Current Affairs (2007) -
Chronological (432 items)
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| Jul 11, 2007 |
Legalizing Pot Makes Sense What's really remarkable about Canada's status as a cannabis capital is that if you were to set out looking for reasons to worry about it - -- reasons that do not amount to disliking it for its own sake -- you would have an awfully hard time finding them....That would seem to leave very little, aside from the omnipresent trade and travel considerations that come from being a neighbour of the U.S., to stand logically in the way of decriminalization. |
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| Jul 12, 2007 |
Morality Squad Should Lay Off Kieran King didn't even make it to his 16th birthday before being metaphorically shot down by the morality squad. King, a Grade 10 student at Saskatchewan's Wawota Parkland School, was handed a three-day suspension for protesting the school's reaction to his views on marijuana. |
| Jul 12, 2007 |
Walking Backwards Into A Wall If politics is supposed to lead the nation in debate, we're being taken for quite a ride when it comes to pot and the law. Discovering that, in 2006, Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Halifax experienced up to 50-per-cent increases in cannabis-related arrests, is like walking backwards into a wall.... It's about time that we get over the stigma associated with many of the false assumptions that dominate this debate, and pragmatically move forward on eliminating pot prohibition. As someone who has both walked the streets as a member of the RCMP's drug squad and examined legislation for passage into law as a Senator, I have a sharp understanding of what constitutes a criminal. Those that use pot just don't fit the profile. |
| Jul 13, 2007 |
<h2>Judge rules Canada's pot possession laws unconstitutional</h2> A Toronto judge has ruled that Canada's pot possession laws are unconstitutional after a man argued the country's medicinal marijuana regulations are flawed. The man has no medical issues and doesn't want a medical exemption to smoke marijuana....In court, the man argued that the federal government only made it policy to provide marijuana to those who need it, but never made it an actual law. Because of that, he argued, all possession laws, whether medicinal or not, should be quashed....The judge agreed and dismissed the charges.Borenstein has given prosecutors two weeks before he makes his ruling official. |
| Jul 13, 2007 |
The Police Aren't Experts On Drug Use When the renowned social scientists of the Canadian Police Association testified to a Senate committee on illicit drugs, they claimed there is lots of evidence that liberal drug policies lead to greater drug use. "Legalization and permissiveness will increase drug use and abuse substantially," a spokesman told the senators. ..The experts I listen to are scientists. "Existing research seems to indicate that there is little apparent relationship between severity of sanctions prescribed for drug use and prevalence or frequency of use," concluded a 2001 report by a panel of the National Research Council, one of the U.S. National Academies of Science, probably the most esteemed scientific body in the world. |
| Jul 14, 2007 |
What's Really Fuelling This Economic Boom? While Canada ranked behind the U.S. and Mexico - which "may be the world's largest cannabis herb producers," according to the report - we're still known around the world for our B.C. bud. And with just 13.1 per cent of Canada's population, according to 2004 figures, our 40 per cent share of the nation's pot production adds up to a lot of grow ops per capita. |
| Jul 17, 2007 |
Marijuana Possession Ruling May Cause Some 'Confusion' A recent ruling about Canada's pot laws might make it difficult to crack down on simple possession, legal experts say. But don't rush out and roll a joint in public just yet. Alan Young, Osgoode Hall law professor and marijuana legalization activist, said yesterday the grace period may not last long and doesn't stop cops from doing their job. |
| Jul 18, 2007 |
We're Not Dopes Recent results about marijuana use raised more than a few eyebrows in this nation: Canada is tops in the industrialized world in terms of marijuana use... So, we are tops among Western countries in terms of pot use. It could be worse. We could be the biggest cocaine snorters on the planet. That dubious honour goes to Spain. Iran wins out for heroin, Australia for ecstasy and the Philippines for amphetamines. |
| Jul 18, 2007 |
Pot Laws Do More Harm Than Good How many people you know have used marijuana in the past year? Would you consider them criminals? ...We hope that Senator Larry Campbell's call for decriminalization for small amounts of marijuana once again gains traction. He rightly points out that 600,000 Canadians who have been charged with marijuana possession offences have criminal records, [Actually there were 600,000 criminal records in the early 1990's. See <a href="http://www.mapinc.org/newstcl/v97/n000/a008.html">Source</a> It is estimated to be 1.5 million now. See <a href="http://www.johnhoward.ca/document/drugs/fact/1.htm" target="_blank">Source</a>] |
