Current Affairs (2007) -
Chronological (432 items)
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| May 28, 2007 |
BC:
Marc Emery Gets Some Breathing Room B.C. Marijuana Party president Marc Emery was to appear in court today for his extradition hearing to the United States. Instead, he will be at a rescheduling hearing on Wednesday, he said. The actual extradition hearing will be at the end of the year and he's glad for the extra time. |
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| May 30, 2007 |
ON:
Party Ends in Punishment for Police Officers A Peel Regional Police officer has been demoted for "unwanted sexual touching" involving a woman he was with while he and another officer were partying in Ottawa. ...Ho Sue allowed one of the women "to blow the marijuana smoke into his mouth as they were kissing," according to the disciplinary report. |
| May 30, 2007 |
ON:
Officer Defends Himself An Ontario Provincial Police constable named in a million-dollar lawsuit believes he used a reasonable amount of force when arresting Rick Reimer March 27, 2002. Constable Tim Broder, a member of the Killaloe OPP detachment, testified in his own defence Tuesday during the second day of the civil trial at Pembroke's Superior Court. Mr. Reimer is suing Const. Broder, Killaloe OPP Sgt. Dwayne Sears and the province's Crown, claiming wrongful arrest and the use of excessive force in two arrests March 27, 2002 in the parking lot of the Killaloe court. |
| May 30, 2007 |
ON:
Proceeds Of Crime Law Upheld Ontario defence lawyers and a Thornhill man suspected of running a marijuana grow operation have lost their battle to strike down a law that gives the province power to seize property obtained through crime. Robin Chatterjee and the Criminal Lawyers' Association argued that the Civil Remedies Act, which took effect in 2002, is really an attempt to punish offenders, not compensate crime victims. [The Ontario Court of Appeal has upheld a law allowing the province to seize alleged proceeds of crime from people who have never been convicted or even charged with an offence. ] |
| Jun 1, 2007 |
YK:
Crown To Appeal Grow-Op Judgment Crown lawyers will appeal a territorial court judgment that prevented some evidence collected on nine men allegedly involved in marijuana grow operations from being heard at trial. |
| Jun 3, 2007 |
Best To Stay Off U.S. Radar News item: The Washington Post, the very last U.S. newspaper to keep a correspondent in Canada, is closing the bureau. .. "My proposed caption," wrote Beam, "would attract a lot more Yankee turistas: 'The Pot Capital of North America -- Just Minutes Away.' I'm still fuming that the newspaper didn't send me to cover Vancouver's Global Marijuana March ( 'Think Global, Smoke Local' ), which took place earlier this month." |
| Jun 4, 2007 |
Missing Teen's Mom Stopped At Border Glendene Grant said she was not allowed to enter the U.S. this week as she tried to board a plane for Las Vegas. Grant was bound for the Nevada city to meet with investigators and others there about the disappearance of her daughter Jessie Foster....Grant said she has a criminal conviction for possession of a small amount of marijuana from 21 years ago, and wonders if that was the reason she was denied entry. |
| Jun 5, 2007 |
AB: Parents Charged in Drug Den Cases PARENTS CHARGED IN DRUG DEN CASES - Police Use New Law for First Time..."Police officers wearing full protective suits with respirators are walking into rooms with kids playing, watching television, with no protection at all. The moulds, the smells, the risk of electrical explosions . . . you just shake your head."...The Southern Alberta Marijuana Investigative Team found 120 pot plants... [Reefer Madness on steroids] |
| Jun 7, 2007 |
ON:
Man Pleads Guilty to Pot-By-Post Plan A medical marijuana crusader accused of mailing pot to fellow users in the United States and Britain pleaded guilty yesterday to committing mischief by using Canada Post services "without proper authority." Following Marco Renda's plea, federal prosecutor David Doney asked the court to withdraw three counts each of trafficking and exporting a controlled substance and a single count of possession of a controlled substance. |
| Jun 7, 2007 |
Wanted: Tokers In Suits Time For Greying Potheads To Come Out Of The Closet And Back Anti-Prohibition Battle In 1977, only 18 per cent of cannabis smokers were over the age of 30, but in 2001 the percentage shot up to 49.... Considering this changing demographic, it's surprising that our drug laws haven't been reformed and liberalized. Most people blame the looming presence of the U.S. "war on drugs," but I think we've failed on the road to rational drug law reform because aging drug users rarely come out of their smoky closets to enter the political debate. |
| Jun 7, 2007 |
AB:
Smith Family Endures Orwellian-Style Invasions George and Helen Kupilik have lived just outside of Smith for 35 years. They came from the Calgary area to enjoy the freedom and tranquility of country living to raise a family. George's children are now grown and he and Helen enjoy quiet retirement. Quiet except for the nights when unidentified men come into their home. They didn't speak or say what they wanted but twice they have searched George's home. George himself likens it to something out of a George Orwell novel. |
| Jun 8, 2007 |
BC:
