cannabisnews.com: Drug Laws Need Massive Overhaul: Committee





Drug Laws Need Massive Overhaul: Committee
Posted by CN Staff on December 09, 2002 at 08:03:40 PT
By Peter O'Neil and David Reevely, Vancouver Sun 
Source: Vancouver Sun 
A special parliamentary committee on drugs is to recommend sweeping changes to the way Canada regulates controlled substances.The recommendations from the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs, chaired by Liberal MP Paddy Torsney, include pilot safe injection sites in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal; a national drug commissioner; separate prisons for drug addicts, featuring needle exchanges and methadone treatment; and a liberalized law on marijuana possession.
That last recommendation is expected to be delayed until later in the week, for fear that that issue would overwhelm the dozens of other ideas in the report. Justice Minister Martin Cauchon has been waiting for the committee's advice before deciding whether to change Canada's policy on marijuana.In Vancouver, the safe-injection-site news is expected to make the biggest splash. Controversy over proposals for such sites has been rampant: Mayor Larry Campbell was elected, in part, on a promise to try to get such a site operating by Jan. 1, and Health Canada has issued draft guidelines for how it might be run. Canadian Alliance MPs Randy White and James Moore, both from the Lower Mainland, have blasted the plan for what they call "shooting galleries," arguing that it's a bad idea to make it easier and safer for addicts to take drugs.White, the vice-chair of the parliamentary committee, has complained that just as Cauchon has been waiting for the committee's recommendation on marijuana, Health Minister Anne McLellan shouldn't have released any guidelines on injection sites. Snipped:Complete Article: http://www.freedomtoexhale.com/dln.htm Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)Author: Peter O'Neil and David Reevely, Vancouver Sun Published: Monday, December 09, 2002Copyright: 2002 The Vancouver SunContact: sunletters pacpress.southam.caWebsite: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Related Articles & Web Site:Cannabis News Canadian Linkshttp://freedomtoexhale.com/can.htmTo Legalize or Not to Legalize http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14360.shtmlCanadians Suggest Legalizing Marijuanahttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14333.shtmlU.S. Warns Against Liberalizing Laws on Pothttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14331.shtmlSenate Report on Cannabis: Get Whole Story http://cannabisnews.com/news/thread14319.shtml 
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Comment #8 posted by freddybigbee on December 09, 2002 at 12:30:33 PT:
Several good points, p4me...
Interesting you mentioned bottled air. I've always thought that prohibiting a natural herb like cannabis is little different than prohibiting breathing or drinking water. In each case we're talking about a natural resource that the gov. doesn't own and has no business denying.As for pissing off a prohibitionist, I think one reason the antis have kept their fraud going for so long is that cannabis users are generally non-violent, reasonable people. Antis can use the violence card with impunity because stoners know that violence begets violence and ultimately solves little. I agree that it is time to stop being so nice to these creeps; give no respect where none is deserved!Lastly, hearing an extreme right-wing radical like Rush, whose show is of conservative bias gone wild, claim that the media is liberally biased is incredible. It's like a guy repeating over and over in a loud voice, "I never get a chance to speak."
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #7 posted by TroutMask on December 09, 2002 at 11:03:15 PT
Thanks, druid!
I began going page-by-page until I saw a link to the TOC:http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/37/2/SNUD/Studies/Reports/snudrp01/08-toc-e.htm-TM
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #6 posted by p4me on December 09, 2002 at 10:16:47 PT
Paragraphs of the day
The Cannabis Laws are one thing, but there still is the big problem of the media. It is ironic to me that people can dare mention a liberal press when the press is overwhelmingly conservative. I would like to copy two paragraphs from http://www.rushlimbaughonline.com/articles/mediabias.htmClearly there exists a media bias. The talk of bias in the media is relentless. Pundits such as Rush, Hannity, Matthews, Alan Keyes..... talk of media bias daily and frequently. There is even a book about media bias by Bernard Goldberg. Naturally he is all over the media outlets making assertions about bias in the media. Whenever media bias is mentioned, the charge is, "the media is liberal and biased as such". While it is true the media displays a substantial bias, it is not liberal. The bias of the media is conservative. With the constant drum beat of radio show hosts, TV pundits and book salesman insisting there is a big liberal bias, it is quite an irony the exact opposite is true. That the media exhibits and conducts itself consistent with a right wing bias is readily apparent with even a cursory analysis of the facts and behavior shown by the mainstream media. 1
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #5 posted by druid on December 09, 2002 at 09:55:28 PT:
Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs
