black market, as there is in Colorado and Washington states. By allowing anyone over 19 to grow their own pot supplies, children in such residences will have easy access, plus be exposed to dangerous contaminants emitted from the pot plants. In Colorado, young kids are flooding ERs after getting into their parents' pot supplies, especially edibles containing high concentrations of THC. We can expect the same here. Sunny Days are not ahead for Canadian kids! Larry Comeau Ottawa, Ont. [end]
With the plague of opiate overdoses, some doctors are prescribing pot to get people off opioids. There are many positive medical applications which help many people with everything from mental illness, terminal conditions, to severe physical disabilities. Fact is we have never had legal recreational pot, so how can you say it's going to destroy communities? I would like to point out how legalizing it has worked for Colorado and I think the red light district in Amsterdam would also beg to differ. [continues 73 words]
Mayor Dan Mathieson said it was to be expected that Stratford wasn't included in the first wave of municipalities chosen by the province to have government-run marijuana outlets by next year. But more information will be needed from upper levels of governments, he added, to determine the real impacts the rollout of the proposed legislation will have in the city and whether not being included in the first wave was a positive or negative development. The province announced last week the first cities where the province will open stand-alone LCBO-like stores that will be authorized to sell pot. [continues 509 words]
Perth District Health Unit highlights harm reduction for drug users Nearly a year after the Perth District Health Unit (PDHU) began offering free Naloxone kits to residents in Stratford and across Perth County, the harm reduction benefits for opioid users are quite clear. Naloxone, more commonly referred to by its brand name Narcan, can be administered as a nasal spray and is used to stop overdoses. At the PDHU's Festival Square office at 10 Downie St. in Stratford, staff have been giving away kits containing two doses of Narcan each to opioid users, their friends, relatives or caregivers who feel they or their loved ones are at risk of overdosing. [continues 791 words]
A year ago, the marijuana boss for the city of Denver laid out for Ontario municipalities just how deep an impact the legalization of the drug could have on their cities and towns. She should know. Recreational pot use was legalized in Colorado in 2014. Youth programs, zoning near schools and daycares, odour control, electricity usage, licensing, inspection, policing, public health - the long list of things to think about took Ashley Kilroy, the executive director of marijuana policy, about 45 minutes just to outline to the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) at its annual conference last August. [continues 1623 words]
With pot legalization about a year away, we can conclude that the Ontario government is working on a plan. Or at least a plan for a plan. And yes, the "Legalization of Cannabis Secretariat" exists and, apparently, is busily holding meetings. With whom, it won't say. But not the public. Not yet, anyhow. This doesn't inspire much confidence. Other provinces are puffing along nicely: New Brunswick is holding public hearings this summer; Quebec's convening a meeting of experts this month, with draft legislation in hand by the fall. Alberta's got an entire website chock-full of information. In other words, many jurisdictions are talking openly to their citizens about pot. [continues 323 words]
If you're old enough, you may remember a time when buying alcohol in Ontario involved walking into a bland, warehouse-like building, filling out a slip of paper and handing it to a clerk who disappeared behind locked doors to retrieve the booze you were looking for. No flashy signs, no staff recommendations for libation of the month. No critics' choice signs dotting the gleaming rows of bottles. Depending on what's in federal legislation expected Thursday, initial legal sales of marijuana may look something like those old days. [continues 343 words]
WINDSOR - Joshua Jacquot says his employer won't allow him, during working hours, to take the medication he needs to cope with depression and anxiety because that medication is medical marijuana. It's doctor-prescribed and legal, and according to the 23-year-old assembly line worker, "it seems to be the only thing that works." But he said when he informed Ventra Assembly several months ago he wanted to take it at work, he was told, "no," to use regular prescribed drugs instead. Jacquot said he's already tried them and they don't help. He went off on sick leave in November, he said, and continues to fight, because he can't use the medication he needs at work. [continues 265 words]
One of the most important and pressing challenges of 2017 will be Canada's response to opioid addiction. The sheer scale of overdoses from heroin and other opioids has already led British Columbia to declare a public health emergency, and the crisis is sweeping east. Fentanyl has washed over the West Coast like a deadly tsunami. The synthetic opioid can be up to 100 times more potent than morphine. It's not just hardened addicts who are dying. Overdose deaths have spiked among occasional drug users, with fentanyl detected in street drugs ranging from heroin to marijuana. [continues 521 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]
