Marijuana News

Synthetic marijuana causing outcry

2010-07-30T09:17:23Z

BOSTON - An herb and chemical blend dubbed K2 that is sold legally in the U.S. as incense but produces a marijuana-like high when smoked is landing a rising number of people in emergency rooms, doctors said.

The surge in calls to poison control centers across the country has spurred 10 states to ban K2 and other similar brands of so-called synthetic marijuana products.

It has also prompted public doctors who have treated patients who used K2 to issue health warnings.

“My first reaction to a product like this is ‘buyer beware,”’ said Anthony Scalzo, director of toxicology at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in St. Louis.

“You don’t know exactly what is in the product, the relative doses in the product, and there is no quality assurance,” he explained.

K2, defined by the Missouri Poison Center as a mix of herbs and spices that are sprayed with a psychoactive chemical, is likened to marijuana because the chemical compound produces a similar interaction with receptors in the brain.

Despite label warnings against consumption, smoking K2 has become a popular way to get high and pass drug screens. The product is sold online and at convenience stores and other outlets for roughly $30 to $40 for a 3-gram bag.

Users ranging from teens to adults in their 60s have suffered from agitation, anxiety, hypertension, vomiting and in some cases severe paranoia and hallucinations.

“These people come into an ER, they are extremely agitated,” Scalzo said. “They feel like their heart will beat out of their chest.”

The substance has also been linked to a suicide in Iowa and may have played a role in at least one other near-suicide, Scalzo said.

Scalzo, who also serves as the medical director for the Missouri Poison Center, said cases stemming from the use of K2 were considered rare just a year ago, when centers nationwide fielded just 13 related calls.

But with 766 cases already reported to poison control centers in 46 states and the District of Columbia during the first half of 2010, Scalzo fears “it may represent the tip of an iceberg.”

The American Association of Poison Control Centers said Missouri, Indiana, Georgia, Utah and Texas have the highest use of K2.

Unlike marijuana, which has been heavily researched, little is known about whether the chemical compounds in K2.

Alabama, Louisiana, North Dakota, Tennessee and Kentucky were among the first 10 states that have already passed some form of a ban, according to data from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Other states such as Nebraska are considering bans

“We just don’t know what the long-term effects are and we need to address it,” said Nebraska State Senator Beau McCoy, who intends to introduce a bill next term prohibiting both selling and possession of K2.

McCoy is trying to write an inclusive bill that broadly bans the ingredients of the chemical compounds sprayed on the dried herb mix, preventing an alteration in the chemical makeup of the spray that would allow the substance back on the market.

http://www.torontosun.com/life/healthandfitness/2010/07/29/14866836.html

Let’s Tax Marijuana To Death Like Tobacco

2010-07-20T10:36:55Z

If you’re at all interested in the ongoing debate over pot legalization, look south right now to cash-starved California.

It’s smoking hot there, with arguments being marshalled for and against Proposition 19, which would allow people 21 and over to possess and cultivate marijuana for personal use — and let local governments regulate and tax commercial production of it.

Cannabis Culture chief Jodie Emery, wife of Prince of Pot Marc Emery, told me Thursday the proposed legislation is contentious, even among California growers. Some fear passage of the initiative, on the Nov. 2 California statewide ballot, will cut into their profits or even drive them out of business.

“The price of marijuana is going to drop drastically if it’s available in a legal market and people are allowed to buy it and grow it themselves legally,” noted Emery, whose husband is in a federal prison in Seattle awaiting sentencing on seed-selling charges.

But no one doubts the importance of Proposition 19, otherwise known as the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010. “It’s the most significant, important legislation related to marijuana we have ever seen,” Emery said.

There’s a compelling reason for this. California needs all the tax money it can get to prop up its ailing public sector. In fact, the city of Maywood in the Los Angeles area recently laid off all its city employees and is outsourcing all its operations.

And, yes, Emery is right: The arguments for and against Proposition 19 don’t fall into neatly defined camps. A former San Jose police chief and a retired Los Angeles police deputy chief are among those supporting it. Mothers Against Drunk Driving is opposed. And a recent poll shows public opinion is evenly divided.

Emery pointed out that, if it passes, the bloom would be off the B.C. bud export industry. “We will see a lot of growers move away from here to California,” she said. “And that would happen all across North America, because why grow where’s there a lot of risk involved, when you can go where there’s none?”

Senior Simon Fraser University criminology professor Rob Gordon said it’s likely big business might get involved. He noted that, when pot legalization was debated in England in the 1960s, at least one major tobacco firm geared up its London plant for production.

Gordon, a former police officer, calls Proposition 19 a “revolutionary development.” He himself favours the yes side, pointing to “the absurdity of trying to prohibit something that just simply manages to produce more crime . . . and more organized crime.”

However, he doesn’t think passage of the proposition would result in any immediate legislative change on this side of the border, since marijuana laws here are federal, not provincial.

“I think if you get a Liberal government in place, we might see something different happening,” he told me. “But I don’t think that Harper and his crowd have any appetite for liberalizing drug regulation in this country right now.”

What do I think? I favour Proposition 19. I think it’s high time we stopped treating pot as a special weed — and starting taxing it to death like tobacco.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/

Cheech and Chong: The Fathers Of Stoner Comedy Return To Their Canadian roots

2010-07-05T09:22:23Z

Words of wisdom from those seemingly ageless stoners:

"For some reason, we're timeless," marvels Tommy Chong.

"Yeah, we're like the immigration problem. We're never going to go away," pledges Richard (Cheech) Marin.

Right they are. Cheech and Chong, credited by many with creating the stoner genre of film and comedy, have been sparking together, and apart, for more than 40 years. Clearly, the pot hasn't killed them or their careers.

The duo will probably go several tokes over the line when they make their Just for Laughs fest debut July 16 at Theatre St. Denis. Presumably on hand to serve as gala hosts, the pair will be doing excerpts on stage from Cheech and Chong: Get It Legal, the followup to their hit reunion tour, Cheech and Chong: Light Up America.

Doubtless, the St. Denis theatre staff are hoping patrons don't attempt to do their own rendition of Up in Smoke, Cheech and Chong's stoner-flick classic that has probably allowed countless future generations to live blissfully ever after.

Even for those who weren't born in the tandem's heyday, Cheech and Chong are cultural icons -curios? -who still resonate. It's no accident, Cheech observes in a phone interview: "We hypnotize people."

Many of their fans weren't even born when the duo separated in 1985 to pursue solo careers. But they got back together as a comedy unit a few years ago in, of all places, Ottawa.

The Canadian connection is strong. The L.A.-raised Cheech, 64, and the Edmonton-born Chong, 72, first started as a joint act in Vancouver in the late 1960s and soon conquered the continent with their countercultural shtick, relating mostly to their ever-chill states.

Their stoner shtick paid monster dividends: They cut nine hit discs, including Big Bambu and Los Cochinos, the latter winning the 1973 Grammy Award for best comedy album. They also made nine hit flicks, including Up in Smoke, which grossed more than $100 million at the gate. The guys also materialized in Graham Chapman's pirate spoof Yellowbeard and Martin Scorsese's off-centred After Hours.

After the messy split in the mid-'80s, Cheech showed up in such flicks as Tin Cup and the Spy Kids trilogy, as well as the tube drama Nash Bridges. Chong popped up in comedy clubs and on That '70s Show. They planned to get back together for a movie in 2003, but Chong had to do nine months in the jug after pleading guilty to charges of distributing drug paraphernalia in the U.S.

"We don't fight with each other any more," Chong says. "We've got our wives to fight with now."

What is intriguing is that the same issues that burned when the pair first started out continue to sizzle today: the legalization of marijuana and Latino immigration crackdowns.

"I did Born in East L.A. almost 25 years ago, but the topic is still as relevant today -even more so," says a no-nonsense Cheech, of the film comedy that he wrote, directed and starred in about a legal Latino in L.A. who is deported to Mexico.

"And, of course," Cheech cracks, "there are less people smoking dope now than ever before."

"But that's what keeps us in the news and still working," Chong interjects.

Chong still maintains a residence in Vancouver: "I go back frequently to put out the garbage and to mow the grass."

We'll leave the latter remark to your own imaginations.

But there are some among us who thought it might be fitting for Chong -who has spent considerable time in the town -to be involved with the Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies, like so many other Canuck celebs. Really, what a thrill it would have been to catch Chong lighting one of those mega-sized Olympic torches -certainly the biggest bong he would have ever lit.

"I was never asked," says the man, who refers to himself as a "walking drug test."

The pair -their voices, anyway -are set to be unleashed shortly in an animated feature film.

"We're playing around with a few titles," Cheech says. "But I think we've settled on Avatar 2. It has a nice ring to it."

They are also working on a live action feature, set in Mexico and slated for release next year. The working title: Grumpy Old Stoners.

Ah, old habits die hard. But lucrative though those habits may be, they do invite much scrutiny -mostly for Chong -from customs officials.

Because of his bust, Chong is invariably on a watch list. "When I came to Ottawa, I was greeted by agents in flak jackets with automatic weapons and sniffer dogs," Chong claims.

"Then they found out that I was Canadian and they had to let me in."

Cheech muses that he has been largely spared these hassles at the border: "They've tried to get me for narcotics smuggling, but I usually hand them back to Tommy at that point. On the other hand, they did think I was a terrorist in Edmonton."

Chong does, however, believe that pot will be legalized in parts of the U.S. and even Canada within the next three years. But that's a good news/ bad news scenario:

"Once they do legalize it, we'll break up for good," Chong laments. "We won't have an act any longer."

Cheech and Chong are presiding over a Just for Laughs gala, July 16 at 7 p.m. at Theatre St. Denis, 1594 St. Denis St. Tickets begin at $45.50 and are available at 514-845-2322 or hahaha. com.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/movie-guide/Cheech+Chong+fathers...

MS Sufferer Finds Relief With Medical Marijuana

2010-06-29T16:35:12Z

Matt Young used to bust kids for smoking pot as a security officer in Calgary, but now it’s Young who’s trying to find a way to smoke marijuana in peace.

That search almost cost him his life.

Young, now living in Saskatchewan, is a former private security manager and amateur bodybuilder who wanted to be a police officer. He’s watched all that disappear as his multiple sclerosis advanced since his diagnosis at age 14.

The 28-year-old has tried every drug suggested to him by doctors in three provinces, but he said marijuana, which he only tried once or twice in high school, is the only drug that stops his spasms and lets him eat and sleep at night.

“Marijuana still doesn’t eliminate the problems, but it reduces them so I can get out of bed and play with my boy,” Young said, referring to his seven-year-old stepson.

At the end of May, Health Canada sent Young the card that allows him to legally smoke marijuana. He’s one of 100 Saskatchewan residents and 4,029 Canadians who can legally possess cannabis, according to Health Canada.

“I wish it could have been something else that helped me,” Young said, sitting beside his childhood friend and now partner, Tina Mauro, in their home north of Saskatoon. “But I’ve tried everything else.”

To legally smoke pot, one has to find a doctor willing to sign a prescription for the drug. Health Canada approves the possession licence and the prescription is filled by growing a small supply of marijuana, finding a designated holder ( also licensed by the government ) or buying from Health Canada.

Legal access to medical marijuana in Saskatchewan is not easily obtained, say several users and proponents of medicinal pot.

Earlier this year, the local chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws blasted the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan for deterring doctors from prescribing pot. Health Canada counts 59 Saskatchewan doctors who support medical marijuana.

Young had a difficult time finding a Saskatchewan doctor to prescribe marijuana before Health Canada sent him his licence.

“A lot of damage has been done to our lives,” Young said. “If somebody reads this, maybe it’ll provide them a glimmer of hope.”

Young grew up in Saskatchewan, but found himself in Calgary where he ran security for an office complex.

He applied to be an officer with the Calgary Police Service, but was told he was ineligible because of his multiple sclerosis, a disease that attacks nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord.

Eventually, the MS symptoms escalated and Young sought treatment. He tried a barrage of drugs prescribed by doctors. The medication didn’t work and, in 2005, after getting approval from Health Canada, he tried marijuana as an alternative.

“I got better,” Young said, while sitting in his two-bedroom bungalow in a small town north of Saskatoon.

