Current Affairs (2007) -
Chronological (432 items)
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| Jan 29, 2007 |
MP Wants War On Grow-Ops Karygiannis plans to press for mandatory minimum sentences that would work on ascale. More than three plants would net two years in jail, between 21-50 would garner a five-year sentence, 50-100 would get seven years and more than 100 would earn a 14-year lock-up, he suggested. He plans to introduce the plan as a motion that could be studied by a Parliamentary committee. [We can then build more prisons then schools... brilliant] |
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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. |
| Jan 31, 2007 |
Police Say Smoking Pot Endangered Kids NWT: Four people have been charged with endangering children after police say they were found smoking pot in the same room as five kids.... The adults were released after giving statements to RCMP, and promising they would have no contact with the children until the charges have been dealt with in court. Until that time, the children will remain in the hands of Health and Social Services, said Dreilich. When it comes to the irrationality surrounding parents using illegal substances, we get the best perspective by looking at whether using legal substances would have the same outcome in any family situation. If not, then allowing prohibition related, not drug related problems to tear families apart in Canada, will eventually be as common as it is in the US, and just as detrimental. |
| 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." |
| Feb 2, 2007 |
Weedless Wednesday May Go Up In Smoke The Halton Youth Action Alliance ( HYAA ) is working to get the title of the annual quit smoking day -- Weedless Wednesday -- changed for 2008. The group believes the title is misinterpreted by youth and is drawing attention to marijuana. |
| Feb 4, 2007 |
Premier No Fan Of Pot Motion PREMIER Gary Doer says he is not a fan of the idea of decriminalizing marijuana. A resolution up for debate at the NDP's weekend convention called for small amounts of the drug to be decriminalized. The issue is within federal jurisdiction so the resolution specifically calls for the provincial government to push for the decriminalization. |
| Feb 5, 2007 |
Weeding Out The Competition By Regulating The Drug Trade, Canada Could Cut Down On Law Enforcement, Protect Its Citizens And Make A Little Bit Of Extra Cash On The Side As Well Because of crimes that are related to the drug trade--most notably the killing of the four police officers in Mayerthorpe two years ago--many have been pushing for increased punishment for drug-related crimes recently. While a tactic such as increased jail time would theoretically make criminals think twice before becoming involved in the trade, there's no statistical evidence that supports this claim. The fact remains that it's just too profitable an industry to be deterred by harsher punishment. Instead we need to end this failed experiment called prohibition and regulate most, if not all, drugs. |
| 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. |
| Feb 9, 2007 |
New Program Aimed At Classroom Stoners "Every school in Vancouver, and I would say in the province, is struggling with a significant number of kids coming to school stoned," said Art Steinmann, the school board's project coordinator for SACY, or School-Age Children and Youth Substance Abuse Prevention. "It could be that any large high school of say 1,000 or 1,200 kids could easily have anywhere from 15 to 20 kids that would have shown up for part of the day under the influence." |
| Feb 11, 2007 |
Grow-Ops 'Subsidized' Canada's Crown mortgage corporation is "subsidizing" marijuana grow-ops with millions of dollars each year, some MPs say. Tory MP Patrick Brown said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. paid out $50-$80 million in insurance claims related to criminal activity last year -- including pot-growing operations disguised as family homes. He says policies must be adopted so insurance payouts covering criminals don't drive up premiums for honest home-buyers. [More prohibition related costs] |
| Feb 12, 2007 |
BC 'Exports' Marijuana Expertise Worldwide A different kind of brain drain is under way in B.C. as marijuana growers share their billions of dollars worth of skills with a worldwide audience. "We think they're exporting their expertise," said Supt. Paul Nadeau, director of the RCMP's national drug branch. "We've heard of it on an international scale." ....Sgt. Urquhart was reluctant to expand on the nature of the connections and the organization involved. But when Supt. Nadeau was asked who in B.C. is exporting their skills, his answer was simple -- "Everybody." [After possibly watching the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame_Canada" target="_blank">South Park (1999) movie</a> again, US officials were inspired to deny the existence of the internet and other factors, and directly blame Canadians once again for their woes] |
