Canada

By MINDELLE JACOBS, QMI Agency

 

The federal government has it half right. We have a drug problem. But it’s not marijuana, which has never killed anyone. It’s the abuse of prescription drugs which kills hundreds of Canadians annually.

 

Whether it’s because of ongoing pain, depression or the urge to get high, more and more people are heading to their doctors — not the neighbourhood pusher — for a fix.

 

As the International Narcotics Control Board noted in its 2009 annual report, the abuse of prescription drugs in North America is second only to the abuse of cannabis.

 

We love our pills. North America has the world’s highest consumption of prescription opioids, such as OxyContin, and we’re gobbling them up faster than ever. Read more »

By. CBC News

 

Patients seeking to use medical marijuana are being forced to wait as long as six months by Health Canada because a backlog of permit applications, a B.C. doctor says.

 

Dr. Gwyllyn Goddard says patients are told that getting a permit to use medical marijuana should take about 60 days. Each year, however, they're waiting longer for Health Canada to approve their applications — from two months to three months, and now six months.

 

Because of the delays many patients ended up buying pot illegally while they wait for the official government permit, says Goddard. Read more »

By. CBC News

 

Smoking marijuana a few times daily can help ease a type of chronic pain, a Canadian study suggests.

 

Researchers in Montreal conducted a randomized controlled trial -- the gold standard of medical research -- of inhaled cannabis in 21 adults with chronic neuropathic pain, a condition caused by damage to nerves that don't repair.

 

The research team found that smoking higher-potency marijuana significantly reduced average pain intensity and helped improve sleep quality.

 

Although the CBC News.ca article was about research into marijuana's possible health benefits, many readers engaged in a spirited debate in the comments section over whether cannabis use in Canada should be legalized. Read more »

By BILL KAUFMANN, Calgary Sun

 

It doesn’t happen by design, it’s just how things shake out in the war on drugs, says the senior cop.

 

Drug bust statistics compiled by a new Alberta police force created largely to battle organized crime — the drug trade, in other words — reveal a strikingly lopsided picture.

 

In 2009-10, the entity comprising city and RCMP officers known as ALERT states it seized illicit drugs of various kinds worth $104 million.

 

Of that total, nearly $101 million was marijuana — the drug that, unlike legal pharmaceuticals and alcohol, has never led to a fatal overdose and which most Canadians believe should be decriminalized. Read more »

By. Cowichan News Leader Pictorial

 

Help is coming for Cowichanians wishing to ford a swamp of government paperwork and legally obtain medical marijuana.

 

A local group, represented by Mill Bay lawyer Kirk Tousaw, aims to open the storefront Medical Cannabis Access Centre in the Duncan Garage, possibly by month’s end.

 

The opening date is pending finalization of the centre’s business plan, plus city permits and more.

 

The idea, said social-justice advocate Tousaw, is to educate valley patients about their rights under Canada’s federal medical-marijuana program. Read more »

By. Zoe McKnight, National Post

 

Toronto City Council voted to endorse the Vienna Declaration on Thursday, raising a loud voice against the war on drugs.

 

“The war against drugs has failed,” said city councillor Kyle Rae, who brought the declaration to council after attending the AIDS 2010 international conference this July, where it was announced. “In every jurisdiction and in every community, we know that policing this issue is not enough.”

 

The principles of the declaration favour a public health approach to dealing with drug addicts, rather than enforcing ever-stricter drug laws, which advocates say doesn’t work, and in fact can cause greater harm. Read more »

By. Diane Taylor, Guardian

 

Drug addicts have a lot in common with other marginalised groups, such as sex workers, people with disabilities and asylum seekers in that many people have never met them and know very little about the realities of their lives. Where there is a void of factual information, stigma and prejudice often rush in to fill the space. This week's report from the UK drugs policy commission, Sinning and Sinned Against: the Stigmatisation of Problem Drug Users, confirms this. The report finds that many people don't like drug users and that this dislike hinders the prospects of social integration and future employment for this group. Read more »

By. Phil Smith, Drug War Chronicle

 

Canada's Conservative minority government hopes the third time is the charm for its controversial measure to increase sentences for marijuana cultivation and introduce mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses. Now known as S-10, the measure will be taken up by the Senate when it returns from recess at end of next month.

 

The bill is designed to "send a message" that "if you sell or produce drugs, you'll pay with jail time," Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said when re-filing the bill in May.

 

Under the bill, anyone growing six or more plants for the purpose of drug trafficking could face a mandatory minimum six month jail sentence, with a one-year mandatory minimum for up to 200 plants and two years for up to 500 plants. Hash makers also face a one-year mandatory minimum.

 

The mandatory minimum sentences could be increased by half if any of a number of aggravating factors are claimed. These include whether a weapon was found on the premises, if minors were involved, if the location was unsafe, and whether pot production posed a danger to the public in a residential area. Read more »

By Emily Chung, CBC News

 

An electric car made of hemp is being developed by a group of Canadian companies in collaboration with an Alberta Crown corporation.

 

The Kestrel will be prototyped and tested later in August by Calgary-based Motive Industries Inc., a vehicle development firm focused on advanced materials and technologies, the company announced.

 

The compact car, which will hold a driver and up to three passengers, will have a top speed of 90 kilometres per hour and a range of 40 to 160 kilometres before needing to be recharged, depending on the type of battery, the company said in an email to CBC News Monday. Read more »

By Michael McKiernan, Law Times

 

Lawyers took federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to task for his party’s tough-on-crime agenda during a question-and-answer session at the Canadian Bar Association’s annual conference in Niagara Falls, Ont., last week.

 

But a defiant Nicholson held firm throughout while insisting that harsher sentences and changes to the Criminal Code are necessary to maintain public confidence in the justice system.

 

Nicholson spearheaded the Truth in Sentencing Act, which ended two-for-one credit for pretrial detention. The government has also eliminated conditional sentences for crimes involving serious personal injuries and has vowed to continue the push to toughen up the Criminal Code in other areas. Read more »