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Current Affairs 2008 - Government (110 items)
| Feb 26, 2008 | BC: Powerful Drive To Uncover Pot Grow Ops High Hydro readings are helping pinpoint properties in Courtenay where illegal grow-op activity could be taking place.
The electricity stats are powering a drive to track down indoor marijuana operations and arrest operators.
The City of Courtenay has teamed up with the RCMP and B.C. Hydro for the new program, which has already delivered startling results in Coquitlam and Surrey on the Lower Mainland.
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| Feb 22, 2008 | War On Drugs Is Blowing Up In Our Faces, Expert Warns Oscapella is absolutely convinced that the prohibition of drugs is "the most significant failing of the criminal justice system of the 20th, and now, 21st centuries." ...
On this 100th anniversary of prohibition, maybe we have to ask ourselves, are we addicted to prohibition?
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| Feb 21, 2008 | Government Policy Keeps Couple Apart When MUN student Kirsten Joy moved in with her boyfriend Mike Dawe, she thought it would be forever.
But a year down the line, a government policy forced her to pack her bags and move across town, when she got a letter warning that she was not allowed to receive two forms of income support at once.
Joy receives a full student loan and Dawe collects government aid because he has a rare and debilitating genetic disorder called Marfan Syndrome, which affects his body's joints, connective tissues, and heart. ..."I really don't consider a student loan a form of income because it is something that I have to pay back," said Joy.
[Bureaucracy at it's finest] |
| Feb 18, 2008 | 100 Years Of Sobriety In Vancouver In 1923, without debate or discussion, it was announced that "there is a new drug in the schedule," and the use, sale, and possession of marijuana was made illegal, largely for fear that Mexican migrants and Negro jazz musicians would use it to seduce white women. It was understood that the laws would not be applied to the white populace.
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| Feb 14, 2008 | Drug Laws Rooted In Class Control We tend to take the law for granted, but sometimes its origins deserve a little thought.
For example, it's something of a puzzle why certain narcotics were seen as dangerous and criminalized in the early 20th century when before 1908, there were few restrictions placed on the sale or consumption of narcotics.
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| Feb 11, 2008 | Let's Hope These Cops Now Have The Message I can't recall the last reported incident of a shootout or police death during a raid on a B.C. grow-op.
And yet coroner statistics show that, since 1992, 267 citizens have lost their lives in B.C. during police-related incidents.
One involved the death of a young man with a channel-changer in his hand. Police who burst into his living room fired, thinking he had a gun.
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| Feb 9, 2008 | Safe-injection Clinics Are Okay, Legal Cannabis Is Not, Dion Says The federal Liberal Party has no intention of advocating the legalization of cannabis, but Leader Stephane Dion made it clear yesterday that under a Liberal government, other Canadian cities could have safe-injection sites like the one in Vancouver.
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| Feb 9, 2008 | NS: He's 'A Healer, Not A Dealer' AMHERST - A Maccan-area man who insists he has found the cure for cancer says he is leaving Canada for an unnamed country where he can live without fear of persecution or prosecution for taking and producing medicinal marijuana.
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| Feb 8, 2008 | BC: City Stands Behind Inspection Bylaw Richmond - The chair of the city's community safety committee is standing behind a bylaw that targets residential marijuana grow-ops, despite strong public reaction against it.
[Voters have to change their politicians, beginning at the local level and all the way up, if they want to be heard] |
| Feb 8, 2008 | BC: Appeal Grow-Op Ruling: Farnworth An accused pot grower caught a big break from a B.C. Supreme Court judge this week when his case was tossed out after the judge ruled the Surrey RCMP acted unreasonably during the raid on his house.
Mike Farnworth, the provincial NDP's public safety critic, has called on the attorney general to appeal the decision.
"I don't agree with this ruling," he said, fearing it might potentially hamper the ability of the police to take down grow ops.
[So what makes the NDP different from the Liberals or Conservatives? Why should anyone vote for them?] |
| Feb 8, 2008 | AB: Periodic Pooch Patrol A Positive Plan Attila Toldy and his police dog, Riff, have been given the go-ahead to start making random rounds at Elk Island Catholic School's ( EICS ) high schools within Strathcona County while kids are in class and out of the halls. Riff's powerful nose can sniff out crack, cocaine, psilocybin ( magic mushrooms ), marijuana and any other form of drug that police want him to.