He smoked for a year. He felt so good that he stopped smoking. He had a severe relapse and he soon found himself moving back to Saskatchewan in 2008 to live with Mauro at her suggestion. They were engaged in September 2009.

But in Saskatchewan, Young couldn’t find a doctor to prescribe marijuana. They pushed more pharmaceuticals on him, he said, but nothing worked and the drugs often made Young more ill.

“He’s the one in 100 that the drugs didn’t work for,” said Mauro, a former pharmacy technician who now works at a bank.

Young pleaded with his doctors to write him a prescription for marijuana. He’s not a man to mingle with drug dealers and Health Canada sells pot at half the price of its street value.

In January, frustrated and depressed with refusals from doctors, Young set out to kill himself. He overdosed on prescription pills at his home while his family was away.

“When I walked in the door, he stopped breathing,” Mauro said. Their son was screaming for Young to wake up while Mauro called paramedics. Young was taken to Shellbrook Hospital before a transfer to Saskatoon where he spent several days in a coma.

“The doctors didn’t think he was going to make it,” Mauro said. “He was in a coma on a Monday and on Tuesday I walked into the hospital room and he turned over and looked at me and we both started crying.”

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Saskatchewan warns doctors about prescribing medical marijuana. The treatment has plenty of anecdotal evidence but little else to back up health claims, say medical experts.

“In time, I think we’ll have a greater level of consensus, but we need more evidence,” said Dr. Peter Butt, a Saskatoon family physician and addictions specialist. “We’re in the early of days of medical marijuana and the story has yet to unfold.

“There’s limited evidence about its efficacy. We have a product being smoked, so there’s a health problem with that. Just as tobacco companies are being sued, some physicians might be reluctant to prescribe something that will also cause harm.”

There are other problems: Criminal involvement in marijuana trade and the contamination of street drugs, addiction and the trouble of measuring dosage for different patients.

But there are cases in which marijuana has helped people, especially those who are HIV positive, receiving chemotherapy or diagnosed with MS, said Butt, also an assistant professor with the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine.

There is some evidence that marijuana can help patients regain their appetite and ease nausea and chronic pain, he said.

“It can help in select cases, but that doesn’t mean it’s a panacea for all chronic pain,” Butt said.

To make marijuana use safer for patients, researchers must develop a better delivery system to avoid the health problems associated with smoking, Butt said.

“How many medications are dispensed in leaf form?” Butt said.

Some medical marijuana proponents and users believe current alternatives — sprays and pills with concentrated THC — don’t work as well as smoking.

The MS Society doesn’t recommend MS patients use marijuana, but does say that there is anecdotal evidence to support its benefits, said Laurie Murphy, the charity’s client services co-ordinator in Saskatoon.

“It can help with spasticity and pain,” she said. “But we can’t advocate for any treatment that doesn’t have the research to back it up.”

The society directs curious patients to Health Canada if they feel like marijuana is the last resort, Murphy said.

“I don’t know of many doctors in Saskatchewan who support it and many won’t even talk about it,” she said. “It’s sad they can’t access ( marijuana ) if they benefit from it.”

A neurologist gave Young a prescription in February and Health Canada mailed Young his licence four months later.

Young can only pay for some of his prescription, which allows him 3.5 grams of marijuana per day. Health Canada charges Young about $600 per month to fill his prescription, half of the street value for the same amount, he said.

He’d like governments to subsidize marijuana, like provinces do for other prescriptions, for low-income people. He and Mauro are a single-income family and they run a cake decorating business on the side. The couple is trying to keep their home as they fight financial problems, Young said.

Despite the discount, Young only bought one ounce for his first purchase this year. He smoked it all by the middle of June and he can’t order more until the end of the month.

“He scrapes and conserves if there’s any residue left,” Mauro said.

Young said marijuana “is supposed to heal, but waiting for it feels like torture.”

In an email, a Health Canada spokesperson suggested licensed users grow their marijuana — it charges $20 for a packet of 30 seeds — to keep expenses low.

Young doesn’t want to grow his marijuana, although it’d be easy to do with Health Canada’s approval. He lives with a young family in a small town and fears how even a couple of marijuana plants could jeopardize his family’s security.

“I hope to fall asleep before the spasms start,” he said. Without the marijuana, Young said, his body is wracked by insomnia, spasms, nausea and eating troubles. “I feel like I’m literally losing my mind. I have a digital recorder I rely on because I’m constantly forgetting things.”

Once Young inhales the marijuana smoke, the changes are instant, Mauro said.

“The depression is gone. His thoughts are clear, concise,” she said. “He loves to write again and the appetite is there.”

“The only thing that makes it better is the marijuana,” Young said.

http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstarphoenix/

Prisoner Of Pot

2010-06-18T11:43:27Z

For years, his seed catalogs were scrutinized by discerning cannabis cultivators across the U.S. and Canada.

There was Blue Heaven pot, capable of producing a “euphoric, anti-anxiety high,” or Crown Royal, whose “flower tops come to a flat golden crown, sparkling with gems of THC.”

The difference between Marc Emery’s pot seeds and countless others on the market was that if you bought Emery’s, he’d use the money to launch a cannabis tsunami across North America that would set the war on drugs adrift like a cork on a massive sea of weed.

“Plant the seeds of freedom, overgrow the government,” Emery urged his clients. With a pot plant on every patio, he declared, violent drug gangs would see their livelihoods disappear and police would be reduced to “running around… chasing all these marijuana plants.” Sooner or later, he promised, “they will simply give up and change the laws.”

Well, not yet. Emery, who U.S. authorities fingered in 2005 as one of the top 46 international drug-trafficking targets, was ordered extradited by the Canadian minister of justice last month and relinquished to federal marshals in Seattle. He now faces a likely five years in U.S. federal prison.

“In fact I have done these things, so I admit my guilt,” Emery said in an e-mail after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to one count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana. “We are winning, especially in the United States, and I can take a lot of credit for that…. When I am gone, or even locked up here in the U.S., my historical legacy is secure.”

Here in “Vansterdam,” where cannabis cafes, head shops and even a supervised needle-injection site are prominent features of downtown, pot is a multibillion-dollar industry. And Emery, a longtime fixture at political forums and downtown rallies, is widely seen as one of its titans.

The extradition of the 52-year-old self-proclaimed Prince of Pot has sparked a sovereignty outcry across Canada, where supporters, civil rights advocates and even several members of Parliament have demanded to know why he was handed over to the U.S. for an offense that Canada seldom prosecutes.

“It seems like the American war on drugs is just reaching its arm into Canada and saying, ‘We’re going to scoop you up,’” said Vancouver MP Libby Davies. “The whole thing has struck people as being over the top, harsh, unwarranted — and at the end of the day, what are they trying to prove?”

Emery became a target for police in both nations — in Canada because his appearances on international television shows was an irritant to police; in America because his seed business, which at one point reached revenues of $3 million a year, was supplying marijuana-growing operations in at least nine states.

“Marc Emery happened to be the largest supplier of marijuana seeds into the United States,” said Todd Greenberg, the assistant U.S. attorney in Seattle who is prosecuting Emery’s case.

Emery believes he caught the eye of the Drug Enforcement Administration not because of his seeds but because of what he did with his revenue. Emery channeled most of the millions he earned into marijuana legalization and defence efforts across North America. The Prince of Pot’s seed money has helped start “compassion clubs” for medical-marijuana users across Canada, launch the Pot-TV Internet network, and fund lobbying organizations and political parties in North America, Israel and New Zealand.

The Prince of Pot’s blog posts from the SeaTac detention centre go out regularly on the Internet to his supporters. What he wants to do next, though his attempt to get a recorded phone call out has so far only gotten him stuck in solitary confinement: Potcasts.

http://www.cannabisnews.org/canadian-cannabis-news/prisoner-of-pot/

Dutch Parliamentary Elections From A Coffeeshop

2010-06-09T18:41:01Z

On June 9th, the Dutch get to vote their 28th cabinet. With the economic recession as the main issue, the story of coffeeshops in these elections is grossly overlooked.

For a long time, the use of soft drugs for grown ups has been part of a policy of toleration. Especially the last couple of years, political parties haven been in favor or against coffeeshops. In 2008, the CDA wanted to ban them completely. In February 2010 minister under resignation André Rouvoet (Youth and Family) wanted to raise a minimum distance between schools and coffeeshops. In the same month Job Cohen, then mayor of Amsterdam and now running for prime minister for the PvdA, declared that he didn’t feel for closing down the coffeeshops near schools, which was another plan from the government.

As a result of all these different opinions and regulations about the coffeeshops in The Netherlands, coffeeshop-owners have become active in politics. This is mostly the result of owner Nol van Schaik, who owns several shops in Haarlem. They have been putting up flyers with advice on the voting for their customers. Also, their shops are closed when the voting booths are open, so their customers are more motivated to go voting.
Not all coffeeshops participate in these actions. The focus lies on the Amsterdam and Haarlem region, with a few exceptions in Maastricht. These are also the coffeeshops which are most under threat.

In one of the coffeeshops I spoke Paul. Paul is Irish and had several car accidents in his life. Because of this, his days are overshadowed by pain. He told me that he came to The Netherlands because his medical supply of cannabis was stopped in Ireland. Here, he enjoys his cannabis as a pain relief. He is very sorry he cannot go voting in The Netherlands.
A lot of Dutch people who get cannabis for medical reasons, like Parkinson’s or other painful diseases, are going to the coffeeshop as well. Although the prescribed cannabis is cheaper, the ones from the coffeeshop seem to be working better.

In november 2009 the first US coffeeshop opened in Portland, OR. This coffeeshop was established by the NORML, in order to supply its members with medical cannabis. In Canada and South Africa, coffeeshops, though very few, are also part of a policy of toleration, mainly for medical reasons.

http://www.demotix.com/news/352102/dutch-parliamentary-elections-coffeeshop

Pot Prince Already In Trouble In The Joint

2010-06-08T12:47:06Z

Even the walls of a maximum security prison can’t keep Marc Emery out of the public eye.

With a new prison blog, he’s harnessed the Internet to give the world a glimpse into his new lifestyle behind bars.

But now, less than two weeks after he entered a U.S. prison, Emery might have stuck it to the man a little to hard.

The self-proclaimed Prince of Pot is in solitary confinement, cited for violating prison rules.

Emery’s wife, Jodie, 25, said the trouble began when she recorded their prison phone calls and posted them as a podcast on the couple’s Cannabis Culture website.

She said under prison rules, prisoners’ phone calls can only be made between the prisoner and the intended recipient and can’t be redirected to a third party.

Jodie said Emery will be in solitary confinement up to a week until he gets a citation hearing to determine the full extent of his punishment.

Emery’s Seattle lawyer, Richard Troberman, declined comment on details, confirming only that Emery had been cited for a violation.

Jodie said Emery read the rules thoroughly and didn’t think the podcast would be a violation. The couple had created a similar podcast while Emery was awaiting deportation at the Fraser Pretrial Centre in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Emery, 52, a marijuana activist and former Londoner, pleaded guilty May 24 in U.S. District Court in Seattle to conspiracy to manufacture marijuana.

He’s been held in the Federal Detention Center Sea-Tac near Seattle while he awaits a Sept. 10 sentencing hearing.

Prior to the citation, Emery was allowed 300 minutes of phone calls a month, but Jodie said he might be denied phone privileges for up to two months.

“It’s totally devastating,” she said. “Communication is what was keeping our spirits up.”

Emery isn’t allowed direct access to the Internet.

Instead, using a closed system called Corrlinks, he can log on to a computer and compose a message vetted by prison officials, who send the message via e-mail to Jodie.

She edits and uploads the posts to the blog that’s a feature of the couple’s Cannabis Culture online magazine.

The perennial gadfly’s posts run as long as 1,200 words.

The topics run from the banalities of prison life ( he explains how he crafted a light-blocking mask from a prison-issue tube sock to help him sleep in the brightly lit cell ), to poignant stories of the sad lives of inmates.

His June 1 entry boasts how he impressed inmates by showing pictures of himself posing with Tommy Chong, ZZ Top and Sean Paul.

