Top Stories (2007) -
(432 items)
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| Jan 21, 2007 |
Rules Go Up In Smoke With flagrant disregard for city smoking bylaws and drug laws, a couple of thousand avid fans were encouraged to light up and get high by the hip-hop acts including Canada's own Belly who gave a well-received opening performance. Lethbridge is definitely hip to the hop and dope to the dope as the Enmax centre air filled with the aroma of marijuana. |
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| Jan 20, 2007 |
Marijuana Growers Lose Houses A court decision this week doubled the number of marijuana growers forced to turn over their homes since local authorities began taking an aggressive approach to the problem five years ago. Eight houses in Waterloo Region have now been ordered forfeited following changes in the law to make it easier in 2001, with another case scheduled for a hearing in March. That puts local police and prosecutors on the leading edge in Ontario as they go after lucrative marijuana grow houses. [The more drug warriors profit from prohibition, the more entrenched it becomes] |
| Jan 19, 2007 |
Pot Grower Dodges Jail Term Growing pot for medical marijuana crusader Grant Krieger won't mean jail for a former Calgary man, a judge ruled yesterday. Justice Beth Hughes agreed with defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli that jail time wasn't necessary for Mark James Maki's involvement with the Compassion Club. "Mr. Maki's motivation for these offences, while certainly against the law and misguided, were to assist the Compassion Club and it's members," Hughes said. The 577 plants seized in October 2001 and February 2002 had a value of about $600,000 to $800,000, and a loaded sawed-off shotgun was found in Maki's home. Maki, 43, of Coquitlam, B.C., pleaded guilty to two charges of cultivating marijuana and one of careless storage of a firearm. Hughes placed him in on house arrest for a year, followed by a curfew for another 12 months. |
| Jan 19, 2007 |
Drug Endangered Children Act Gives Police Tool To Halt AB: As a member of Edmonton's green team, RCMP Cpl. Ian Gillan has seen too many heartbreaking cases of young children being neglected or abused because of their parents' drug activity. The father of two wholeheartedly supports Alberta's Drug Endangered Children legislation, which strengthens police power to seize and hold children found living in homes where drugs are sold or produced. "I've been pushing the DEC agenda since 2003 when I first became aware of it," Gillan said Thursday, during a break in an RCMP-hosted investigator training session at K-Division headquarters. |
| Jan 18, 2007 |
Reefer Madness' No Reason to Seize More Children BC: Why is the B.C. Association of Social Workers beating the bushes to have more children taken into care? Association spokesman Paul Jenkinson has been stumping the provincial media urging that the government start seizing children found in homes with marijuana-growing operations. There's "a crisis" out there, in his opinion, and fast action by Victoria is required. ... Jenkinson is peddling reefer madness. His suggestion that we begin seizing more children and putting them in provincial care would only exacerbate what is already a bad situation. [Hooray! Sentiments from a perspective outside the status quo] |
| Jan 18, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Don't Give Up On Prohibition I'm a perfect example of people in this country and around the world who are caught in the middle of this catastrophic drug war. The strain of cannabis that works best for my health has been held hostage in the street market for the past 13 years. This, I'm sad to say, is not unusual. I receive minimal relief unless the strain available to me legally is coupled with more than 30 pharmaceutical pills a day and up to 2,000 milligrams of morphine. But I won't give up. Please help me to legalize and regulate all drugs today so that those who are ill and vulnerable are no longer suffering and so our children learn drugs are for adults and those who are sick, dying and in pain. We don't have 50 years to wait. Alison Myrden |
| Jan 17, 2007 |
Schools Designated Drug Free Zones Drug dealers with a tendency for hanging around elementary schools have been put on official notice. Stay away from the kids. "If people are selling drugs in school zones, be prepared to face bigger consequences," said Const. Tim Lyons of the 100 Mile House RCMP. [This is another classic example of how Canada has been adopting many US drug war strategies] |
| Jan 17, 2007 |
War On Drugs Needs New Strategy Canada is losing the "war on drugs" and unless the government changes its strategy, the casualties of illegal drug use will continue to climb....This "get tough" approach has not worked in the United States and will not work here. It's a philosophy that panders to public sentiment that seeks to punish those struggling with addiction, rather than reduce the harm done by it. ...Good politics doesn't always translate into good policy. And when the policy can be proven to do more harm than good, it's time for voters to take a long hard look at why governments persist in a course of action detrimental to the public's health. |
| Jan 17, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Hemp Makes Climate Difference No matter what is causing climate change, one of the best things Canadians could do to reduce greenhouse gasses is grow lots of Industrial Hemp. We have the people, we have the land, we have the know-how - we just have no political will. Hemp ( the legal, non-drug version of the Cannabis plant ) produces more ethanol fuel per acre than any other crop. It can be used for car, truck, boat, and airplane fuel, polymer body parts, lubricants, paint, and about 25,000 other things. |
