Current Affairs (2008) -
Chronological (386 items)
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NS:
Maccan Man's Latest Marijuana Plea On Hold Ricky Simpson, 58, was to have entered a plea Monday to a charge of trafficking not more than three kilograms of cannabis resin. But the hearing in Amherst provincial court was cut short when Truro lawyer Linda Hupman told Judge Carole Beaton that the Crown and defence lawyers handling the case were not in attendance and were asking for a postponement until Feb. 28. | |
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This Soccer Mom Admits She Was Out of Her League at a Marijuana Smokefest Ah, yes, plunk a soccer mom in the midst of a muddy marijuana smokefest and behold her confusion. How many different shaped bongs can there possibly be? Who knew you could smoke a doobie the size of an Arnold Schwarzenegger cigar? And why is that guy inhaling his grass through a gas mask? | |
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The Growing Use Of Medical Marijuana Although fewer than 3,000 Canadians are licensed to use medical marijuana, it's estimated that between 400,000 and one million people in the country use cannabis as medication. The following is the first article in a series about the use of marijuana to treat medical conditions. | |
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AB:
Pot Activist Loses Bid To Have Charges Stayed CALGARY ( CNS ) -A medical marijuana activist has lost his bid to have drug-trafficking charges against him stayed in Alberta -- his second judicial setback in less than a week. Grant Krieger was looking for a constitutional exemption on Wednesday from his marijuana trafficking conviction, arguing his actions were protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Alberta Court of Appeal rejected Mr. Krieger's bid. | |
| Jan 1, 2008 |
Pot Users Slammed In Ruling Alberta's top court has dealt a blow to the province's pot smokers with a ruling upholding workplace drug-testing policies that were at risk. In a new decision from the Alberta Court of Appeal, a trio of judges overturned a controversial ruling from Justice Sheilah Martin that drew scorn from 2006 Tory leadership candidate Ted Morton. In that case, Martin ruled that a Fort McMurray employer discriminated against a worker named John Chiasson by firing him over a positive drug-test result. |
| Jan 1, 2008 |
PUB LTE: Medical Marijuana Grow-ops Okay For Kids Re: "Are the kids all right?" News, Dec. 21, 2007. You editorial asks "What kind of a parent would subject toddlers to the dangers of living in a marijuana grow operation?" Why, a parent who has a chronic medical condition and has a licence from Health Canada to set up a so-called "grow-op." Health Canada licenses these so-called "grow-ops" for critically and chronically ill Canadians from coast to coast to coast, and their regulations say nothing about children. When set up properly, home indoor gardens are just as safe as hot tubs. Indoor growing, done properly, is perfectly safe, but a well-crafted propaganda campaign on behalf of anti-marijuana groups ( basically just the police, those experts on medical issues ) seems to have infiltrated the national conversation and the media. <br /><br /> TIM MEEHAN |
| Jan 2, 2008 |
Open Letter to Justice Minister Rob Nicholson Dear Mr. Nicholson: On Jan. 21, 2008 an extradition hearing will begin in Vancouver for Marc Emery, Canada's pre-eminent activist for the legalization of marijuana. Marc has been charged in the U.S. with conspiring to manufacture and distribute marijuana, and conspiring to launder money. If convicted under U.S. law, he faces possible life imprisonment without parole. |
| Jan 3, 2008 |
Job Drug-Testing Debate Not Over A court ruling against a fired marijuana user won't stop the province's human rights commission seeking changes to workplace drug-testing policies, a lawyer on the case said yesterday. "I think automatic termination is troubling because you're denying someone employment," said Arman Chak, an Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission lawyer who represented the fired worker, John Chiasson, during a recent court case. |
| Jan 3, 2008 |
PUB LTE: 'The Folly Of Marijuana Use' 'THE FOLLY OF MARIJUANA USE' Karen Selick is incredibly naive if she thinks a puppet like Justice Minister Rob Nicholson is going to do the right thing when it comes to marijuana activist Marc Emery. He, like his boss "Steve," answers to the White House. Russell Barth, Ottawa. |
| Jan 4, 2008 |
A Matter of National Sovereignty On Dec. 31, the National Post comment pages published an open letter by columnist Karen Selick that asked Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to intervene in the extradition process against "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery, which is scheduled to begin Jan. 21. |
| Jan 4, 2008 |