Jodie said he’s barred from using Corrlinks while in solitary.

She said after sentencing, when he’ll be transferred to an Oklahoma City facility where federal prisoners are sorted.

She said there’s no indication where Emery will ultimately serve his time. “It could be Mississippi, it could be Texas..”

For American prisoners, proximity to family is taken into consideration, but not for foreigners.

Jodie said she’s can’t visit Emery while waiting for a visitation application to be processed.

If approved, their visits will be limited to “sitting together and holding hands, and nothing more,” she said.

Jodie runs the couple’s business, including the online store and magazine, from Vancouver. She said because of her responsibilities she’d be unable to relocate to the U.S. to be near Emery.

She said Emery’s imprisonment has increased interest in his fight to legalize pot.

“They’re taking a stand, even if that just means spray painting ‘Free Marc Emery’ all over the place,” she said.

http://www.lfpress.com/

BC Pot Shop Fears Crackdown After Quebec Raids

2010-06-07T16:01:33Z

As a new medical marijuana dispensary is set to open next week in Vancouver’s West End, the B. C. Compassion Club Society expressed concern Friday that raids on four pot shops in Montreal could be the start of a disturbing trend of police crackdowns across the country.

Desperate medical pot users in Quebec have been calling the society on Commercial Drive asking to become members in Vancouver, Elizabeth Glowacki, a spokeswoman for the society, said. The society has a mail order program for members who do not live in the city.

On Thursday, police arrested 35 people in raids on four medical marijuana clubs in Quebec. Montreal police allege many of the clients were not registered with Health Canada and therefore the operators were trafficking an illegal substance.

Montreal police seized 59 kilograms of pot, some hashish and approximately $ 10,000 in cash. Authorities expect to lay charges of drug trafficking and conspiracy.

Also Thursday, Maple Ridge RCMP arrested a man who is licensed by Health Canada to grow pot, making it the first such case in Metro Vancouver where a legal grower has had the drug seized by police. Mounties allege he was growing more plants than he was licensed for. Glowacki said she feared the consequences if raids were to be carried on cannabis clubs out in Vancouver.

” People will be in pain,” she said. ” And people will be stressed out about where they are going to get their medicine. We provide a lot of support as well. I would be devastated if they were to show up and we were closed.”

Three dispensaries are open in Vancouver and a fourth will open next week in the West End. There are also clubs in Maple Ridge, Kelowna, Nelson, Victoria and Nanaimo.

VPD spokeswoman Jana McGuinness said she couldn’t comment on whether police were monitoring the Vancouver clubs, since they fall under the jurisdiction of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.

Vancouver’s new medical cannabis club will be at Thurlow and Davie. The centre’s proximity to St. Paul’s Hospital and the Dr. Peter AIDS Centre also means patients with terminal illness will have easier access to an array of cannabis products.

At the B. C. Compassion Club Society on Friday, patrons went behind closed curtains to pick from a menu offering different strains of marijuana for different types of illnesses. Glowacki said some strains are better for helping people sleep, while other ease nausea, which is good for chemotherapy patients. The club also offers organic pot-laden baked goods for those who don’t like to smoke.

One of the patrons, Jeffery Collard, 48, said the compassion club is vital to his coping with his debilitating illness. The former provincial government employee has been on disability since 2005 when he woke up one morning with chronic pain down his neck and arm.

Collard was in hospital for 30 days. It turned out a disc in his neck was crumbling, but he had no idea how it happened.

He had an unsuccessful operation, and the doctors told him there was nothing more they could do but provide pain management. Collard said his doctor at St. Paul’s Hospital sent him to the compassion club.

” They said all it can do is run its course and I’ll either die or become paralyzed,” he said, his voice shaking.

Collard said focusing on his health and pain management has become a full-time job. At one point, the pain was so intense he became suicidal.

Collard said he smokes one joint a day and takes morphine pills prescribed by his doctor.

Dispensaries operate in a legal grey area because, while the courts say it is unconstitutional to deny marijuana to someone who is ill, selling pot to people who are not registered with Health Canada is illegal.

Conservative MP Randy Kamp has been vocal about wanting to shut down a dispensary that just opened in Maple Ridge. He says Health Canada doesn’t license compassion clubs or dispensaries to distribute marijuana and doing so is contrary to the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

” I think there does need to be a better coordination between Health Canada and local authorities, including law enforcement agencies,” he said.

The Montreal Compassion Centre, which Montreal police took down Thursday, was also raided in 2000. There were no convictions in the case. A judge ruled it unconstitutional to allow Canadians to use the drug for medical reasons but then deny them access.

However, Jacob Hunter, policy director for the Beyond Prohibition Foundation, said registering with Health Canada often forces patients to wait up to six months to be approved.

” Some people just don’t have that kind of time. It is a horrible thing to watch someone you love suffer.”

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/

'Prince of Pot' Pleads Guilty; Agrees To 5-Year Prison Term

2010-05-26T13:28:17Z

Marijuana seed dealer Marc Emery -- Canada's purported "Prince of Pot" and a former candidate for mayor of Vancouver -- has pleaded guilty to drug charges that all but guarantee him a five-year stay in prison.

Emery, 52, and two others stood accused of selling millions of marijuana seeds to customers around the world.

He pleaded guilty Monday to one count of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana as part of a plea agreement that would see him serve the mandatory minimum sentence for the crime.

He will be sentenced Aug. 27 and remains in federal custody.

His indictment was heralded by one top Drug Enforcement Administration official as "a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade … but also to the marijuana legalization movement," prompting Emery's supporters to describe him as a political prisoner.

Indicted in 2005, Emery fought extradition in the courts while trying to pressure Canadian authorities to block his transfer to the United States. He arrived Thursday in U.S. District Court at Seattle in preparation for Monday's plea hearing.

A plea deal struck between Emery and prosecutors would see him imprisoned for five years; two of his former co-defendants have previously pleaded guilty and received probation.

Shortly before his extradition, Emery's wife, Jodie Emery, accused Canadian authorities of aiding the American government in an attempt to "silence the most vocal opponent of the drug war."

Announcing the charges against Emery five years ago, then-DEA head Karen Tandy nearly admitted the same.

In a bellicose statement, Tandy called the move against Emery "a significant blow not only to the marijuana trafficking trade in the U.S. and Canada, but also to the marijuana legalization movement."

Emery, an outspoken proponent of marijuana law reform and former publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, stood accused of operating a mail-order seed business. Federal authorities assert Emery claimed to make $3 million in the year before his arrest selling the seeds.

"Hundreds of thousands of dollars of Emery's illicit profits are known to have been channeled to marijuana legalization groups active in the United States and Canada," Tandy continued in the 2005 statement. "Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on."

As Emery made his first appearance in an American court Thursday, a small group of supporters protested his incarceration outside the Stewart Street federal courthouse.

Among those gathered was Seattle resident Vivian McPeak, a Hempfest founder and outspoken advocated for marijuana law reform who called Emery "a political prisoner of the United States' drug war."

"It's an embarrassment to our home town," said McPeak, who was joined Thursday by Sunil Aggarwal, a soon-to-be graduate of the University of Washington's medical school who recently spearheaded a successful effort to get the American Medical Association to change its position on medical marijuana

McPeak noted Emery's indictment has done nothing to chill the mail order marijuana seed industry. Anyone seeking seeds can still get them from a variety of sellers online.

As Emery's supporters in his native Canada have done, McPeak faulted the Canadian government for cooperating with the DEA during the investigation and for handing Emery over to U.S. prosecutors.

"To me, this is like America extraditing someone to a country where they'd be executed for drugs," McPeak said.

Emery remained in federal custody Monday. It is expected that Emery will petition to be transferred to a Canadian prison after he arrives at a federal Bureau of Prisons facility.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/420549_pot24.html

Free Marc Emery: Marijuana Activists Occupy Conservative MP's Office

2010-05-13T13:51:31Z

CANNABIS CULTURE - A group of Vancouver marijuana activists occupied Conservative MP James Moore's Port Moody office on Tuesday to demand an end to the extradition of 'Prince of Pot' Marc Emery.

At about 11am, a activists from the British Columbia Marijuana Party and Cannabis Culture, including this reporter, stormed through the front doors of the office of Conservative Heritage Minister James Moore. The lone secretary on duty was shocked and appalled to see the mega-phone wielding group crowd into the small office and gather around the front counter.

"We're going to be protesting in your office today," BCMP director Jacob Hunter told the lady working behind the counter.

"Uh, no you won't," she said looking flustered as she grabbed the telephone and frantically started dialling.

But we did! We sang chants, shouted drug war facts into the megaphone, and pulled out huge bags of weed and rolled joints on the front counter. Police showed up shortly afterwards and immediately began checking medical cards after seeing the large 200-gram bag of pot brought by a legal medical patient. One cop grabbed a bag of weed and threw it across the room to another cop, suggesting that it be confiscated. He was quickly informed that it was legal and stood down.

At first, police wanted to arrest the protesters for "assault by trespassing" but after several minutes of heated debate and negotiations the police called The Crown who told them to leave us alone.

The cops did what they were told; instead of busting anyone, two unusually enlightened police officers sat with protestors and discussed the destructiveness of the drug war. By the end of the conversation, we were exchanging email addresses so we could send them info about Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, a group dedicated to ending prohibition.

We soon realized the door to Mr. Moore's personal office was wide open, so we made our way in and began looking over his bookshelf and rolling joints on his desk.

Though the protest was fun, we hope it sent a serious message to the Conservative Minister and his party, who have decided to extradited Marc Emery to the USA to face a five-year prison term for selling marijuana seeds and using the money to fund activism. Marc is a political prisoner, and we will continue to protest, unrelentingly, in new and inventive ways, until he is released.

We will be staging more protests in the offices of Conservative members of the government, and you should too!

Your MP's office is public property, and you have a right to protest on public property. Watch the video and consider holding a protest in your Conservative MP's office!

Our next protest is scheduled for Friday May 14 at 9:30am. Come down to 307 West Hastings St. in Vancouver - we will be departing from their to an undisclosed MP's office to stage another protest.

http://cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/05/13/Free-Marc-Emery-Activists-Oc...

Canada's 'Prince of Pot' turns himself in for US extradition

2010-05-11T08:58:16Z

VANCOUVER, Canada — Canada's self-styled "Prince of Pot" rallied supporters on Monday before turning himself in to Canadian authorities to be extradited to the United States to face a five-year jail term.

Marc Emery, 52, is alleged by US prosecutors to have sold more than four million marijuana seeds through the mail via his website. About 75 percent of the seeds went to US customers.

His wife Jodie Emery told AFP her husband expected to be extradited within "days or a week" after exhausting all legal challenges and an appeal for clemency to Canada's justice minister.

"It's absolutely devastating to think that I might not see my husband for five years," she said. "It's a harsh reality."

The couple are still holding out hope that Emery may be allowed to serve his sentence in a Canadian jail to be near his family, if Canada's Public Safety Minister Vic Toews consents.

"We hope to have him transferred here," she said. Meantime, "I am going to keep busy by running our store and our website online, keeping the cause alive, rallying to bring him back home to Canada."

Speaking outside the British Columbia Supreme Court before turning himself in, Marc Emery touted his activism to legalize marijuana as "the work of a great Canadian."

As well, he downplayed his "so-called crime of selling seeds from my desk here in downtown Vancouver to consenting adults all over the world and in the United States."

Marc Emery, who is the publisher of "Cannabis Culture" magazine and president of the British Columbia Marijuana Party, claimed Canada has five million to seven million pot smokers and he asked them to join his fight for freedom.

"I'm proud of what I have done and have no regrets," he said, flanked by two dozen of his supporters and claiming to have millions more in Canada and the United States.

"I have told my supporters every Conservative member of Parliament (from the ruling party) should be hounded endlessly, unrelentingly and unmercifully until they are defeated in the next or following election.

"It's to be a life project for them," he said. "As long as I am incarcerated in the US or Canada they are not to give the members of Parliament any peace in my regards."

Emery's troubles started in 2005 when Vancouver police simultaneously raided his store and party headquarters at the request of the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

The DEA claimed his operation generated nearly five million US dollars in profits annually and charged him and two co-defendants on three counts of conspiracy to distribute marijuana, marijuana seeds and money laundering.

