Top Stories (2006) -
(313 items)
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| Dec 30, 2006 |
Up In Smoke A man suspended from work after testing positive for pot has filed a human rights complaint, claiming his boss refused to let him see the company drug-testing policy. Stephen Shorten, 46, says he suffers from chronic pain and smokes a nightly joint - paired with ibuprofen - to ease the discomfort. His arms were broken after they got caught in a machine at the Layfield textile plant in April, and he only returned to full-time status in October...Over the nearly five years Shorten has worked at Layfield he said the company has turned a blind eye to recreational pot use, so long as staffers showed up for work sober. But in November they beefed up the policy to no longer tolerate pot use of any kind, he said."They never told us of the change. I didn't find out until after all this happened," he told the Sun. ..Shorten doesn't see himself as having a disability, but "didn't expect the company I broke my arms for to be so eager to suspend" him. [ If this man is denied justice, we are all denied justice...If human value not monetary value ruled, then The Layfield Group stock would plunge when the old policy was scrapped. Another disturbing trend is the proliferation in US influenced workplace drug testing. The whole concept appears to be a cash cow and income for drug testing companies and their affiliates. It is also a brazen attempt at behaviour modification - steering people toward alcohol, tobacco and pharmaceuticals without repercussions if not impaired, and away from any substance of choice. ] |
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| Dec 29, 2006 |
Compassion Club Raided, Names Taken Mark Russell, the founder of the Coombs chapter of the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada, who supplies marijuana to sick people who use it for pain relief, was raided by members of the Courtenay RCMP on Dec. 22 and now faces six counts of trafficking in a controlled substance [ Anytime is a bad time for a club to be raided, but right before the holidays so that many people can suffer just a little bit more this Christmas, is beyond cruel. How do police sleep at night because 'just doing my job to enforce laws' doesn't cut it over moral and intellectual honesty.] |
| Dec 23, 2006 |
Big Pot Case Against Five Falls Apart All charges have been dropped against five men arrested aboard a fishing boat RCMP said was attempting to import $6.5 million worth of marijuana to B.C. When police arrested the five and seized the 47-metre MV Baku in Ucluelet May 22, they laid out marijuana on the dock that had been discovered inside the vessel -- 1,630 kilograms of it ( 3,600 pounds )...But now, Crown prosecutors say they have entered stays on all the charges laid against the five men because there is little likelihood of a conviction. |
| Dec 22, 2006 |
Hemp Grows With Technological Advances Plant Replacing Petroleum-Based Products for Varied Industrial Uses The production of hemp doubled this year in Canada, with the grain moving from a niche product into the foodstuff mainstream as consumers developed their taste for hemp oil, hemp protein and seed. Now producers of hemp-fibre products are poised for exponential growth, too, with the worldwide increase in consumer demand for sustainable goods. |
| Dec 20, 2006 |
Stoned Canadian Drivers Double Since '80s The number of Canadians who say they've driven after smoking drugs has more than doubled since the late 1980s, according to a study that reports young men drive while high just as often, or even more, than they drink and drive. Almost five per cent of the 4,639 drivers surveyed said they'd driven within two hours of using marijuana or hashish in the previous year an average of 24 times, said the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. |
| Dec 20, 2006 |
Breaking The Law To Expose Pot Grow Ops Some Surrey residents are calling in bogus break-in complaints to get Mounties to raid suspected marijuana growing operations. The tactic was disclosed by a senior drug investigator during a B.C. Supreme Court sentencing hearing for a husband-and-wife team busted during a 2003 crackdown by Surrey Mounties. |
| Dec 19, 2006 |
'Pot Pirates' Worry Police Cops are growing increasingly concerned over sometimes not being the only ones armed and wearing police uniforms. An increase in the number of marijuana crops found this year guarded by 'pot pirates' wielding high-powered firearms and using booby traps has provincial police worried about public safety and their own. |
| Dec 17, 2006 |
Buyers Live With Grow Op Homes' Shady Pasts "Every time we met a neighbour, it was like, 'You're the guy who lives in the grow op,' " he said, noting the stigma of living in a drug den never bothered him. "It was fine because my neighbour right next to me was living in one too. There were seven of them on my block, so we weren't the only ones. I don't think it's a big deal." |
| Dec 15, 2006 |
Reverend Eddy Does Xmas In The Joint The man who ran as Nunavut's Marijuana Party candidate during the last federal election will spend Christmas inside a maximum-security prison. Ed deVries is presently serving a six-month prison sentence for trafficking marijuana and laundering the proceeds of crime at the Central East Detention Centre in Lindsay, Ontario. |
| Dec 15, 2006 |
