Your editorial Getting High On Renewal (Jan. 19) characterizes the Liberal proposal to legalize marijuana as an "appeal to the political left." But Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul also advocates legalization. So it seems only The Globe regards libertarians as left wing. Perhaps it's best to dispense altogether with this unhelpful division of the world into right and left. Ideology isn't that simple. And most of us manage to occupy both poles at various times. Why not just restate "appeal to the left" as "appeal to common sense"? Dr. Brian Green Thunder Bay [end]
The B. C. Court of Appeal has underscored the lack of government funded resources for the Provincial Court in a decision upholding the dismissal of charges against two accused cocaine traffickers. Quoting an earlier ruling by the high bench, the justices added their voices to the chorus decrying the crisis in the legal system saying, "the protectors of the public interest have failed to live up to the standard expected of them." The panel backed B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Leask's decision to stay the serious charges because it took more than five years for the men to reach trial - 62.5 months. [continues 543 words]
Concerned by gun crimes in her city and across the country, Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts has asked Ottawa to impose tougher sentences for illegal gun possession and to boost programs aimed at stemming the flow of illegal guns from the United States into Canada. "I am requesting the Federal Government toughen sentences and increase mandatory sentences for the illegal possession of a firearm," Ms. Watts wrote in a January 20 letter to federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson. Ms. Watts also called for tougher sentencing for repeat drug offenders. "I am also advocating for new provisions which stipulate that prior drug convictions be an aggravating factor resulting in more severe mandatory sentences." [continues 409 words]
GUELPH - The 632 tips to the anonymous Crime Stoppers Guelph Wellington police hotline last year led to 145 charges, 67 arrests, seizure of almost $5.6 million in illicit drugs and recovery of just under $24,000 in stolen property. That was the news from the Guelph Police Service Friday, which noted the program paid out almost $6,600 in cash incentives under the program. It rewards callers for information assisting police in criminal investigations. At the police service's board meeting Thursday, Police Chief Rob Davis said a significant amount of the drugs taken out of circulation comprised locally grown pot, called home-grown. [continues 98 words]
So, the remnants of the federal Liberal party straggle into frigid Ottawa for a policy conference. I give them credit for that. It is always a good idea for political parties to regularly review what they presently stand for, what they should stand for, and make the necessary changes. And what was the most significant policy this sagacious body of concerned Liberals voted for - in overwhelming numbers I might add? Something to do with creating jobs for Canadians? Nope. Something to do with strengthening our Canadian economy in a global era of uncertainty? Uh-uh. Something about reducing federal spending or reducing taxes on hard working Canadians? Not on your life.No siree. The Liberals' top priority was a vote to legalize marijuana. Regardless of where you stand on this issue, there are many more pressing concerns facing our community and our country than this. It is telling that the Liberals are so out of touch with the lives and priorities of the average Canadian. Guelph Liberal MP Frank Valeriote should cross the floor to the party that best represents his priorities - the marijuana party. Marty Burke, Guelph [end]
The debate over medicinal marijuana and cannabis products has been hotly contested for years. According to a Jan. 23 article on TIME's website, America has legalized medical use of marijuana in sixteen states, including the District of Columbia, and can be found in many products already on the market. Presently, a British company is now seeking approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a spray that incorporates raw marijuana into its formula to ease cancer pain. GW Pharma, the company developing the spray, hopes to secure FDA approval by 2013. [continues 254 words]
SAN FRANCISCO -- A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists. A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents- a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain. And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013. [continues 925 words]
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A British pharmaceutical company is working its way toward FDA approval for the world's first prescription drug developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents, a medical milestone that could presage a new era for the plant and the nation's uneasy relationship with it. GW Pharma has developed a mouth spray called Sativex that contains marijuana's two best known components_delta 9-THC and cannabidiol. It's already been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis. [continues 53 words]
Hampered in the U.S., Drug Traffickers Find a Replacement; Skeletal 'Zombies' Rule Sao Paulo's Cracolandia After Dark. SAO PAULO, Brazil--A crack cocaine outbreak reminiscent of the one that devastated U.S. inner cities in the 1980s is starting to take hold in this South American nation, as drug traffickers facing more difficulty selling into the U.S. are pioneering markets elsewhere. In Sao Paulo, Brazil's biggest city, what to do about the hundreds of zombielike addicts who by night wander a downtown no man's land known as Cracolandia, or Crackland, has become a key issue for local elections this year. But mayors from Rio de Janeiro to outposts in the Amazon lament that dangerous cracklands are sprouting in their cities as well. [continues 1287 words]
Justices Stress Privacy in Ruling on Police Use of Digital Technology to Monitor People The Supreme Court confronted for the first time the government's growing use of digital technology to monitor Americans and ruled strongly in favor of privacy. The court said the Constitution generally barred the police from tracking an individual with a GPS device attached to a car unless they were issued a warrant from a judge in advance. But the ruling could limit a host of devices including surveillance cameras and cellphone tracking, legal experts said. [continues 994 words]
Regarding the Courier's Jan. 6 editorial, if health outcomes determined drug laws instead of cultural norms, marijuana would be fully legal and there would be no medical marijuana debate. Unlike alcohol, marijuana has never been shown to cause an overdose death, nor does it share the addictive properties of tobacco. Marijuana can be harmful if abused, but jail cells are inappropriate as health interventions and ineffective as deterrents. The first marijuana laws were enacted in response to Mexican immigration during the early 1900s, despite opposition from the American Medical Association. Dire warnings that marijuana inspires homicidal rages have been counterproductive at best. White Americans did not even begin to smoke pot until a soon-to-be entrenched federal bureaucracy began funding reefer madness propaganda. [continues 71 words]
Re: Liberals want to make pot legal Jan. 16 Have I heard this right? Is Bob Rae, the Liberal Party of Canada's interim leader, actually considering legalizing marijuana? Has he had his head in the sand and not seen the problems this product is creating and the consequences that follow? It usually is the beginning of the use of bigger and more potent drugs. Is he going to legalize those next? He must be worried about votes and with this he would get the votes of all the potheads and drug dealers. What is our great country of Canada coming to? Christina Majek Kitchener [end]
