Cannabis-Based Drugs Are Storming the Pharmaceutical Industry Ever since a government grow-op in Flin Flon, Manitoba failed to turn in properly potent pot for now-legal prescriptions, the free market has taken a foothold, putting a variety of new pot-based products on the market. Sativex, a "cannibinoidal spray" has received the most press by far, primarily because it delivers marijuana's active ingredient--tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)--without the need of a pipe or rolling paper. The drug helps ease the neurological symptoms of Mulitple Sclerosis sufferers. [continues 611 words]
Marijuana Martyr Malmo-Levine Argues the Virtues of Legalization Edmonton-reared David Malmo-Levine was our keynote pot activist in the '90s, writing for The Gateway, organizing wild rallies and handing me lit joints on television as police stood at the edge of Gazebo Park, staring. It was a funny time--no 1960s or anything, but still one when tens of thousands of shivering students would march on the Legislature. Gone is Malmo-Levine's floppy hat, same with the five-foot prop joint. He's evolved into a history professor and lives on the West Coast. Graciously, he comes bearing gifts. [continues 606 words]
Let's Grow Up About Grow-Ops and Reroute Revenues From the Marijuana Industry into Legitimate Ventures, Says Author/Activist Bud Inc.: Inside Canada's Marijuana Industry By Ian Mulgrew, Random House Canada, 304 pp, $35 (hardcover) If you're ambivalent, indifferent, or worse still, opposed to the notion of marijuana's decriminalization, Ian Mulgrew has a thing or several to tell you that you really ought to know. In his newest book, Bud Inc., the respected journalist and legal affairs columnist for the Vancouver Sun sets out to demonstrate how much Canada's drug laws matter to you, and everybody's stake in reforming them. "Turn on the lights," Mulgrew the pot activist says. "Let's be grownups." [continues 1052 words]
And nowhere to go but down Thirty-five-year-old Greg DJed and partied his way through the gay club scene during the height of '90s rave culture. Diagnosed HIV-positive in 1998, he then became a one-man safer-sex campaign. So why then would be find himself four years later butt naked in broad daylight on a West Hollywood hotel balcony fucking bareback with a guy who'd just informed him that he "had the come of 15 guys inside him"? Blame Tina. [continues 1035 words]
It was a modest turnout at Hempfest 2003 with only about 150 people sparking up on the Legislature grounds Monday. That's down from the nearly hundred or so more the fest saw at its 1996 debut. But perhaps this is the kind of protest where low turnout is a sign that things are changing in the demonstrators' favour. Soon, Hempfest will morph into just a regular day at the Leg. Soon, every man, woman and child in this country will have the right to carry 15 grams without fear. Soon, Ken Kirk will retire to the basement where his X-Box awaits, gathering dust. Soon, perhaps even TV broadcasters will have no reason to report things like, "To help subdue his Tourette's, Joe smokes up to eight marijuana cigarettes per day," as though use of the more colloquial, but widely understood word "joint" would somehow implicate them in the whole tawdry affair. Soon, it won't even be a tawdry affair. Exhale. [end]
Confirmed Hippies Recount Drug Tales From City's Past Long before the jackboots stomped down, Edmonton was a pretty groovy little town. Not everyone who lived through the love years recalls them perfectly, but most everyone agrees that marijuana, hash, acid, mushrooms, MDA, psilocybin, mescaline and peyote were used in the name of expanding consciousness and making things shine, rather than just for the sake of getting wasted. Tom Doran, co-owner of the Jupiter Cannabis Culture on Whyte was, and still arguably is, a hippie. His wife managed one of the city's first head shops, the Hippogriff. Meanwhile, Doran, with his band Django, left Edmonton to pursue greater things in Vancouver. It was there that he ran into another Edmontonian, as crucial to the continuation of drug culture as Freak Brothers comics. Says Doran: "Poppa Chong, Tommy's dad, used to own this hippie club called the Parlour. I used to work with them, before they became Cheech and Chong. Cheech was a draft dodger or something, an actor from L.A. He just kind of latched on to everybody. Well, they decided they were going to do little skits for the club next door, called the Smilin' Buddha." [continues 727 words]
Whyte Ave Business First Upshoot Of Decriminalization A popular Whyte Ave. landmark is turning over a new "leaf" to coincide with the federal law on marijuana decriminalization. "I've been following [the marijuana act] very heavily and I've read a lot of the 2000-page report on decriminalization and it seems like it's going to be a done deal," says Denyse Doran, co-owner of the Jupiter crystal and glass shop on 82 Ave and 104 St. As of this Friday, Jupiter is making the switch from, as Doran says, "glass to grass" in order to get in on what they see as an emerging mainstream enterprise and one representing the changing demographic on the avenue. [continues 264 words]
