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Current Affairs 2007 - Activism (121 items)
| Mar 16, 2007 | Sensible Drug Policy Conference McGill's Harm Reduction Centre will host the first annual meeting of Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy ( CSSDP ) this weekend. Speakers and student activists from across Canada and the U.S. will discuss domestic and international drug policies, harm reduction and policy reform initiatives, as well as setting up other CSSDP chapters across Canada. Students for Sensible Drug Policy, an international grassroots organization founded in 2003, is presently forming Canadian chapters in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
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| Mar 15, 2007 | Holy Smoke Owners Enter Plea Holy Smoke Culture Shop co-owners Paul De Felice and Alan Middlemiss as well as associates Kelsey Stratas and Akka Annis entered not-guilty pleas in Nelson court last week and are now waiting for a trial date to be set.
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| Feb 21, 2007 | Hemp Shop Owner Delays Plan To Open Medicinal Room A Saskatchewan hemp shop owner says he will delay opening a smoking room for medical marijuana users until he knows if it's legal.
Dean Foster, who owns Field of Dreams in Regina, had planned to open what he calls a marijuana "inhalation room" last week and even sent out flyers advertising memberships.
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| Feb 7, 2007 | Marijuana Party To Contest Byelection Saskatchewan Marijuana Party Leader Nathan Holowaty plans to run in the March 5 provincial byelection in Martensville.
The other declared candidates are Nancy Heppner of the Sask. Party, New Democrat John Tzupa and Liberal Nathan Friesen.
Candidates have until Feb. 17 to file nomination papers.
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| Feb 1, 2007 | The Relevance Of Pot Politics Huddled in the dimly-lit basement of a bar in downtown Saskatoon, a small group of marijuana activists joke about their political future.... "We are going to run as many candidates as we can," says Nathan Holowaty, leader of the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. "If there are candidates who want to run in every riding, we will run candidates in every riding."
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| Jan 30, 2007 | Knock The Law Not The Cops For Making Pot What was James Breau thinking when he decided to run the Mid Island Compassion Club and distribute marijuana without a proper licence? Did he think the police wouldn't find out that he was supplying 85 people with highly priced weed?
Despite the fact that a 2006 Maclean's Magazine poll concluded 93 per cent of Canadians support the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes, it's still illegal to distribute the drug without a licence.
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| Jan 19, 2007 | Pot Grower Dodges Jail Term Growing pot for medical marijuana crusader Grant Krieger won't mean jail for a former Calgary man, a judge ruled yesterday.
Justice Beth Hughes agreed with defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli that jail time wasn't necessary for Mark James Maki's involvement with the Compassion Club.
"Mr. Maki's motivation for these offences, while certainly against the law and misguided, were to assist the Compassion Club and it's members," Hughes said.
The 577 plants seized in October 2001 and February 2002 had a value of about $600,000 to $800,000, and a loaded sawed-off shotgun was found in Maki's home.
Maki, 43, of Coquitlam, B.C., pleaded guilty to two charges of cultivating marijuana and one of careless storage of a firearm.
Hughes placed him in on house arrest for a year, followed by a curfew for another 12 months.
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| Jan 18, 2007 | PUB LTE: Don't Give Up On Prohibition I'm a perfect example of people in this country and around the world who are caught in the middle of this catastrophic drug war. The strain of cannabis that works best for my health has been held hostage in the street market for the past 13 years. This, I'm sad to say, is not unusual. I receive minimal relief unless the strain available to me legally is coupled with more than 30 pharmaceutical pills a day and up to 2,000 milligrams of morphine. But I won't give up.
Please help me to legalize and regulate all drugs today so that those who are ill and vulnerable are no longer suffering and so our children learn drugs are for adults and those who are sick, dying and in pain. We don't have 50 years to wait.
Alison Myrden
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| Jan 13, 2007 | Drug Paraphernalia Seized Lotus Store Owners Arrested Officers in the drug and vice squad raided a Main Street store for the second time in two years.
More than 600 pieces of drug paraphernalia were seized from Lotus after York Regional Police descended on the shop following an investigation that began late last year.
A man and two women from East Gwillimbury, all in their late 20s, have been charged with selling instruments for illicit drug use.
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| Jan 13, 2007 | Epileptic Seizure In Public Eye The first time Christine Lowe saw herself convulsing during an epileptic seizure, she pawed at the television screen, fixated on the image of herself losing complete control of her body.
Now she wants to share the video with a massive Internet audience.
Life, death situation
Lowe's husband, Russell Barth, posted the video on YouTube yesterday morning, hoping to give people a real taste of what epilepsy patients go through.
