Top Stories (2006) -
(313 items)
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| Jun 10, 2006 |
Canada May Get Competition Saskatchewan farmers who grow industrial hemp may have competition from North Dakota in the coming years. About 24,000 acres ( 9,700 hectares ) of hemp was grown in Canada last year, with roughly one-third of those acres in Saskatchewan. Commercial hemp farming is nonexistent in the United States, where the Drug Enforcement Agency ( DEA ) doesn't currently recognize the crop apart from marijuana. |
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| Jun 9, 2006 |
Marijuana Party Joins Political Landscape In Sask PARTY JOINS POLITICAL LANDSCAPE IN SASK. The proverbial "smoke-filled rooms" where political deals are cut may take on a whole new meaning in Saskatchewan. The Saskatchewan Marijuana Party has joined six other parties as an officially registered provincial political party with Elections Saskatchewan. Like other marijuana parties in the country, it is expected to advocate the legalization of possession and cultivation of cannabis. |
| Jun 5, 2006 |
Dissenters From The Drug War On May 8, the American DEA ( Drug Enforcement Agency ) and the RCMP met in Montreal to conspire in the so-called "war on drugs." But not all cops are bad. On the same day, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition ( www.leap.cc ), an association of some 2,000 active or retired cops, held a counter-symposium in Montreal. LEAP wants an end to the war on drugs, which it believes is a failure. It has had a high cost, in terms of money ( US$69 billion a year in the U. S., according to LEAP ). But also in terms of lost liberties: young lives broken by criminal records, prisons overflowing with drug offenders, people who steal or become prostitutes to buy artificially expensive drugs, street violence generated by warring black-market dealers, searches, surveillance, border controls, RICO, money laundering laws and so on, and so forth. |
| Jun 3, 2006 |
Police Teaching Hard Lessons Two groups of teenaged boys picked a pretty place to get high on a recent Friday evening, but the timing of their visit to Bedford's Admiral Rock Park couldn't have been worse. |
| May 26, 2006 |
Legally Using Marijuana In Canada Canada was the first country to regulate medical marijuana use. Health Canada established guidelines to allow Canadians access to marijuana for medicinal reasons in 2001, called Marijuana Medical Access Regulations. The regulations outline circumstances that permit people to use pot for medical reasons under two categories: |
| May 24, 2006 |
Pot Advocate Convicted On Trafficking Charges Former Cafe Owner Faces Up to 10 Years VANCOUVER -- The former owner of a well-known east Vancouver cafe that openly sold marijuana until a police raid in September, 2004, was convicted of two marijuana-trafficking charges yesterday. A British Columbia Supreme Court jury found Carol Gwilt guilty of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking as well as possession of the proceeds of crime. Her co-defendant, Michael Boudreau, was acquitted on the single charge that he faced, possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking. |
| May 24, 2006 |
RCMP Bust Retiree For Medical Pot Man's Plants Exceeded His Permit. Is This What We Pay Police To Do <br>The Mounties raided them a few days earlier, cutting down some 300 marijuana plants Bert was growing to supply his 49-year-old wife and another retiree under licences from Health Canada. |
| May 24, 2006 |
Pot Crusader One Step Closer To Extradition VANCOUVER -- A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has ruled in favour of the federal government and removed a potential impediment to the extradition of Marc Emery and his two co-defendants. <br><br> Mr. Justice Robert Crawford dismissed a motion that would have prohibited federal prosecutors from taking control of a conspiracy charge filed privately against Mr. Emery, Michelle Rainey and Greg Williams.<br><br> "This is exactly the decision the United States government would want," Mr. Roberts said yesterday. He indicated that he intends to file an appeal of the ruling later this week with the B.C. Court of Appeal. "It seems quite clear that it gives the United States government, through the agency of the federal Minister of Justice, approval to interfere in the administration of justice in B.C." |
| May 19, 2006 |
