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Current Affairs 2006 - Chronological (55 items)
| Jul 4, 2006 | Maclean's Poll 2006: What we believe When it comes to marijuana, that most contentious of plants, Canadians are, if anything, more in favour of legalization now than ever. Sixty-three per cent of us say we accept recreational pot use in general (including 29 per cent who wholly approve of the practice). Support jumps even higher -- to a whopping 93 per cent acceptance rate -- when it comes to the legal use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. By contrast, only about a third of Americans say they would support legalization
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| Jul 2, 2006 | Tories Keep Medical Pot As much as the Tories would probably love to ditch the medical marijuana program, they have quietly extended the contract with the government's official pot grower....
The five-year, $5.7-million deal the Liberals inked with Prairie Plant Systems, which grows Ottawa's weed in an abandoned mine in Manitoba, expired Friday ( after a six-month extension was previously granted ).
[While other growers of that magnitude are MAKING $5.7-million in NON-TAXABLE income over 5 years, the government is SPENDING $5.7-million in TAXPAYER MONEY over 5 years on the pot trade, yet no alarm bells seem to be going off... in fact , the status quo is reinforced more than ever at every level.] |
| Jun 30, 2006 | BC: Properties Must Be Inspected Every 3 Months Landlords will be required to make mandatory inspections of their rental properties every three months, if a proposed anti-drug bylaw is adopted by Langley Township council.
[Homeowner = some privacy rights, Renter = no privacy rights. Slowly our freedom and rights disappear for metaphorical wars, and surprisingly, very few are concerned about it.] |
| Jun 29, 2006 | Casual Pot Use A Disability, Alberta Judge Finds
HUMAN RIGHTS LEGISLATION CITED
EDMONTON - An Alberta judge has ruled that a construction company discriminated against a man when it fired him from an oilsands project after his pre-employment drug screening tested positive for marijuana.
Instead, Justice Sheilah Martin said the man -- a recreational user -- should have been treated the same way as someone with a drug addiction, which is considered a disability in a growing body of human rights case law across Canada.
Although he never used drugs at work and was not a drug addict, the policy treated him like he was, Judge Martin wrote. The requirement that he be tested for drugs with an automatic penalty for a positive test is on its face discriminatory, she said.
[A victory? ] |
| Jun 27, 2006 | UN - Potent Pot No Soft Drug
Report Says The Effects Of Canada's Cannabis Now Rival Those Of Cocaine, Heroin
The increasing potency of marijuana -- spurred on by hydroponic growers in places such as B.C. -- means the world should no longer consider pot a "soft" drug, according to a report released Monday by the United Nations.
"Today, the harmful characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin," Antonio Maria Costa, director of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crimes, said in a written statement.
[I never believed they could revive Reefer Madness and get away with
it, but these masters of propaganda have been perfecting their
techniques for many, many years.]
Transnational Institute
Press Release
June 26, 2006
UNODC World Drug Report 2006 full of scientific insults
In its 2006 World Drug Report, released today, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) struggles to fabricate success stories about the effectiveness of the global drug control regime. Flawed comparisons are constructed with higher opium production levels a century ago, with higher prevalence figures for tobacco, and biased claims are made about cannabis. Martin Jelsma, coordinator of the Transnational Institute’s Drugs & Democracy Programme, after a quick read of the report today, considers it to be “full of scientific insults”.
[Read More....]
From: Campbell, Larry W.: SEN
Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 8:40 AM
Subject: Re: UNODC World Drug Report 2006 full of scientific insults
UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa claims that the world is
experiencing a devastating “cannabis pandemic”. This gentleman is the same
person who said we were putting "cannabis oil" on pasta. It was pointed out
that is was hemp oil which is not a sativa product. He didn't know the
difference and appeared not to care. Simply another high paid UN stooge. Isn't
it amazing that the US only supports the UN when they toe the US "drug war"
line.
Senator Larry Campbell
Ps. Feel free to distribute this email. |
| Jun 10, 2006 | Canada May Get Competition Saskatchewan farmers who grow industrial hemp may have competition from North Dakota in the coming years.
About 24,000 acres ( 9,700 hectares ) of hemp was grown in Canada last year, with roughly one-third of those acres in Saskatchewan. Commercial hemp farming is nonexistent in the United States, where the Drug Enforcement Agency ( DEA ) doesn't currently recognize the crop apart from marijuana.
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| Jun 9, 2006 | Marijuana Party Joins Political Landscape In Sask PARTY JOINS POLITICAL LANDSCAPE IN SASK.
The proverbial "smoke-filled rooms" where political deals are cut may take on a whole new meaning in Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Marijuana Party has joined six other parties as an officially registered provincial political party with Elections Saskatchewan.
Like other marijuana parties in the country, it is expected to advocate the legalization of possession and cultivation of cannabis.
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| May 24, 2006 | Pot Crusader One Step Closer To Extradition VANCOUVER -- A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled in favour of the federal government and removed a potential impediment to the extradition of Marc Emery and his two co-defendants.
Mr. Justice Robert Crawford dismissed a motion that would have prohibited federal prosecutors from taking control of a conspiracy charge filed privately against Mr. Emery, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams.