The Ottawa couple, who are also vocal marijuana activists, were disturbed by other videos on YouTube poking fun at seizures.
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| Jan 13, 2007 | Marijuana Advocate Battles For Business Licence Tim Felger says he'll open his bookstore/political office, called Da Kine, in downtown Abbotsford whether he receives a business licence from the city or not.
Since he first applied for a business licence in the summer of 2005, Felger says he has been the subject of 170 building and bylaw inspections, 24 fire inspections and more than 100 police visits.
"I'm not only being singled out, but [City of Abbotsford officials] are violating my freedom of expression," said Felger, a long-time marijuana advocate.
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| Jan 12, 2007 | Government Created A System Benefitting The Worst One Percent The disturbing trend by RCMP to arrest and detain people for marijuana possession, trafficking and usage is irresponsible in this day and age.
After numerous commissions, hundreds of thousands of hours of governmental time consumed studying marijuana, the consensus in Canada remains that marijuana should not be illegal and the denial of this most natural and basic medicine is extreme to the point of undue hardship.
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| Jan 11, 2007 | Chong's Smokin' Hot to Local Potheads Edmonton-born face of marijuana culture brings act home to Yuk Yuk's this week
EDMONTON - Edmonton's famous prince of pot may be 68, but he's still a hero among young local stoners.
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| Jan 11, 2007 | When Cops Inhale Did the Toronto Police narcs who swooped down on the Church of the Universe congregation in the Beaches, arresting 22 and laying 205 pot charges, actually inhale?
That's a loaded question for those worried about lack of accountability when it comes to officers breaking the law during investigations.
And if some of the arrestees are right, coppers did toke on-scene in the course of their reconnoitering.
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| Jan 10, 2007 | PUB LTE: Some Laws Ridiculous, Inhumane
The recent raid on Mark Russell's Mid-Island Compassion Club stands as a perfect example of the idiocy that our gutless politicians are forcing upon the police, Mark Russell, and at least 85 local people in need of medicinal marijuana.
What possible good arises from such an expenditure of valuable police time, charging Russell for aiding ill people, and driving his clients to purchase their pain relief from various sources in the black market?
Courtenay RCMP Constable Derek Kryzanowzki admits that the investigation took over a year to complete, that it wasn't instigated by a complaint from the general public, and was self-generated through one of the members in the drug section.
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| Jan 9, 2007 | Gravely Ill The Law Is An Ass.
Or at least the ones that impose criminal sanctions for using or providing marijuana to ease symptoms of illness and disease are. That's what 93 per cent of Canadians seem to suggest when they say, as they did in a 2006 Maclean's Magazine poll, that they support the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes.
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| Jan 5, 2007 | PUB LTE: Tumor Story A Nice Touch The busting of Mark Russell and the Mid-Island Compassion Club reminds me of Charles Dickens' apt quote: "The law is an ass."
At the same time, it draws attention to a community-need. ....
As a nurse, I cannot say enough about the professionalism of these organizations and the tremendous service they provide to the community. It's a fact: they reduce their patients' use of our over-burdened health-care system, and that's something to think about.
Also, I wouldn't put my professional reputation on the line unless I wholeheartedly supported such a venture.
So let's get with the program, people!
Liz Stonard
Coombs
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| Jan 5, 2007 | PUB LTE: Compassion Raid a Waste of Time
The recent raid on Mark Russell's Mid-Island Compassion Club stands as a perfect example of the idiocy that our gutless politicians are forcing upon the police, Mark Russell and at least 85 local people in need of medicinal marijuana.
What possible good arises from such an expenditure of valuable police time, charging Russell for aiding ill people and driving his clients to purchase their pain relief from various sources in the black market?
Courtenay RCMP Constable Derek Kryzanowzki admits that the investigation took over a year to complete, that it wasn't instigated by a complaint from the general public and was self-generated through one of the members in the drug section.
....A wish for year 2007 -- may our local police force bravely continue to dodge bullets -- but at the same time cease to make the biker gangs richer. W.L.M. Wilson Qualicum Beach
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| Jan 5, 2007 | Compassion Club Weed Out Their Concerns With Raid Members of the Mid-Island Compassion Club will be gathering for a special meeting on Sunday to discuss the latest developments within their group.
Those developments, says club chair Mark Russell, are significant.
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| Jan 5, 2007 | Cannabis Activist Speaks Out on Raid and Booze Local marijuana activist Mik Mann is worried a recent police raid of a Coombs compassion club means bad news for those who legally grow and consume the herb.
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