Jail Guard In Plot To Smuggle Pot Into Barton: Police A jail guard has been charged with accepting a bribe and conspiring to smuggle nearly $7,000 worth of marijuana into Barton jail. Derek Brown, 25, a corrections officer at Hamilton-Wentworth Detention Centre, was arrested Feb. 24 while on duty and charged with selling marijuana in an east-end parking lot on his lunch break. Brown has now been charged with accepting a bribe and breach of trust, along with conspiring to traffic drugs. |
| May 17, 2006 |
Single Joint Leads to Trafficking Charge for High School Student A Newfoundland and Labrador high school student is facing a charge of trafficking following an incident involving a single marijuana cigarette. ...RCMP Cpl. Phil Feltmate said the police wanted to educate students about the seriousness of the incident. "We're trying to get a message out to other kids or like-minded people around all the schools ... that we are promoting zero tolerance," Feltmate said. "Moving ... from one person to another is considered trafficking, whether it's one joint or 10 tonnes. It doesn't make a big difference with respect to the definition." [What is the real message this student is getting?] |
| May 15, 2006 |
Mom Challenges CAS An Oakville mother of four who admits to smoking marijuana regularly is challenging a request by the Children's Aid Society of Halton to undergo a drug test. |
| May 13, 2006 |
Ex-Cop Gets House Arrest EX-COP GETS HOUSE ARREST Shamed and disgraced, the nine-year veteran is given a 12-month conditional sentence. He sold confidential police information knowing it could land in the hands of the Hells Angels motorcycle club. He sold anabolic steroids while wearing a London police uniform. He hid marijuana in an in-line skate in his basement. |
| May 11, 2006 |
Judge Knew Pot Smoker's Reference A Guelph judge's relationship with a medical marijuana user derailed the sentencing yesterday of a pot crusader who has admitted mailing the drug to users in the United States and Britain. |
| May 11, 2006 |
Ottawa Schools End Random Drug Searches Sweeps Infringe On Charter Rights Ottawa schools have ended random drug searches after the Ontario Court of Appeal ruled spot searches without warrants violate students' constitutional rights. |
| May 10, 2006 |
U.S. Drug Officials 'Very Impressed' MONTREAL--A top U.S. drug official and the U.S. Ambassador to Canada say they're pleased to be on the same page as the new federal government when it comes to law and order, particularly now that Ottawa has no plans to decriminalize marijuana. [A Conservative majority will become Canada's worst fears come true] |
| May 10, 2006 |
BC: Grow Op Law Passes B.C. - The provincial legislature has passed a law requiring electrical companies to forward billing information to municipalities.After Bill 25 is passed, electrical companies will give the city two years of electrical bills so a spike in activity can be isolated. |
| May 10, 2006 |
Bong Registry Set Up In City Sell a glass crack pipe or bong in Langley City and you'll have to tell police who you sold it to, including the person's name and address. On Monday night, council passed a motion to prohibit sales of drug paraphernalia to all persons under 19 years of age and require sellers to record and report to RCMP all purchases. |
| May 7, 2006 |
Proud Potheads Take Queen's Park Toronto was one of 200 cities around the world to take part in Global Marijuana March, promoting the legalization of marijuana and the acceptance of the right to smoke it. "It's really a celebration of the cannabis community; we wanted to take the day to enjoy each other's company," said Domenic Russo, general manager of Cannabis As Living Medicine( CALM ), one of the event organizers. "But there's also the underlying message of the importance of legalizing medical marijuana and the acceptance of people who smoke it." |
| May 4, 2006 |
Marijuana Should Be Legal, Senator Says A Conservative senator from Quebec says pot should be legalized -- and sold like beer and wine. "I'm against decriminalization. To me, it's the worst scenario," Sen. Pierre Claude Nolin said yesterday. "If we're going to end prohibition, let's do it properly." |
| May 2, 2006 |
Court Backs Sarnia Drug Acquittal Ontario's highest court has upheld the privacy rights of high school students by refusing to overturn the acquittal of a Sarnia youth charged with drug trafficking. The case focused on the random search of St. Patrick's high school in Sarnia by three Sarnia police officers and a sniffer dog on Nov. 7, 2002. The Ontario Court of Appeal refused the Crown's appeal and agreed with Ontario Court Justice Mark Hornblower when he disallowed the drug evidence. |