BC
The Muzzling of a Cop
Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:29am
By. Norm Stamper
David Bratzer is a young, soft-spoken police officer with the Victoria (British Columbia) Police Department. He comes from a law enforcement family; two of his brothers are VicPD officers. Thoughtful, well spoken, Bratzer loves being a cop and serving his community. But now he's been ordered not to air his views on the most compelling of all public safety issues.
Bratzer was deeply affected by the serial killings of prostitutes in and around Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The infamous pig farmer Robert "Willie" Pickton was convicted in 2007 of the murders of six women, though he's confessed to a total of 49 killings (he'd hoped to make it an even 50 but he "got sloppy" and got caught). Following the progress of the trial, Bratzer drew a connection between the murder victims and their circumstances: Pickton's victims were drug addicts, most of them working the streets in order to finance their habit. Bratzer concluded that Canada's drug laws had contributed to, and in a very real sense, caused the deaths of these women.
Prostitutes peddle co-operative brothels to protect sex workers
Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 1:23pm
by Trevor Scott Howell, Fast Forward Weekly4,000 march for missing women
Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 02/15/2010 - 9:26amVancouver's real world,' outside Olympic bubble
Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Fri, 02/12/2010 - 12:36pmDowntown Eastside women to greet visitors
Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Tue, 02/09/2010 - 9:37am
By Ethan Baron, The ProvinceLicense to steal
Submitted by Kirk Tousaw on Sun, 11/29/2009 - 3:06am
Kelowna licensed medical cannabis user detained
Submitted by Kirk Tousaw on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 2:53pm
Don Pio says he spent two hours in custody for possessing marijuana he depends on for his health.
Pio, 35, says he has a medical condition that requires him to smoke pot every 40 minutes or so. He had marijuana on his breath when he followed his wife into Kelowna Law Courts on Friday – an odour that landed him in handcuffs on the floor of a sheriff‘s van and later in a jail cell.
“It was harsh, man. The worst morning of my life. I have no (criminal) record,” he said on Sunday.
“They arrested me for smelling like pot.”
No medication controls his shaking and nausea better than cannabis, Pio said. Last December, Health Canada granted him a medicinal-marijuana card based on his doctor‘s prescription. The document, which features Pio‘s photo, name and address, permits him to use cannabis to suppress his symptoms.
City of Surrey wants access to private medical records
Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Mon, 09/14/2009 - 3:19pmSurrey scrutinizes medical marijuana sites
Council asks where legal pot is grown to ensure homes properly modified
The City of Surrey wants to know which of its residents have licences to grow marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Surrey Coun. Marvin Hunt pitched a resolution last week to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities asking the federal government to inform cities when medicinal pot licences are approved.
This would allow municipalities to pinpoint where the pot is being grown and ensure homes are properly modified, he said.
“We will make sure they get the proper permits and inspections so the place won’t be a fire hazard for them or anyone else,” Hunt added.
The resolution was made on behalf of B.C. fire chiefs, who argue medical marijuana growers often alter wiring and make structural changes to their homes before starting their growing operations.
Vancouver's Drug czar slams Harper gov't as he exits to 'next adventure'
Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Thu, 09/10/2009 - 9:35amAims to shape wider policy
By Andy Ivens, The Province
The author of Vancouver's ground-breaking Four Pillars drug strategy criticized the federal government's "utterly failed" approach to drug use in his resignation notice this week.
Donald MacPherson said in an e-mail Tuesday to city staff: "[T]he approach to the drug problem that we have in Canada . . . [a] war-on-drugs approach has utterly failed over the past 40 years and must come to an end.
"The emperor truly has no clothes in this case," said his e-mail.
Legalize it, tax it, forget about it
Submitted by Jacob Hunter on Fri, 09/04/2009 - 10:16amBrent Richter - Coast Reporter
Sechelt – The provincial budget has come down and the message is clear: brace for deficit spending. It’s not the spending I’m worried about so much as I am paying for it later.
Our neighbour three doors down, California, is an even worse financial spot than we are. So much so Gov. Arnold Schwar-zenegger’s office is issuing IOUs to state employees instead of pay cheques and has opened up a Twitter page to collect ideas from the public on how the government can raise money.
Desperate times.
The response was clear, though. “Legalize, regulate and tax marijuana,” was one of the most common responses.
Desperate measures.
But financial desperation shouldn’t be the only criteria to make governments re-evaluate their stances on pot.
The lose-lose situation we are now in when it comes to drug enforcement is only benefiting organized crime groups. They enjoy a monopoly they are willing to fight and kill for.
By LINDA ROBERTSON
Free Marc Emery