PUB LTE: Pot Has Improved Their Lives n 2002 my wife was having up to three epileptic seizures each week. In May of that year she quit using the pharmaceuticals that were failing to prevent the seizures and started using cannabis daily. In 2007, she had only four seizures in total. Video footage of one of her seizures has been on YouTube for almost a year ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV40H_g-NJo ), with over 150,000 views. My wife and I each use between two and 2.5 grams of cannabis every day, inhaling it through a vaporizer, which delivers about four times the medicine as the same amount when smoked. I use cannabis to combat the myriad symptoms of Fibromyalgia. In the past 12 months, I have stopped using my mechanical wheelchair and returned to the stand-up comedy stage. Using cannabis every three hours has improved both of our lives dramatically. We are healthier, happier and more community-oriented. "Folly" indeed. Russell Barth, federal medical marijuana licence holder, Ottawa. |
| Jan 6, 2008 |
PUB LTE: Marijuana Ruling Naive Re: Mindelle Jacobs's Friday column. While the oilpatch is cheering because harmless marijuana users can now be booted off the job, no one has considered the unintended side effects of banning off-duty marijuana use. As seen in the U.S., most drug users subjected to testing switched to cocaine and meth from marijuana. Pot stays in your system up to three months, while one can use crack on a Friday night and test clean on Monday. This ruling will do nothing except increase hard drug use in rural workplaces. Anyone who thinks a crack cocaine or meth user is more desirable than a casual marijuana smoker on a work site needs to have their head examined. Tim Meehan |
| Jan 7, 2008 |
Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Property Seizure The Supreme Court of Canada will scrutinize Ontario's Civil Remedies Act after granting a Toronto-area man leave to appeal an Ontario Court of Appeal decision that backed the seizure of his property. Police found Robin Chatterjee in 2003 in a vehicle, carrying $29,020 in cash and equipment often used in marijuana grow operations, but he was not charged. |
| Jan 7, 2008 |
Doctors More Open to Medicinal Pot: Study After first opposing the use of medicinal marijuana, some Canadian doctors have warmed to the idea. A study for Health Canada says doctors support the use of cannabis when all other conventional treatments have failed. The study is based on the testimonials of 30 Canadian doctors. |
| Jan 8, 2008 |
Why Is Canada Copying Failure? Author: Larry Campbell: Is there really anyone anywhere in Canada who believes that U.S. drug policies are working? Or that they are deserving of being copied here? This is the direction Prime Minister Stephen Harper would have us go. More prisons and more people in prisons has not worked for our southern neighbours, and there is no logic behind the move to increase criminal penalties for drugs. |
| Jan 8, 2008 |
PUB LTE: Pot Full Of Science Re: "Doctors more open to medicinal pot: Study," ( Jan. 7 ) No surprise to me when there is so much science available in regards to medicinal cannabis. I am saddened when I look at 12 states in the U.S. that have legal medicinal cannabis programs now and every one of them has more people signed up to use legal medicinal in one year than Canada has signed up in five years of having a legal medicinal cannabis program in place. I always liked to believe Canada was one of the more compassionate countries. The facts show that is not the case -- sadly. Keith Fagin |
| Jan 9, 2008 |
The Prince of Pot Deserves B.C. Support Emery is scheduled for an extradition hearing Jan. 21. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency wants to take him across the border and try him on charges relating to the marijuana seed business he ran flagrantly and successfully in Vancouver for years. |
| Jan 9, 2008 |
Hemp Heads Mainstream Heather Heron wants people to know hemp fabric is about so much more than those gaudy-looking, rough, hooded shirts for sale in environmental shops. "They're making so many beautiful blends of it," she said, "you wouldn't know the difference between that and a really beautiful piece of linen." |
| Jan 10, 2008 |
Federal Court strikes down regulation limiting growers of medical marijuana Ottawa Loses Marijuana Fight : The federal government lost another court challenge to its controversial medical marijuana program, and now has 30 days to decide whether to appeal the ruling that declared one of its key policies unconstitutional. Under the current set of regulations, licensed producers are only allowed to grow the drug for one patient at a time. Federal Court Judge Barry Strayer said that the one-to-one ratio violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The decision, the latest in a string of court cases, will essentially mean more choice for approved medical marijuana users and should provide easier access for them to the drug. The Decision is posted here <a href="/legal/caraselJan08.pdf" target="_blank">Carasel Harvest decision</a> |
| Jan 10, 2008 |
BC:
Driving High As the Counterattack Road Check season winds down, Saanich police were surprised by one memorable night that saw the number of drivers caught driving while high on marijuana exceed those caught for drinking and driving. |