Top Stories (2007) -
(432 items)
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| Jan 10, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Some Laws Ridiculous, Inhumane The recent raid on Mark Russell's Mid-Island Compassion Club stands as a perfect example of the idiocy that our gutless politicians are forcing upon the police, Mark Russell, and at least 85 local people in need of medicinal marijuana. What possible good arises from such an expenditure of valuable police time, charging Russell for aiding ill people, and driving his clients to purchase their pain relief from various sources in the black market? Courtenay RCMP Constable Derek Kryzanowzki admits that the investigation took over a year to complete, that it wasn't instigated by a complaint from the general public, and was self-generated through one of the members in the drug section. |
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| Jan 9, 2007 |
Gravely Ill The Law Is An Ass. Or at least the ones that impose criminal sanctions for using or providing marijuana to ease symptoms of illness and disease are. That's what 93 per cent of Canadians seem to suggest when they say, as they did in a 2006 Maclean's Magazine poll, that they support the legal use of marijuana for medical purposes. |
| Jan 6, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Don't Sacrifice Rights In War On Drugs Lawyer Robert Gill proved the maxim that if the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail. ( "Perhaps it's time to tweak the charter," Jan 4. ) In the wake of prosecutors staying drug charges after police botched a search of a vessel carrying cannabis, Gill proposed we modify the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to allow unlawful and warrantless searches if they result in evidence of a crime. When such fishing expeditions come up empty, we would allow victims to retain a lawyer and take the police to civil court, to sue taxpayers for damages. Assumedly when victims can not afford a lawyer, one would be provided at taxpayers' expense. The article went on to suggest that, if after five years, we "feel" more secure, we make the gift to his profession permanent. Thomas Jefferson ( who grew hemp ) once said: "A society that will trade a little liberty for a little order will lose both, and deserve neither." The war on drugs is a classic example. Perhaps it's time to trash the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. Matthew M. Elrod Victoria |
| Jan 5, 2007 |
Trial Date Set For Pot Grower AMHERST - A trial date has finally been set for a Maccan man who claims he was growing marijuana to help himself and 300 others with medical conditions, but it will still be months before Rick Simpson faces a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge and jury. In Supreme Court on Thursday, Mr. Simpson's two-week trial was slated to begin Sept. 10, 25 months after police raided his property and allegedly seized more than 1,200 marijuana plants. Mr. Simpson also launched a challenge under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It was heard just before Christmas, but the court banned reporting both the evidence and its decision until the jury hearing Mr. Simpson's case begins deliberating. |
| Jan 5, 2007 |
Cannabis Activist Speaks Out on Raid and Booze Local marijuana activist Mik Mann is worried a recent police raid of a Coombs compassion club means bad news for those who legally grow and consume the herb. |
| Jan 5, 2007 |
Compassion Club Weed Out Their Concerns With Raid Members of the Mid-Island Compassion Club will be gathering for a special meeting on Sunday to discuss the latest developments within their group. Those developments, says club chair Mark Russell, are significant. |
| Jan 5, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Don't Tell Others They Can't Smoke Pot John Martin's opinion on marijuana states "new evidence ( on marijuana use ) is damning for legalization and decriminalization advocates who have long argued that marijuana is essentially harmless." I don't believe users of marijuana are advocating that marijuana is "harmless." What they are advocating is that it is a "harmless vice." The evidence has been in for a long time that marijuana is not good for your body. Nobody in their right mind ( pardon the pun ) can deny this. What advocates for marijuana use are saying is that smoking pot is not criminal behaviour. |
| Jan 5, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Compassion Raid a Waste of Time The recent raid on Mark Russell's Mid-Island Compassion Club stands as a perfect example of the idiocy that our gutless politicians are forcing upon the police, Mark Russell and at least 85 local people in need of medicinal marijuana. What possible good arises from such an expenditure of valuable police time, charging Russell for aiding ill people and driving his clients to purchase their pain relief from various sources in the black market? Courtenay RCMP Constable Derek Kryzanowzki admits that the investigation took over a year to complete, that it wasn't instigated by a complaint from the general public and was self-generated through one of the members in the drug section. ....A wish for year 2007 -- may our local police force bravely continue to dodge bullets -- but at the same time cease to make the biker gangs richer. W.L.M. Wilson Qualicum Beach |
| Jan 5, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Tumor Story A Nice Touch The busting of Mark Russell and the Mid-Island Compassion Club reminds me of Charles Dickens' apt quote: "The law is an ass." At the same time, it draws attention to a community-need. .... As a nurse, I cannot say enough about the professionalism of these organizations and the tremendous service they provide to the community. It's a fact: they reduce their patients' use of our over-burdened health-care system, and that's something to think about. Also, I wouldn't put my professional reputation on the line unless I wholeheartedly supported such a venture. So let's get with the program, people! Liz Stonard Coombs |
| Jan 3, 2007 |
Paper Here to Stay So Let's Make It With Hemp PAPER HERE TO STAY SO LET'S MAKE IT WITH HEMP The Forest Can't Withstand Our Assault Paper will always be with us. Electronic media will enhance and broaden our scope for communication, but computer files, documents, sound bytes and photo ops cannot and should not replace paper. Paper provides the way to record thoughts and ideas that cannot be erased or altered with a few keystrokes. Books and newspapers give you something to hold and touch and feel. Reading a newspaper with the morning cuppa is part of the fabric of the day. It is a basic right of life in a civilized society. Paper lasts longer than electronic bytes. Paper will last on shelves for decades and always be available. However electronic material can be lost in a nanosecond when a tree drops over a hydro line or a hacker makes his way through to your archives. |
| Jan 3, 2007 |
PUB LTE: Drug Haul Numbers Misleading DRUG HAUL NUMBERS MISLEADING Dear Editor: I just read with interest a story by Mia Thomas regarding arrests of drug traffickers ( Burnaby RCMP punch hole in drug ring, Burnaby NOW, Dec. 27 ). I have a bone to pick. First of all, she claims that 16 kilograms of pot is around 95,500 joints. It's actually typically about half of that, and, more importantly, what is that point trying to be made by breaking these confiscated drugs down into their 'supposed' dose amounts? Very few people can take a full gram of mushrooms as one dose. Probably even less people will get over six joints from one gram ( usually it's three, maybe four ), and, as for the number of doses in a gram of cocaine, that's probably not close to the same from one person to the next. It makes the author look like she is trying to appear knowledgable on an issue she has no knowledge about. And, finally, so what? What exactly was the intended point of all of this? If the point was to show how many doses the police got off the streets, it looks like there wasn't much mushroom or cocaine while it attempts to make it look as if almost one hundred thousand people were saved from the evil weed, which is misguided at best! Perhaps she got these numbers from another source, but whoever it was, I would suggest they have no clue what they are talking about. K.E. Byrnes Vancouver |
| Jan 3, 2007 |
Medicinal Marijuana Grow-Op Halted Trail resident Peter Roglich is left bewildered after local RCMP seized roughly 200 marijuana plants from his personal grow-op last week. According to Roglich, he and his wife have both been diagnosed with Hepatitis C, are using the plants for exclusively for medicinal purposes; and have been licensed to do so for the past six months. Roglich says he has a certified licence through Health Canada and cannot understand what provoked the RCMP to enter his home. |