(Re: Don't Tread on Weed by Fish Griwkowsky, 5/15/03) There is a big difference between condoning marijuana use and protecting children from drugs. Decriminalization acknowledges the social reality of marijuana and frees users from the stigma of life-shattering criminal records. What's really needed is a regulated market with age controls. Separating the hard and soft drug markets is critical. As long as marijuana distribution remains in the hands of organized crime, consumers will continue to come into contact with addictive drugs like cocaine. This "gateway" is the direct result of a fundamentally flawed policy. [continues 238 words]
I gotta agree with the Fish (Don't Tread On Weed, May 15). Biblically, medically and recreationally, many citizens use cannabis (marijuana) responsibly and are tired of various forms of government discrimination and deceit directed toward them. And as a Christian, I ask, If God gave us cannabis as described on the very 1st page of the Bible, who gives us cannabis prohibition? Stan White [end]
Decriminalization Will Piss Some People Off, But It's The Logical Next Step Like a good number of both infrequent and chronic pot smokers, I could really give a personal rip about decriminalization. Rare are the weed rallies that point out the total, terrible truth about being a habitual stoner: the coughing, the smelly couches, the ability to play Pokemon Ruby for 82 hours and the simple, but legitimate enjoyment of Freddy Got Fingered. Just as rare amid the brutes who want us jailed is the admission that we are the real reason the Gestapo branch of the fuzz wants to stick cameras on Whyte Ave. [continues 622 words]
I may have mentioned this before, but my first real boyfriend was a narcotics salesman (sounds so much better than dope dealer don't you think?). Besides the steady drug supply, the one thing I loved about that relationship was the sex. He was older and had been with a few women older than himself who had taught him a thing or two. As a newbie, I was happy to benefit from his experience. When things started falling apart, I was reluctant to give up the sex, but because I was falling out of love, it became harder to get in the mood. [continues 917 words]
There is an answer to Craig Elliott's call for any plan that reduces greenhouse emissions while sustaining the economy. The answer has been there since the Marijuana Tax Act was implemented in 1937 by the U.S. government, followed in 1938 by the same laws in Canada. At that time, industrial hemp was touted with glowing reports as a "new billion dollar crop", and "the most profitable crop that can be grown". But since 1930, industrial hemp has been subjected to an intensive propaganda smear campaign from powerful corporations dictating and lobbying governments in the U.S. and Canada. The corporations, such as those in the cotton, timber, and petrochemical industries, stood to lose billions of dollars if hemp was allowed. [continues 274 words]
So the Canadian Association of Police Boards denounced the legalization of illicit drugs, including marijuana. Not much of a surprise really. According to the federal auditor general's report last year, the federal government alone spent $500 million on prohibition. Also, according to Statistics Canada there are 56,020 police officers in Canada. Let's assume that $100 million goes to lawyers and courts and the rest goes to the police. That leaves about $8000 a year for each officer. Assuming an average wage of $50,000, this means 16 percent of each police officer's paycheque derives from drug prohibition. [continues 66 words]
Dale Strohmaier takes a quick puff on his pipe. The short, sucking noise sounds more like he's using an asthma inhaler than smoking pot. "That's about all I need," he says as the tension eases from his face. Dale passes the pipe to his wife, Alice, who does the same. The couple repeats the ritual several times a day. Without marijuana, they'd be housebound =AD weak, unable to hold down food and wracked with muscle spasms. The Strohmaiers both have hepatitis C. Each contracted the virus in the early 1980s through blood transfusions (neither qualifies for government compensation because they contracted it too early) and they are now living on disability pensions. They met through a support group, but they share much more than a chronic medical condition. As far as they know, they're the only married couple in Canada allowed to smoke marijuana legally. Last December they were granted an exemption from prosecution by Health Canada which, after decades of pressure from pot-legalization advocates, is finally beginning research on the medical benefits of cannabis. In the past year there has been a very public softening of attitudes toward pot. Politicians from the most conservative elements in Canada have begun suggesting that the government should allow its use for medicinal purposes. Even stodgy Health Canada has acknowledged the need for empirical evidence to back up claims that pot can help control symptoms of several conditions, including glaucoma and epilepsy, and can mitigate the harsh side effects of AIDS and Hep C treatments. [continues 856 words]
