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Accused mounts medical marijuana defence

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Tue, 07/27/2010 - 8:19pm
By BRYAN TAIT, Daily Gleaner
 
In what could be a first in New Brunswick, a Hainesville man is fighting a drug possession charge on the basis of a medical certificate.
 
Todd Terrance LeClair was charged with possessing marijuana after a police search of his residence Oct. 19.
 
But LeClair is arguing he's been allowed to possess the narcotic after receiving a doctor's prescription on March 1, 2009.
 
On trial for the possession charge Friday, LeClair said he'd received his medical marijuana licence on Jan. 13.
 
That licence permitted him to store 1,500 grams in his home and carry 120 grams on his person.
 

Methadone treatment expert frustrated with policy makers

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Fri, 06/18/2010 - 7:57pm
By SANDRA DAVIS, Telegraph-Journal
 
SAINT JOHN - Medical ethicist and epidemiologist Tim Christie is at a loss to understand why government seems unwilling to redistribute resources that would see an additional 382 addicts receiving methadone to help them kick their habit.
 
"It makes no sense at all. I don't know why they won't do it," he said.
 
"I've engaged them in dialogue and they will not respond to reason and they won't respond to the evidence."
 

Downtown needle hunter feels sense of accomplishment

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Wed, 05/12/2010 - 11:56pm
BY ALAN COCHRANE, TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
 
Most of us carry a little bag to scoop the poop when we walk our dogs. But Richard Hyslop carries rubber gloves, tongs and a hazardous waste container as his dogs sniff out used drug needles and syringes in Downtown Moncton.
 
"These dogs are trained for spotting needles. We walk every day in the downtown neighbourhoods to clean up and make sure its safe for the kids. The first year we did it we picked up 11,500 needles. Last year we got 6,700 and this year we got 300 so far."
 
Hyslop, 50, a former firefighter and paramedic who was left disabled when a brick wall fell on him in 1998, says he feels a sense of accomplishment by picking up the needles and syringes left behind by drug users around the downtown.

Kelowna shares Moncton's policing concerns

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 04/12/2010 - 5:58pm
By Brent Mazerolle, Times & Transcript
 
City council is upset it has little say in its contract to have RCMP police the city, and wonders why it's not even at the table when provincial and federal bureaucrats work out this critical issue. It even has some councillors looking at a municipal police force instead for their mid-sized city and regional centre. Meanwhile, they're worrying about the need for a bigger police station in the next couple years as the number of RCMP officers in the city keeps growing.
 
The surprise in all this? We're talking about Kelowna, B.C., not Moncton.
 
It's a tale of two cities, or perhaps more accurately, it's a tale of two ends of the country sharing similar concerns.
 

New Brunswick jails brace for overcrowding

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Fri, 04/02/2010 - 11:32pm
By CBC News

Recent federal changes to the amount of credit given to offenders during sentencing for time spent in pretrial custody will further strain New Brunswick's already overcrowded jails, say public safety officials.

Offenders will no longer receive 2-for-1 credit for time served on so-called remand prior to conviction and sentencing.

As of Feb. 23, the majority of convicts in all provinces will only receive one day of credit for every day spent in jail waiting for their case to proceed through the courts.

Some may get a 1.5-to-1 credit, but only in special circumstances set out by the sentencing judge.

That will mean longer jail terms, said Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Lisa Harrity.

Rural Moncton may get needle exchange

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 8:47pm
CBC News
 
AIDS Moncton is asking for the public's help to expand its needle distribution service to rural areas.
 
The needle exchange program currently hands out up to 70,000 needles in Greater Moncton each year to prevent drug users from re-using or sharing needles, which can lead to HIV, Hepatitis C and other infections.
 
The program, which has been operating for about three years, also helps reduce the number of dirty needles found in public places.
 
But drug use isn't limited to large cities, said executive director Debby Warren.
 
The organization will do whatever it takes to provide services for rural clients, who can't access services in the city, she said.
 

A community on drugs: life after the crisis

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Mon, 03/15/2010 - 7:00am
Jennifer Pritchett, Telegraph-Journal
 
OROMOCTO FIRST NATION - Cindy Sacobie has lost a lot of what has meant the most to her in life.
She watched her husband, Brian, die of alcoholism last year when he was 44, leaving her to raise their three sons alone. She has struggled with her own addiction to the painkiller Dilaudid and once lost her job for a year because of it.
 
Until she got clean three years ago, she'd lost her self-respect.
 
"All our money went into the drugs," says the 41-year-old.
 
Six years ago, Sacobie was among the majority - as high as 85 per cent - of residents in this small aboriginal community east of Fredericton who were addicted to drugs.
 

Perception and reality differ

Submitted by Nicole Seguin on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 9:59pm
Chris McCormick, The Daily Gleaner
 
Recently I listened to Michael Enright and his media-files team discuss the public's irrational fear of crime.
 
They began with a recent Angus Reid poll which found a disturbingly high percentage of Canadians believe crime has increased.
 
Obviously it hasn't, and in fact, we haven't seen such a relative degree of safety since the 1960s.
The panellists then discussed possible reasons for why people get it wrong.
 
The impression I came away with is that politicians distort issues to get votes, the media sensationalizes by leading with what bleeds, the police exaggerate crime to justify budget requests, and the public is too dim to see what's going on.
 
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