Current Affairs (2006) -
Culture (313 items)
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| Jun 22, 2006 |
Ex-Officers Arrested MONTREAL -- Two former police officers were arrested yesterday as part of a drug ring that made weekly shipments to the United States, the RCMP said. .. was among the <strong>36 people arrested</strong> and charged during raids that took place early yesterday....<strong>About 350 police officers,</strong> including members of the RCMP, Quebec provincial police and aboriginal police, carried out the drug raids. [Besides netting two corrupt cops, a big 'make work' project paid for from the public purse to hire 10 fully armed police for every one arrestee. At what point will the absurdity become too much?] |
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| Jun 25, 2006 |
Cookin' With Cannabis Barth and his wife, Christine Lowe, put on a cooking clinic during the Ravenswing Craft and Zine Fair at the community centre yesterday.... Barth and Lowe can be cavalier about their pot use because they hold federal licences to use the bud for medicinal purposes. |
| Jun 26, 2006 |
Sask Marijuana Party Raises Money For Food Bank With a cannabis leaf flag flapping and the sounds of the jazz festival in the backgroud, the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party held a barbecue in Kiwanis Park Saturday afternoon to raise money for its coffers and for the Saskatoon Food Bank. |
| Jun 27, 2006 |
UN - Potent Pot No Soft Drug <br><strong>Report Says The Effects Of Canada's Cannabis Now Rival Those Of Cocaine, Heroin</strong> <br> The increasing potency of marijuana -- spurred on by hydroponic growers in places such as B.C. -- means the world should no longer consider pot a "soft" drug, according to a report released Monday by the United Nations. "Today, the harmful characteristics of cannabis are no longer that different from those of other plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin," Antonio Maria Costa, director of the UN's Office on Drugs and Crimes, said in a written statement. [I never believed they could revive Reefer Madness and get away with it, but these masters of propaganda have been perfecting their techniques for many, many years.] <br> <a href="http://www.tni.org/" target="_blank">Transnational Institute</a> Press Release <br> June 26, 2006 <br> <a href="http://cannabiscoalition.ca/html/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=349#349" target="_blank">UNODC World Drug Report 2006 full of scientific insults</a> In its 2006 World Drug Report, released today, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) struggles to fabricate success stories about the effectiveness of the global drug control regime. Flawed comparisons are constructed with higher opium production levels a century ago, with higher prevalence figures for tobacco, and biased claims are made about cannabis. Martin Jelsma, coordinator of the Transnational Institute?s Drugs & Democracy Programme, after a quick read of the report today, considers it to be ?full of scientific insults?. <center>[<a href="http://cannabiscoalition.ca/html/index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=349#349" target="_blank">Read More....</a>]</center> <br> From: Campbell, Larry W.: SEN <br> Sent: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 8:40 AM<br> Subject: Re: UNODC World Drug Report 2006 full of scientific insults <br> UNODC Executive Director, Antonio Maria Costa claims that the world is experiencing a devastating ?cannabis pandemic?. This gentleman is the same person who said we were putting "cannabis oil" on pasta. It was pointed out that is was hemp oil which is not a sativa product. He didn't know the difference and appeared not to care. Simply another high paid UN stooge. Isn't it amazing that the US only supports the UN when they toe the US "drug war" line.<br><br> Senator Larry Campbell <br> Ps. Feel free to distribute this email. |
| Jun 27, 2006 |
Police Officer Faces Trafficking Charges A 14-year veteran of the Montreal police department was charged in court yesterday with drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy to import drugs and possession of the proceeds of crime. |
| Jun 27, 2006 |