No charges have ever been pursued in Canada.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h8CtTINMoP27C61byyy1KXXrKLyw

Big Money in B.C. Marijuana Trade

2010-05-10T14:36:43Z

Pot is a big business – for gangs, and for some legitimate firms on the edge of the drug world.

One of B.C.’s biggest cash crops remains illegal, underground, and largely controlled by gangs. The marijuana trade in B.C. nets about $6 billion a year, and approximately 85 per cent of that trade is in the control of organized criminal gangs, according to police estimates.

The trade spreads its tendrils into the economy in several ways, said RCMP Chief Supt. Janice Armstrong. Armstrong, a former head of the Langley detachment, now oversees the Lower Mainland’s integrated policing teams, including the Integrated Gang Task Force.

On the illegal side of the economic equation are the growers and the gangs. Armstrong noted that as with street level drug dealing, gangs keep their members away from the actual grow ops most of the time.

Low-level people are hired to grow the plants and keep an eye on the houses, industrial buildings or barns where the pot is cultivated. The “babysitters” assume most of the risk, while the gangs reap most of the profits.

Once grown, harvested, and packaged, the pot is sold locally, to other provinces, or smuggled into the United States. The danger to the growers is high, and not just from the police. Violent home invasions known as “grow rips” target the illegal farms.

The violent gang members are often the perpetrators, said Sgt. Jason Wilde, head of the Langley RCMP Drug Section. It isn’t too hard for them to find a grow op in Langley, since criminals don’t have to worry about getting search warrants.

“They do a lot of the same as anybody else, they smell it,” Wilde said. They also watch for properties that look like grow ops: windows sealed off, the property seemingly abandoned. In some cases, the gangsters may have inside knowledge. It isn’t uncommon for a gangster to work on a grow, switch sides and rip it off later for easy money.

Usually the gangsters will burst in in the middle of the night, armed with guns. Violence is frequent. In a recent attempted grow rip in Langley, the resident of a grow op apparently tried to fight back against a group of invaders and was injured.

Wilde said the excitement of armed invasion is a lure for some gangsters. “That’s why they choose that lifestyle, the action, the adrenaline,” Wilde said. On the legal side, grow ops impact landlords and real estate agents who have to clean up the mess afterwards [see story, page A17].

Those selling the hydroponic equipment and lights know who their customers are. There are an inordinate number of such stores in B.C., noted Armstrong. “We probably don’t have that many tomato growers here,” she said. Do the store owners know they’re selling to gangs?

“There’s those that turn a blind eye in some cases,” Armstrong said. In other cases, undercover police have found store owners willing to offer tips on how to set up a grow op. Armstrong is hoping to see new regulations that would make it easier for the police to find out which customers of hydroponic stores are growing drugs, and which are growing tomatoes.

If someone buys a 1,000-watt bulb, he can’t simply plug it in to a normal home’s wiring system, Armstrong noted. Growers illegally rewire their buildings, often creating fire hazards. Armstrong wants the purchase of such equipment to automatically trigger an inspection of the building where the bulbs are used. Municipal governments have a legitimate interest in checking out the electrical system to make sure they are up to code, and the tomato growers shouldn’t mind, Armstrong said.

She would also like to see inspections of legal, medical marijuana grow ops. They are subject to the same electrical and fire hazards as illegal grow ops right now, and there are more than 2,000 across Canada.

http://www.langleyadvance.com/

March for marijuana ends on Parliament Hill

2010-05-03T19:07:16Z

Cities around the world took place in the Global Marijuana March on Saturday, including in Ottawa -- where supporters for pot legalization began at Confederation Park in Ottawa's downtown and wound up at Parliament Hill.

Up to 300 cities will mark this day. In Canada, Marc Emergy -- Canada's so-called "prince of pot" -- presided over the Toronto event. His supporters are fighting his extradition to the United States for a drug sentence.

Supporters also marshalled resources on Twitter and Facebook to drum up support for the event, which was expected to draw 20,000 people in Toronto -- the largest Canadian crowd this year.

In a YouTube video last month, Stephen Harper said he didn't support the drive to legalize it.

"I guess as a parent, this is the last thing I want to see from my kids," Harper said. "I don't meet many people who've led a drug-free life that regret it. And I've met a lot that haven't, and regretted it."

http://ottawa.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100501/OTT_marijuana_100501/2...

Police chief supports marijuana decriminalization

2010-04-27T14:14:28Z

Ottawa police Chief Vern White says he isn’t interested in giving marijuana users criminal records, and would support discussing decriminalization — with one caveat.

“My only concern about the word ‘decriminalizing’ is the suggestion to the public that (marijuana) is not a dangerous drug,” he said.

The Citizen asked White about decriminalization following a recent community meeting.

An Angus Reid poll released earlier this month shows a majority of Canadians remain in favour of legalizing the plant. And last Tuesday, hundreds flocked to

Parliament Hill to smoke up in an annual ritual in support of decriminalization.

“If this is about, ‘we don’t want people to have a criminal record for possession of marijuana,’ that message is a good message,” White said. “Because I don’t want them to have a criminal record for possession of marijuana either.”

But the police chief said that the levels of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) — the active ingredient in marijuana — has increased several-fold since the 1970s.

He also pointed to studies that link consumption of marijuana to the onset ofpsychoses. A 2007 review of 35 studies found users were 41 per cent more likely to experience delusions, hallucinations or schizophrenia, though the researchers noted that the lifetime risk of contracting a chronic psychotic disorder had a probability of less than three per cent.

“So don’t say it doesn’t hurt,” White said. “It’s like saying alcohol doesn’t have a negative impact. Of course it does. But let’s focus on do we want them to have a criminal record for simple possession? If that’s the focus, I’m all for that discussion. But if it’s around, ‘it’s not hurting people,’ … I don’t agree with that.”

White said he believes police forces across the country would not oppose decriminalization.

“There’s not a police chief in the country, I think, that sits there salivating over the fact that people with simple possession charges have criminal records,” White said. “I’ll tell you the truth — most guys don’t get charged with marijuana anyway. Most people who have marijuana end up with it heeled into the ground, or with a verbal warning.”

Statistics Canada figures for 2008 show that, of more than 50,100 incidents in which police encountered a cannabis possessor, police laid possession charges less than half of the time.

But in Ontario, 15,787 incidents led to 10,204 people charged. Those under the age of 18 made up less than 20 per cent of people charged.

White said he’s “good” with the 30-gram personal amount that the federal Liberals suggested when they toyed with decriminalization, though they ultimately proposed to decriminalize a reduced amount of 15 grams.

The bill died shortly before the 2006 federal election that saw Stephen Harper’s Conservatives take power. The Harper government has said it does not support decriminalization.

White said anyone carrying 30 grams in pre-rolled joints or ‘dime’ bags would likely face trafficking charges.

A ‘dime’ of marijuana weighs about 0.7 grams and sells for $10, though some dealers will sell whole grams for that price.

A full 30 grams bought in bulk might be had for $200 to $250, but at that weight it would more likely be sold as an ounce — slightly more than 28 grams.

“My support will be in having a frank discussion about whether or not we want people to have criminal records for possession of marijuana,” White said.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/

Thousands of marijuana enthusiasts celebrate '420' in Vancouver

2010-04-21T07:55:37Z

VANCOUVER - Thousands of marijuana enthusiasts flooded the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery for the annual 420 stoner celebration Tuesday despite grey skies and drizzling rain.

"It's nice to have so many of us here," said Sasha Guindon, who has attended the pro-pot gathering for several years. "Cops can't really do anything because there are so many of us here. It's like a union."

More than 3,000 people, most appearing to be in their early 20s, filled the art gallery lawn by late afternoon. Vendors openly peddled everything from rolled joints, pot brownies and glass pipes to chocolate chip cookies, beaded necklaces and water. The smell of hotdogs — coming from at least three hotdog vendors on the property — wafted through the air, mixing with plumes of marijuana smoke.

Police presence was at a minimum, with officers mostly directing traffic.

Among the crowd were marijuana activist Marc Emery and his wife, Jodie, enjoying what could potentially be Emery's last April 20 as a free man before being extradited to the U.S. to serve a five-year jail sentence.

Emery, leader of the B.C. Marijuana Party and publisher of Cannabis Culture magazine, flagged the attention of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in 2005 for selling and shipping marijuana seeds across the border through his online business, Marc Emery Direct Seeds. He was arrested and released on bail, and is now awaiting extradition orders that could come at any day.

A Cannabis Culture booth carrying "Free Marc Emery" T-shirts and posters was selling off the merchandise quickly, according to employee Justin Thatcher.

Marijuana activist David Malmo-Levine also took in festivities, having recently been released from a six-month jail sentence for possession for the purpose of trafficking.

About six bus routes had to be diverted as crowds spilled on to streets during rush hour.

"We had to reroute the downtown buses starting at about 4:16 p.m.," said TransLink spokesman Drew Snider with a chuckle. "Some of the buses went back to their regular routes by 5:05 p.m."

The 420 tradition is believed to have originated with a group of 1970s high school students in San Rafael, north of San Francisco, who gathered at 4:20 p.m. every day to smoke marijuana. April 20 has morphed into a social, political and cultural event.

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Thousands+marijuana+enthusiasts+celebrat...

BC Leads The Country In Backing The Legalizing Of Marijuana

2010-04-18T14:35:16Z

A new poll shows the majority of Canadians support the legalizing of marijuana but not other, hard-core drugs. And nowhere is that support higher than in British Columbia, where more than six in 10 people say having a toke shouldn't earn you a date with the courts.

But the Angus Reid poll, released Thursday, also shows many Canadians believe there is a serious nationwide drug abuse problem and 70 per cent want mandatory minimum prison sentences and fines for drug dealers and marijuana grow operators.

The poll supports the findings of Angus Reid polls in the past that showed most Canadians believe decriminalization of marijuana possession is appropriate, but that other illegal drugs should remain illegal.

The online survey of 1,010 Canadians April 8-9 showed that support for legalization of hard drugs "is negligible," but that the figure had even dropped since the polling company's survey in 2008. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 3.1 per cent.

The poll shows 83 per cent of Canadians agree with the federal government's National Anti-Drug Strategy, including an awareness campaign to discourage young Canadians from using drugs. Seven in 10 people also support the call for mandatory prison sentences and large fines for grow operators and dealers.

Conversely, slightly more than a third of Canadians support the idea of eliminating harm-reduction programs such as supervised injection sites and needle-exchange programs. In B.C., where the federal government is trying to close Vancouver's Insite supervised injection site, 64 per cent of respondents said such programs should continue.

Canadians also appear to be more convinced than two years ago that Canada now has a serious drug problem and that the problems are confined to specific areas and people.

In May 2008, 15 per cent believed Canada does not have a serious drug abuse problem, compared to 11 per cent now. Forty per cent of respondents now believe the problem is confined to specific areas and people. In 2008 the figure was 35 per cent.

Overall, the survey shows that 42 per cent of Canadians believe there is a serious drug abuse problem that affects the whole country. In B.C. and Alberta the rate is 48 per cent. Less than four in 10 people in Ontario and Quebec believe it's a serious problem. But in Atlantic Canada and Manitoba/Saskatchewan, the rate is 55 and 56 per cent respectively.

http://www.timescolonist.com/health/leads country backing legalizing marijuana/2911052/story.html#ixzz0lOS62keW

The Princess Of Pot

2010-04-17T23:08:01Z

With her husband Marc in jail, Jodie Emery, a Green Party candidate in the next federal election, will inherit his cannabis empire.

During the months while he awaited news of his extradition to the United States, parades of well-wishers regularly marched through Marc Emery’s Cannabis Culture Headquarters in Vancouver. They wound their way to the modest office at the rear of the Hastings Street store, in search of the infamous crusader for the legalization of marijuana. Marc greeted them all, and offered most a trophy: a photo of themselves doing a bong hit with the Prince of Pot. He would produce an oosik-sized instrument, pack it with potent BC bud, and orchestrate the snapshot with a practised patter: inhale, smile, shoot!

