Current Affairs (2006) -
Letters (313 items)
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| Oct 5, 2006 |
Column: Harper's No Sage Socrates believed that the unexamined life is not worth living, and last week's budget cuts by the Harper government to the Law Commission of Canada, the Court Challenges Program and the medical marijuana research fund show that this administration is committed to unexamined ignorance in governance. I may not be interested in having philosopher kings run this country, but it would be nice if those in power at least had the desire to develop public policy based on information, debate and analysis. |
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| Oct 5, 2006 |
US CO:
Hippie-Hating And -Baiting Possession of an ounce of marijuana by adults will be legal if Colorado's Amendment 44 wins. ... Amendment 44 is about more than marijuana: It's about civil rights and America's future. "Yeah, the '60s are over with," the man growls, "but they forgot to tell them that up in Boulder." Or, apparently, in a good portion of Colorado. Today, hippies aren't supposed to exist; yet, look around, and there they are, the majority of whom had yet to be born when the '60s ended. I'd estimate that nationally, hippies comprise about 10 percent of the population; in Colorado, that figure is probably higher. We tend to recite the cliche that hippies no longer exist because powerful forces in America want us to think just that. They consider the counterculture a menace to Western civilization, something with no rightful place in today's America. |
| Oct 6, 2006 |
Out Of Jail And Into Politics Michel Ethier walked out of the North Bay courthouse, stood in the afternoon sun and celebrated his freedom in a style befitting a pot activist. "This tastes good. I love it," he said, savouring a joint offered by a supporter after being released from custody Tuesday. Ethier filed his papers from jail to challenge incumbent Joanne Savage and newcomer Claude Arcand for the mayor's job in West Nipissing during the Nov. 13 municipal election. |
| Oct 6, 2006 |
A Smart Response To BC's Pot Habit Stephen Harper should take a hard look at this week's study on marijuana use from the University of Victoria's Centre for Addiction Research. It signals certain failure for the kind of law-and-order crackdown on the drug the Conservatives appear to favour. That shouldn't be a surprise, just as the study's findings shouldn't come as a shock. British Columbians are more likely both to use marijuana and to believe that it should be decriminalized. |
| Oct 6, 2006 |
CN NS:
Authorities Join Forces To Seize 6,000 Marijuana Plants A recent RCMP-led campaign against marijuana-growing operations pulled up 6,000 plants in Nova Scotia, a news release said Monday. |
| Oct 7, 2006 |
Medicinal Pot Dispute Closes Legion Branch MACCAN, N.S. - Officials with the Royal Canadian Legion have shut down a Nova Scotia branch after members used the local hall to promote the use of locally produced marijuana oil for cancer patients. The legion's Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command temporarily suspended the charter of the Maccan branch and ousted its executive. Provincial command chairman Steve Wessel said the legion name, insignia and buildings cannot be used to promote the use of illegal substances. |
| Oct 7, 2006 |
Heady Times With Tommy Chong Tommy, who found fame in the comedy duo Cheech and Chong and as the old hippie in That '70s Show, was in Victoria last weekend to promote his new book. The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint is a non-fiction recap of his nine months in the slammer after getting busted for shipping bongs to a Pennsylvania head shop. |
| Oct 7, 2006 |
Local Cops Weed Out Nearly 40,000 Pot Plants In A joint police force initiative to eradicate marijuana has netted almost 40,000 plants in and around Ottawa over six weeks. Project Sabot is an annual effort that runs across the country, targeting grow ops and eliminating pot distribution. Aerial patrols locate and seize marijuana crops. |
| Oct 10, 2006 |
Man Says Hemp Oil Cured His Cancer "The attention to this story is going across Canada and that means people will find out about this hemp oil and what it can do to save lives," Mr. Dwyer said Sunday. He was referring to an essential oil a local man produces from the buds and leaves of the hemp plant. Mr. Dwyer, a past president of the Maccan legion, and other executive members got into a spot of trouble with the Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of the Royal Canadian Legion because of the oil. "I did research for over a year and a half, I spoke to at least 30 people with diseases like cancer and diabetes wounds who were cured by this oil, and I felt we had a duty to make sure people knew of this," he said. ...."It cured my sister's cancer and my wife's arthritis - she was taking medicine and was still in horrible pain for 13 years - this oil is amazing," said Mr. Dwyer, 51. "My father, who is 82 years old, was given 48 hours to live because of his cancer and that was in June - I took him off all his medicines and gave him this oil and he's cured." |