Okay. On one side of the marijuana legalization debate we have the Fraser Institute, Joe Clark, Ralph Klein, Anne McLellan, several current and former Alliance MPs and the Canadian Medical Association. Some of the most cautious and conservative people in Canada are starting to muse out loud that perhaps it's stupid to make criminals of pot smokers. On the other side of the debate we have the Canadian Police Association, which seems to be one of the only groups left in the country that dogmatically sticks to the argument that reefer madness is threatening the moral and physical wellbeing of society. [continues 265 words]
Premier Ralph Klein has smoked a little weed in his time. Not his thing, mind you, but he thinks it's time to reconsider the marijuana laws just the same. Federal Justice Minister Anne McLellan says she's ready to entertain discussions about cannabis. An editorial in the last Canadian Medical Association Journal calls for decriminalization, noting that "400,000 Canadians use cannabis for medical reasons," that the risk of addiction is "very weak (and perhaps nonexistent)", and that "the minimal negative health effects of moderate use would be attested to by the estimated 1.5 million Canadians who smoke marijuana for recreational purposes." [continues 1302 words]
The three-letter acronym is PMA, not PDA as printed in SEE's Nov. 2-8 article Ravers warned of "bad" Ecstasy. I can't believe how much you turned on us. We are trying to prevent deaths in Edmonton and you are attacking our credibility. This deceit called PMA has already claimed lives. What did they die for? I suppose you are too closed-minded to see that there is an open-minded harm reduction society established around the corner with the intention to save lives. We operate under the assumption that people will use drugs regardless of the dare tactics and we are trying to make sure that people have clear and unbiased information by which they can make prudent decisions. Thank you again for making your article about the organization and not the death threat. At least one of us is on the right side. Charles McCarthy, Edmonton [end]
Bob Wasylyshen Talks About Corruption, Drugs And Gun Control Bob Wasylyshen rarely closes the door to his fourth-floor office. The 29-year veteran of the Edmonton Police Service wants to stay as connected as possible with the 1,100 officers under his command. It's precisely that hands-on style that assured his confirmation last month, from interim to permanent chief of police. The Yorkton, Sask. native, who's known affectionately as 'Woz' by the rank-and-file, has the unenviable task of restoring the force's morale after two years of intense, humiliating scrutiny over allegations that some EPS members were too cosy with gangland criminals and that the previous chief, John Lindsay, had sat idly by while it happened. Since the allegations were made, three separate investigations have been conducted, the final one by Wasylyshen himself, immediately after he replaced Lindsay last January. All have cleared the department of any corruption allegations and Lindsay of any wrongdoing. [continues 1367 words]
Children's Services Minister Iris Evans is being accused of jumping on a media-fuelled bandwagon by calling meetings in Edmonton and Calgary to discuss safety at raves, but members of the dance culture say they'll participate anyway. With the growing popularity of raves and sensational news coverage of rave-related drug abuse, rave organizers want to make sure lawmakers are given an accurate picture of rave culture. The scene, organizers say, has become a lightning rod for sensational news coverage. [continues 480 words]
Raves should be illegal. It's unbelievable that anyone even debates this point. That's the problem with this province and this country today: whiny liberal permissiveness. We all know exactly what raves are all about: drugs and perversion. We all know for fact that anyone who attends raves is using drugs - usually ecstasy. We all know that people are always overdosing on this drug. We've all heard of the 10 people who had to be rushed to the hospital because they overdosed at last month's Ascension 2000 rave. I attended that godless gathering and this is what I saw: [continues 506 words]
