As California enters its third year of legal recreational cannabis sales, many expect upcoming new laws, high-profile court cases and major criminal justice reforms to shake up the industry. Marijuana advocates are wary after a challenging second year, but most also are hopeful that changes in 2020 will put them in a better position a year from now. "We always knew it would be an uphill battle," said Robert Flannery of Dr. Robb Farms, a cannabis cultivation company based in Desert Hot Springs. "But there are very few people who are not generally optimistic about the cannabis industry." [continues 971 words]
YOKY RIDGE, Colombia-On a hilltop base shielded with sandbags, police sharpshooter Jose Diaz gazed into thick jungle as a fellow commando checked tripwires protecting the stronghold. A radioman listened in on the fighters they were battling. "They're always looking for the right moment to attack our base," said Hector Ocampo, commander of the Colombian detachment in a cocaine-trafficking corridor near Panama. Their adversaries weren't the FARC rebels that security forces had long fought, but a cocaine-trafficking gang known as the Gulf Clan. In the year since the powerful Marxist guerrillas disarmed, drug gangs like this one have battled each other and the state for control of the booming cocaine trade in remote regions where the FARC once ruled. [continues 872 words]
State lawmakers moved Tuesday to reinstate the research provision of Pennsylvania's medical marijuana law, a month after a court decision left it in limbo. The House voted 167-31 to change the law by laying out more explicitly the goal of its provisions allowing medical schools to partner with companies that grow the drug and provide it to patients. "We worked very hard so that indeed real research not only will have the opportunity to occur, but it's going to be required to occur," said Rep. Kathy Watson, R-Bucks, who sponsored the amendment. [continues 294 words]
"He was beautiful," said his mother, Bonnie. "He was perfect." But when Micah turned 3, he began lining up his toy cars in a row and just staring at them. His limited vocabulary became more limited. He forgot how to go potty. Jensen, 47, quit her job as an executive assistant to take care of and homeschool him. Early one morning, she felt something shudder in her bed. Beside her, Micah trembled uncontrollably and she saw his skin turn a deep shade of blue and purple. He gasped for air. [continues 241 words]
John Lavergne believes a safe injection site will help save lives KITCHENER - John Lavergne lost eight friends last year. All of them died of an opioid overdose. Six of them were in Waterloo Region. Three of them hadn't used in months and had a relapse. They couldn't tell their partners, friends or families they were using again. They used alone and now they are dead, Lavergne said. The Kitchener man says a supervised injection site would have helped them live. [continues 407 words]
Dundas mom says 17-year-old is on 'lockdown' in home after knife-wielding outburst When his father roused his son from a drug-induced slumber, he flew into a rage. The 17-year-old ended up pulling a knife and locking his dad out in the freezing cold. Now, his parents take turns watching him - constantly. "We just kind of keep him down on what we call 'lockdown,'" says his mom, a school teacher who lives in Dundas. Her son is addicted to drugs and alcohol. He has tried to kill himself, been in and out of hospital, in homeless shelters and jail. [continues 875 words]
CAMBRIDGE - Coun. Frank Monteiro has a lot of questions he hopes he can get answers to. He, along with Coun. Mike Mann and two city employees, will visit supervised injectionsites in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver to learn more about how the sites work and what doesn't work. Monteiro says that before any decisions can be made locally, more information is needed on how the sites function and how the neighbourhoods around them have been affected. "We want to know what their experience has been since they were established and are people using it," he said. [continues 383 words]
Owner of Green Health for Six waiting to hear from Ottawa, council, and initiated survey As far as Jeff Hawk is concerned, his marijuana dispensary is filling a void in Six Nations. Potentially deadly opiates are widely available, but safe, medicinal marijuana is not, says Hawk, owner of Green Health for Six. "There ain't really a large industry in pot anymore. That's what I'm worried about." Hawk says his dispensary on Highway 54 just outside Ohsweken has a solid customer base for weed, edibles and oils. [continues 484 words]
'A year of growth year of finding our feet' WATERLOO REGION - When police chief Bryan Larkin talks about harm reduction and being more humane with the drug user, he gets pushback. When he suggests supervised injection sites may be an alternative to help users take their drugs safely and the site will save lives, he gets pushback. And when he flies the Pride flag at police headquarters, he gets pushback. In each case, he gets criticism from people in the community and sometimes from officers, too. [continues 985 words]
KITCHENER - At gatherings with family and friends, it's common for people to sit and chat as they enjoy a glass of wine. Drinking alcohol is legal and regulated by the government, but too much of it causes impairment and your long-term health could be at risk. The same could be said for marijuana. The now illicit drug will soon be legal, regulated and sold by the government. Smoking it daily could lead to a dependency, healthcare professionals say. But the stigma associated with dope smoking remains. [continues 749 words]