Marijuana Use 'Out of Control' Worldwide: UN Official. Marijuana use worldwide is "out of control" because it grows everywhere, is in high demand and erroneously is considered by many to be harmless, a senior United Nations official said on Monday. Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, highlighted the marijuana problem at a news conference as he released his office's 2006 World Drug Report. |
| Jun 29, 2006 |
Casual Pot Use A Disability, Alberta Judge Finds <br><strong>HUMAN RIGHTS LEGISLATION CITED</strong> <br> EDMONTON - An Alberta judge has ruled that a construction company discriminated against a man when it fired him from an oilsands project after his pre-employment drug screening tested positive for marijuana. <br> Instead, Justice Sheilah Martin said the man -- a recreational user -- should have been treated the same way as someone with a drug addiction, which is considered a disability in a growing body of human rights case law across Canada. <br> <strong>Although he never used drugs at work and was not a drug addict, the policy treated him like he was, Judge Martin wrote. The requirement that he be tested for drugs with an automatic penalty for a positive test is on its face discriminatory, she said. </strong> [A victory? ] |
| Jun 30, 2006 |
BC: Properties Must Be Inspected Every 3 Months Landlords will be required to make mandatory inspections of their rental properties every three months, if a proposed anti-drug bylaw is adopted by Langley Township council. [Homeowner = some privacy rights, Renter = no privacy rights. Slowly our freedom and rights disappear for metaphorical wars, and surprisingly, very few are concerned about it.] |
| Jul 1, 2006 |
Stay Set Aside, New Trial Ordered by Court of Appeal A case that saw 100 pounds of pot seized on the Trans-Canada Highway is headed back to trial after the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled a bid by the defence to get RCMP data was a "fishing expedition." Drug charges against Margaret Jean Fitch originally went up in smoke when the Crown failed to produce information about RCMP vehicle stops and searches that had been requested by the defence. The charges against the 36-year-old B.C. woman were stayed, prompting the Crown to appeal. |
| Jul 1, 2006 |
Judge Won't Accept Guilty Plea A man's attempt to plead guilty in court this week was derailed by a legal precedent that could support his acquittal. Justice Mark Hornblower said he would not accept the guilty plea to a charge of marijuana possession based on a previous ruling by himself, in which he said random drug searches at schools violate the Charter of Rights' protection against unreasonable search and seizure. |
| Jul 1, 2006 |
Crime Stoppers Tip Line Enjoys Banner Year Up to 75 per cent of calls are drug related, involving information about drug trafficking, marijuana grow operations, etc. "We have a lot of repeat tipsters, which shows they have confidence in our program," said Houliston. Crimestoppers belies our core values to reject betrayal and deceit, in favour of honesty, intergrity and decency, by creating an avenue for people to snitch on one another - not out of indignation or offense to our common good, but to punish someone they have a beef with, or to provide easy money to those who prey on illicit substance users by befriending them, then turning them in. |
| Jul 2, 2006 |
Tories Keep Medical Pot As much as the Tories would probably love to ditch the medical marijuana program, they have quietly extended the contract with the government's official pot grower.... The five-year, $5.7-million deal the Liberals inked with Prairie Plant Systems, which grows Ottawa's weed in an abandoned mine in Manitoba, expired Friday ( after a six-month extension was previously granted ). [While other growers of that magnitude are MAKING $5.7-million in NON-TAXABLE income over 5 years, the government is SPENDING $5.7-million in TAXPAYER MONEY over 5 years on the pot trade, yet no alarm bells seem to be going off... in fact , the status quo is reinforced more than ever at every level.] |
| Jul 3, 2006 |
