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Current Affairs 2006 - Legal (126 items)
| Dec 30, 2006 | Up In Smoke A man suspended from work after testing positive for pot has filed a human rights complaint, claiming his boss refused to let him see the company drug-testing policy. Stephen Shorten, 46, says he suffers from chronic pain and smokes a nightly joint - paired with ibuprofen - to ease the discomfort. His arms were broken after they got caught in a machine at the Layfield textile plant in April, and he only returned to full-time status in October...Over the nearly five years Shorten has worked at Layfield he said the company has turned a blind eye to recreational pot use, so long as staffers showed up for work sober.
But in November they beefed up the policy to no longer tolerate pot use of any kind, he said."They never told us of the change. I didn't find out until after all this happened," he told the Sun. ..Shorten doesn't see himself as having a disability, but "didn't expect the company I broke my arms for to be so eager to suspend" him.
[ If this man is denied justice, we are all denied justice...If human value not monetary value ruled, then The Layfield Group stock would plunge when the old policy was scrapped.
Another disturbing trend is the proliferation in US influenced workplace drug testing. The whole concept appears to be a cash cow and income for drug testing companies and their affiliates. It is also a brazen attempt at behaviour modification - steering people toward alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals without repercussions if not impaired, and away from any substance of choice. ] |
| Dec 29, 2006 | Compassion Club Raided, Names Taken Mark Russell, the founder of the Coombs chapter of the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada, who supplies marijuana to sick people who use it for pain relief, was raided by members of the Courtenay RCMP on Dec. 22 and now faces six counts of trafficking in a controlled substance
[ Anytime is a bad time for a club to be raided, but right before the holidays so that many people can suffer just a little bit more this Christmas, is beyond cruel. How do police sleep at night because 'just doing my job to enforce laws' doesn't cut it over moral and intellectual honesty.] |
| Dec 23, 2006 | Big Pot Case Against Five Falls Apart
All charges have been dropped against five men arrested aboard a fishing boat RCMP said was attempting to import $6.5 million worth of marijuana to B.C.
When police arrested the five and seized the 47-metre MV Baku in Ucluelet May 22, they laid out marijuana on the dock that had been discovered inside the vessel -- 1,630 kilograms of it ( 3,600 pounds )...But now, Crown prosecutors say they have entered stays on all the charges laid against the five men because there is little likelihood of a conviction.
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| Dec 20, 2006 | Stoned Canadian Drivers Double Since '80s The number of Canadians who say they've driven after smoking drugs has more than doubled since the late 1980s, according to a study that reports young men drive while high just as often, or even more, than they drink and drive.
Almost five per cent of the 4,639 drivers surveyed said they'd driven within two hours of using marijuana or hashish in the previous year an average of 24 times, said the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse.
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| Dec 20, 2006 | Breaking The Law To Expose Pot Grow Ops Some Surrey residents are calling in bogus break-in complaints to get Mounties to raid suspected marijuana growing operations.
The tactic was disclosed by a senior drug investigator during a B.C. Supreme Court sentencing hearing for a husband-and-wife team busted during a 2003 crackdown by Surrey Mounties.
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| Dec 15, 2006 | Reverend Eddy Does Xmas In The Joint The man who ran as Nunavut's Marijuana Party candidate during the last federal election will spend Christmas inside a maximum-security prison.
Ed deVries is presently serving a six-month prison sentence for trafficking marijuana and laundering the proceeds of crime at the Central East Detention Centre in Lindsay, Ontario.
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| Dec 15, 2006 | Felger Pleads Guilty To Three Pot Charges Abbotsford's marijuana advocate Tim Felger says he's broke after he pleaded guilty Monday in Chilliwack Supreme Court to three counts of cultivating pot for the purpose of trafficking.
He was sentenced to six months in jail, a 10-year ban on firearms and a $210,000 fine.
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| Dec 14, 2006 | Canadian Weed Board Will Need A Bigger Cafeteria Eureka! Get this: The Canadian Weed Board.
Eh? Eh?
The column is now open for questions.
Yes, you, Q, you have a question?
Q: Just five. What? Why? Where? When? And, in particular, insofar as it certainly bears repeating: WHAT?!
A: Exactly as stated. Parliament passes legislation not to abolish, not to weaken, but to preserve forever the Canadian Wheat Board, on two conditions: 1 ) instead of a soft "Wh..." and an "...e-t," a hard "W.." and an "...e-d," a virtual homonym, and 2 ) instead of selling grain, the marketing monopoly moves exclusively into cannabis, marijuana, goof grass, spliff, mary jane, dope, jazzleaf. Everybody wins. The Canadian Whe..er, Weed Board gets to keeps its existence as a 500-employee federal bureaucracy. Farmers, released from historic board restrictions and obligations, gain the freedom to sell their grain to anybody at any time.
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| Dec 12, 2006 | Judge Rejects Story, Accepts Pot Case Plea She rejected Harry Emdin's defence of duress, but a judge acquitted the Sault Ste. Marie man of two serious drug charges.
Superior Court Justice Gladys Pardu found him not guilty last week of producing marijuana and possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking.
However, Pardu convicted him of simple possession for having more than 70 marijuana plants in his McNabb Street apartment.
She suspended sentence Friday and placed Emdin on probation for six months.
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| Dec 12, 2006 | 6 Kids Seized In Drug Houses Six children have been taken into custody following two marijuana grow op busts in Calgary, their parents set to become the first in the city charged under provincial legislation aimed at protecting kids living in drug homes...."It comes down to organized crime and making profits. They will sacrifice their families to make a profit," said the Ward 13 alderman. "I hope that if these parents are found guilty, that they never get their kids back."
