Top Stories (2008) -
(386 items)
(All links open in new tab)
| May 21, 2008 |
Studying Pot's Effects On Drivers Over the next two years, Asbridge and the rest of his team plan to survey 1,500 people in three different Canadian hospitals, including the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, and two more hospitals located in Toronto. [They are only collecting data from hospitals? What about those who drive under the influence of cannabis who don't make it into a hospital?] |
|---|---|
| May 21, 2008 |
Police Smoke Out Drugs At Schools After a 10-day investigation at nine high schools, Ottawa police rounded up about 100 grams of marijuana, arrested 16 youths and charged five more. [Sounds like a lot of taxpayer money was used and trust betrayed to round up 100 grams... insane] |
| May 20, 2008 |
A Few Brave Souls Can Enact Great Change It's hard to stand up against criminals. For most of us, that world remains a dark, unknown place that we happily avoid. We don't want to know drug dealers, and we certainly don't want to experience their lifestyle. |
| May 20, 2008 |
Military Drug Tests Find 1 In 20 Using More than one in 20 Canadian soldiers and sailors in non-combat roles tested positive for illicit drug use in random tests conducted on more than 3,000 military personnel from coast to coast. The results provided to The Canadian Press show that over a four-month period, 1,392 sailors in the navy's Atlantic and Pacific fleets and 1,673 soldiers in the army's four regions and training branch were subjected to blind drug testing. <strong>Averaged out, 6.5 per cent of those tested in the navy and 5 per cent in the army indicated positive results, almost entirely for marijuana. </strong> The Canadian Forces personnel will eventually switch to cocaine or meth like others who are drug tested... it only stays in the system for several days instead of 30 days like cannabis... |
| May 20, 2008 |
Drugs A Booming BC Business Marijauna is our number 1 economic contributor, and like all successful businesses, it's growing. It isn't restricted to just one part of the province either. Marijuana is grown all over the place, even in the hinterlands, it's truly a provincial bonanza. MacLeans says it's a $5 billion to $7 billion a year business. The hard drugs bring in billions and we also do well with manufactured drugs such as methamphetamine and ecstasy. A BC Business magazine report ranks the marijuana industry as the province's second largest business, but that's still significant. |
| May 19, 2008 |
High Cost Of Toking A human rights settlement between a medical marijuana user and the owner of a Burlington sports pub has left behind a cloud of controversy. Afroze Edwards of the Ontario Human Rights Commission said people who partake of marijuana for medical reasons have a right to reasonable accommodation of their disabilities. |
| May 17, 2008 |
Quit Talking About The 'War On Drugs' While there's no denying Canada's longstanding prohibition of the same substances banned in the U.S., comparing the American 'war on drugs' to drug enforcement in Canada is laughable. [Correct - it is "War on some people who use some drugs" but that is too long and truthful for a soundbite] |
| May 17, 2008 |
Shotgun, Dope Seized From Cop's Wrecked BMW EDMONTON - A shotgun and marijuana were seized from the car belonging to an off-duty Edmonton constable accused of causing a fiery crash while intoxicated. ...Brown, 29, faces five counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm, five counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and one count of driving with a blood alcohol level over .08. ...Brown, a three-year veteran of the force, has been suspended with pay from his job. [Is there any other profession where you can screw up so badly, yet get time off work with pay that is provided by taxpayers?] |
| May 16, 2008 |
Marijuana Popular Among Educated, Middle-Class: Study A variety of educated, middle-class Canadians are "making a conscious but careful choice to use marijuana" to relax or focus on leisure activities, say researchers behind a new study spotlighting pot smoking behind the nation's picket fences. .."They're a little reluctant to come forward and talk about it, using the phrase that they're still 'in the closet.'" |
| May 15, 2008 |
Men Cleared Of Drug Charges Due To Use Of Sniffer Dog An RCMP officer who stopped two men near Kananaskis did not have sufficient grounds to use a dog to sniff out the 58 kilograms of marijuana stashed in a tank in the back of their truck, a judge has ruled. |
