Attorney Brian Leininger disagrees with the assessment that the war on drugs has been a failure. "Saying it's a failure probably gives it too much credit," he told the Hutchinson Drug Impact Task Force on Thursday. Leininger, a member of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, said the drug war has been counterproductive and harmful, with stratospheric costs while never accomplishing its goals. "It's not hard to get whatever drug you want right now," he said. In addition to its financial cost, the war on drugs has put huge numbers of nonviolent people in prison and created a violent and profitable black market, Leininger said. In contrast to drugs, people don't sell beer or liquor on street corners because it isn't profitable, he said. [continues 464 words]
Health Minister Rona Ambrose's assertion that Health Canada's new $5-million pot cessation effort is "evidence-based and non-partisan" (Anti-Marijuana Campaign Not Political, Ambrose says - Aug. 19) is a delusion. Anti-drug "education" like D.A.R.E. and DrugsNot4Me reinforces the falsehood that criminalizing users is based in evidence. Medical associations deserve kudos for publicly refusing this prohibitionist exercise - their disposition towards cannabis in medicine notwithstanding. Adam Greenblatt, Montreal [end]
Was Trudeau high when he said legalizing drugs was a good idea? I go to high school in Quebec and if alcohol and cigarettes are supposed to be so hard for teens to get then why are most teenage parties alcohol fuelled? Or why do most teens I know smoke and share cigarettes and marijuana? If Trudeau thinks regulating pot will keep it away from our youth then he's made a big mistake because nothing will change, let alone make it easier for youth to have access to these products. So I say keep it illegal. (In other words, he's smoking something.) [end]
Was Trudeau high when he said legalizing drugs was a good idea? I go to high school in Quebec and if alcohol and cigarettes are supposed to be so hard for teens to get then why are most teenage parties alcohol fuelled? Or why do most teens I know smoke and share cigarettes and marijuana? If Trudeau thinks regulating pot will keep it away from our youth then he's made a big mistake because nothing will change, let alone make it easier for youth to have access to these products. So I say keep it strictly illegal. Adam Brunet Val Des Monts, Qu [end]
Editor, the Times: Re: Eager to fight grow-ops now, Times, Dec. 20. When it comes to growing medical cannabis, there is an important distinction to be made between a personal garden and a commercial operation. Those who employ the term "grow-op" neglect to make this distinction in an effort to mislead the public on cannabis policy. Safety concerns about commercial growers stealing power and converting family homes into pot farms are entirely legitimate. But these activities are fueled by the incentives of prohibition, not the existence of medical cannabis licenses. [continues 113 words]
Re: Too many patients going to pot, Oct. 18 Dr. Pran Kundi is incorrect when he says medical marijuana is being over-prescribed. It is, in fact, grossly under-prescribed. Surveys put the number of Canadians using cannabis for medical purposes at 400,000. Yet only 25,000 have been authorized by Health Canada, leaving the large majority of this patient population vulnerable to criminal sanctions, discrimination, and other risks associated with accessing black market medicine. Dr. Kundi's assertion that cannabis should be prescribed only in the context of a terminal illness is a very common and harmful misperception. Cannabis is a versatile medicinal plant that is commonly used in the treatment of a wide-range of medical conditions: from severe illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis, HIV and cancer, to more general symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and insomnia. [continues 59 words]
In 2003, I started bringing pot home from school for my dad. He had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1985. My family struggled alongside him as MS took its painful toll. His galaxy of pills did little but turn him into a zombie. Eighteen years later, he discovered cannabis. I procured it for him from my high school, where it was - and remains - ubiquitous. What began as a clandestine therapy of last resort soon became his front-line treatment. Today, a regimen of cannabis-infused foods helps him control pain, spasms and nausea. It lifts his spirits, perks up his appetite and helps him sleep. The side effects are negligible, especially compared to those of some of his legal medications, which twice nearly killed him. [continues 558 words]
Re: MDs Refuse To Sign Medical Marijuana Form, Oct. 31. It is sad that physicians have been made the reluctant gatekeepers for legal cannabis by Health Canada's Marihuana Medical Access Program (MMAP). Despite a decade of operation, Health Canada's program continues to obstruct access to Canadians who rely on this medicine and, as a result, it continues to be found constitutionally defective by our courts. Meanwhile, medical cannabis dispensaries (a.k.a. "compassion centres") are filling the void. This year, the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries (CAMCD) was founded in order to formalize the best practices and to ensure that high-quality patient care is available nation-wide. For over 15 years, community-based medical cannabis dispensaries have been providing more than 30,000 Canadians with safe access to medical cannabis products at almost no cost to the taxpayer. CAMCD believes the Canadian Medical Association is right to be concerned about physician liability around prescribing cannabis, but its concern over lack of research misses the point. What the CMA must acknowledge is that the antiquated policies that inhibit research, while needlessly criminalizing physicians and patients alike, are what truly need to be re-examined." [continues 99 words]
