The federal with a handful of minor revisions, passed its third and final reading in the House of Commons November 27 and has moved on to the Senate for further review and discussion. A total of 200 Members of Parliament voted in favour of the legislation - Bill C-45 - with 82 voting against it. Following the final vote, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted "we're one step closer to legalizing & regulating marijuana. #BillC45 means less money for organized crime and harder access for our kids." [continues 383 words]
A 22-year-old Sudbury man will learn Dec. 6 how long he is going to jail, if at all, for selling a drug that contributed to another man's death. "Given the uniqueness of the case, it isn't possible for me to do this (give a sentencing decision) today," Ontario Court Justice Randall Lalande said about 5:15 p.m. Wednesday after a multi-hour sentencing hearing for David Mealey. Mealey pleaded guilty back on July 11 to a charge of trafficking MDA, a derivative of the Ecstasy drug. A pre-sentence report was ordered. [continues 1123 words]
A Chelmsford man who was found with more than two dozen marijuana plants in his basement in an attempt to grow his own pain medication has been given a six-month conditional sentence. "It's not 10 or five plants, but 27, leading police to believe more than pain relief was the objective here," noted federal prosecutor Serge Treherne on Wednesday in the Ontario Court of Justice. He was referring to the discovery of the plants in Steven Silesky's home following a tip to police. [continues 324 words]
Sudbury Judges Tosses Out Evidence Improperly Obtained in Grow Op Case A Sudbury judge has tossed out evidence against a man accused of running a marijuana grow operation because Greater Sudbury Police officers failed to properly obtain a search warrant. "There were no extingent circumstances," Justice Richard Humphrey said in his 19-page ruling, released Tuesday. "Their actions were at worst wilful and at best cavalier. There was no issue of ignorance of the law as evidenced by the fact that they did eventually proceed to obtain the warrant. [continues 843 words]
Re "Examining the crisis at the border," Q&A, June 22 If it's correct that "drug cartels and gangs are at the root of the increased violence" in Central America, then buyers of illegal drugs are partly to blame for the current crisis at our border. Those who feel entitled to get high using illicit drugs should understand that their actions are jeopardizing the lives and well-being of people in other countries and at our border, and are fueling gang violence in the U.S. [continues 104 words]
For the Atlanta Harm Reduction Coalition, the state's only syringe exchange program, funding is harder to come by than a needle in a haystack Additional reporting by Thomas Wheatley and Jim Burress Editor's note: Some of the last names of the subjects in this story have been withheld. On an unforgiving block in the English Avenue neighborhood known as the Bluff, just spitting distance from the future site of the Atlanta Falcons' projected $1.2 billion stadium, heroin has turned the world on its axis. Young dealers on one side of the street hug the corner like wayward old souls, while aged addicts on the opposite side seem stuck in a prolonged adolescence. [continues 2614 words]
It turns out Jamy McKenzie is not a wanted man anymore. But he was for a brief period late Wednesday and into Thursday morning. While a bench warrant was issued Wednesday for McKenzie, who was scheduled to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice to set a return date for his simple possession of marijuana charge laid in early August, it was rescinded Thursday through the work of his lawyer, John Recoskie. McKenzie did not appear Wednesday due to medical reasons. His next court appearance is this Wednesday, again in the Ontario Court of Justice. [continues 326 words]
Jamy McKenzie isn't happy with the decision by the province's Special Investigations Unit to stop its investigation into his complaint that he was roughed up by Greater Sudbury Police officers. McKenzie said he was injured after he lit up a joint of marijuana outside the Sudbury Courthouse last month. "I'm waiting for information from my liver (transplant) team," McKenzie, 27, said in an interview outside the courthouse Wednesday, just before making his first court appearance on a charge of simple possession of marijuana. [continues 244 words]
Without resorting to hyperbole or what the other side calls "reefer madness," we believe two factors have come together at this time to create what we think is the perfect storm, to enable the worst possible scenario for us and our future in Fort Collins: commercial marijuana dealerships and those who've made a mockery of the medical marijuana card. The 20 commercial pot shops in Fort Collins and the geometric proliferation of those obtaining cards who have no legitimate need for them has led to a massive increase in the numbers of those using marijuana without fear of the legal, physical or psychological consequences. These bode ill for our future together. [continues 456 words]
It's been a long time since Nancy Reagan first spearheaded the first battle in the War on Drugs. We've learned a lot of things since then. Like Paris Hilton being a celebrity for, well, being a celebrity -- marijuana is bad, because it JUST IS, OKAY? And until America (and especially Lawrence -- yeah, that's right, I'm looking at you, Bloodshot Eyes) realizes this, puts down their hilariously named bongs and pipes, and picks up a brewsky instead, I will not stop. [continues 472 words]
Jules Dion is going to screen potential tenants for his eight-unit apartment building on Lorne Street a lot more carefully now. That's because Dion ended up with tenants in four units in recent months whom he believes were drug users, a situ-at ion that arose, he claims, because he didn't check out applicants' rent histories and backgrounds more thoroughly. "Landlords, be careful who you are renting to," said Dion, who is now down to one problem tenant, whom he is in the process of evicting. [continues 500 words]
Treatment, not incarceration, should be the first option for veterans who commit nonviolent drug-related offenses, a group advocating alternatives to the nation's "war on drugs" said Wednesday in a new report. The Drug Policy Alliance report also called on government agencies to adopt overdose prevention programs and policies for vets who misuse substances or take prescription medicines, and urged "significantly expanded" access to medication-assisted therapies, such as methadone and buprenorphine, for the treatment of dependence on opioid drugs used to treat pain and mood disorders. [continues 566 words]
