Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: goldworldnet who wrote (708934)	10/26/2005 4:01:23 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769670

Nah... it's still on the verge of passing in Parliament.

To: goldworldnet who wrote (708934)	10/26/2005 4:15:10 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 769670

Canada Canadian drug policy is moving away from the drug prohibition strategy it shared with the U.S. towards a more European based harm reduction model. Perceiving drug use as a public health concern, Canada focuses far fewer resources on criminal enforcement than the U.S., with 70 percent of Canada's counter narcotics budget spent on demand reduction. Although marijuana is technically still illegal in Canada, regulations came into force in 2001 allowing the use of marijuana by people who are suffering from serious illnesses and in 2003 a court ruling forced the government to sell the drug to certified medical marijuana patients making Canada the first country in the world to sell marijuana. Canada is also preparing to allow reduced sentences for low level marijuana possession and is evaluating supervised injection trials and heroin maintenance programs. Canada's justice system has issued other landmark rulings in the area of drug enforcement reflecting the widespread view that drug use should be treated as a public health problem. Both the Canadian Senate and Canada’s House of Commons have made the case for harm reduction and marijuana decriminalization. Courts have hesitated to impose lengthy sentences for nonviolent drug offenders. The Canadian Supreme Court has questioned the use of "sting" operations and undercover "buys" on the grounds that it violates the right to privacy in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Canadian Supreme Court also held that laws prohibiting marijuana possession are unconstitutional because they fail to provide an exception for medical marijuana users, leading to the creation of medical marijuana regulations. Many have criticized these regulations, however, as being too cumbersome prompting Canada to consider decriminalization or full legalization. Drug Policy Alliance executive director Ethan Nadelmann has played a critical role in broadening the public debate in Canada including testifying before the Canadian Senate’s Special Senate Committee on Illegal Drugs, which ultimately recommended that marijuana be fully legalized in a groundbreaking report released last September. In Depth: Canada, Marijuana and Harm Reduction In September 2002, Canada’s Senate Special Committee on Illegal Drugs released an exhaustive and comprehensive two-year study of public policy related to marijuana found that the drug should be legalized. The 600 plus page Senate report was a result of rigorous research, analysis and extensive public hearings in Ottawa and communities throughout Canada with experts and citizens. "Scientific evidence overwhelmingly indicates that marijuana is substantially less harmful than alcohol, and should be treated not as a criminal issue, but as a social and public health issue," said Senator Pierre Claude Nolin, Chair of the Special Committee. The cannabis debate in Canada focuses not on whether marijuana should remain illegal, but whether it should be decriminalized or fully legalized. The Marihuana Medical Access Regulations came into force on July 30, 2001. The regulations establish a framework to allow the use of marijuana by people who are suffering from serious illnesses where conventional treatments are inappropriate or are not providing adequate relief of the symptoms related to the medical condition or its treatment, and where the use of marijuana is expected to have some medical benefit that outweighs the risk of its use. Patients with a declaration from a medical specialist must apply to Health Canada for authorization. Holders of an authorization can obtain marijuana for medical purposes by obtaining a license to grow their own supply or designating someone else to grow it for them. Due to a 2002 court order that gave the government six months to change laws that forced legal marijuana users to buy the substance from criminal underworld sources, the government will provide medical marijuana to those who qualify as of July 2003. Just months after the Canadian Senate recommended the full legalization of marijuana, Canada’s House of Commons made the case for harm reduction and marijuana decriminalization. According to a December 2002 report issued by the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs, safe-injection sites and needle-exchange programs should be set up in major Canadian cities. "The renewed Canada's Drug Strategy must be comprehensive, integrated, balanced and sustainable and include alcohol, tobacco, illicit substances and pharmaceutical drugs," the report says. "The cornerstone of a renewed drug strategy must remain the long-term goal of reducing the harm associated with alcohol, tobacco and other substances to individuals, families and communities." Of the 39 recommendations included in the Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs report, the most far-reaching calls for "proposed clinical trials pilot project in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal to test the effectiveness of heroin-assisted treatment for drug-dependent individuals resistant to other forms of treatment." Health Canada has issued guidelines for how safe-injection drug sites would operate at pilot sites, and the Canadian government is putting up $1.5 million over three years to support a scientific evaluation of one such pilot program run by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Unlike U.S. drug policy, which lacks a credible evaluation mechanism, Canada plans to closely monitor and evaluate its drug law reforms in order to determine best practices. Yet the U.S. is pressuring Canada not to pass harm minimization laws. An assistant to U.S. drug czar warned Canada that marijuana decriminalization could lead to a trade-inhibiting border crackdown and drug czar John Walters has called Vancouver’s proposed safe-injection sites "state-sponsored personal suicide." drugpolicy.org