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Current Affairs 2007 - Reform (90 items)
| Oct 19, 2007 | ONTARIO JUDGE RULES CANNABIS PROHIBITION INVALID Today in an Oshawa Court, the trial judge in the 'Tom, Dick, and
Harry' case dismissed the charges against them, for simple possession
of marijuana. He said that in his view the marijuana prohibition had
no valid force or effect. ...He said the cases against Tom, Dick, and Harry, are dismissed because
the law is not there to charge them or convict them. The exact terms
of his decision will be available later, after an exchange of faxes
with the Court house.
[Every person arrested for a cannabis offense should read this important information and make their lawyer aware of it - this is a federal law and should be applied the same across the country] |
| Oct 17, 2007 | New Money, Same Old War It's probably helpful at this point to review a couple of simple, if inconvenient, truths. Prohibition doesn't work. It's been the law of the land since 1929 and it hasn't made a dent in either supply or demand. Law enforcement doesn't work. You can buy illegal drugs in every town in Canada. You can acquire illegal drugs in every prison in Canada. If law enforcement can't control drugs in prisons, it takes a particular kind of idiot to think they'll be successful controlling them on the streets of a democratic country.
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| Oct 16, 2007 | Green Party More Than Just Tree-Huggers Green is for marijuana, a carbon tax, income splitting for couples and dying with dignity, according to federal party leader Elizabeth May.
- - Along with a $50/tonne carbon tax to limit pollution, the Greens are touting legalized and taxed pot, universal child-care and a tax system that encourages more family time at home and with friends by splitting taxable income.
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| Oct 16, 2007 | Curiosity About Drugs Shouldn't Be a Crime For many years, I have been able to successfully stick my head in the sand about illegal drug use.
My older child started high school this fall. The sand is crumbling away.
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| Oct 16, 2007 | ON: Pro-pot Protest Planned Protesters calling for the decriminalization of one of Canada's most readily-available illegal drugs are planning a massive march through Cornwall this weekend.
Organizers of the first annual "Walk 4 Weed," which is being promoted by local pro-pot group Cannabis Cornwall, are hoping at least 400 people will peacefully march through the city Saturday afternoon.
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| Oct 15, 2007 | Harper Gets Tough On Drugs, Soft On Logic Harper promises that someone caught selling even the smallest amount of drugs will face harsh penalties. Frankly, doesn't the government have better things to devote tens of millions of dollars to than chasing around people dealing a few grams of marijuana? Wait a minute: five years ago, wasn't there widespread support for legalizing marijuana?
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| Oct 9, 2007 | Pot Holes In Harper's Drug Policy What really irks me is the fact that possession and/or distribution of marijuana also falls under this new law. I'm all for the legalization, not decriminalization, of pot. I believe that this is one illegal substance that should not be categorized along with other, more serious drugs.
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| Oct 6, 2007 | What's Harper Smoking? Stephen Harper's announcement Thursday of a new national drug strategy served at least one valuable purpose: It conclusively demonstrated that the prime minister knows nothing about drugs or drug policy.
The list of misinformed, misleading or nonsensical statements uttered by Mr. Harper is long and this space short, so let me skip quickly to the highlights.
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| Oct 6, 2007 | Conservative Anti-Drug Plan Blasted Critics of the Conservative government's anti-drug plan are calling it everything from naive to politically opportunistic and a threat to the civil liberties of Canadians.
A coalition of Vancouver health and social groups says prison terms and attempts to scare users straight won't solve Canada's illegal drug problem.
"You just can't incarcerate your way out of this," former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen, a member of the Beyond Prohibition Coalition, said yesterday. "The United States locks down 2.3 million people every night."
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| Oct 5, 2007 | Why a War on Drugs Just Won't Work Basing policy on belief, not facts, dooms strategy to failure from the start...Here's the thing: Health issues can't be resolved through ideology.