Judge Nixes Cops For Hydro Inspections "We only use police for safety issues," she said. "If they don't like the fact that it's the police that are working with our firefighters, then that's fine; we'll have somebody else. "But at the end of the day we want to make sure our firefighters are protected and are safe and that whole team of B.C. Hydro personnel as well, their safety is first and foremost. That's the reason why we had the police there, and the only reason. The police aren't there to lay charges; the police aren't there to execute warrants. We're there because it's a fire safety issue." [Talk about mixed messages..it is a legal issue when the police alone shut down cannabis cultivation, but it is a fire safety issue when other civil servants are enforcing prohibition] |
| Jun 8, 2007 |
Unpaid Pot Bills a Chronic Problem Any other terminally ill patient in Canada would have all his prescriptions covered by the Canadian health care system. Jason Wilcox owes so much money for his medication, Health Canada has cut off his supply and threatened to send a collection agency after him. |
| Jun 9, 2007 |
BC:
The House That Hemp Built Scarcity Of Straw Bales Leads Saltspring Couple To Use Tough Cannabis Fibres To Fill Their Walls... "We started calling family and friends in the Kootenays," says Drew, an inventor, "looking everywhere and anywhere for straw." They never found it, but they did find a rancher with 2,000 hemp bales - -- and snapped them up. |
| Jun 9, 2007 |
ON:
Students Face Drug Charges Nine teenagers are facing drug-related charges after a newly formed police team swooped in on a Guelph high school yesterday morning. |
| Jun 13, 2007 |
Put the Gangs Out of Business: Legalize D Childhood and adolescence should rightfully be a time of love, learning and life. But for thousands of young Canadians, their journey to adulthood is marred forever by street-gang involvement, which almost always means an active role in the massive business of illicit street drugs, too. ...Many allocate blame to street gangsters for this sorry state of affairs -- the idea being that if it weren't for these aggressive and money-hungry "pushers," we wouldn't have such a problem. However, this reasoning is incomplete: It fails to consider the demand generated by millions of Canadians of all ages who, at least once this year, will act on their desire and make a back-alley purchase of an illicit drug...<strong>Finally, we need to embark upon drug legalization, which will starve gangs of their principal oxygen supply and serve to upset the attractive risk-reward proposition that every new gangster now faces. </strong> |
| Jun 13, 2007 |
SN: Student Suspended For Opinion On Pot REGINA ( SNN ) -- Kieran King says he has never smoked pot, but his views on marijuana have led to his suspension from Wawota Parkland School. King said he was threatened with police action by principal Susan Wilson after telling friends at the school that marijuana was less harmful than alcohol. "In my opinion, cannabis is safer than they say, it is not worse than alcohol or tobacco," said King, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student. Wilson accused King of using and selling marijuana at school, according to a media release issued by the Saskatchewan Marijuana Party. King has offered to submit to a voluntary drug test to prove otherwise. "I've never smoked marijuana. I've never even seen it," said King, an honours student. [Incredible courage by a young person who chose not to conform. ] |
| Jun 13, 2007 |
Children Who Call Grow Ops Home At Risk ...But there is another element about illegal drug growing operations which causes concern. These operations do not run by themselves. There are people behind at each of those plants. Some may be taking the risk entirely on their own; however, sometimes there are innocent victims - children living in these homes. Children living in grow-ops can be exposed to chemicals, electrical fires and mould. It is clearly not a healthy environment. The Alberta government has taken the lead and recently laid the first charges against parents whose children were allegedly found living in homes with marijuana grow operations. Called the Drug Endangered Children Act, it allows police to immediately remove children from homes where drugs are sold or produced. A current case involves charges against the parents of a four-year-old and an 18-month-old. |
| Jun 14, 2007 |
SN:
Rally Held in Support of Free Speech Rights The residents of Wawota, population 500, were surprised to see protesters waving signs and shouting into a megaphone Tuesday.... Student Kieran King is the focus of the activity in Wawota. He was suspended from school for three days after disobeying the school's lockdown order during a walkout protest. |
| Jun 14, 2007 |
Raids Terrify Children Here's a different perspective on yesterday's police raids. It comes from Andrene, who is 10 years old and experienced the first minutes at the end of police guns after officers burst into her bedroom just before dawn. She was there with her mother, Sharon Mitchell, 32, and baby sister, Alexandra, 2. Down the hall in another bedroom were her cousin, Joanna, 9, and Joanna's mother, Charmaine Osbourne, 30. "This morning, the police officers, they came and they were kicking down the doors," said Andrene in a solemn voice. "And they came in with their guns and they were pointing at my sister and me. "My sister got scared and she was crying." |