| Feb 13, 2007 |
Man Shot By Masked Trio During Violent Grow Rip A 38-year-old Richmond man is still in hospital recovering from a gunshot wound sustained in a marijuana grow rip operation Saturday night....A neighbour said RCMP showed up in the area looking not only for the three suspects, but the victim as well. [ If there was no prohibition, there would be no stories like this, therefore it is prohibition related, not drug related] |
| Feb 13, 2007 |
Giving Up Cannabis Saved Me, Says Margaret Trudeau Quitting cannabis has been an important part of her recovery from mental illness, Margaret Trudeau said Monday at a news conference in Vancouver for the Canadian Mental Health conference. [How timely for her public announcement that will make it much easier for son Justin's political aspirations. Also a perspective of one academic: She makes an unfortunately common error in terms of her understanding of causality. Maybe the increased cannabis use was a symptom of impending mental crises necessitating hospitalization instead of the cause of that hospitalization.] |
| Feb 16, 2007 |
The Quiet Americans Quietly and deliberately, over the past decade, the U.S. consulate on West Pender Street has built its own police service. Dubbed the Law Enforcement Working Group, or LEWG, it now has 12 agents. More are expected as Vancouver and Whistler prepare to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. Vancouver and Toronto are the only cities in Canada with U.S. law enforcement hubs, although one is in the works for Montreal. Senior U.S. agents in Ottawa oversee the work of the hubs. But the total number of U.S. agents in Canada remains classified. |
| Feb 17, 2007 |
Bill Would Force Landlords To Evict Suspected Criminals A Calgary MLA plans to introduce a private member's bill that, without using the Criminal Code, would force landlords to evict tenants from homes where drug use or prostitution is alleged. [Why worry about things like due process and rights] |
| Feb 17, 2007 |
Home Owner Disputes Inspection Bill The City of Pitt Meadows has now inspected seven homes in the past two weeks for abnormally high hydro consumption. The inspections are part of a three-month pilot project to eliminate residential marijuana grow operations through safety inspections. No marijuana operations were found at any of the seven homes in Pitt Meadows. |
| Feb 17, 2007 |
Appeal Court Takes Away Pot Trafficker's House He lost his weed and his freedom, and now a Grand Lake property owner has lost his home. The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal ruled Friday that a judge erred when he decided not to forfeit Rady Siek's home to the Crown in a marijuana cultivation case. |
| Feb 20, 2007 |
RCMP Zero In On Pot Growing Mission RCMP officers are gunning for marijuana grow operation owners within the district....Lemaitre said the marijuana police find is seldom for personal use. "This pot is meant for export and sale and that comes back to Canada in the way of cocaine and firearms," Lemaitre said, pointing to the recent arrest of a suspected gun smuggler at the Aldergrove border crossing. [Why do the police have so much time to deal with prohibition related crime, rather than crime that impacts citizens like robbery, assault, rape?] |
| Feb 20, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Refreshing Read Thank you to John Gleeson for writing such a sensible and honest article ( Drug profits and the big picture, Point of View, Feb. 18 ). It was so refreshing to read a drug-prohibition news piece backed up with science, facts and logic instead of quotes from police about their "beliefs" and ( questionable ) statistics. When discussing public health and safety issues, it's absolutely essential to be unbiased, unemotional and factual -- especially by referring to reputable and independent studies, such as the Fraser Institute report, which Gleeson mentioned. This is the kind of newspaper article we should see more often. Kudos to the Winnipeg Sun for running this important information. |
| Feb 21, 2007 |
Officers Abused Lawyer's Son: Lawsuit Claims Edmonton police officers detained and strip-searched the son of Edmonton defence lawyer Tom Engel after they threw away the evidence -- a marijuana cigarette -- of his alleged crime, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. |