Felger Pleads Guilty To Three Pot Charges Abbotsford's marijuana advocate Tim Felger says he's broke after he pleaded guilty Monday in Chilliwack Supreme Court to three counts of cultivating pot for the purpose of trafficking. He was sentenced to six months in jail, a 10-year ban on firearms and a $210,000 fine. |
| Dec 15, 2006 |
Social Workers Unsure How To Deal With Grow-Op Kids B.C.'s social workers say they want the government to draft clear guidelines on dealing with children found in marijuana grow- operations "without having to wait for children to die." But Children and Family Development Minister Tom Christensen says current legislation provides clear enough guidelines so further action is not needed. ...But Christensen said legislation allows the removal of children found in a grow-op "and typically that is what happens." |
| Dec 14, 2006 |
Canadian Weed Board Will Need A Bigger Cafeteria Eureka! Get this: The Canadian Weed Board. Eh? Eh? The column is now open for questions. Yes, you, Q, you have a question? Q: Just five. What? Why? Where? When? And, in particular, insofar as it certainly bears repeating: WHAT?! A: Exactly as stated. Parliament passes legislation not to abolish, not to weaken, but to preserve forever the Canadian Wheat Board, on two conditions: 1 ) instead of a soft "Wh..." and an "...e-t," a hard "W.." and an "...e-d," a virtual homonym, and 2 ) instead of selling grain, the marketing monopoly moves exclusively into cannabis, marijuana, goof grass, spliff, mary jane, dope, jazzleaf. Everybody wins. The Canadian Whe..er, Weed Board gets to keeps its existence as a 500-employee federal bureaucracy. Farmers, released from historic board restrictions and obligations, gain the freedom to sell their grain to anybody at any time. |
| Dec 13, 2006 |
Medicinal 'Weed' Helps The Ill: Doctor One day, when he was in a Jamaican hospital doing graduate research on chronic pain, Dr. Mark Ware noticed that some of his patients were coping with their pain much more easily than others. Intrigued, he asked an old Rastafarian his secret. "It's the herb, Doc," replied the man. That's when the doctor found his vocation. |
| Dec 13, 2006 |
The Capital's Drugs Are History: Owner The drug dealers were here, but they're gone now, said Capital Hotel co-owner Maurice Byblow, while sitting in its bar on Monday afternoon. The only problem is, when the dealers left in August, they took more than half of Byblow's business with them. |
| Dec 12, 2006 |
Judge Rejects Story, Accepts Pot Case Plea She rejected Harry Emdin's defence of duress, but a judge acquitted the Sault Ste. Marie man of two serious drug charges. Superior Court Justice Gladys Pardu found him not guilty last week of producing marijuana and possession of the drug for the purpose of trafficking. However, Pardu convicted him of simple possession for having more than 70 marijuana plants in his McNabb Street apartment. She suspended sentence Friday and placed Emdin on probation for six months. |
| Dec 12, 2006 |
6 Kids Seized In Drug Houses Six children have been taken into custody following two marijuana grow op busts in Calgary, their parents set to become the first in the city charged under provincial legislation aimed at protecting kids living in drug homes...."It comes down to organized crime and making profits. They will sacrifice their families to make a profit," said the Ward 13 alderman. "I hope that if these parents are found guilty, that they never get their kids back." [ Pure evil - the spin that it is heartless criminals making profits, rather than possibly families trying to supplement meager incomes with a bit of extra income so they won't have to live on the street. Either way, tearing families apart for growing plants (that many people are eager to buy) ensures there are emotionally scared victims for life - and we allow these people to rule our lives? Are we insane?] |
| Dec 8, 2006 |
Canada Looks To USA For Drug Policy Hints onservative cabinet ministers and their aides are consulting with "keen" U.S. government officials on a new national drug strategy for Canada, according to internal documents obtained by The Vancouver Sun. [ Not really new news - the US has controlled global drug policy via the UN since the 1960's.] |
| Dec 8, 2006 |
Steady Increase in Marijuana Use Some young people start off by smoking marijuana even before they try cigarettes, says Dr. Scott Leatherdale, researcher at Cancer Care Ontario, University of Waterloo and University of Toronto. That's quite the opposite of how things used to be years ago. |
| Dec 7, 2006 |
Holy Smoke Lawyer Argues 'Lesser Of Two Evils' The lawyer for Holy smoke co-owners Paul DeFelice and Alan Middlemiss, and associates Akka Annis and Kelsey Stratas, will use a defense employed by abortion activist Henry Morgentaler to acquit his clients of their drug trafficking and possession charges. |
| Dec 7, 2006 |
Where There's Smoke There's Pot Buried amidst the hype and hoopla of their leadership race, but not entirely unnoticed in certain smoke-filled quarters, federal Liberals seem to have finally grasped that marijuana is a growth industry in Canada. A contentious "pie-in-the-sky" resolution was presented to the convention's social and justice workshop calling for legalizing marijuana under eventual provincial administration. The resolution also suggested that existing "compassion centres" could be incorporated into Health Canada and there be a general amnesty and destruction of criminal records for the 1.5 million Canadians convicted of simple marijuana possession since 1923. |