| Jul 18, 2007 |
Marijuana Maverick Says It's About Rights Two weeks ago a civil suit, launched by Reimer, was thrown out of court with Ottawa Justice C. McKinnon saying that Reimer "was the author of his own misfortune."... "It's not publicity," says Reimer, who's been lighting up joints on a daily basis since he was 13. "What I want to do is to make sure people stand up for their right." With tears filling his eyes, he adds, "I love my county; it's getting less and less free all the time and it's very scary." |
| Jul 20, 2007 |
The Wrong Course On Marijuana It's disheartening to see Canada sliding backwards on drugs, embracing policies that have been proven to do considerable damage while accomplishing nothing. Policies like treating marijuana possession as a criminal offence. ...It is foolish to continue down such a destructive, costly path. |
| Jul 20, 2007 |
Marijuana Laws Beyond Ridiculous The issue has nothing to do with whether marijuana is bad for you. The issue was and is do you deserve a criminal record or even jail time simply for lighting a joint? The answer is of course you don't . Criminal records are for criminals. Rapists, murderers, child molesters, even drunk drivers and petty vandals are criminals. Pot smokers are not...Marijuana laws aren't just wrong they're beyond ridiculous and nearly everybody knows it. Everybody except our government apparently. |
| Jul 20, 2007 |
BC:
Five Children Detained Five children have been detained by the Ministry of Family and Social Services after they were found in a large marijuana grow-op. Police yesterday said the children, all younger than 16, were at a home in the 4300-block Blair Drive when police raided the premises Tuesday and found over 1,000 marijuana plants. A man was arrested at the scene. |
| Jul 21, 2007 |
Family Values Going Up In Smoke Provincial police say the mother, in her 40s, and the daughter, in her 20s, lit up while sitting in a parked car on Harbour Road before the start of Wednesday' Nickelback concert. Call us old-fashioned, but we find it deeply unsettling when parents take recreational drugs with their kids. And far from being the exception, family drug cases are coming to court with increasingly regularity. [Kids in their 20's are considered adults, and it would be perfectly okay for them to go to a bar and drink with a parent, or share cigarettes... hypocrites] |
| Jul 22, 2007 |
Medicinal Pot Battle Hits Home Rudy Seegobin is licensed by Health Canada to grow his own pot for medicinal reasons. Seegobin, 41, suffers from Crohn's disease, a twisted spinal cord and severe arthritis... The only problem is his house is adjoined to another and the neighbour claims the smell of marijuana permeates through the walls. [If someone was growing vegetables, would they be faced with the same scenario? Police propaganda spread via the media is to blame for situations like this] |
| Jul 23, 2007 |
Canada Deserves a Full Debate Abou Canada deserves a full debate about marijuana. But it serves no purpose to malign prohibition per es as simple-minded. Most people are law-abiding. When the law prohibits pot or liquor, millions are content to do as they're told. [Welcome to the nanny state mentality] |
| Jul 23, 2007 |
You're Being Watched How many of you adults were affected by the oldest brother or sister in the family?... For you teens, think about your little brother or sister before you make a mistake they won't soon forget, say no to drugs and alcohol. |
| Jul 24, 2007 |
AB:
RCMP Seize Medical Pot User's Plants An Evansburg man who takes pot for his pain fears he's about to get sicker after police seized his weed yesterday. ..."According to Health Canada, there is no licence in place for this individual," said Cpl. James House of the Evansburg RCMP. Chorney, though, said he was in the midst of getting his licence renewed in order to move his plants outdoors. [Many legal exemptees have stated that the police subject them to raids and prosecution after the government fails to provide them with timely protection. How can police cause so much harm to the sick and still sleep at night?] |
| Jul 26, 2007 |
The Scary Science of Marijuana Scientific developments have established that as many as one in four cannabis users is genetically at risk for developing schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder. [All the drugs children are prescribed like Ritlan and Adderall are having no effect on developing brains?] |
| Jul 30, 2007 |
Men Get Jail Time For Impersonating Police Officers A Superior Court judge showed little sympathy on Friday for three men who dressed as police officers while trying to rip off a marijuana grow-op near Head Lake in 2003. |