"This is exactly the decision the United States government would want," Mr. Roberts said yesterday. He indicated that he intends to file an appeal of the ruling later this week with the B.C. Court of Appeal. "It seems quite clear that it gives the United States government, through the agency of the federal Minister of Justice, approval to interfere in the administration of justice in B.C."
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| May 11, 2006 | Ottawa Schools End Random Drug Searches Sweeps Infringe On Charter Rights
Ottawa schools have ended random drug searches after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled spot searches without warrants violate students' constitutional rights.
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| May 10, 2006 | BC: Grow Op Law Passes B.C. - The provincial legislature has passed a law requiring electrical companies to forward billing information to municipalities.After Bill 25 is passed, electrical companies will give the city two years of electrical bills so a spike in activity can be isolated.
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| May 10, 2006 | Bong Registry Set Up In City Sell a glass crack pipe or bong in Langley City and you'll have to tell police who you sold it to, including the person's name and address.
On Monday night, council passed a motion to prohibit sales of drug paraphernalia to all persons under 19 years of age and require sellers to record and report to RCMP all purchases.
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| May 7, 2006 | Proud Potheads Take Queen's Park Toronto was one of 200 cities around the world to take part in Global Marijuana March, promoting the legalization of marijuana and the acceptance of the right to smoke it.
"It's really a celebration of the cannabis community; we wanted to take the day to enjoy each other's company," said Domenic Russo, general manager of Cannabis As Living Medicine( CALM ), one of the event organizers. "But there's also the underlying message of the importance of legalizing medical marijuana and the acceptance of people who smoke it."
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| Apr 10, 2006 | Civil Liberties Union Opposes Proposed Amendments A proposed law aimed at locating marijuana grow operations could be a valuable weapon in the battle to drive them from the North Shore, say authorities, but the proposed rule change is also raising hackles among privacy advocates.
If passed Bill 25, The Safety Standards Amendment Act, introduced in the provincial legislature Thursday, will grant municipalities the right to access electricity records of BC Hydro customers without going through the judicial system. Under the proposed law, local governments could then pass on any of that information to their police force for further investigation.
[Day by day, our rights slip away...] |
| Apr 6, 2006 | Medical Marijuana Company Heralds Its Public Offering TORONTO -- It's not every company that heralds its public debut with Moses Znaimer, the co-founder of CityTV, on one side and a bag of marijuana from the Canadian government on the other. But that's exactly how Cannasat Therapeutics Inc. did it Wednesday.
Cannasat bills itself as one of a handful of companies in the world that is researching and developing medicines derived from cannabis plants.
[A development to watch...] |
| Mar 29, 2006 | Judge Acquits Accused Toker A man accused of toking and driving was found not guilty yesterday after a judge found there was no way to assess the effect pot might have had on the man.
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| Mar 27, 2006 | Victoria Mayor Offers Support To Medical Pot Users Victoria's mayor has thrown his support behind local medicinal pot users and called upon Health Canada to conduct an immediate review of how it provides medical marijuana to Canadians.
A presentation to council by local compassion clubs last month prompted Alan Lowe to draft a letter to federal Health Minister Tony Clement criticizing public access to the Federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulation program.
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| Mar 8, 2006 | Up To 200 Acres To Be Seeded In Hemp By the end of the Industrial Hemp Steering Committee meeting March 6, the members had reached a conclusion on how to direct their efforts.
"We are going to focus on grain for our first year; nutritional supplements, the oils and those types of things," Mayor Donna Barnett, the commmittee chair, said.
[Hemp will be one of the most important crops in the post-oil world, and Canada is in a great position to be a leading producer] |
| Mar 3, 2006 | AIDS Victim Gets His Marijuana Back A Regina Medical Marijuana User Has His Plants Back.
Tom Shapiro was at police headquarters Thursday afternoon collecting the 21 marijuana plants that were seized by officers last month following a delay in the renewal of his licence to grow pot.
Shapiro arrived at the station armed with a court order for police to return the property to him.
[Why did a sick and suffering Canadian have to go through any legal repercussions in the first place? Where is the outrage?] |
| Mar 1, 2006 | RCMP Close Montreal Marijuana Seed Vendor Although the Montreal-based company Heaven's Stairway has operated brazenly since 1998 and is currently listed on Quebec's business registry, the RCMP announced Tuesday it has shut it down.
The RCMP described the large-scale bust as the first of its kind in Canada. Besides evoking Led Zeppelin's signature song for its name the company also sold seeds with quirky labels like Crippy Bud and Deep Blue Rush.
[ By attacking the very source - seeds - they may merely be preparing for when the time comes for cannabis to be legal. With all other avenues effectively shut down, corporations like Monsanto will emerge as the main distributer of seeds. (Who is really ordering the raids on seeds??? ) ] |
| Feb 23, 2006 | Court Dismisses 'Compassion' Argument On Pot New Brunswick Court of Appeal rejected Thursday a Saint John woman's argument that she was running a "compassion club" for medicinal marijuana users.
However, the province's high court will still consider Lynn Wood's appeal of her marijuana trafficking conviction, albeit on other grounds.
Lynn Wood was convicted in February 2005 of trafficking marijuana, and was sentenced to a term of one year in prison.
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