Exhale. And then Marc’s fans would stagger away, all grins and giggles, to spend the next twenty minutes wandering about the store. Marc would grin, too, as he watched his blissfully dazed guests queue up to purchase Free Marc T-shirts and other pothead tchotchkes. On the day I visited his Gastown emporium, he put away the oosik, tossed off that ironic smile that has become his trademark, and deadpanned, “I do twenty to fifty of those a day.”

Jodie, the lithe twenty-five-year-old working at the next desk, smiled but did not look up from her computer, where she was emailing organizers of the international Free Marc effort. In addition to campaigning for his release and managing his businesses, Jodie is Marc’s wife.

“Marc has always done things differently. He’s always had a unique type of success,” she says of her husband, who has been honing the smoky art of blending business with activism since 1975, when he dropped out of high school to buy a used bookstore in London, Ontario. Thirty years later, he was mak-ing millions of dollars selling marijuana seeds via mail order. “I’ve learned how he does it, by watching, by observing. And I’ve added to it what I think I know how to do well. I think I appeal to ordinary people.”

Jodie started working for Marc six years ago. A sultry nineteen-year-old with a passion for pearl necklaces and high heels, she stood out among the usual female admirers who fleshed out his following and frequented his bed. She was, and still is, like a Mad Men character who has wandered into an episode of Weeds. Marc, who describes himself as “a serial monogamist who’s never been monogamous,” was smitten. He anointed Jodie his protege, and romance soon bloomed.

Their courtship was marked by a series of crises that brought them closer together. During the summer of 2004, Marc served sixty-one days in a Saskatoon jail. He called Jodie each day to dictate his journal; she transcribed his words for publication. “There was a lot of connecting,” she tells me later that day, pressed against her husband in a restaurant just down the street from HQ.

And on July 29, 2005, Canadian authorities raided Marc’s seed selling operation at the behest of the US Drug Enforcement Administration. Marc and two long-time employees were arrested. All three were charged in the US with conspiracy to produce and traffic in marijuana and to launder the proceeds, and faced long US sentences. Jodie remembers Marc’s next phone call vividly. “He called me from jail. He said, ‘I’m going to move in with you when I get out. And we’re going to get married at some point.’ ” That was the proposal. They were wed in the summer of 2006. He was forty-eight, indicted, divorced, and father to four adopted children older than Jodie. She was twenty-one and had never been in a relationship with anyone else.

Jodie describes Marc as nothing less than the man who saved her. Her father took his life when she was nine, and by the time she showed up on Marc’s doorstep she had kicked a cocaine habit but was still taking antidepressants. “I had nothing going on in my life,” she acknowledges. “It was a bad choice.” Today she is a vegetarian and a teetotaler – albeit one who smokes a lot of pot. “Some people call Marc a criminal,” she says. “I say, no, he’s a hero. That’s why I love him. That’s why I’ll always be just his wife, no matter what happens to him.”

Marc describes Jodie as both the lover who cured him of his philandering ways, and the kindred spirit who will carry on his work. In the fall of 2009, he pleaded guilty to one charge of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana after charges were dropped against his employees. As this magazine went to press, he expected to serve up to five years in a US federal prison. He has transferred control of his businesses to Jodie, effectively handing her the tough job of running a conglomerate hobbled by the loss of the lucrative seed selling business.

At the same time, Jodie is trying to launch a career in politics. She has already run in three provincial campaigns: as a candidate for Marc’s BC Marijuana Party in the 2005 general election and a 2008 by-election, and again for the Green Party of BC in 2009. After a tentative initiation, she became a star candidate for the provincial Greens, turning heads for both her pothead-in-pearls appearance and her articulate arguments. She’s slated to run for the federal Green Party in the next election.

Jodie shares her husband’s libertarian world view – “I’m very much against government, especially after reading Atlas Shrugged ” – but while Marc’s dozens of quixotic political campaigns have served primarily to promote his legalization crusade ( and his businesses ), Jodie wants to win: “I want to get somewhere in politics.”

Marc finds hope in her ambition and comfort in her devotion. “What do you think is the number one reason that men try to escape from jail? ” he asks. “It’s because they think their girlfriend is fooling around. They go back to the girlfriend’s place to confront her. And the cops will be waiting there.” Marc smiles at Jodie and adds, “I’ve got nothing to worry about.” Jodie leans into him, puts her head on his shoulder, and sighs.

“I’ll be defining who I am a lot more,” she says. “People will be able to see me for who I am instead of just as Marc’s wife. You know, to a lot of people I’m just a giggling, happy girl.”

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/

Most Canadians Still Support Decriminalization of Pot

2010-04-17T12:50:04Z

The online survey of 1,010 Canadians April 8-9 showed that support for legalization of hard drugs “is negligible,” but that the figure had even dropped since the polling company’s survey in 2008. The margin of error for the survey is plus or minus 3.1 per cent.

The poll shows 83 per cent of Canadians agree with the federal government’s National Anti-Drug Strategy, including an awareness campaign to discourage young Canadians from using drugs. Seven in 10 people also support the call for mandatory prison sentences and large fines for grow operators and dealers.

Conversely, slightly more than a third of Canadians support the idea of eliminating harm-reduction programs such as supervised injection sites and needle-exchange programs. In B.C., where the federal government is trying to close Vancouver’s Insite supervised injection site, 64 per cent of respondents said such programs should continue.

Canadians also appear to be more convinced than two years ago that Canada now has a serious drug problem and that the problems are confined to specific areas and people.

Overall, the survey shows that 42 per cent of Canadians believe there is a serious drug abuse problem that affects the whole country. In B.C. and Alberta the rate is 48 per cent. Fewer than four in 10 people in Ontario and Quebec believe it’s a serious problem. But in Atlantic Canada and Manitoba/ Saskatchewan, the rate is 55 and 56 per cent, respectively.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/

Marijuana Myths Abound

2010-04-14T09:41:15Z

Marijuana, not to put too fine a point on it, is illegal. Its possession and use is against the law.

People used to go to jail for possessing small quantities of cannabis. That’s rarely the case these days, at least in Canada; the United States is a different kettle of fish where the ever-feared marijuaniacs are reviled in some conservative states.

Marijuana is a relatively benign drug, though still a drug that can cause harm.

That said, there are many persistent, if patently false, claims about the evils of marijuana. One that seems to have some bite, in the law enforcement community predominantly, is that marijuana is a so-called ‘gateway drug’.

The theory is that if you use marijuana you are more likely to go up the ladder of abuse to decidedly risky drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine.

The logic in the gateway theory is irrevocably flawed. In essence what this failed theory suggests is that marijuana use leads to the abuse of other drugs.

Succinctly, picking a number out of thin air, say 80% of cocaine abusers have used marijuana. According to the gateway theory that means that marijuana use led to cocaine use. Logically, that is nonsense.

One could as easily assert that 90% of cocaine abusers have drank alcohol. Therefore, as this failed logic goes, alcohol consumption leads to cocaine abuse.

Other theories abound. Most are wrong – logically and scientifically.

Many people I know use marijuana. They are neither criminals nor abusers of other drugs. In fact, in my experience, it’s more often the case that the people I know who smoke marijuana are strongly against other drugs, methamphetamines and cocaine in particular. They know that using these drugs can lead to extreme mental and-or physical harm.

In balance, though, one must acknowledge that the immoderate use of any drug can lead to emotional and physical problems. Alcoholics and cigarette smokers come to mind.

So what’s the attraction of marijuana?

It is both a soothing and, sometimes, mind expanding drug. It can also, if exceptionally, cause wild mood swings, depression, erratic behaviour and the like. Not unlike alcohol.

Decriminalizing marijuana will not, in and of itself, create a tsunami of criminal activity. More likely, it would take away the huge profits organized crime enjoys. ( Though organized crime will always find a way to custom-make new drugs to which people will be attracted. )

If taxed, like cigarettes, like alcohol, ‘legal’ marijuana could generate millions in new revenues for government treasuries.

The bigger question, perhaps, is why we humans, many of us anyway, gravitate to drugs in the first place.

Why do I enjoy a nice cold beer? So much?

Alcohol, as marijuana, provides a relief. It is not a sign of weakness that we seek release and relief from our stresses, it’s healthy that we seek to relieve stress.

Stress, as Canadian Hans Selye, who coined the term in the 1950s, showed, is a healthy part of everyday life. It makes us stronger. However, when stress goes beyond a tipping point, its damaging effects accumulate. Relief, through drugs, meditation, exercise – choose your poison – appears in this context a ‘natural’ mechanism to protect ourselves.

The best stress reliever, however, is a strong community – of family, friends and acquaintances. Love remains the elixir that unburdens us.

Now there’s an addiction we can all live with.

Jim Mosher is the Editor of the Interlake Spectator.

http://www.stonewallargusteulontimes.com/

Protesters demand legal access to cannabis

2010-04-12T13:28:34Z

Some lit up bongs, some blasted Bob Marley and others waved flags emblazoned with the marijuana leaf in a Sunday afternoon protest outside police headquarters to protest the shuttering of Cannabis as Living Medicine.

Officers raided the Queen St. E. clinic of CALM, an organization that sells marijuana to medicinal users, on March 31 and charged nine people with a variety of drug-related offences.

On Sunday, some 300 people took to the street outside police headquarters to protest the raid and subsequent closure of the clinic, and to demand that Health Canada make it easier for those with medical needs to access the drug.

“A lot of people need help from cannabis, but it’s hard to get high-quality cannabis,” said Neev Tapiero, CALM’s owner, adding that the clinic’s users have rallied in the wake of the closure.

“Everyone’s in great spirits; the community is behind us.”

Police officers lined both the north and south sides of the building behind security fences and shut down part of the street, but no incidents were reported.

The crowd was a mix, with dreadlock-sporting marijuana legalization activists rubbing shoulders with sufferers of epilepsy and people with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, who say the drug helps their conditions.

Kevin Clarke, a homeless man who briefly ran for mayor of Toronto, appeared at the protest, shouting at police.

Tapiero says it’s an uphill battle to get Health Canada to change its policy around organizations like CALM, referencing recent statements by Prime Minister Stephen Harper implying he wants to keep a tight lid on marijuana.

“I understand that people defend the use of drugs, but that said, I think I’ve been very fortunate to live a drug-free life and I don’t meet many people who’ve lead a drug-free life who regret it,” the prime minister said in a YouTube interview on the subject last month. “So obviously this is something we want to encourage for our children, for everybody’s children.”

Ron Marzel, CALM’s lawyer, is hoping to file motion next week asking police to return some of the approximately 18,000 grams of marijuana and hash to users.

If the motion goes through, he says CALM could be back in business.

For now, however, the organization is operating without marijuana on the premises. Instead, it’s serving as a place for clients to co-ordinate for the court battle and organize a campaign of protest and pressure against Health Canada.

Tapiero is hoping a protest planned for May 1 at Queen’s Park will draw tens of thousands.

Police had no immediate estimate on the size of the crowd, but said that the protest was peaceful.

CALM has been in existence since 1996 and boasts 3,000 registered members. Some have a license to consume medicinal marijuana, while others simply have a doctor’s note explaining their condition.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/793672--protesters-demand-legal-acces...

Smoking cannabis a religious right, court told

2010-04-08T08:53:58Z

Rev. Brother Peter Styrsky sits in the witness box and answers his lawyer’s questions with a crinkly smile.

With his grey beard, white hemp skullcap and glasses on his nose, he looks more like an avuncular rabbi than an accused drug trafficker.

But Styrsky, 52, and Rev. Brother Shahrooz Kharaghani, 31, are charged with trafficking in marijuana and hashish after police raided their church — Beaches Mission of God — on Queen St. E. on Oct. 25, 2006.

In a constitutional challenge to Canada’s drug laws, however, the two men argue that the cannabis plant is sacred to their religion, the Assembly of the Church of the Universe (COU), which claims about 35 active ministers and 4,000 members across Canada.

“It’s the most spiritual thing that has ever happened to me,” Styrsky testified Wednesday.

The defendants are asking Ontario Superior Court Justice Thea Herman to rule that Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act has no force or effect with regards to cannabis because it infringes on their freedom of religion.

Cannabis is a sacred substance whose consumption brings adherents closer to God, Styrsky told his lawyer Paul Lewin.

