A controversial harm reduction strategy will go ahead in Nanaimo, this time with city council's consultation. The Vancouver Island Health Authority's original foray into providing safer tools for drug users three years ago was met with outrage from both council and neighbourhood groups because of a lack of consultation. This time, VIHA will use several fixed sites in areas known to be havens for drug users instead of a mobile van. Lorna Medd, a medical health officer with VIHA, spoke to city council Monday, though neighbourhood groups continue to look in from the outside where consultation is concerned. [continues 303 words]
To The Editor, RE: 'Mountain over a marijuana hill' Police absolutely hate medical marijuana users because we undermine their entire agenda. For example; the police say marijuana is a dangerous drug, and we prove them wrong by getting healthier by using lots of it. Cops say it is impossible to grow pot safety in a home or a community, and we prove them wrong by doing so repeatedly, all across the country. Despite all science and history, cops say that legalization could never work, and that prohibition is the only way to manage the issue. But we prove them wrong by demonstrating exactly what responsible use and home-growing would look like. [continues 244 words]
LOS ANGELES -- By its nature, a funeral brings the past and the present together. The burial of Jack Herer, who died April 15 in Eugene, summoned hundreds of his longtime comrades a week ago to a glorious hilltop in the San Fernando Valley, where they lay to rest a rollicking chapter in the modern marijuana movement. But the future was a mere 25 miles away at the Los Angeles Convention Center, where the fruits of Herer's life of activism went on flashy display. A huge three-day trade show for the explosively expanding business of cannabis sativa heralded what could be in store for Oregon and the nation as more states permit regulated use of marijuana and consider legalization. [continues 1004 words]
Police officers learn to spot signs of alcohol and drug abuse. Glendale Police Officer Craig Tweedy flashed a pen-sized light into the eyes of fellow officers, testing several techniques Wednesday used to determine whether they were under the influence of drugs. The officers passed the physical exams with flying colors while also getting a lesson on properly administering the seven-step drug abuse recognition process. The officers check the way a person's eyes move vertically and horizontally, and if their eyes can converge to the center with ease. They check a person's pulse, pupil size and reaction to light, and have them perform the Romberg Stand, which examines a person's internal clock. [continues 305 words]
Medical Marijuana Backers Claim Officials Are Stalling Medical marijuana advocates say they are frustrated with what they see as San Bernardino County's refusal to pass a law defining how cannabis providers should operate. "They're making up their own rules as they go," said Abel Chapa, a self-described volunteer for San Bernardino Patients Association, a Chino-area collective that sheriff's deputies raided in late March. In the eyes of Chapa and Inland Empire cannabis advocate Lanny Swerdlow, county law enforcement is willfully ignoring California's medical marijuana laws and is presently using all means at its disposal to keep prevent patients from obtaining medical marijuana. [continues 837 words]
A pair of pro-marijuana events are coming to Corvallis as advocates push to get a measure aimed at legalizing the drug on the November ballot. Local pot promoters are planning a Corvallis Marijuana March on Saturday to coincide with marches in other cities organized by Cures Not Wars, a New York-based group that opposes the war on drugs. Sponsored by the Corvallis Cannabis Movement and Students for a Sensible Drug Policy, the local event will begin at 2 p.m. with a rally at the Benton County Courthouse. The march will start at 4:20 p.m., winding around the courthouse, the police station and City Hall before turning west on Monroe Avenue to Oregon State University and then heading back to Central Park. [continues 217 words]
Re: Conservatives Should Get Weak On Drugs, Evan Wood, April 26. Evan Wood appears to overlook the reality of the drug problem. He asserts that prohibitions against the nonmedical use of drugs are futile and only increase crime and violence. This has not been the experience of other countries such as Sweden. According to a 2006 report of the UN Office of Drugs and Crime, Sweden has among Europe's lowest rates of crime, disease, medical and social problems stemming from drug addiction. This is due to the fact that Sweden employs a program of compulsory drug treatment for addicts. This success is similar to that achieved by drug courts in Canada. These courts ensure that addicts undergo treatment and rehabilitation as an alternative to a conviction and court record. [continues 79 words]
The Somali community must be at wits end, having their youths die so tragically. I am sad for them, but it's the drugs and gang activity. You're here to get away from the violence that wreaked havoc on your families. Hard work and clean living will make a difference, not the lure of no work and quick money. Anne-Marie Letki (Easy for you to say.) [end]
Just after 11 one morning last week, two men and two women, all in their early 20s, sat on a basketball court behind Dunbar High School in Northwest Washington and filled an empty cigar with marijuana -- their first hit of the day. Also that day, at a picnic table by the Oxon Run stream, east of the Anacostia River, five men played dominoes and passed a joint. And at an Adams Morgan park, as dog walkers and bicyclists wandered by, a 23-year-old man in a Pittsburgh Pirates cap rolled a thick joint using cherry-flavored paper. "This is hitting nice," he said moments later, forecasting that he would smoke five or six more before day's end. [continues 1267 words]
