Current Affairs (2008) -
Chronological (386 items)
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| Jul 10, 2008 |
Cannabis Day Picnic Has Highly Charged Agenda There was more than one way to get baked in the sun in Halifax on Canada Day. A telltale sweet smell drifted through the air as more than 200 people gathered on the Dartmouth Common for Halifax's 13th annual Cannabis Day picnic, held every July 1. |
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| Jul 11, 2008 |
Pot-Dealing Guard Gets House Arrest A Hamilton special constable who confessed to dealing a pound or two of marijuana a week will spend the next six months under house arrest. |
| Jul 12, 2008 |
Marijuana Becoming Popular Summer Crop Although it's more commonly found growing in the thick forests of B.C., outdoor marijuana grow operations are prevalent throughout Alberta as well. And with the summer season upon us, local RCMP are expecting a lot more will be growing in the prairie fields of southern Alberta than just the usual crops of wheat and canola. |
| Jul 14, 2008 |
Pot And Profit The production and sale of marijuana in the area is a large and growing international enterprise, highly sophisticated and generating huge profits for Asian organized crime, a police expert says. Another case against prohibition. |
| Jul 14, 2008 |
B.C. Grow-Op Tips Have Slowed, RCMP Report Says Mr. Emery identified three factors leading to the recent drop in grow-ops in B.C.: effective police enforcement has increased the risks; a strong Canadian dollar has made exports less profitable; and a downturn in the U.S. economy has led to many Americans trying their hands as suppliers. |
| Jul 15, 2008 |
Put A Lid On It The most recent Ontario studies have found marijuana use is already at a 30-year peak among adults and very close to that mark for teens. Adult use has climbed steadily from a low of eight per cent to a 2005 level of 14 per cent -and more than 38 per cent among the 18-29 age group. Among students in Grades 7 to 12, the number who smoked at least once in the previous year was 25.6 per cent in 2007, up from 9.9 per cent in 1991. |
| Jul 16, 2008 |
Blood Testing For High Drivers Drivers suspected of being high on drugs could be facing an unwelcome needle at the hands of police. New federal legislation enacted on July 2 allows police to collect blood and fluids from drivers suspected of being high on drugs. |
| Jul 16, 2008 |
CMP Urging Albertans To Watch For Weed The RCMP is asking for public assistance in reporting illegal outdoor marijuana grow-operations and the crops they yield as the summer months wind down. Why should anyone volunteer to do police work? |
| Jul 16, 2008 |
It's Harvest Time For Marijuana Growers Ontario Provincial Police are gearing up for an annual harvest, and it's looking like a bumper crop of illegal marijuana this summer. |
| Jul 17, 2008 |
Bust My Bubbleator When I pictured what high times pot orgy the Toronto Cannabis Cup would look like, I imagined tables and tables piled high with sweet toke. |
| Jul 17, 2008 |
'Flagrant' Charter Violations Cited In Bacon Acquittal Abbotsford police used misleading information about three suspected drug traffickers when officers applied for a search warrant after arresting the trio three years ago, a provincial court judge says. Judge Donald Gardiner said he had no choice but to throw out the evidence obtained against Jonathan Bacon, Rayleene Burton and Godwin Cheng because the Charter violations by police were "deliberate, wilful and flagrant." |
| Jul 17, 2008 |
Europe's Approach to Drugs Is More Enlightened ... It's Tougher In 2006, Governor-General Michaelle Jean was hosting Queen Silvia of Sweden during the Swedish royal family's visit to Canada when the topic of illegal drug use came up. The GG told the Queen that Canada is taking an enlightened approach. Instead of punishing users, she said, society needs to be understanding of drug use and assist in reducing harm until the addict is ready to quit. Alas, the Queen was not impressed. She briskly informed the GG that Sweden takes a hard-line approach, that users are given a choice between treatment and jail, and that Sweden's addiction rates are much lower than Canada's. After that, they changed the subject. |
| Jul 19, 2008 |
Getting Tough On The Taxpayer At issue is a new law that toughens mandatory minimum sentences for gun-related crimes. A proposed bill will do the same for anyone convicted of a long list of drug crimes, including those caught growing just one marijuana plant. |
| Jul 24, 2008 |
Rights Intact After Bust, Court Rules Winnipeg police didn't breach a man's charter rights when they went to check on his emotional well-being and found a marijuana grow operation inside his home. Ryan Tereck tried to fight his drug conviction on the grounds police had no right busting into his home and seizing about 300 pot plans found inside. ... The unusual case dates back to April 2005, when Tereck apparently told his psychiatrist in a letter he planned to shoot and kill himself. |
| Jul 24, 2008 |
Pot: Why Not Legalize It? "What you might call the political economy of drug legalization is a bigger problem than the legalizers seem to grasp," Mr. Kleiman has said. "Either we will have a private industry whose profits depend on creating and maintaining addicts, or we will have a public bureaucracy whose revenues depend on creating and maintaining addicts." The alcohol industry caters to social iimbibers as well as addicts.. not all users are abusers. |
| Jul 25, 2008 |
12-Year-Old Boy Facing Drug Trafficking Charge Shelburne police have charged a 12-year-old boy for trafficking marijuana. The child was arrested Tuesday afternoon ( July 22 ), as part of an ongoing investigation. "Obviously it's very disconcerting at any age, but when you see 12-year-olds who are supplying it to other minors, it's a grave concern," shares Sgt. Mark Bennett. "It's something that has to be addressed by the police, the judicial system, the public and the parents." If it was a grave concern, then they would regulate uncontrolled substances to deter this, but when there are no controls, anyone and everyone sells them. |
| Jul 26, 2008 |
Pot Users Have More Adverse Effects: Research Researchers analyzed 31 studies from around the world conducted over the past 40 years and found that while nearly 97 per cent of adverse events were not serious or life-threatening, medicinal marijuana users still have an 86-per-cent increase in the rate of non-serious adverse effects, such as drowsiness and dizziness, compared to non-users. Compared to advesres effects from pharmacueticals, this is more hype. |
| Jul 26, 2008 |
The Politics Of Punishment A 2002 report commissioned by the Canadian Department of Justice on mandatory minimum jail sentences cautioned that the evidence is sparse about their deterrent effect and recognized that there are many counterproductive societal impacts. Despite these realities, our government proposes to increase the number of crimes subject to mandatory minimum sentences, including a mandatory six months in jail for growing one marijuana plant. |
| Jul 26, 2008 |
More Than One Border Guard Involved In Drug Ring During their first face-to-face meeting in Vermont on Oct. 11, 2007, the undercover agent and Mr. Desilets discussed trading more than 400 kilograms of marijuana grown in Canada for 150 kilograms of cocaine from the U.S. "Desilets advised that his organization utilizes a customs border agent to assist their smuggling operation," the affidavit says. |
| Jul 26, 2008 |
That Little Joint Could Kill Your Child, MD Says It's not only those pills in the bathroom cabinet that could kill your child -- it could also the pot left out after a party, Dr. Anna Jarvis told delegates at the 85th annual conference of the Canadian Pediatric Society in Victoria. Just what we need - m ore fear-mongering ignorance. |