Cpl. Francis Made News for Smoking Pot in Uniform FREDERICTON - The death of RCMP Cpl. Ron Francis, who helped draw attention to post-traumatic stress disorder among emergency first responders, is a terrible loss that underscores the need to deal with the issue, the RCMP's commanding officer in New Brunswick said Tuesday. "It's unfortunate that this condition, if you will, took over and consumed him, but he didn't let go," assistant commissioner Roger Brown told a news conference at RCMP headquarters in Fredericton. "His goal was to try to make some sense of it himself and to bring an awareness to what this is all about." [continues 366 words]
Force Was Working With Colleague Who Wanted to Smoke Pot in Uniform FREDERICTON - The death of RCMP Cpl. Ron Francis, who helped draw attention to post-traumatic stress disorder among emergency first responders, is a terrible loss that underscores the need to deal with the issue, the RCMP's commanding officer in New Brunswick said Tuesday. "It's unfortunate that this condition, if you will, took over and consumed him, but he didn't let go," assistant commissioner Roger Brown told a news conference at RCMP headquarters in Fredericton. "His goal was to try to make some sense of it himself and to bring an awareness to what this is all about." [continues 405 words]
FREDERICTON, N.B.- A New Brunswick Mountie who attracted national attention for complaining that he wasn't allowed to smoke medicinal marijuana for his post-traumatic stress disorder while in uniform has been deemed fit to stand trial on charges of assaulting two RCMP officers, the Crown and defence said Monday. Cpl. Ron Francis, who faces two counts of assaulting police and one count of resisting arrest, was released from custody after he underwent a 30-day psychiatric assessment. Francis was ordered to follow conditions including that he refrain from alcohol and non-prescription drugs, report to a local mental health clinic and not possess firearms. The psychiatric assessment was not dealt with in court, but both Crown and defence lawyers later confirmed that Francis was considered mentally fit to face trial. The case was adjourned until Feb. 4. [continues 105 words]
Mature Muisings I'm no doubt preaching to the choir here when I say I think marijuana should be legalized. And that's an opinion that would stand just as firmly in a university paper today as it would have had I been writing during the good old "drug, sex and rock-and-roll" days in the '70s. The difference is that, today, the majority of Canadians of all ages now agree with me. In fact, a 2012 Angus Reid Public Opinion Poll found that 57 per cent of Canadians across the country say marijuana should be legalized and 66 per cent say they expect it will be within ten years. [continues 383 words]
FREDERICTON (CP) -- The case of a New Brunswick Mountie who's reportedly been told he cannot smoke the drug while in uniform underscores the need for employers to better understand medicinal marijuana, an advocate for medical cannabis said Thursday. Adam Greenblatt, president of the Canadian Association of Medical Cannabis Dispensaries, said the RCMP should ultimately allow Cpl. Ron Francis to smoke in uniform providing he is not impaired while working. "If this officer was a diabetic, would they prevent him from using insulin on the job?" Greenblatt said from Montreal. "That's the way I see it." [continues 268 words]
If a drug prosecution is to proceed against a Fredericton man, Canadian taxpayers will be on the hook for the cost of his defence, a judge ruled Tuesday. [name redacted], 41, had previously applied to provincial court to have the attorney general of Canada appoint state-funded defence counsel. He's awaiting trial on 22 charges, including trafficking in cocaine and marijuana, conspiracy to traffic in those drugs, and possession of restricted and prohibited weapons. The charges allege December 2006 events. [continues 513 words]
Trial - City Man Facing Weapons And Drug-Trafficking Charges If a drug prosecution is to proceed against a Fredericton man, Canadian taxpayers will be on the hook for the cost of his defence, a judge ruled Tuesday. [name redacted], 41, had previously applied to provincial court to have the attorney general of Canada appoint state-funded defence counsel. He's awaiting trial on 22 charges, including trafficking in cocaine and marijuana, conspiracy to traffic in those drugs, and possession of restricted and prohibited weapons. The charges allege December 2006 events. [continues 512 words]
Health: Province Plans to Limit Travel Subsidies to 18 Months for Patients Attending Daily Clinics SAINT JOHN - Craig McInnis spends about $210 every month to make the daily journey from his home near the Saint John airport to Prince Edward Guardian Pharmacy to take his dose of methadone. He arrives at the clinic, tucked away at the back of the pharmacy, sits on a chair and waits. There isn't much to look at on the walls, except for shapes cut from bristol board, posted to remind patients how to behave: be respectful, leave pets outside and if you come without a way to pay for your dose, you don't get your drink. [continues 645 words]
The federal government has seen a staggering increase in the number of requests for medical marijuana authorizations from applicants claiming they have severe arthritis to legally obtain the drug. Applications to Health Canada based on severe arthritis claims jumped 2,400 per cent between 2008 and 2010, far outstripping the number of claims for cancer, HIV/AIDS and other serious diseases, an Ottawa Citizen analysis has found. The spike in arthritis claims was part of an overall rise in applications over the past three years, as more private clinics specializing in marijuana began referring patients to pot-friendly doctors willing to sign their forms. [continues 665 words]
An Upper Hainesville man has lost his appeal of a marijuana-possession conviction after a Court of Queen's Bench judge rejected his argument he had a valid medical letter of support to have and use the drug. Todd Terrance LeClair was found guilty late last year of an Oct. 19, 2009, charge of possession of marijuana. The charge arose after police executed a search warrant at his home and found 215 grams of bud marijuana and 1,300 grams of low-quality pot, or "shake." [continues 326 words]