Police are testing new devices to identify drug-impaired drivers. Whether or not the impending legalization of recreational marijuana use will have an impact on drug-impaired driving remains to be seen. However, the timing of a pilot project to detect drug impairment could give police new resources as legislation legalizing recreational cannabis is introduced in Parliament this spring. The pilot project is being tested by OPP, including Perth County, Toronto, Vancouver, Gatineau, Halifax, and Yellowknife police forces, as well as North Battleford RCMP. [continues 499 words]
Pot and booze don't go together. According to a report released Tuesday from the federal task force on marijuana legalization, marijuana, once it's legalized, shouldn't be sold in the same place as alcohol. That, of course, runs contrary to what Premier Kathleen Wynne and her government want in Ontario; they've floated the idea of selling it at government-run LCBOs. But the report from the task force, headed up by Anne McLellan, a former Liberal cabinet minister and four-term MP for Edmonton Centre, says there are big problems with selling alcohol and pot together. For instance, it notes that some 80 per cent of Canadians drink, while only 11 per cent use marijuana. "There is a significant risk of cannabis and cannabis advertising being introduced to a large number of Canadians who might not otherwise use cannabis," the report declares. [continues 264 words]
Stratford has so far not seen opiate-related deaths or overdoses Police and first responders in Stratford have yet to see an increase in opiate-related overdoses, but "it's out there all around us." Over the past few days, there have been at least a half-dozen overdoses involving opiates in neighbouring regions, two of them fatal. On Monday, a 32-year-old Norwich woman was found dead and a 33-year-old man from the same community was charged with criminal negligence causing death and trafficking fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opiate often prescribed to people suffering severe or chronic pain. [continues 637 words]
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken of the legalization of marijuana and on this I agree. I have many people close to me that do partake (I do not) and the idea of prosecuting and incarcerating a placid harmless doobie smoker is abhorrent to me. With our courts and prisons overwhelmed, do we really need to waste our resources on this issue? I think not. Sadly, I see the flawed argument Trudeau puts forth. He avows it is not another governmental revenue stream and any tax dollars would go toward addiction research, treatment and recovery. I do not believe a single word the prime minister says. [continues 72 words]
Legalization of marijuana was a terrific attention-getter for Justin Trudeau in 2013, and a powerful emblem of change. It highlighted his youth and cool. It made Stephen Harper and his sternly anti-pot front bench look like fussy old bores; Sister Matilda, waggling a disapproving finger at the rambunctious kids at the back of the bus. But that was then. Scratch beneath the surface and the file is rife with complex problems - social, legal and political. Members of the snowboard-and-munchie set, consequently, may have to wait a bit before they can present themselves, bong in hand, at the liquor store, and order a gram of what we used to call the polio, which removes one's ability to stand up. [continues 533 words]
We're in this for the long haul. Well, at least for four years. While only 39.5% of the electorate voted for Liberal candidates, Justin Trudeau will be governing with a majority mandate. It's full steam ahead with his agenda. There will be plenty of time to critique his forthcoming missteps and gaffes. And make no mistake, they're coming. But let's take a look at several upcoming issues that Trudeau will hopefully get right in a way that most Canadians should applaud him for: [continues 525 words]
A few weeks ago, as an exercise in civic awareness, students at a high school participated in a mock federal election. They predicted a massive Liberal sweep. I wondered if the results had more to do with the prevailing sentiment for change, or Justin Trudeau's campaign promise to legalize marijuana. In homes with teens, dinner table conversations have no doubt entered new and interesting territory. "If the government makes it legal, can I buy it?" The short answer is: No. Trudeau hasn't fleshed out the details of how legalized marijuana will be grown and distributed, but he has made clear one of his guiding priorities is to keep it out of the hands of minors. On the campaign trail, Trudeau frequently compared our failed enforcement-based approach with Prohibition, noting kids today can get their hands on marijuana more easily than alcohol. [continues 276 words]
I heard Liberal leader Justin Trudeau promoting legalization of marijuana and asked, why aren't Canadian leaders speaking out? As a parent, I have serious concerns. Some may view me, a former police chief, as an ideologue, but I've considered both sides of this issue. It's said that for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong, and Trudeau's proposal meets this standard. Public opinion and criminologists have questioned the success of the war on drugs. As a former police officer, I admit it hasn't been a resounding success. The goal was to reduce the supply of drugs and its toll. Police have worked hard, but still, the problem continues. [continues 439 words]
The logic in this letter is flawed when it implies that Trudeau's policies are not inclusive in the areas of the pro-life movement, the legalization of marijuana use and on homosexuality. Firstly, by stating that all Liberal candidates in the forthcoming election must be pro-choice on the abortion issue, Trudeau is being open and welcoming to each and every Canadian to make their personal choices on this issue. His position is fully inclusive of those who choose not to have abortions, as is the pro-choice movement. [continues 201 words]