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| Oct 3, 2007 | Ottawa's New Drug Policy Wrong Way To Go 'The party's over," federal Health Minister Tony Clement intoned this past weekend. Mr. Clement was talking about drug users, but it wasn't entirely clear which ones...All the available evidence suggests that this will be a waste of time and money. Worse, it could cost some lives and ruin others.
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| Oct 3, 2007 | Club Head Wants Quebec To Run Medical Marijuana Access The founder of the Montreal Compassion Club wants Quebec to take over the administration of the federal Medical Marijuana Access program in the province.
Marc-Boris St-Maurice said yesterday the program is "an embarrassing oxymoron."
He complained about major delays processing applications, licence renewals and changes of address.
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| Oct 1, 2007 | Patients, Activists To Address Ramifications Of New National Anti-Drug MEDIA ADVISORY
Location: Charles Lynch Press Theatre, Room 130-S, Parliament Hill,
Ottawa
Date and Time: Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 1 p.m.
For further Information:
Christine Lowe - 613-248-9190
Tara Lyons - 613-263-1335
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| Oct 1, 2007 | PR: New National Anti-Drug Strategy plays politics with people's lives TORONTO, Oct. 1 /CNW/ - The new National Anti-Drug Strategy to be officially
unveiled this week by federal Health Minister Tony Clement is a huge step
backward for Canada's response to HIV/AIDS, said the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal
Network today...."It seems clear that the new drug strategy is based on ideology instead of
evidence, and from every angle - human rights, public health, or use of
taxpayers' dollars - that's irresponsible and unacceptable."
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| Sep 29, 2007 | Cannabis Culture Lights Up the Festival Films About Marijuana Are Challenging Viewers' Thoughts About the Politics Behind the Drug VANCOUVER -- Nick Wilson was 26, developing a documentary - his first - - about online infidelity, when he had a conversation with his 68-year-old aunt that sent him in a new direction. Aunt Wendy had seen a news story on TV about the Vancouver marijuana activist Marc Emery and she was incensed. Why were U.S. authorities after him? And why would Canada even consider extraditing a Canadian to face up to life in prison, simply for selling marijuana seeds?
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| Sep 27, 2007 | ON: Time For City To Grow Op After three hours punching each other silly over issues like amending the fireworks bylaw, the licensing and standards committee is finally ready to hear my deputation September 11.
I'm here on behalf of the Canadian Cannabis Society to speak to the final agenda item: how the city plans to police pot and divvy up the proceeds of grow op busts.
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| Sep 11, 2007 | B.C. Man Taking Pot Message To Ottawa Neil Magnuson is skating across Canada to raise awareness about the prohibition of cannabis and stopped in Moose Jaw on the weekend.
Magnuson started in Vancouver in July. He is making his way across the country to Ottawa.
In Ottawa, Magnuson will be speaking on Remembrance Day about his cause. On his way, he will be stopping in different towns to talk to the people about cannabis.
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| Sep 7, 2007 | Time To Address Medical Marijuana, Onley Says TORONTO -- He didn't say it outright, but one day after being sworn in as Ontario's 28th Lieutenant-Governor, David Onley all but endorsed medicinal marijuana use by the chronically ill.
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| Aug 29, 2007 | Bowering In Favour Of Legalizing Pot The head of public health for the North wants to see radical reform in how Canada deals with psychoactive drugs.
Dr. David Bowering told The Interior News last week that legalization of marijuana needs to be the subject of much more open and frank public discussion.
Bowering is a member of the Health Officers Council of British Columbia ( HOC ) that, in October 2005, released a position paper calling for a public health approach to drug control.
At the heart of the matter, Bowering said, is harm reduction.
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| Aug 28, 2007 | Drug Prohibition Doesn't Work Welcome to the new war on drugs, same as the old war, and courtesy of Canada's federal government.
Like an old dog who can't learn new tricks, the Harper government seems bent on preserving the tired, utterly disproven message that drug prohibition works.
Of course, it doesn't, despite Health Minister Tony Clement's speech last week to the Canadian Medical Association.
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