| Jan 13, 2007 |
Marijuana Advocate Battles For Business Licence Tim Felger says he'll open his bookstore/political office, called Da Kine, in downtown Abbotsford whether he receives a business licence from the city or not. Since he first applied for a business licence in the summer of 2005, Felger says he has been the subject of 170 building and bylaw inspections, 24 fire inspections and more than 100 police visits. "I'm not only being singled out, but [City of Abbotsford officials] are violating my freedom of expression," said Felger, a long-time marijuana advocate. |
| Jan 13, 2007 |
Man Gets Six Months For Evading Tax On Marijuana Raid Netted $190,000; $47,132 Left Owing An Ottawa man was sentenced to six months in jail yesterday for failing to pay nearly $50,000 in taxes on revenue from growing marijuana.... Mr. Papadopoulos said Mr. Le could have reported the earnings as either "business" or "other" income on his tax return. "You don't have to tell us where it's coming from, but you have to report it," said Mr. Papadopoulos, adding the return could still be audited if it meets certain criteria. [You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't] |
| Jan 13, 2007 |
Epileptic Seizure In Public Eye The first time Christine Lowe saw herself convulsing during an epileptic seizure, she pawed at the television screen, fixated on the image of herself losing complete control of her body. Now she wants to share the video with a massive Internet audience. Life, death situation Lowe's husband, Russell Barth, posted the video on YouTube yesterday morning, hoping to give people a real taste of what epilepsy patients go through. The Ottawa couple, who are also vocal marijuana activists, were disturbed by other videos on YouTube poking fun at seizures. |
| Jan 13, 2007 |
Drug Paraphernalia Seized Lotus Store Owners Arrested Officers in the drug and vice squad raided a Main Street store for the second time in two years. More than 600 pieces of drug paraphernalia were seized from Lotus after York Regional Police descended on the shop following an investigation that began late last year. A man and two women from East Gwillimbury, all in their late 20s, have been charged with selling instruments for illicit drug use. |
| Jan 12, 2007 |
Cheech And Chong Would Approve Of This Ruling A Toronto construction manager who surreptitiously videotaped two employees in their pickup truck during a lunch break, and later accused them of smoking marijuana, violated their rights to privacy, the Ontario Labour Relations Board has ruled. The videotape is not admissible as evidence in a hearing to determine whether the employer was justified in firing the two, although the manager's first-hand observations will be considered, the labour board said. A summary of the case, reported this week in a labour law bulletin published by Toronto-based Lancaster House, said Canadian arbitrators are divided on how far employers can go in investigating suspected wrongdoing. In the case of the Toronto construction workers, The labour board said the employer has the right to monitor on-the-job performance and behaviour, but does not have the right to place employees under surveillance on their own time. |
| Jan 12, 2007 |
Man Wounded In Shootout During Robbery Of Marijuana-Growing Operation BURNABY - Two men are in hospital after shots were fired in the Claude Avenue area early Wednesday morning, Burnaby RCMP say. When police arrived at the 5400-block of Claude Avenue, they found the shooting was related to an attempted robbery of a marijuana-growing operation. [Another prohibition-related news story] |
| Jan 12, 2007 |
Hydro Identifies High 'Pot'ential New B.C. Hydro numbers suggest Langley's biggest cash crop may be marijuana. Langley may have the second-highest per captia ratio of marijuana grow operations in the Lower Mainland, according to B.C. Hydro. Under a new law introduced last year, the electricity supplier can supply municipalities with a list of all addresses with unusually high power consumption. |
| Jan 12, 2007 |
Cops Blame Cop For Blowing Bust Neighbours are angry and the RCMP are apologetic, but it was a series of unfortunate happenstances that allowed the purveyors of a Pitt Meadows pot house to get off with a moving truck full of bud. |
| Jan 12, 2007 |
Government Created A System Benefitting The Worst One Percent The disturbing trend by RCMP to arrest and detain people for marijuana possession, trafficking and usage is irresponsible in this day and age. After numerous commissions, hundreds of thousands of hours of governmental time consumed studying marijuana, the consensus in Canada remains that marijuana should not be illegal and the denial of this most natural and basic medicine is extreme to the point of undue hardship. |
| Jan 11, 2007 |
When Cops Inhale Did the Toronto Police narcs who swooped down on the Church of the Universe congregation in the Beaches, arresting 22 and laying 205 pot charges, actually inhale? That's a loaded question for those worried about lack of accountability when it comes to officers breaking the law during investigations. And if some of the arrestees are right, coppers did toke on-scene in the course of their reconnoitering. |
| Jan 11, 2007 |
Chong's Smokin' Hot to Local Potheads Edmonton-born face of marijuana culture brings act home to Yuk Yuk's this week EDMONTON - Edmonton's famous prince of pot may be 68, but he's still a hero among young local stoners. |