Like those generals who used to discover that nuclear weapons were not a good thing about 20 minutes after they took off their uniforms and started collecting their pensions, we have had a parade of former presidents who knew that the war on drugs was a bad thing - but only mentioned it after they were already ex-presidents. Now, at last, we have one who is saying it out loud while he is still in office. President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, the country that has suffered even more than Mexico from the drug wars, is an honest and serious man. [continues 812 words]
SAINT JOHN - Canada's Criminal Code is outdated and needs to be modernized and Bill C-10 and other proposed new laws are part of that process, says federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. "It updates the Criminal Code so that it reflects what's actually happening," he told the Saint John Law Society on Thursday night. Nicholson was an invited guest at a fundraising dinner for the law society as the organization raises money for a new stained glass window it has commissioned for the city's new courthouse. [continues 523 words]
Health: Retention rate in project is double Vancouver's SAINT JOHN - The uptown methadone clinic is leading the country in its retention rates, and could serve to be a model across the globe, says a researcher with the Horizon Health Network. Operating out of the St. Joseph's Community Health Centre, it is one of two methadone clinics in the city, and in its first year of operation 95 per cent of participants stayed. That is more than double the rate in Vancouver's program, said Tim Christie, director of ethics for Horizon. [continues 703 words]
Like those generals who used to discover that nuclear weapons were not a good thing about 20 minutes after they took off their uniforms and started collecting their pensions, we have had a parade of former presidents who knew that the war on drugs was a bad thing - but only mentioned it after they were already ex-presidents. Now, at last, we have one who is saying it out loud while he is still in office. President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, the country that has suffered even more than Mexico from the drug wars, is an honest and serious man. He is also very brave, because any political leader who advocates the legalization of narcotic drugs will become a prime target of the prohibition industry. He has chosen to do it anyway. [continues 778 words]
RCMP in New Brunswick have seized nearly 14,500 marijuana plants from locations across the province since August - enough to produce more than seven million joints. Most of the plants seized in recent months came from large-scale, outdoor marijuana grow operations. "The RCMP places continued emphasis on preventing marijuana from being produced and trafficked in New Brunswick," said federal RCMP Supt. Guy Rook. "Our goal is to prevent organized crime groups from profiting from the sale of this illegal drug, causing harm in our communities." [continues 74 words]
If you were a Prime Minister who inherited a $13.6 billion surplus and then six years later you were trying to eliminate a $40 billion deficit, how would you do it? Well, you would probably start by putting a minister in charge of cost-cutting who was experienced in the misappropriation of funds and you would likely hire a $90,000-a-day consultant to tell you where you could save money. Most certainly, you would introduce regressive "tough on crime" legislation that would take you back to the 1980s and add billions of dollars a year to the costs of your criminal justice system. [continues 742 words]
The Insite ruling is the most brutal collision to date between the Supreme Court of Canada and Stephen Harper's Conservative government. Despite the imminent appointment of two more Harper nominees to the top court's bench, it will likely not be the last. On Friday, the Court ordered the federal government to grant a special exemption to allow Vancouver's supervised drug injection clinic to operate without fear of prosecution for possessing and trafficking in hard drugs. The ruling is the latest volley in an ongoing battle of wills between the top court and the ruling Conservatives. [continues 522 words]
Justice Minister Says Federal Tough-On-Crime Measures Are 'Positive' New Brunswick Justice Minister Marie-Claude Blais supports the tough-on-crime stance being adopted by her federal counterparts in a new crime bill. "There's been a lot of talk about the changes (and whether or not) they're proper, but the goal is something we support," says Blais. "That goal is to strengthen laws, deter crime and help victims." The federal government introduced the new crime bill last week and hope to have it passed in the House of Commons in the next few months. Moncton-Riverview-Dieppe MP Robert Goguen, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice, told the Times & Transcript last week the bill is designed to target the most serious offenders in society, including drug producers, people involved with organized crime and those who sexually abuse children. [continues 764 words]
Last week, I wrote a column on how the right-wing Tea Party movement in the United States is hijacking the Republican Party, moving it further to the right into a terrain where ideology takes precedence over fact, thus the title of my column, "When ideology trumps facts." This ideology over fact trend is not solely an American phenomenon; it is happening right here in Canada with the Harper Conservatives. Ideology over facts in the Conservative government has been seen with the abolition of the long form census requirement, something that will greatly hinder data gathering, and with cutbacks to Environment Canada which performs important air quality monitoring services. Maybe this latter one reflects, as well, a nod to global warming deniers. [continues 626 words]
New Brunswick is among the first group of provinces included in a new online RCMP database listing the locations of marijuana grow operations that police have busted. Launched this week, the RCMP website is available to the public and is comprised of information from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Atlantic Canada, as well as data from six other provinces. It provides the addresses of the grow-ops that have been shut down and the number of plants that police seized. [continues 554 words]
Inside New Brunswick