POLICY FOR THE NEW MILLENIUM:WORKING TOGETHER TO REDEFINE
CANADA'S DRUG STRATEGY INTERIM REPORT OF THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE
ON NON-MEDICAL USE OF DRUGSPaddy Torsney, M.P.
Chair December 2002http://www.parl.gc.ca/InfoComDoc/37/2/SNUD/Studies/Reports/snudrp01-e.htm
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #4 posted by p4me on December 09, 2002 at 09:39:39 PT
How can Canada keep prohibition now?
This sets up an interesting situation in Canada. One reason I enjoy reading about the Cannabis Wars is because it is so enlightening and it resembles a seige of reason against a fortress of insanity. You have to know the seige will be successful and you have to wonder why the prohibitionist camp keep fighting against a better way.These ads that run are all against marijuna as if people are dying from it or sustaining an addiction that will ruin their health as if the government really cares about people's health. The government is easing pollution restrictions that will prematurely kill thousands and they are only to happy to do it. Most people still breathe regular air don't they? Or maybe they are trying to promote a bottled air industry and are test marketing it in India under the Asian Brown Cloud that the media does not talk about. We are the only industrial nation to allow artificial growth hormones for milk cows even though this has many uninvestigated health consequences although if you have a child with autism it may be worth a try to take them off of milk and see if that cures them. 70% of all processed foods are from genetically altered foods and where is the research on that? Of course we already know the dangers of transfats that are in all those cookies the kids that the prohibitionists care about so falsely are eating. The Cannabis Wars are a big joke and a sad big joke at that. Money is life when you don't have any just like oxygen.Programs that defined the social safety net are being dropped but the taxpayer commercials that demonize marijuana go on even though they do not make the beer companies put up the simple words, "Don't abuse drugs" when they are peddling real poison on every sporting event. It is like "sit down and ge drunk while you watch sports" is the ideal American way.That NOW program with Bill Moyers was excellent again as it presented a story on the media and further legislation that will allow more consolidation by the conglomerates that already overwhelmingly dominate the media. Pulic debate will end January 2nd and the media has not yet told the American people about the importance of this legislataion.NOW did a piece about the lies of the Busch administration in selling the war on Iraq to the American people and the tactics they use with the aluminum rods that the Busch administration says was to build nuclear bombs. It is just another lie like the person that testified before Congress in the first Gulf War about babies being pulled from incubators in Kuwait that was a daughter of an Ambassador from Kuwait and coached by a slick advertising agency. I was in disbelief when they said that two-thirds of Americans thought Iraq was responsible for 9/11 when nothing could be further from the truth.Now they have this line about just because we cannot find the WMD in Iraq does not mean they are not there. What a crock. Show me the weapons. Busch said they were there. Now where are they?Well let's keep up the seige on the prohibitionist and try not to be so nice about it. Have you pissed off a prohibitionist today? Well the day is still young.1 
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #3 posted by TroutMask on December 09, 2002 at 08:54:58 PT
Decrim is the least of the "problems"
"The recommendations from the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs, chaired by Liberal MP Paddy Torsney, include pilot safe injection sites in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal; a national drug commissioner; separate prisons for drug addicts, featuring needle exchanges and methadone treatment; and a liberalized law on marijuana possession."Sounds like the US has a lot more to "worry" about than a little 'ol marijuana decrim. Beautiful!-TM
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 09, 2002 at 08:34:33 PT
knox42897 
If your father lives in Vancouver I sure would visit him. I don't have any idea how to contact Bobby Brown or his lawyer. They probably don't have public email contacts. Maybe in one of the articles about Whitney Houston that are on line it might give you a lead. I don't have an email anymore because of people sending me viruses. I can't afford to replace my computer so I had to stop receiving email. I hope you find what you are looking for. I also hope that they allow growing in canada for personal use when the report comes out. That would be great news.
Canadian Links
[ Post Comment ]


Comment #1 posted by knox42897 on December 09, 2002 at 08:25:27 PT:
MIGHT BE MOVING TO CANADA
Hello People this is your friendly medical marijuana schizo.
I am reaally thinking about moving to Canada. I really think the courts are going to strick down cannabis laws. My father lives in Vancouver. It seems like a good idea visiting him for Christmas. Any how, I wanted to ask FOM, if I could email you. I am looking for some info relating to bobby brown. FOM do you by any chance know who his lawyer is? I would like to help Mr. Brown get a medical marijuana recommendation for Bi-polar, just like me.
[ Post Comment ]


Post Comment