Current Affairs (2007) -
Chronological (432 items)
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| Oct 23, 2007 |
Europeans Know Drug Abuse Is an Illness, Not a Crime Europe has a drug problem, and knows it. But the Europeans' approach to it is quite different from the North American "war on drugs." I spend 120 days a year in Europe as a travel writer, so I decided to see for myself how it's working. I talked with locals, researched European drug policies and even visited a smoky marijuana "coffee shop" in Amsterdam. I got a close look at the alternative to a war on drugs. Europeans are well aware of the North American track record against illegal drug use. |
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| Oct 23, 2007 |
Judge Gets Tough With Pot Grower Saying the community is fed up with light sentences that do nothing to curb the "epidemic" proliferation of marijuana grow houses here, a Windsor judge Monday gave a Woodbridge, Ont., woman a 21-month sentence, six months more than what the prosecution was seeking. |
| Oct 23, 2007 |
RCMP Refused To Test Crew For Drugs David Hahn, president of BC Ferries, repeatedly asked to have the bridge crew of the Queen of the North tested for drugs and alcohol in the hours after the ship crashed and sank, but RCMP investigators refused. |
| Oct 24, 2007 |
Party Has High Hopes A user of medicinal marijuana in Regina has joined the race for a seat in Saskatchewan's legislature to push for a greener society -- and he doesn't mean the environment. Tom Shapiro, 51, has let his name stand as Saskatchewan Marijuana Party candidate for the riding of Regina Coronation Park. |
| Oct 25, 2007 |
Trustee Charged With Growing Pot for Trafficking A Manitoba school trustee has been charged with growing marijuana and possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking. |
| Oct 25, 2007 |
Hair Test Kit Can Spot Kids' Drug Use An American company has come up with a home drug-testing kit for parents who suspect their kids are up to no good. Parents can already use GPS tracking devices in cars or cell phones to monitor their teens' whereabouts and online monitoring tools to track their kids' Internet usage. Now, for $64.99 US, HairConfirm can let parents know within 48 hours if their teen is using drugs. "It can test for seven different drugs -- including amphetamines, cocaine, ecstasy, PCP and marijuana," said Confirm BioSciences CEO Zeynep Ilgaz, whose San Diego-based company posted revenues last year of $2.6 million. [Follow the money - who cares how it affects kids and their parental relationships. No wonder more kids are abusing deadly prescription drugs] |
| Oct 25, 2007 |
Burnaby Grow-Op Raises Child Welfare Concerns B.C. social workers are calling for a code to investigate children living in houses with marijuana grow operations, after Burnaby RCMP found three children under 5 in a Burnaby operation this month. |
| Oct 25, 2007 |
Pot And The Ferry The Transportation Safety Board last week raised some disturbing concerns about regular cannabis use by crew members aboard the Queen of the North. As part of the board's ongoing investigation into the sinking of the QN, it released Oct. 17 a "board concern" outlining its findings, and urging BC Ferries to figure out as soon as possible whether drug use is a problem on other vessels in the northern fleet. |
| Oct 26, 2007 |
Drugs In High School: 'You Can Get Any Drug You Want' They wander the halls, moving back and forth from group to group. They make their way through our high schools, tempting each and every student. Some lurk inside lockers. Others hide in coat pockets, jean pockets...any place where students think they won't be found. They are drugs. |
| Oct 26, 2007 |
Immigrant Workers Found Innocent In Dope Farm Bust Five Asian immigrants arrested after they were found working on a massive rural dope farm did not know they were breaking the law, a judge has ruled. |
| Oct 26, 2007 |
Pot Use Not A High Point For Leaders Wall said his party didn't agree with legalization. He was then was asked whether he had ever smoked marijuana. After a pregnant pause, Wall's answer was "yes," which was also his response on whether he had inhaled. [Hypocrite] |
| Oct 28, 2007 |
'The Bud Stops Here,' - Inspection Team On average, the Township's Public Safety Inspection Team ( PSIT ) is finding evidence of eight marijuana grow operations per week. |
| Oct 29, 2007 |
Growing Fear As the trees change from green to red and orange along Highway 400, city dwellers make fewer weekend treks hours north of Toronto, through winding country roads, into the heart of cottage country. The seasonal holidaymakers are replaced instead by the criminals involved in outdoor marijuana growops who each year descend upon the region's remote swampland, fields and forests to harvest their crop, but who this year are behind levels of violence so unprecedented that it has residents and cottagers thoroughly frightened. |
| Oct 30, 2007 |
Promoting One Of The Deadliest Drugs Of All A glossy brochure recently dropped out of my newspaper: "Discover your taste for whisky," it advised. As it happens, I discovered my taste for whisky long ago and so was not in need of this advice. But it struck me as surpassingly odd that the Liquor Control Board of Ontario is spending a considerable amount of money to persuade the uninitiated to try potent forms of a psychoactive drug whose known risks include addiction, cardiovascular disease, gastrointestinal disorders, liver cirrhosis, several types of cancer, fetal alcohol syndrome and fatal overdose. |
| Oct 31, 2007 |
Politicians And Professors Debate National Drug Policy CANADA'S NATIONAL DRUG policy is in a state of flux. The former Liberal federal government made moves towards decriminalizing small amounts of marijuana and instituted a medical-marijuana program during its last session in power. The current Conservative government has taken a tougher stance towards illegal drugs by taking steps to increase both the prosecution of drug offenders and penalties for drug offences |
| Nov 1, 2007 |
Suspended Driver Sues A driver given a 24-hour suspension because police suspected he was high on marijuana is suing to have the ban removed from his records. Jugveer Singh Purewal says in a petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court that he told a Surrey police officer he was not under the influence of drugs when he was pulled over early Sept. 14 and suspended from driving for 24 hours. Purewal said the officer didn't administer a sobriety test and he was denied the opportunity to dispute the ban because there is no mechanism to do so when a 24-hour driving suspension is based on suspected drug use. |
| Nov 1, 2007 |
Northside Man Wants Medical-Pot Regulations Relaxed Rocky Paul has been using medical marijuana to control pain and other discomforts for the last seven years. The St. Mary's First Nation resident would like to see the rules eased up a bit so that those who need the drug can get it more easily. Paul said as many as 30 pages of documents have to be filled out once a year by patients and their doctors in order to continue to qualify for the licence. |
| Nov 1, 2007 |
Let's Rethink Drug Discourse In grade school we get the this-is-your-brain-on-drugs lecture and learn many ways to say no. But what's missing is how to say yes in moderation. People of all ages are doing drugs, and it's time to recognize that information based on abstinence does more harm than good. |
| Nov 1, 2007 |
Northside Man Wants Medical-Pot Regulations Relaxed Rocky Paul has been using medical marijuana to control pain and other discomforts for the last seven years. The St. Mary's First Nation resident would like to see the rules eased up a bit so that those who need the drug can get it more easily. Paul said as many as 30 pages of documents have to be filled out once a year by patients and their doctors in order to continue to qualify for the licence. |
| Nov 2, 2007 |
Marijuana Comments Raise Concerns During the question and answer part of the forum on Nov. 1, a student asked Chad Nilson about legalizing marijuana. Nilson responded that because that issue falls under federal jurisdiction, students should lobby their MP if they want marijuana legalized. Saskatchewan Party candidates Darryl Hickie and Kevin Shiach said they have received phone calls from parents concerned that Nilson was advocating legalization. |