[The procedure adds to ongoing evidence of creeping fascism with genocidal leanings unless the dog detects tobacco, alcohol,prescription and OTC drugs as well] |
| Feb 6, 2008 | BC: Business With Grow-Op Loses Licence Richmond - Operating a grow-op and keeping shoddy records were grounds used by city council to cancel a business licence and suspend another on Monday.
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| Feb 6, 2008 | ON: Rights body grants hearing to joint smoker An Ontario man who was told he was not allowed to smoke medical marijuana outside a local sports bar has been granted a hearing at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario, one of the first cases of its kind in Canadian history.
Steve Gibson, a father of two, is claiming he was discriminated against because of his disability after he was barred from Gator Ted's Tap and Grill in Burlington, Ont., in May, 2005, for smoking marijuana by the restaurant's front door.
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| Feb 1, 2008 | Understanding the Motivations for Recreational This exploratory qualitative research seeks to better understand both the motives for the
use of marijuana by adult Canadians* and their learned "drug experience" expectancies
through an examination of their subjective experiences with the drug. This neglected area
of research has implications for drug consumption prevention educators and treatment
counselors, particularly those who are wary of "statistical reductionism" and sensitive to
the clinical value of gaining an understanding of the subjective experiences of those who
use and misuse drugs (Feinstein, 1999).
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| Jan 31, 2008 | Carousel Harvest Appeal [PDF] The Crown is appealing the ruling that allows medical cannabis growers to grow for more than one patient. For more background, see:
Ottawa Loses Marijuana Fight
Federal Court strikes down regulation limiting growers of medical marijuana
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| Jan 29, 2008 | Man Sues Police For Wrecking Grow-op The Saanich Police Department is being sued by a man who claims his marijuana grow operation was damaged during a police raid, even though he had a Health Canada certificate to legally grow the substance. ..."Ninety-five [plants]... is well above personal consumption and most of it would go bad before the person could smoke it," said Price.
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| Jan 22, 2008 | Plea Bargain Talks Expected To Delay Emery Extradition Extradition proceedings against Marc Emery, Vancouver's self-styled Prince of Pot, were postponed Monday.
The B.C. Supreme Court put the hearing over until today. The proceedings were expected to be further adjourned until Feb. 6 while a plea bargain is negotiated.
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| Jan 18, 2008 | Constitutional Pot Challenge In Sechelt Provincial Court BC: The local courtroom is taking centre stage in a constitutional showdown on laws governing the possession of marijuana, after a written submission from Vancouver lawyer Kirk Tousaw on Tuesday.
Tousaw and Ryan Poelzer, an East Vancouver man charged with possession of marijuana on the Coast in late May, are pursuing a constitutional defence based on the non-viability of Health Canada's 2003 Marijuana Medical Access Regulation ( MMAR ).
"The courts have found, as recently as Jan. 2008, the MMAR is not constitutionally adequate," said Tousaw. "It's clear that the government can only prohibit possession of marijuana if it has a constitutionally adequate medical program."
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| Jan 17, 2008 | Extraditing The Prince Of Pot Many Canadians will be tuning in to witness the fate of self-proclaimed "Prince of Pot" and marijuana seed distributor Marc Emery. Since Harper took office, $64 million has been pledged in the anti-drug fight... A UN study released in 2007 estimated Canadian pot use is four times that of the global rate and the highest in the industrialized world,..Economics professors at the Fraser Institute estimate Canadians will spend $1.8 billion this year on marijuana,
Latest News: Extradition Hearing Adjourned - A press conference will take place at the BC Supreme Court at 800 Smithe Street, downtown Vancouver, at 10:00am on Tuesday, January 22nd. www.NoExtradition.net
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| Jan 17, 2008 | Pot Decision A Good Step Good for Judge Barry Strayer.
Most have probably not heard of the man, but he's the Ontario federal court judge whose recent ruling allows the sick among us to more easily obtain marijuana for medicinal purposes.
No matter your stance on the issue of pot, the facts are it helps many deal with symptoms of diseases and live decidedly more normal lives temporarily free of chronic pain.
About 2,000 Canadians carry prescriptions allowing them to legally purchase the intoxicating weed.
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