A burgeoning pot-growing industry stands to steamroll prime farmland in Hamilton if the city isn't prepared to fend it off, Coun. Lloyd Ferguson warns. "This scares the living daylights out of me," the Ancaster councillor said during Tuesday's planning committee meeting. Ferguson, who's not on the committee, attended to ask planning staff whether the official plan and zoning regulations barred such entrepreneurs from setting up operations larger than 2,000 square metres. He said one applicant wants to set up a 200-acre facility in concrete bunkers on Greenbelt land, undercutting the purpose of the agricultural and wooded buffer zone. Ferguson said "there's a clear difference" between growing cucumbers and cultivating marijuana for sale. [continues 152 words]
Editor: There is no doubt in my mind that the proposal by the prime minister to legalize marijuana has not been well thought out, especially with the devastating drug problems we are now facing. The effect of narcotics on the development of the brain has been well researched. Scientific studies have proven that mental disorders, schizophrenia, suicides, etc. are much higher among those who take these drugs than those who do not. Postnatal brain development occurs over a long period that lasts into adolescence and some say into the 20s. Our youth are at risk. We certainly do not need more soft drugs on the street that are available to an impressionable age group trying to cope with their own stresses at school, at home, on the street, etc. [continues 288 words]
Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin says police are gearing up for the July 1 deadline when pot will be legal in Canada but he says there is "trepidation and worry" about the upcoming law. Larkin, who is president of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police, said any new legislation and public policy brings "a lot of trepidation" and "a lot of worry." Police are preparing for the July 1 deadline. However, Larkin agrees with other police services and associations who say the date is arbitrary. [continues 321 words]
British Columbia recorded 935 deaths due to drug overdoses in 2016 and the number is projected to surpass 1,400 by the end of 2017. Approaches to this epidemic include the antidote Naloxone, injection sites, education etc. These are fine, but do not address the real problem, which is reducing drug availability by reducing the number of dealers and suppliers. Singapore has enacted laws which include capital punishment for dealers and suppliers of illicit drugs. Draconian, yes, but if we as a society have to choose between the deaths of dealers who knowingly destroy lives and families, or deaths of thousands of our young adults, the decision is a no-brainer. [continues 135 words]
Re Top doctor calls for new drug approach, Aug. 5 British Columbia recorded 935 deaths due to drug overdose in 2016 and the number is projected to be 1,400 by the end of 2017. Approaches to this epidemic include the antidote naloxone, injection sites, education, etc. These are fine, but do not address the real problem, which is reducing drug availability by reducing the number of dealers and suppliers. Singapore and other counties have enacted laws that include capital punishment for dealers and suppliers of illicit drugs. Draconian, yes, but if we as a society have to choose between the deaths of dealers who knowingly destroy lives and families or deaths of thousands of our young adults, the decision is a no-brainer. [continues 109 words]
Cambridge mayor says group will offer solutions, but will take 'whole community to solve this problem' CAMBRIDGE - Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig says he's creating a city task force to find solutions to the fentanyl crisis plaguing his city. The city initiative has been in the works for three months, said Craig, and is not a "knee-jerk" reaction to recent comments made by Cambridge coroner Dr. Hank Nykamp. Nykamp, a coroner since 1985, said Cambridge is becoming the drug capital of Ontario with "drug houses" and "crystal meth factories." [continues 630 words]
Drug use, disposed syringes a concern in downtown Galt CAMBRIDGE - Robin Thomas often holds her pet Chihuahua in her arms when she takes him for a walk on the trail along the Grand River behind her condo building. She's afraid her dog will step on used syringes that litter the brush near the trail. Thomas lives at The Grand Condominium at Waterscape on Water Street. She moved there almost two years because she wanted to live in downtown Galt and was attracted to the view of the river from her balcony. [continues 922 words]
In potentially precedent-setting case, operators of marijuana dispensary get an absolute discharge KITCHENER - A provincial court judge granted an absolute discharge to a young Kitchener couple who were running an illegal marijuana dispensary in Waterloo. Justice Colin Westman said Nour and Shady Louka committed "an offence of compassion" when they operated a medical marijuana dispensary in uptown Waterloo and sold pot to adults with medical marijuana licences. Westman described the couple as "activists in favour of their fellow human beings" and running a marijuana dispensary was "essentially civil disobedience." [continues 655 words]
WATERLOO REGION - In the past two months, police officers have administered the life-saving nasal naloxone six times, saving four lives. The other two times, officers received the naloxone themselves after being "contaminated" with the potent drug fentanyl, Police Chief Bryan Larkin told board members at a Waterloo Regional Police Services Board on Wednesday. Naloxone is an antidote to fentanyl and it's being used by paramedics and now police officers to cope with the rising number of opioid overdoses in the region. [continues 237 words]
KITCHENER - The chair of the Waterloo Regional Police Services Board says he hopes the annual Ever After Music Festival doesn't get out of control and cause havoc for officers trying to police it. At a police services board meeting Wednesday, members were told that police responded to 342 calls for service at the music festival that was held at Bingemans from June 2 to 4. Nearly half of the calls were related to drugs, while others were for noise complaints, public intoxication, medical calls with transportation to a local hospital, and other liquor offences. [continues 341 words]