| May 13, 2008 |
AB:
Marijuana Advocates Mount Campaign Advocates of medicinal and recreational use of marijuana are promoting a Toronto university professor's legal self-defence kit to help people avoid criminal convictions for a law they believe is unconstitutional. |
| May 13, 2008 |
Grow-Op Hunt Sparks Class-Action Suit A Coquitlam homeowner has filed a class-action lawsuit after his power was cut off and his tenant forced to move out following a search for a marijuana grow-op. ...Monaco's case is the fifth lawsuit against Coquitlam since last year. One is in small-claims court, two are petitions, and one is a writ. |
| May 13, 2008 |
ON:
OPP Made 2246 Drug Busts In 2007 The Ontario Provincial Police drug section says it arrested 2,246 people across the province in 2007 for drug offences. The provincial force also dismantled 551 indoor and outdoor marijuana grow operations in which 6,000 kilograms of dried marijuana was seized. [Imagine all that taxpayer moeny being spent to fight real crime] |
| May 13, 2008 |
BC:
Conditional Discharge For Denman Pot Grower A 48-year-old man received a conditional discharge in Courtenay Provincial Court last week after Comox Valley RCMP discovered 43 marijuana plants growing on his Denman Island property. ...Conditions of Relkoff's probation include that he abstain from the possession of illicit drugs and that he make a $500 donation to the D.A.R.E. program, in care of the Comox Valley RCMP. [Being forced to donate to DARE should be challenged!] |
| May 12, 2008 |
Laws Go To Pot Over Religion Things have really gone to pot for the Church of the Universe in Hamilton, Ont. Church founders Walter Tucker and Michael Baldasaro are facing hefty jail terms and have had their east-Hamilton "church" seized. ....Canadians should ask two questions of prospective members of Parliament during the next federal election. When religious beliefs come into conflict with the laws of the land, does Canadian criminal and civil law trump religious freedom? And why should the tokers at the Church of the Universe in Hamilton do hard time while the married satyrs of Bountiful, B.C., can keep saying; "I do?" |
| May 10, 2008 |
Pot Of Gold Not What Local Grower Wants Local cannabis company Island Harvest wants to grow weed for the government and potentially become the only legal supplier in the country. But they said if they were given a monopoly on selling cannabis, it would be a step in the wrong direction for medicinal users. |
| May 8, 2008 |
Court Rulings Allow for Protection of Students And Their Charter Rights A recent Supreme Court of Canada decision concerning police use of trained dogs to ferret out drugs in schools has some school administrators up in arms. But the decision is a reasonable one, as it protects students' constitutional rights while still allowing police searches in certain circumstances. |
| May 8, 2008 |
Grow-Op Team Suspended Over Claim Of Theft Langley Township's marijuana grow-op busting team has been suspended in the wake of an allegation of theft against one of its members...A member of the team allegedly took a flashlight with two batteries, valued at between $25 and $30, from one of the raided homes. Wade said the member could not immediately be replaced on the team so its operations have been suspended. [Cops have been known to take things during busts - so it seems very strange this case even came to light] |
| May 7, 2008 |
City Going Too Far Witch hunt. Police state. Overzealous. Heavy handed. All of these terms -- and probably a lot more we couldn't print -- are being used to describe the City of Coquitlam's approach to rooting out marijuana grow operations. ...And before the legalize-marijuana lobby starts writing letters about how the problem could be avoided if pot were legal, we agree. Pot, however, is not legal. And illegal grow-ops pose a huge fire hazard. That means the inspection approach to shutting down grow-ops is a good thing -- when one key ingredient is factored in: common sense. [Indoor gardens do not pose significant fire risk] |
| May 7, 2008 |
A Pothead's Pursuit of Justice Marc Emery is standing behind the counter at his former business, the City Lights bookstore on Richmond Street, talking about his quixotic quest to end society's prohibition on marijuana. [Why is it okay to be derogatory when you are referring to cannabis consumers?] |