“Every time we use it, that connection is there and is undeniable,” said Styrsky, who ran for Toronto mayor in 2006, getting 945 votes.

The Crown argues otherwise, however. The men’s sale of marijuana and the beliefs underlying it lack the essential characteristics of a religion, prosecutors say.

“The COU offers no insight or answers into the existential questions (of) ‘ultimate concern’ which are the chief domain of religion; offers no comprehensive system of belief by which to live and offers no moral or ethical code,” federal Crowns Nicholas Devlin and Donna Polgar say in written submissions.

“It offers only marijuana — however and wherever individuals want it.”

The motion to strike down Canada’s cannabis prohibitions is expected to take a month, with both sides calling several witnesses. The Crown will draw on the testimony of religious experts.

It is the third time church members have raised religious Charter issues in defence of their cannabis use, but this is the fullest airing yet of the question.

To bolster the church’s claim to be a religious institution, Lewin presented to his client for comment various pieces of signage, framed artwork and boxes of religious books that filled the church — also known as the G13 Mission — at the time of the raid.

Styrsky smiled benignly at a framed print of a stylized marijuana plant that was displayed prominently in the church: “In a nutshell, that’s our cross. It’s a tree, tree of life, tree of knowledge. It’s the basis of our religion,” he said.

Lewin and Kharaghani’s lawyer, George Filipovic, are also challenging the law on a broader basis: that it violates all religions that are based on beliefs in the inherent goodness of the marijuana plant, such as the Rastafarians.

But the Crown argues that even if the court finds that the church’s activities are protected as religious practices, the law’s prohibitions on trafficking are “reasonable and demonstrably justifiable limits” to the freedom of religion.

The pre-trial hearing continues Thursday.

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/791927--smoking-cannabis-a-religious-...

"Compassion Club" Providing Medicinal Marijuana Shut

2010-04-07T16:33:13Z

Advocates for looser pot restrictions are pointing to the raid as a sign of the ineffectiveness of the federal medicinal marijuana program.

When the burning becomes too much, Josh Dvorkin pulls out his lighter, lights up a joint and fires back.

Mr. Dvorkin, who injured his spinal cord when he fell during an epileptic seizure five years ago, has since relied on medical marijuana to relieve neuropathic pain. To get the drug, he takes his Health Canada licence to buy five grams of pot a day and rides his electric wheelchair to CALM – which stands for Cannabis As Living Medicine – a compassion club that operates behind an unmarked storefront on Queen Street East.

“Agitated” would be a more apt name for the club since Toronto police raided it last Wednesday. Undercover officers, armed with a warrant and backed up by uniformed officers, arrested nine workers and seized 16.5 kilograms of marijuana, 1.9 kg of hashish, 200 grams of hash oil, a quantity of cash and the club’s computers.

The raid, which came 14 years into CALM’s otherwise hassle-free existence, has left a trail of questions in its wake. The most immediate one for Mr. Dvorkin and nearly 2,000 other members is, where will I get my weed?

“I don’t know,” Mr. Dvorkin said Sunday at the club. It remains closed indefinitely, but he was there with owner Neev Tapiero, club lawyer Ron Marzel and others to plot next steps, including a protest outside police headquarters next Sunday. “It just makes every day that much more unliveable,” the 34-year-old Ryerson University journalism student added.

Detective Jim Brons, the investigating officer who led the raid, was off duty and unavailable to explain the raid. A police source, however, said “I don’t think it’s done arbitrarily.” Mr. Tapiero said officers told him only that they were “acting on complaints.”

Advocates for looser pot restrictions are pointing to the raid – caught on several of the club’s security cameras and since posted on YouTube – as a sign of the ineffectiveness of the federal medicinal marijuana program.

“The simple solution to all this is for Health Canada to licence large-scale medical cannabis production facilities,” said Mr. Marzel, one of a handful of lawyers who specialize in challenging the country’s marijuana laws.

As it stands, licensed patients can buy their pot from Health Canada, grow small quantities for themselves or designate someone to grow it for them. However, many argue the regulations make it overly difficult to obtain the drug in sufficient quality and quantity, and instead buy from compassion clubs such as CALM.

Various courts have upheld patients’ complaints about the Health Canada program, and other club operators have seen similar charges – namely, possession for the purpose of trafficking – dropped in previous cases.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Justice Minister Mulls Pot Penalties

2010-04-03T14:25:51Z

A legal decision ordering the province to pay for a woman’s pot has Justice Minister Ross Landry musing about the merits of decriminalization.

Landry suggested to reporters at Province House on Thursday that his department will probably eventually discuss whether prosecuting someone for possessing a small amount of marijuana is a good use of resources.

“We have to be more administratively efficient when dealing with people in the small uses of marijuana,” Landry said.

“We have to be more efficient on how you process someone who’s in a small possession of marijuana, and the cost to justice. Whether it goes beyond that at this time, I think it needs further examination and reflection.”

Landry, a former RCMP officer, said when he worked as a police officer he found prosecuting such cases time-consuming and believes it’s worth seeing if that process can be improved upon.

“I’m a firm believer ( in ) ‘You do the crime, you do the time,’ ” Landry said. “Do the penalties match what the crime is?

“I’ll look forward to discussion in regards to that matter.”

But he wouldn’t commit to having a firm position on decriminalizing the drug.

In a decision released Wednesday, Nova Scotia Supreme Court ordered the Community Services Department to pay for a Halifax woman’s medical marijuana.

Sally Campbell suffers from several ailments and has a certificate from Health Canada that permits her to use marijuana to help alleviate pain and nausea.

The department had denied Campbell’s request that it designate her pot as a special need and increase her monthly allowance to cover the cost of it. Campbell appealed that decision to a one-person board, which also denied her request.

So she went before a Supreme Court justice last month and won.

Provincial staff are reviewing the decision to see whether an appeal is warranted.

“I never have a problem if the medical community says this is the best remedy for a person’s health and well-being,” Landry said. “So on that basic principle, I support the medical community. If the court has made a decision, I respect the decision of the court and will look from an administrative perspective of how we move the interests of the court forward.”

But Premier Darrell Dexter said the decision worries him because it could open the door to forcing the province to pay for other kinds of medication it doesn’t cover.

“It appears it could have wide-ranging implications that go beyond this particular coverage,” Dexter said.

“It opens a field of potential liability for the province.”

http://thechronicleherald.ca/

Pot Legalization Crusader Released From Jail

2010-04-03T14:21:09Z

A woman who spent months in jail fighting Canada’s pot laws has been released after being found guilty of growing and trafficking marijuana.

Edith Noreen Evers, founder of the North Island Compassion Club, was sentenced to time served after spending a total of about five months in pre-trial custody, some of it in hospital, as her case wound its way through the court system.

Evers was arrested in the fall of 2006, after Comox Valley RCMP raided her Black Creek farm and chopped down dozens of marijuana plants that ranged in height from four to seven feet.

A few of the plants had been grown legally for Bruce Webb, a military veteran who has a licence from Health Canada to consume marijuana to deal with the pain associated with neurological damage he suffered in 1999.

But Webb’s licence expired 18 hours before the raid. Evers did not have a licence to grow the other pot plants, although she insists they were for distribution to patients who require marijuana to deal with medical issues.

Since then, Evers has been attempting to put arguments before the court that she says prove that Canada’s pot laws are invalid due to prior court decisions that found them unconstitutional.

In fact, Evers could easily have been released from jail or given a small fine had she pleaded guilty early in the case — she admits that she was producing and selling marijuana — but she insisted on attempting to force the courts to deal with her arguments.

She was so insistent that, at one point, she was declared unfit to stand trial due to emotional outbursts in court. Supreme Court Justice I. Josephson said that was a mistake.

“This is a sad case indeed,” he said. “Ms. Evers is an intelligent person but appears, to a non-expert such as myself, to have emotional issues.”

After some time in the health system, medical practitioners determined that Evers was in fact fit for trial, as she has insisted all along.

Josephson did not, however, find her arguments that Canada’s pot laws were invalid compelling.

He said that the courts have determined that the federal government has effectively addressed the constitutional deficiencies identified through prior case law through changes to the medical marijuana regulations.

Evers was clearly disappointed in the outcome, despite the fact that she would immediately be released form jail.

Her son Wilhelm said his mother has endured significant mental and physical hardship in jail but refused to back down from what she considers a necessary fight.

“She’s a firm believer that medical marijuana should be accessible to those who are in need of it,” said Wilhelm. “The current level of government accessibility, it’s really not accessible.”

Webb said that not only is government-grown pot poor quality, but the heavy bureaucracy and delays associated with getting permission to use the substance send most users to street dealers.

“It was very low quality, I had to use twice as much as I did from the compassion club,” said Webb. “The last estimate I think was that over 400,000 Canadians use medical marijuana. Health Canada estimates over 400,000. Doctors know.

“And I think there are 2,000 licensed Canadians. Where are all these people getting their medicine from?”

The provincial Crown also stayed several charges against Evers.

Wilhelm said that he expects his mother to continue the fight against Canada’s pot laws, perhaps through civil litigation.

http://www.canada.com/vancouverisland/comoxvalleyecho/index.html

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Approved of Marijuana Cover for Sally Campbell

2010-04-03T14:07:20Z

The Halifax woman Sally Campbell is on social assistance and the subject of a Nova Scotia Supreme Court ruling that she must be paid for her medical marijuana by the Community Services Department.

The 61 year old women had been fighting with the court to get her federally approved marijuana covered. She shared that finally justice has been done with her.

She claimed that hers as well as her doctors' integrity and credibility was put into question by the department when they refused to acknowledge that her marijuana is medically necessary. Her ailments include hepatitis C, fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism, liver disease rheumatoid arthritis and disc degeneration.

Justice Gerald Moir ordered the province to pay for it, as he could see no other conclusion than that Campbell's marijuana is essential to her health and quality of life.

Debbie Stultz-Giffin, Chairwoman of Maritimers Unite for Medical Marijuana said, "My gut feeling in reading the decision is that this is prying the lid off Pandora's Box. It's opening up to most people on assistance who require medical marijuana and have a doctor's authority, and have Health Canada's authority, to apply to have their marijuana covered".

She shared that she knows about three other people whose requests have been turned down by the Community Services Department in the past couple of years for their medical marijuana.

http://topnews.us/content/215228-nova-scotia-supreme-court-approved-marijuana...

Canadians "Ahead of Politicians" On Marijuana

2010-03-29T10:34:21Z

If Californians Vote to Legalize, Canada Unlikely to Follow Suit, Say Two MPs

Canadians are ahead of their federal politicians on the issue of liberalizing marijuana laws, according to two high-profile lawmakers from B.C.

With Californians heading to the polls in November to decide whether possession of a small amount of marijuana should be legal, a similar law in Canada is not likely on the horizon, Liberal Keith Martin and New Democrat Libby Davies told The Province.

Davies, who represents the voters of Vancouver East, favours legalization of marijuana, while Martin, the MP for Esquimalt-Juan de Fuca, has been calling for decriminalizing the controversial drug since 2001.

“I think the public is ahead of where the politicians are,” said Davies. “Prohibition has failed. It has created a lot more harm in terms of violence.”

Davies said prohibition brings organized crime into the equation.

“For marijuana, it’s much better to have a rules-based, evidence-based approach that focuses on health and education.”

Davies’s position goes further than the federal NDP position, which calls for decriminalization. “The first step should be legalization for personal use,” she added. “Beyond that, there’s a lot of debate that has to happen.”

Martin has introduced a private member’s bill to decriminalize marijuana in every parliamentary session since 2001. Under his proposal, “You would receive a fine and you wouldn’t receive a criminal record,” he said. Martin added he doesn’t support people smoking marijuana “because it’s harmful.

“But the harm [caused by] our current drug laws is greater than the harm inflicted by [the law] because it’s so punitive and destroys a person’s future.

“From a medical perspective, alcohol does far more damage and costs more to Canadian society than marijuana does,” said Martin, a medical doctor who has worked in emergency wards.

“I had a lot of people who came to emergency who had been drinking and had beaten each other up or drove their cars into other cars and killed themselves or killed other people,” he said.