YouTube videos show young people laughing uncontrollably, slurring their words or hallucinating -- all after smoking an herb that's completely legal in Maryland. But if state Sen. Richard Colburn has his way, Salvia divinorum -- also known as Sally D or Magic Mint, a herb widely available in smoke shops and on the Internet -- will be in the same category as heroin and LSD. "It's pretty disturbing," Colburn, an Eastern Shore Republican, said of the hundreds of videos showing the affects of the herb. [continues 392 words]
A decade ago, voters in California approved a proposal to legalize marijuana smoking for so-called medical purposes. Today, even the proposal's most vocal supporters admit the California law has resulted in chaos, pot dealers in storefronts and millions of dollars being dumped into the criminal black market. Proposal 1 on the Nov. 4 ballot in Michigan is just like the California law. While its stated intent, to help people in serious pain, is well meaning, Proposal 1's vague language, careless loopholes and dangerous consequences place Michigan communities and kids at risk. Michigan voters should reject it. [continues 454 words]
WEST SPRINGFIELD - Law enforcement officials from Western Massachusetts gathered Wednesday to voice their opposition to Question 2 on the November ballot, a measure that would decriminalize possession of an ounce or less or marijuana. "Ballot Question 2 is a green light to drug dealers to target young children, especially high school students, to buy and use drugs," Hampden County District Attorney William M. Bennett said during a press conference held in front of West Springfield High School. Others who spoke out in opposition to the ballot question were police Chiefs Anthony R. Scott, of Holyoke, Bruce W. McMahon, of Easthampton, and David F. Guilbault, of Greenfield; Hampden County Sheriff Michael J. Ashe Jr.; Berkshire County District Attorney David F. Capeless; and Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel. [continues 276 words]
SOME of the "best and brightest" indigenous adults are being lured into trafficking or dealing drugs because of "extreme profits", a report has found. Police intelligence suggests there has been a dramatic increase in the use of both marijuana and amphetamines in many remote areas. The Department of Communities, in a submission to the CMC inquiry into indigenous policing, said networks originally established for "sly grogging" had extended to the sale of illicit drugs. "A common complaint was that the extreme profits to be made from marijuana - four or five times the suburban retail price - attract some of the best and brightest indigenous adults into trafficking or dealing," the submission said. [continues 208 words]
The Defense Department's personnel chief says that a "significant fraction" of members of Congress have probably smoked marijuana and, if they were somehow age-eligible, would need a waiver to join the U.S. military today. David S.C. Chu made the observation in describing the process by which so-called "personal conduct waivers" are granted to potential recruits who admit marijuana use. One of the questions recruiters ask, he told defense reporters during a Pentagon briefing on armed forces recruiting, is whether a recruit has ever used marijuana. He said that in the Marine Corps, admission of one use requires a waiver. [continues 296 words]
HEALTH / GaMMa Partners Launch New Programs Tackling the problem of crystal methamphetamine use among gay men in Vancouver has taken a step forward with the recent introduction of several programs to help users, ex-users and those close to them cope with the effects of the drug on their lives. The programs, including peer discussion groups, an intensive treatment program and a support group for Aboriginal two-spirit people, were among the topics of discussion at a Mar 30 community forum for the Gay Men's Methamphetamine (GaMMa) working group held at the False Creek Community Centre. [continues 693 words]
To the Editor: The level of interest in the related issues of drug abuse and gangs in our community that has been demonstrated by recent articles, letters to the editor, radio and online discussions is encouraging to see. We believe this reflects genuine concern on the part of community members who we have previously been unable to engage in addressing these important problems. The Cumberland Neighborhood Advisory Commission (NAC) and the neighborhood organizations involved in the NAC partner with a broad range of groups in Allegany County who advocate not only working from the legal end to reduce drug abuse and its effects, but also with groups who assist persons with substance and co-existing mental problems and groups that teach developmental assets in youth to give them the ability and desire to live healthy, drug and gang-free lives. In fact, a person would be hard pressed to find a service organization in our county that the NAC or one of our neighborhood associations has not partnered with in some capacity or another. Our chief role is to promote stability and improve the quality of life in the neighborhoods of Cumberland and we realize that it takes a multi-faceted approach to curtail the detrimental effects of drug and gang related issues. [continues 509 words]
The Neighborhood Advisory Commission (NAC) was established by the Mayor and City Council of Cumberland on Nov. 18, 2003. The commission is composed of one member from each neighborhood association recognized by the Mayor and City Council, as well as a member of the Mayor and City Council acting as an ex-officio member of the commission. The commission serves to maintain and improve the quality of life in the city's neighborhoods by coordinating the efforts of recognized neighborhood organizations with the Mayor and City Council and the city departments. At present our group represents Chapel Hill West Neighborhood Association, Inc., Decatur Heights Neighborhood Association, North End Watch, Rolling Mill Neighborhood Association, Inc., The South Cumberland Business and Civic Association, and Upper West Side Coalition of Active Neighbors. Our meetings are held the third Thursday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the conference room of City Hall and are open to the public. [continues 501 words]