It's Time To Take Ragers Off The Road Opinions Differ On The Causes Of Road Rage, But One Thing Is Clear: People With Anger Issues Don't Belong Behind The Wheel ... researchers think it's ... a medical condition called <strong>intermittent explosive disorder</strong>. A Canadian study ..found frequent road ragers were more likely to take ecstasy... cocaine, cannabis and alcohol. The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health concluded that drugs and alcohol are the main cause of angry, erratic behaviour behind the wheel. [Big Pharma is working overtime to pump out the "disease of the day" so they can peddle their latest cure to replace the mostly less harmful substances some people choose to self-medicate with:<br> Psychotropic medications used with Intermittent Explosive Disorder.<br> Carbamazepine (Tegretol and others).<br> Divalproex (Depakote).<br> Fluoxetine (Prozac).<br> Gabapentin (Neurontin).<br> Lamotrigine (Lamictal).<br> P henytoin (Dilantin).<br> Sertraline (Zoloft).<br> Venlafaxine (Effexor).<br> |
| Jul 4, 2006 |
Maclean's Poll 2006: What we believe When it comes to marijuana, that most contentious of plants, Canadians are, if anything, more in favour of legalization now than ever. Sixty-three per cent of us say we accept recreational pot use in general (including 29 per cent who wholly approve of the practice). Support jumps even higher -- to a whopping 93 per cent acceptance rate -- when it comes to the legal use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. By contrast, only about a third of Americans say they would support legalization |
| Jul 6, 2006 |
Ottawa Making Medical Pot 'Almost Impossible' Too Many Hurdles, Lawyer Tells Court CALGARY - The government provides a legal method for a person to grow and possess marijuana for personal medical reasons, but makes it "almost impossible" to do so, a lawyer argued yesterday. John Hooker, counsel for longtime Calgary pot crusader Grant Krieger, told provincial court Justice William Pepler the medical marijuana issue is similar to the abortion issue, in which the government permits women to legally have abortions, then puts many hurdles in place. |
| Jul 6, 2006 |
US Wants Emery Extradited U.S. officials say they're irritated by the slow speed of Canada's response to extradition requests. And they say a prime example is the case of Vancouver marijuana seed king Marc Emery, who faces a request for extradition to the U.S. to face charges of marijuana distribution and money laundering. "This 'Prince of Pot' -- Emery -- he still hasn't had his first extradition hearing," said Jeff Sullivan, criminal prosecution chief for the U.S. Attorney office in western Washington State. "It's those kinds of things that are frustrating to us." |
| Jul 6, 2006 |
Ease Pot Restrictions - CAS A new study from the Canadian AIDS Society ( CAS ) says Canadians living with HIV/AIDS and other serious illnesses need better access to medical marijuana. The study report identifies barriers that prevent patients from getting a reliable and affordable supply of medical pot and proposes ways to make access easier. |
| Jul 7, 2006 |
Owner Of B.C. Cafe That Sold Marijuana Pleads Guilty The owner of a cafe that openly sold marijuana in a trendy Vancouver neighbourhood two years ago pleaded guilty yesterday to trafficking charges. Carol Gwilt, the owner of the now-defunct Da Kine Cafe, pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana for trafficking and possession of the proceeds of crime. In a surprise move at her B.C. Supreme Court sentencing on two unrelated charges, Gwilt said on "solemn reflection" she decided to take responsibility and spare everyone the expense of the jury trial for the Da Kine counts. |
| Jul 12, 2006 |
Helicopter Height Issue In Drug Bust he height of a heat-detecting helicopter proved to be the key issue in a pot-growing case against a Christina Lake resident in Grand Forks Provincial Court Monday. Defence counsel Stan Tessmer asked Judge Don Sperry to stay a charge of production of a controlled substance because the helicopter was using forward-looking infrared scanning below 1,000 feet. A recent Supreme Court of Canada ruling said such scanning could infringe privacy rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The charges stemmed from a raid Aug. 27, 2005 in which police seized 700 marijuana plants after hotspots were detected by helicopter surveillance. |
| Jul 19, 2006 |
Nelson Shop Owner Busted One of the owners of the Holy Smoke Culture Shop in Nelson is vowing to fight on in his advocacy of marijuana despite new criminal charges laid against him. Paul DeFelice, 48, was busted Saturday on charges of possession and trafficking of pot. "We're going to persevere," DeFelice insisted yesterday. "The show will go on. We're in it to the bitter end." |