“But I never had anybody who had smoked marijuana and committed those horrible acts of violence.”

Martin said he hopes to reintroduce his private member’s bill in the next month, but he doesn’t expect it will pass.

“Parliament has become more smallc conservative than I’ve ever seen it. It’s moving in the opposite direction to the Canadian public on these issues.”

Earlier this week, a report issued by the B.C. Centre of Excellence in HIV/AIDS argued that studies going back 20 years have shown that drug crackdowns usually lead to increased violence.

Lead researcher Dr. Evan Wood, a University of B.C. medical professor, argued that a better approach to law enforcement and longer prison terms would be to change the legal status of illicit drugs and make them available to adults under strict regulations to minimize their use.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/

Stephen Harper Accidentally Proves the Case for Legalized Marijuana

2010-03-19T16:30:34Z

Michael Ignatieff shows he can relate to the kids these days:

"If I had to tell you as a parent or as someone who has spent his whole life working with young people, the last darn thing I want you to be doing is smoking marijuana," the federal Liberal leader said.

"I want you to be out there digging a well, digging a ditch, getting a job, raising a family ... doing stuff, instead of parking your life on the end of a marijuana cigarette."

Coincidentally, S-Harp was also trying to show he's down with the young ones by doing a YouTube interview and, wouldn't ya know it, the topic of marijuana cigarettes came up there as well. While Harper didn't come out for a national ditch digging program, he too was adamantly against pot legalization.

*sigh*

Remember when Canada was all set to decriminalize marijuana seven years ago? The Economist put the ***** with sunglasses on its cover and called us "cool." It made sense to most people, even stodgy old Senators and stodgy old writers — after all, criminalizing the stuff clearly wasn't curbing its use, and it's hard to enforce a law which, if properly enforced, would saddle millions of Canadians with a criminal record.

But for a variety of reasons, those plans went up in smoke. And judging from the comments above, it doesn't look like things will change any time soon. Which is a shame, because the current laws are asinine — the stuff should just be legalized outright.

Because once you legalize, you can tax and control it — you don't see a lot of rum runners these days, do you? You think we'd have learned our lesson from alcohol prohibition, but I guess not.

The arguments being put forward by our leaders are so weak, I have a hard time believing they actually believe what they're saying. First up, is Mr. Ignatieff:

Noting he likes an occasional drink and having a good time, Ignatieff didn't seem concerned if his anti-weed stance made him appear conservative.

"Given the things we need to do together [ed note: ditch digging?], that's what I think," he said, adding that legalizing marijuana would create problems in dealings with the U.S. because the drug would remain illegal there.

I won't even touch the "I like an occasional drink" comment, but when you consider the relative effects of alcohol and marijuana on human beings, well, that kind of tells you how we should be handling this issue.

As for his second point, over 20 states have gone ahead and decriminalized marijuana. And, as someone quite familiar with border crossings, I'm sure Michael is fully aware that you can still prevent legal items from crossing the border — so just treat marijuana like we treat oranges. Problem solved.

Harper, meanwhile, goes the emotional route in his YouTube interview:

I have to say young children, I guess they’re now … Ben and Rachel are now getting pretty close to 14 and 11, but maybe they’re not that young, but they are at the age where, you know, they will increasingly come into contact with drug use, and I guess as a parent, you know, this is the last thing I want to see for my kids or anyone else’s children.

Agreed. But the thing is, under the current prohibition system, Ben and Rachel are able to get marijuana. Easily. However, if we legalize it, you could ban sales to minors, just like we do now with non-marijuana cigarettes, or dozens of other things. I know some will say it's about sending a message that we don't condone it, but anyone who thinks teenagers will avoid something because it's condoned by society has never been a teenager.

But his heart is probably in the right place on that comment. So go on Mr. Prime Minister:
Now, I also want people to understand what we’re really talking about here when we’re talking about the drug trade. You know, when people say focus on violent crime instead of drugs, and yeah, you know, there’s lots of crimes a lot worse than, you know, casual use of marijuana. But when people are buying from the drug trade, they are not buying from their neighbour. They are buying from international cartels that are involved in unimaginable violence and intimidation and social disaster and catastrophe all across the world. All across the world.

And, with that, Stephen Harper gives the best argument I have ever heard in my life ... for legalizing marijuana. Because the second you legalize it and decide to sell it in LCBOs or licenced stores/restaurants/etc., you drive a stake through the heart of organized crime and drug cartels, both inside Canada and around the world. By controlling who sells it, you move the industry above ground and choke off a huge source of revenue from organized crime.

Maybe Iggy and Harper do believe the talking points they're dealing. But if they were being completely honest, I suspect their answer to the kids would go something like this: "Yeah, I don't have a problem with legalizing the stuff. It just makes sense. But let's be honest. The second the media and opposition gets wind of that, I'll be faced with daily questions, ridicule, attack ads, and 10-percenters on the subject. I'm sure legalization will happen one day — probably within your lifetime. But until enough of us old fogeys die off and the public attitude on this shifts enough, I'd be crazy to go near this one. Next question."

http://network.nationalpost.com/NP/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2010/03/17/40900...

MPs want to keep Prince of Pot in Canada

2010-03-19T16:28:42Z

VANCOUVER -- Marc Emery is still awaiting extradition to the U.S. on drug distribution charges, but there’s a new push to keep the Prince of Pot in Canada.

Liberal MP Ujjal Dosanjh, NDP MP Libby Davies and Conservative MP Scott Reid presented the House of Commons with a 12,000-signature petition Monday pleading with federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to reconsider handing Emery over to the U.S., where he faces five years in jail for selling marijuana seeds online.

Dosanjh said he has an obligation to present petitions on behalf of constituents regardless if he agrees, but is glad to speak out in this case.

“This is an obligation as a Member of Parliament, but I sympathize with Emery’s plight,” the Vancouver-South MP told QMI Agency. “There is a certain degree of unfairness in how he has been treated.”

Dosanjh said the marijuana activist should serve his time in Canada.

“I would like the Minister of Justice to consider not surrendering Marc,” he said, adding that the decision wouldn’t do anything to hurt relations between the two countries.

Emery has been out on bail since mid-November as he awaits extradition, but the order has yet to be signed by Nicholson.

His wife, Jodie Emery, ran against Dosanjh in the last federal election as a Green Party candidate.

http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/03/15/13242661-qmi.html

Cannabis Culture's Olympic Coverage

2010-02-22T10:08:11Z

CANNABIS CULTURE - The 2010 Olympics have come to Vansterdam, home of Cannabis Culture. Read the latest from CC about the Winter Games.

Cannabis Culture Headquarters is in the heart of Olympic central in downtown Vancouver. As a well-known Vancouver tourist destination, news reporters from around the world often stop by to speak with marijuana activist Marc Emery (former owner of CCHQ - now owned his wife Jodie Emery) and use the Volcano Vaporizers in our BCMP office and smoking room.

Read our coverage of the 2010 Winter games, and the international media's coverage of Vancouver's pot community!

http://cannabisculture.com/v2/content/2010/02/21/Cannabis-Cultures-Olympic-Coverage

Senate Waters Down Minimum-Sentence, Pot-Growing Bill

2009-12-18T22:38:56Z

The Senate has watered down a proposed law-and-order bill by axing a requirement that smalltime marijuana growers serve a mandatory minimum six-month sentence.

Vancouver police Insp. Brad Desmarais said Wednesday that the department can’t support the Senate’s amendments to the drug legislation.

The law – controversial Bill C-15 – was designed to sentence growers caught with as few as five pot plants to jail for a mandatory minimum six-month sentence.

By a 49-43 margin, the Senate committee accepted a proposal Wednesday to raise the bar to more than 201 plants, instead of the original proposal.

The amendment leaves sentencing of growers with five to 200 plants up to the individual judge’s discretion.

“I suspect if this amendment passes we will see even more manifestly unsafe grows occurring,” said Desmarais, leader of the VPD’s drug and anti-gang squad.

Desmarais said without minimum sentencing, criminals will see small grow-ops with under 200 plants as a “commercially viable option” because they will face less of a penalty.

A final Senate vote on the proposed legislation – which would impose automatic prison and jail time for a variety of drug crimes – is scheduled for today.

The drug bill had sailed through the Commons earlier this year after the Liberals teamed up with the Conservatives to crack down on crime.

However, the Senate committee had warned this fall that it would not rubber-stamp the legislation, which has drawn heavy criticism in public hearings in both the Commons and the Senate.

Opponents warned the bill, if passed, would flood jails and imprison drug addicts and young people rather than drug kingpins, who will continue to thrive, while small-time dealers are knocked out of commission.

Pamela Stephens, a spokeswoman for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, said that permitting growers to escape jail time for cultivating more than five plants could create “loopholes” that would allow large-scale operations to thrive, such as enabling growers to have 50 plants in 10 places.

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/

Marijuana 'Baker' Hoping For A Day In Court

2009-12-09T09:34:37Z

Pot Activist Admits His Kitchen Isn’t Authorized By Health Canada

A Victoria marijuana advocate is ready for a court fight, but he may not get one.

An apartment-based marijuana “bakery” that was raided by police on Thursday is linked to the Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada ( CBCC ), founded by marijuana advocate Ted Smith. Whether charges will be laid, and who would face those charges, might depend on whether the apartment is licensed by Health Canada.

Smith said the apartment’s kitchen was used to bake cookies, edible products, and produce skin products with marijuana as an ingredient, which are then sold at Smith’s 828 Johnston St. office. He confirmed that he does not have Health Canada authorization, saying that Health Canada licenses only marijuana cultivation.

A Health Canada representative did not return a call for clarification on the regulations. However, the Health Canada website referred to licensing for growth and production of marijuana.

Police responded to a complaint from residents in the Chelsea at 865 View St. about a “skunky smell” and possible drug activity on Thursday afternoon. After the first visit, they obtained a search warrant and returned to seize an undisclosed amount of hashish, hashish oil and marijuana. They arrested one man and later released him. No charges have been laid.

Smith said he sells about a kilogram of marijuana a day. Matthew Muise, 24, a CBCC member and worker, said 28 grams sells for between $140 and $200.

Marijuana cookies cost 75 cents. No figures were given on how many cookies are sold, but bagged marijuana sales would range between $1.8 million and $2.6 million a year. Smith said about a dozen CBCC members operate the site.

Smith said his office has been raided four times since 2002, and he has spent about $20,000 in legal fees. He said the raid affected supply, but added he would scout for new sites.

Victoria police spokesman Sgt. Grant Hamilton said the investigation is still in progress and police will consult with Crown counsel as to whether charges will be laid for drug possession or trafficking, which would depend on whether the apartment was licensed for marijuana production.

Smith has been convicted twice for drug-trafficking and possession.

The Cannabis Buyers Club of Canada has been raided four times and withstood 11 charges, all of which have been stayed, dropped or overturned on appeal.

Sue Ransom, 49, a courier driver, said she needs marijuana cookies to manage pain from a 15-year-old skiing injury. She maintains she’s a safe driver and the cookies do not affect her judgment. She started using marijuana cookies in 2001.

“I cannot drive without eating my cookies,” Ransom said. “I really need my cookies.”

However, Alan Campbell, director of mental health and addiction services for the Vancouver Island Health Authority, was cautious about ingesting medicinal marijuana that is produced outside of any regulatory agency and without physician supervision.

“A doctor would be able to advise whether driving a piece of equipment is acceptable with the dosage levels,” Campbell said.

http://www.timescolonist.com/

Pot Crusader Speaks To VIU Club

2009-12-09T09:33:38Z

The wife of Canada’s “Prince of Pot” admits she is terrified when the phone rings when her husband isn’t home because it’s often bad news.

Marijuana crusader and advocate Marc Emery has often had to call his wife Jodie from a police detachment as he has been arrested for flouting Canada’s marijuana laws. The Emerys dread a phone call they believe could come as early as Tuesday from their lawyer, telling them Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has signed extradition papers and Marc must turn himself in to Canadian authorities.

Following that, he will be taken to the United States border and turned over to American authorities so he can begin serving a five-year jail term for selling marijuana seeds in America.