[ Pure evil - the spin that it is heartless criminals making profits, rather than possibly families trying to supplement meager incomes with a bit of extra income so they won't have to live on the street. Either way, tearing families apart for growing plants (that many people are eager to buy) ensures there are emotionally scared victims for life - and we allow these people to rule our lives? Are we insane?] |
| Dec 7, 2006 | Holy Smoke Lawyer Argues 'Lesser Of Two Evils' The lawyer for Holy smoke co-owners Paul DeFelice and Alan Middlemiss, and associates Akka Annis and Kelsey Stratas, will use a defense employed by abortion activist Henry Morgentaler to acquit his clients of their drug trafficking and possession charges.
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| Dec 5, 2006 | Business Busted Chatham-Kent police has scored its largest ever seizure of drug paraphernalia.
During a raid at a St. Clair Street convenience store last week, officers seized more than 2,000 items including pipes, water bongs, scales and grinders.
[Everyone feel safer now? Has this world gone completely insane?] |
| Nov 30, 2006 | Low Tolerance For High Drivers The Federal Conservatives Want to Amend the Criminal Code to Better Target Stoned Motorists. Is It a Safety Measure, an Electoral Ploy, or a New Way to Bust Potheads?... It would amend the Criminal Code by increasing penalties for drivers found under the influence or who are found to be in possession of an illicit drug. ...The bill has several obstacles to overcome before it becomes law. One is its constitutionality.
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| Nov 29, 2006 | Pot Bylaw May Be Redundant Orillia wants to create a bylaw to help recoup costs from dismantling marijuana grow-ops, but Niagara Falls has been doing it without one for years, The Packet & Times has learned.
Legislation to do it already exists, said Jim Jessop, an inspector with the Niagara Falls Fire Department.
"All the tools we need to deal with it, we have now," he said.
[Laws, laws, laws and more laws for pot - it is like a national neurosis] |
| Nov 24, 2006 | Drug Free Zones A Failed Experiment? Judges may hand out longer sentences to people who traffic drugs around schools, but the Drug Free Zone program is hardly worth the signs it is written on.
The zones were established about seven years ago in a joint effort between the police and school board. The announced goal was harsher sentences for people trafficking within the zones around schools, although that appears to have been more wishful thinking than legal thinking.
"The intent of the zones is certainly a good one, and they have been effective to some degree," said School District 23 Supt. Mike Roberts, "but they haven't had the impact that was hoped for at the beginning.
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| Nov 24, 2006 | Screening Of Soldiers Uncovers Illegal Use Of Drugs Canadian Troops Being Sent to Afghanistan in February Are Being Tested for Illegal Drug Use -- and About 5 Per Cent Are Failing. A...fghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium and the military does not want to send people who already have problems into that environment. More than that, it needs troops who are in full control of their faculties.
[ Strange the government has no problem exposing these same soldiers to depleted uranium (DU) and other atrocities. The DVD Beyond Treason is a must see. ] |
| Nov 24, 2006 | 22 Grow-Ops In One Highrise When Toronto's drug-squad detectives arrived at an apartment building on Jane St. just north of Sheppard Ave. W. yesterday morning armed with search warrants for five apartments, they knew they'd have a busy day.
But nothing prepared them for what they found when they started searching the other apartments in the building.
By 6 p.m. yesterday, stunned detectives had uncovered a $6.6 million marijuana grow-operation with some 6,600 plants being grown in 22 apartments.
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| Nov 23, 2006 | Medical Pot Users Fume Over Tories' Drug-Driving Regular medical marijuana users are being unfairly targeted by the Conservative government's new drug-driving legislation, which will increase penalties and make it easier for police to crack down on people who do drugs before getting behind the wheel, a national advocacy group warned yesterday.
"This law, we feel, would unfairly target marijuana users," said Russell Barth, a medical marijuana user and member of the National Capital Reformers. "Discriminating against us based on our medication . is much like discriminating against us based on the colour of our skin."
[ The Casnadian Cannabis Coalition, an umbrella organization for the cannabis community, issued a press release on this subject as well. ] |
| Nov 22, 2006 | Drug Producer Registry An Idea Worth Pursuing Royal Canadian Mounted Police ( RCMP ) National Chemical Diversion Coordinator, Corporal Brent Hill, recently provided a piece of that puzzle. Speaking to the Perth County Task Force on Crystal Meth, Corp. Hill said he would like to see a national registry created of those found guilty of manufacturing illegal drugs, similar to that used to keep tabs on sex offenders.
Such a registry would provide rapid access by police to current vital information about convicted drug producers.
A person convicted of a designated drug offence could be required to report to the appropriate registration centre to re-register annually and every time they change their address or legal name....Would the registry differentiate between chemical drug producers and small-scale marijuana growers, and should it? Regardless, this is an idea that shouldn't be allowed to get mired in the legislative system for years. It should be examined fully, post haste.
[Using the extremes of the crystal meth scare as propaganda to snag someone growing a plant in their backyard by making "drug producers" seem the same as someone with an obvious mental defect and unwitting victim, is illogical and hopefully unconstitutional. Also, if registries for real crimes involving victims continues, will there be a drunk driver registry so everyone can know when a convicted drunk driver moves to the neighbourhood? Is this what we want?] |
| Nov 16, 2006 | Stoned By Jury ury nullification ( when a jury goes against the law or a judge's instructions ) is alive and well in Canada. With jury deliberations shrouded in secrecy, a jury always has the implied power and ability to ignore the law and decide a case in accordance with its moral intuition....
For the most part, Canadians do not respect laws that stand in the way of relieving pain and suffering. This is why the Krieger jury had difficulty convicting in the face of clear technical guilt. So when I am asked about the legal status of the centres, I usually mumble something like "probably illegal but non-prosecutable."
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