ontario
Ontario School Board Fails in Attempt to Expell Student for At Home Marijuana Use
Posted By KENNEDY GORDON, Peterburough Examiner
Jean Grant says her son was a test case for a new school rule -- and her battle with the Kawartha Pine Ridge District School Board was a test case for parents who refuse to back down.
"I want other parents to know what school boards can do, what principals and vice-principals have the power to do," Grant said Monday.
In what Grant calls the first case of its kind, the Superior Court of Justice rejected an appeal filed by the board, which wanted to keep her son out of high school and was fighting a Child and Family Services Review Board decision to keep him in class.
OxyContin more abused than crack: rehab centre
CBC NewsOxyContin, the widely prescribed painkiller, has overtaken crack cocaine as Ottawa's most commonly abused drug, a residential drug treatment centre says.
OxyContin is a slow-release form of oxycodone and similar to morphine in its effect and addictiveness. When the drug is chewed or crushed and inhaled, it produces a rapid "heroin-like effect euphoria," according to Health Canada.
"It's a whole warm sensation throughout your body," said Jamie Walsh, a recovered OxyContin addict. "All your troubles, all your worries fade away."
Prescription drug abuse overtakes street drugs
Posted By KELLY MCSHANE, SPECIAL TO THE PACKET AND TIMESA crackdown on street drugs may be the catalyst for a rise in the abuse of prescription medications, police say.
"The availability of street drugs has declined, which is good, but now people are switching over to prescription drugs, which are more difficult for us to control," said Insp. Don Goard, who heads up Orillia's OPP detachment.
Goard said the switch in drug sources was expected.
Specifically, Goard said there has been an increase in the use of OxyContin, a medication generally prescribed for the relief of severe pain.
Northumberland residents help create nation's first medical marijuana expo
By Bill Tremblay, The IndependantBRIGHTON -- A group of east Northumberland residents will help run Canada's first medical marijuana expo.
Medicinal Awareness (MA), a lobby group for medicinal marijuana, will operate the vapour lounge at the 'Treating Yourself Expo' at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre from July 16-18. MA is primarily based in Brighton and Trent Hills.
"Our responsibility will be to teach other med patients how to use the various vapourizers," MA member Al Graham said.
A vapourizer allows its user to inhale vapour from marijuana instead of smoke.
An EndProhibition Personal Account: Robert Ling
The following is a personal account from one of our End Prohibition members in Ontario. He is one of thousands of Canadians who suffer from a malady that can be alleviated by the use of cannabis (marijuana). Although 4000 people in Canada are exempted from criminal sanctions for their choice in medication, many tens of thousands more have been unable to access this respite from the drug war.
In this account Robert relates his experiences with his illness, his medicinal use of cannabis, and the bureaucratic labyrinth of the Canadian Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR). He is one of many thousands of Canadians who use cannabis safely and should not fear criminal penalty for this personal health decision.
Elderly Ontario woman extradited to U.S. on decades-old pot charge
National PostTORONTO — A 74-year-old woman from Hamilton, Ont., who attempted to cross the border into New York state earlier this week learned the hard way that the United States does not take kindly to drug charges — no matter how old.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection say Homenella Cole advised border officers at the Lewiston-Queenston border crossing Monday that she was inadmissible to the U.S. because of previous criminal convictions in Canada.
"She said she wanted a waiver to enter the U.S., which is not uncommon," said CBP spokesman Kevin Corsaro.
A routine criminal record check revealed that Cole was the subject of active felony warrant issued on April 1, 1980 by the New York City Police Department.
Medical marijuana user in fear of law
By Craig Pearson, The Windsor Star"Sarah" puts her lips to the vapour-filled bag, inhaling medicine and worry in one intoxicating breath.
The 52-year-old Windsor woman, who did not want her real name used, is a Health Canada-approved medical marijuana user. Or, at least, she used to be.
Right now she lives in limbo, largely shutting herself in at home alone with a federal medical marijuana card that expired at the beginning of December, with no explanation why her renewed exemption hasn't arrived. And with fears about the law.
Complex issue around clinics
By Robert Howard, The Hamilton SpectatorCondos give homeless hope
Mental health association comes to the rescueBy Andrew Duffy, Ottawa Citizen
In late November, Buzz Dixon was considering a return to the streets where he had spent years as an injection drug user.
He felt it was his best option since his downtown apartment had become infested with bed bugs that plagued him. He couldn't afford a better place on his disability income. Yet Dixon, 50, knew a return to the street would also mean a return to hard drugs. He relapsed -- and overdosed -- just thinking about it.
OxyContin painkiller still the number one addiction problem here in Sault Ste. Marie
Posted By Bob Mihell, Sault This WeekSault pharmacist Manuel dos Reis, in response to a question about mortality rates related to use of prescription opioid painkillers locally, said, "Guaranteed. I have had patients pass away from overdoses. That is not anything new."