The Government says increased hauls of methamphetamine and tens of millions of dollars of drug-related asset seizures this year show its co-ordinated attack on P is working. The second six-monthly progress report on the Tackling Methamphetamine campaign revealed that 25kg of the drug has been seized this year by police and Customs staff. Last year's haul was less than 20kg. The average price of P was $738 a gram in April. By last month it had fallen slightly to $723. [continues 542 words]
Labour leader Phil Goff's denial that his daughter has ever taken drugs is a typical reaction for parents faced with evidence of drug use by their children, says the Drug Foundation. Police charged Sara Goff, 25, with possession of a prohibited drug after four tablets were found hidden in her bra as she entered a Sydney dance party on January 1 this year, the Sunday Star-Times reported yesterday. Ms Goff, a policy analyst with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, was fined A$500 ($612) and ordered to pay A$76 court costs when her case was heard at Dowling Centre Local Court in Sydney. [continues 367 words]
Re: "Medical Marijuana Is Already Legal in Illinois: And it has been for three decades. But it'll take the passage of another law to make it available to patients," by Claire Thompson, April 8 Alcohol is a poison and responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths a year. Nicotine is a dangerous stimulant and its main delivery method kills half a million Americans every year. Both are sold on nearly every street corner in America. But a plant with no known lethal dose and in recent studies has shown promise to prevent cancer and hold off Alzheimer's is illegal? It's just ridiculous. We should stop kidding ourselves and just make the stuff legal and ban tobacco. Adam T [end]
Re: "Shedding some light on our pot laws," Dec. 18. Criminologist Darryl Plecas says that "politicians are being fed incorrect information" about grow operations. Actually, police officers and politicians are feeding the public incorrect information when they grossly exaggerate the dangers of cannabis use and production. They feed us incorrect information when they say that we need tougher laws against pot, when the majority of Canadians support legalizing, regulating and taxing it. Mandatory jail for growing a medicinal plant is truly hard to stomach. Adam Greenblatt (The war on pot is ridiculous.) [end]
Harper And The Conservatives Have Avoided The Issue Of Drug Clinics So Far, But As Insite's Trial Run Draws To A Close, The Time Has Never Been Better For The Government To Take A Stance Let's make one thing clear: Safe-or Supervised-Injection Sites (SISs), clinics where drug addicts inject themselves with narcotics under the supervision of health care professionals, are illegal in Canada. Their very existence violates our country's drug laws, and the only reason Vancouver's Insite clinic--the only one of its kind in North America--exists is due to a temporary exemption implemented (under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, in case you're interested) by then-PM Paul Martin and his Liberal government. [continues 828 words]
PEABODY - Voters in Peabody have the chance to let lawmakers know if they believe possession of marijuana should be decriminalized. A non-binding question on the Nov. 2 ballot asks voters if they think possession of marijuana should be a civil, rather than a criminal offense, much like a traffic ticket. The question is on the ballot in Peabody's Second Essex senate district and the Third Essex and Middlesex senate districts. Georgetown attorney Steven Epstein is leading the marijuana decriminalization effort. Epstein is one of the founders and sits on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Cannabis Reform Coalition. [continues 578 words]
Judges Rule Hemp Foods Are Not Subject To DEA Ban A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Friday that producers and vendors of hemp foods do not violate marijuana laws. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling overturned a Drug Enforcement Agency ban on foods containing even trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. Both hemp and marijuana are cannabis plants, but hemp produces far less THC. Boulder natural food stores stopped carrying hemp food products when the DEA imposed the ban in October 2001. [continues 265 words]
A federal appeals court in San Francisco ruled Friday that producers and vendors of hemp foods do not violate marijuana laws. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling overturned a Drug Enforcement Agency ban on foods containing even trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana. Both hemp and marijuana are cannabis plants, but hemp produces far less THC. Boulder natural food stores stopped carrying hemp food products when the DEA imposed the ban in October 2001. "Some people were just devastated," said Paul Cervantes, a grocer at Whole Foods. He said cheese, bread, and ice cream made with hemp seeds are more healthful than soy products. [continues 236 words]