The Emerys were in Nanaimo on Saturday at Vancouver Island University, where they spoke to approximately 50 people — in a smoke-free room — before the showing of the video The U.S. vs Marc Emery. They were the guests of VIU’s Hempology Club.

The couple contends that the Canadian government is starting to follow what they call the “misguided” approach of the U.S.

“The American war on drugs has led to U.S. jails being full of people who just wanted the freedom to use marijuana,” said Marc. “The ( Stephen ) Harper government is bringing in the Americanization of our justice system and the opposition isn’t doing anything to prevent it because they are scared of being labelled ’soft on crime.’”

The “threat” to society is not the marijuana seeds Emery sold through his Cannabis Culture magazine.

“Be much more afraid of the Harper government than seed sellers or pot growers,” said Jodie.

She cited the Conservative government’s efforts to bring in mandatory minimum sentences and the proposed Bill C-6, the Canada Consumer Product Safety Act, as the real threat to “free-thinking” Canadians.

“This bill would give the government the right to come on your property if they suspect you are growing cannabis or even ginseng and it’s all under the guise of safety,” said Jodie. “What it is really about is control. The only reason government and laws exist is to stop you from doing something you might want to do and they don’t want you to do or to make you do something that you don’t want to do.”

The couple were scornful of the Canadian government’s decision to turn Marc over to U.S. authorities so he could serve his negotiated five-year sentence south of the border.

“If it’s illegal to sell seeds in Canada, which it is,” said Marc, “then you should be charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to a Canadian prison.”

When asked why he agreed to enter into a plea bargain with U.S. prosecutors, Marc said it was either that or risk spending a lot more time in prison.

“When you are facing life and they offer you a deal for five years, you make the deal.

“It will be really difficult when we get the call from Marc’s lawyer telling us it is time for Marc to turn himself in.”

http://www.canada.com/nanaimodailynews/

New Facebook address

2009-12-08T11:51:48Z

We've now got a new short Facebook address for the fan page:

http://www.facebook.com/singleseedscanada

If you're not already a fan, follow the link and click 'Become a fan'!

Alanis Morissette Reveals Marijuana Use

2009-11-30T16:06:40Z

ALANIS MORISSETTE has opened up about her love of marijuana, insisting the drug helps in her songwriting process.

The Ironic hitmaker has spoken about her cannabis use in a candid interview with High Times magazine, which is accompanied by a photo shoot taken in a marijuana garden in California.

Morissette admits the plant is useful in unlocking her creative potential.

She tells the publication, "I'm all about moderation - as best I can be. As an artist, there's a sweet jump-starting quality to it (marijuana) for me. I've often felt telepathic and receptive to inexplicable messages my whole life. I can stave those off when I'm not high. When I'm high - well, they come in and there's less of a veil, so to speak. So if ever I need some clarity... or a quantum leap in terms of writing something, it's a quick way for me to get to it.

"I have a lot of friends who have wanted to specifically quit smoking marijuana because they felt that it was having a negative effect on their lives, and I absolutely supported them doing so. Then I have other friends who I've coerced into smoking because I thought it would be great for them."

Morissette credits boyfriend Tom Ballanco, a medical marijuana advocate, with showing her the drug's benefits, adding, "I've always resonated with people who are on the front lines. I've always felt that way about Tom and about the community around him - Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone. I have a lot of friends around me who are very courageous and willing to 'come out' - and Tom is definitely beyond the front lines. Any fears that I had about cannabis were quickly assuaged. Now I feel like a professional!"

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/story/morissette-reveals-cannabis-use_1124061

Hemp Doing Well

2009-11-24T16:54:59Z

Hemp is at the point where canola was 30 years ago.

That was one of the messages at the Canadian Hemp Trade Alliance's national convention in Winnipeg this week.

Keith Watson, Hemp Specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, says the industry continues go grow.

He says they've seen an average of 20 percent growth in the hemp industry over the last five years.

While it can be said that hemp is at the same stage as canola was 30 years ago, watson predicts it will take half the time for hemp to become a staple in Manitoba crop rotations.

Meanwhile, grain yields were lower than normal for this year's hemp crop.

Height was around average.

Watson says the cool weather set the crop back and yields would have been even lower if September had not been much warmer than normal.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 acres of hemp were grown in Manitoba this year.

That's about twice as much as in 2007 and 2008 but nowhere close to the record number of acres grown in 2006.

http://www.portageonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14665&Itemid=5

Health Canada Demands Marijuana Smokers Pay Up In Advance

2009-11-18T12:11:44Z

Health Canada is getting tough with patients who use government-certified medical marijuana, demanding full payment in advance before shipping the weed.

The move, effective Nov. 30, is designed to halt the rising number of accounts in arrears -- and force more patients to pay off old debts that now total more than $1.2 million.

"This change to a purchase-in-advance system will streamline the order and payment process and will prevent further increases to the debt load of the department," says a recent Health Canada letter issued to users.

More than 4,600 people in Canada are licensed to use medical marijuana to treat a wide range of conditions, including chronic pain, that may not be resolved by standard prescription drugs.

Several court rulings forced a reluctant Health Canada to get into the marijuana business in 2003 so that bona fide patients would not have to rely on the black market for supplies.

Most authorized users grow their own pot or have someone else grow it for them, all under licence, but some 800 are currently buying their medical marijuana from Health Canada.

The government sells dried marijuana for $5 a gram -- about half the price of street marijuana -- or 30 seeds for $20, plus GST and provincial taxes.

The marijuana, which has received poor reviews from many users for being harsh and ineffective, has a THC content of about 12.5 per cent. THC is the main active ingredient of the cannabis plant.

Previously, users could order and pay later. But hundreds of patients -- who are often seriously ill, unable to work and on welfare or disability pensions -- could not keep up with their Health Canada bills and built up large debts.

Beginning Nov. 30, Health Canada will require a money order, certified cheque, Visa, Amex or MasterCard before medical marijuana is shipped, normally by courier.

And those customers with accounts currently in arrears must agree to a payment plan with Health Canada before receiving any more product. Interest accrues on overdue accounts at 3.5 per cent, and Health Canada has sent 31 stale accounts to collections agencies.

Almost 1,100 customers have fallen behind in payments so far, forcing Health Canada to carry some $1.2 million in accounts overdue for more than 30 days. About half of the accounts have been overdue for a year or more.

"This change (in policy) does not alter Health Canada's commitment to providing fair and equitable access to marijuana for medical purposes and . . . will have no impact on the current authorization process," spokeswoman Christelle Legault said in an email.

"Health Canada is committed to working with persons whose accounts are in arrears, and will work with them through the department's accounts receivable to establish a payment arrangement plan."

A few users have their bills picked up by taxpayers.

Last year, Veterans Affairs reversed previous policy and said it will now pay for medical marijuana for any veterans licensed by Health Canada. At least eight veterans have benefited from the new policy.

Most users, though, cannot recoup the cost of their cannabis from governments because medical marijuana has never been assigned official drug status under the Food and Drug Act and is therefore not covered by any provincial pharmacare programs. The costs, though, can be deducted as medical expenses when filing annual income-tax forms.

One Health Canada customer in Surrey, B.C., says he will never be able to pay his $4,200 accumulated bill -- and argues he should not have to.

"This is something that's already paid for by the taxpayer and I shouldn't be paying it again," Tim Davison said in an interview.

Davison, 41, was cut off from Health Canada's weed about 18 months ago, and now must go to the black market for some of his marijuana, which he uses to control pain and nausea.

"I could incur a smear in my credit report," he says about his worries over speaking out. "I could aggravate Health Canada (and) they could come at me harder."

Health Canada has hired Saskatoon-based Prairie Plant Systems to produce and ship the marijuana to authorized users. For years the company grew the dope in an abandoned underground mine at Flin Flon, Man., but left the facility in the summer for an undisclosed location.

Department officials have said they will eventually phase out all personal production, forcing patients to order all their dope from the government, perhaps through pharmacy distribution.

http://toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20091031/marijuana_payments_091031/20091031/?hub=TorontoNewHome

Medical Marijuana vs. Liquor Licence Feud Continues

2009-11-11T16:23:03Z

TORONTO -- The Federal Court has declined to throw out the case of an Ontario restaurant owner who wants one of his former patrons stripped of his right to smoke medical marijuana.

Ted Kindos, owner of Gator Ted's Tap and Grill in Burlington, Ont., is seeking a declaration from the Federal Court that people with a permit to smoke medicinal marijuana cannot do so in a public place or any licensed establishment.

He also wants the court to order Health Canada not to renew the permit of his former patron, Steve Gibson, arguing Mr. Gibson has not been in compliance with its terms of use.

Federal government lawyers sought to dismiss the case, arguing there is no dispute that requires adjudication because Health Canada does not purport to authorize permit holders to smoke marijuana in violation of any applicable law or in an establishment subject to Ontario's liquor licensing laws.

In his decision released Monday afternoon, Federal Court Prothonotary Kevin Aalto said Gator Ted's is "caught in a conundrum" between Ottawa's medical marijuana regulations and its obligations under the regulations of the Liquor License Act of Ontario.

The restaurant "ought to have its day in this court," the decision said.

A prothonotary performs some of the same functions as a judge in the Federal Court.

Mr. Kindos is facing a human-rights complaint for asking Mr. Gibson not to light up outside his business. Mr. Gibson contends in his human rights complaint that he's being discriminated against because he has a disability.

Mr. Kindos argues he could lose his liquor licence if he allows Mr. Gibson to smoke or hold the controlled substance in or out front of his restaurant.

Where an authorized permit holder uses marijuana is not governed by federal regulations but Ottawa is considering whether it should be.

Health Canada said it is looking at developing options that would "clarify and limit" where permit holders could smoke.

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2206243

Dutch Cannabis Shop Owner Goes on Trial

2009-11-05T11:24:43Z

There are around 700 licensed coffee shops in the Netherlands which are allowed to keep no more than 500 grammes of cannabis

The owner of the Netherlands' biggest cannabis-vending coffee shop went on trial for drug trafficking Tuesday accused of storing more than the allowed amount of the soft drug on site.

Meddy Willemsen, 58, was not present for the opening of his trial in Middelburg in the southern Netherlands which is widely seen as a test case in a country that has been toughening its stance on soft drug use.

- The question is whether the conditions of the government's tolerance policy have been violated - presiding judge Saskia Meeuwis said at the start of the trial.

Though technically illegal, the Netherlands decriminalised the consumption and possession of under five grammes (0.18 ounces) of cannabis in 1976 under a so-called "tolerance policy".

Cannabis cultivation and mass retail remain illegal and are in the hands of criminal organisations in a black-market business worth some two billion euros (three billion dollars) per year.

There are around 700 licensed coffee shops in the Netherlands which are allowed to keep no more than 500 grammes of cannabis on their premises, though this limit is often flouted.

In this case, investigators claim to have found 120 kilogrammes of cannabis on the premises of Willemsen's Checkpoint coffee shop in Terneuzen near the border with Belgium in 2007, and another 110 kilos last year.

Before it was closed in May 2008, Checkpoint counted up to 3,000 clients a day, mainly Belgian and French, allegedly earning Willemsen more than 27 million euros between 2006 and May 2008.

- This is clearly a contravention of the spirit of the tolerance policy devised (by the government) to respond to local demand - Middelburg prosecution spokeswoman Elke Kool told AFP.

Willemsen stands accused alongside 16 others, including a manager of his coffee shop and local suppliers. All but one, a 37-year-old supplier, were absent on Tuesday.

A verdict in what prosecutors describe as the biggest-ever case of its type in the Netherlands is expected on December 2.

The Netherlands has recently been taking an increasingly tough stance on recreational drug use, citing what critics see as a nuisance created by millions of drug tourists who cross the border every year.

The government announced plans in September to limit drug tourism by reserving hundreds of cannabis-vending coffee shops for locals.

The capital, Amsterdam, has said it will halve its number of coffee shops, citing criminality, while other cities are to close shops within a certain distance from schools.

In the southern Limburg province, 30 coffee shops intend to become private members' clubs from next year.

http://www.javno.com/en-world/dutch-cannabis-shop-owner-goes-on-trial_280293

Health Canada Demands Marijuana Smokers Pay Up In Advance

2009-11-02T14:56:05Z