| Oct 12, 2006 |
Victoria Cop Obstructed Justice Victoria police officer Ravinder ( Rob ) Singh Dosanjh has been found guilty of obstruction of justice in a case linked to the December 2003 police raids on the B.C. legislature. |
| Oct 12, 2006 |
Judge Calls Ex-Con an Expert Convicted Drug Producer Testifies in Local Marijuana-Growing Case Les Soloman has been before a few judges in his time. A three-time convicted drug producer, he's no stranger to local courtrooms. But yesterday, the 48-year-old Cambridge man was called to court, not to answer for another crime, but for his expertise -- in growing pot. Soloman knows a lot about it after more than 20 years in the field, so to speak. So when his lawyer, Hal Mattson, called on him to testify for the defence in a local marijuana-growing case, he accepted. |
| Oct 12, 2006 |
600,000 Reasons Why Pot Policy Doomed ...last week's report on marijuana use in B.C. from the University of Victoria's Centre for Addiction Research should be a reminder of the need to overhaul our policies on pot. And it should be a special warning to the Harper government that tougher enforcement, longer sentences and hardline rhetoric are doomed to be costly failures. In B.C. especially, an effort to wipe out marijuana use - and by extension production and sale - has about the same chance of success as banning alcohol. Governments concerned about the negative effects of marijuana use need to come up with a smarter approach. |
| Oct 13, 2006 |
'Poor' Pot From Only Legal Grow-Op Pot activists are blaming the federal Tories for wasting potential research dollars by extending a contract with Canada's only legal grow-op, just weeks after slashing funding for medicinal marijuana studies. |
| Oct 13, 2006 |
Electoral-Law Edict Boosts Small Parties An Ontario judge has struck down an electoral law that permitted large federal political parties to fill their coffers with public money at the expense of smaller parties. Superior Court Judge Ted Matlow ruled yesterday that the law is undemocratic, unequal and stunts the growth of small parties for no valid reason. The money will be awarded retroactively to 2003 and, including interest charges, brings the total the parties will share to approximately $500,000...The coalition that challenged the law includes the Marijuana Party; the Christian Heritage Party; the Canadian Action Party; the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada; the Green Party; the Progressive Canadian Party; and the Communist Party of Canada. |
| Oct 14, 2006 |
What Are They Smoking? Legalization advocates arguing the cannabis issue are often greeted by complaints from the anti-drug set, and from jittery physicians, that the medical benefits and hazards of marijuana are too poorly researched to permit widespread use. This is a remarkable claim in many different ways. Where, for instance, was this shining precautionary principle when Vioxx was being handed out like Halloween candy to patients at risk of cardiac complications? A PubMed search for "marijuana" reveals more than 10,000 published, peer-reviewed articles on the subject; surely some of these discuss the effects and risks of pot? |
| Oct 14, 2006 |
The Folly Of Anti-drug Laws History is supposed to teach us lessons. But when it comes to drug use and abuse, two professors are arguing we as a society have failed to learn from the past...."The debate hinges far less on the scientific evidence than deep-rooted moral schisms . . . and there's a tremendous financial stake in prohibition. There's a lot of jobs on the line." |
| Oct 18, 2006 |
US Begins Air Patrols On Alberta Border The "longest undefended border in the world" is becoming anything but. Jets and helicopters began continuous patrols of the airspace above the Montana-Alberta border starting on Mon, Oct 16, coinciding with the opening of the Great Falls Air Branch at the airport in Great Falls, Montana by the US Customs and Border Protection, part of the US Department of Homeland Security. |
| Oct 19, 2006 |
Officers Charged In Botched Drug Bust Two Royal Canadian Mounted Police ( RCMP ) officers were charged with attempting to obstruct justice today in connection with a botched drug bust last year at Mississauga's Pearson International Airport. |
| Oct 26, 2006 |
Top court overturns pot activist's conviction An Alberta medical marijuana activist was deprived of his constitutional right to a jury trial when his trial judge instructed two sympathetic jurors to nonetheless find him guilty, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled today. READ RULING: <a href="http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2006/2006scc47/2006scc47.html" target="_blank">SUPREME COURT OF CANADA vs Grant W. Krieger</a> |
| Oct 26, 2006 |
Cop Guilty A former 17-year veteran of the St. Thomas Police Service received a conditional discharge Wednesday after pleading guilty to drug and firearms charges..... Armstrong, formerly a police constable, tendered his resignation to Chief Bill Lynch Wednesday morning. |