Opening Statement



Wednesday 31 January 2018

Oh Cannabis Winter 2018 News y Views 1

Inhale! Hold! Exhale! Smile! Then Read "Oh Cannabis News Y View" @ Directory! UpDAtEs AddED iN LaRgE TyPe! Live tweets @ davidchiarelli 


HEADLINES


CC5: Cannabis Culture 5 plead guilty! They receive hefty fines but no jail time! Charges against the 17 CC bud tenders arrested during the Project Gator raids are dropped. Lots of legal precedents set! More below! 

Bill C-45, Canada's new legalization bill passes through the House of Commons [HoC] Now it's headed to the Senate with some Conservative members threatening to delay it until 2019! PM Justin Trudeau's now waffling on the July 1st implementation date too!

Bill C-46 Canada's new impaired driving bill also passes the HoC but might well not be based on very sound medical facts about weed!

Canadian First Nations demand autonomy in regulating the sales and distribution of Cannabis on Treaty Lands.

No Cannabis Amnesty seems in the works! Canada's thriving grass root cannabiz sector, headed by many of our leading pioneer cannabis activists, remain shut out under the Trudeau governments new legal monopoly on weed!



Bill 174: Ontario Cannabis Act passed into law, to take effect July 1, 2018 with 14 initial outlets opening across the province.

Vapor Lounges and Craft Cannabis Dispensaries remain in legal limbo in Ontario! Ontario's are supposed to only buy weed at a government outlet and toke it at home. 

Ontario's Premier Wynne is threatening a massive and very heavy-handed dispensary crackdown!

AG Jeff Sessions: Trump's Reefer Madman is still very determined to thwart the state legalization drive at the federal level! What next?

Dana Larsen kicks off his "OverGrow Canada" free seed giveaway in time for the spring planting season! Link below!

EU/UK Updates: The medical cannabis movement in Europe grows!

All this and more below ..................

OH CANADA



Exclusive Video: Marc y Jodie Emery of the Cannabis Culture 5 speak about "legalization activism" outside the Old Toronto City Hall Courthouse after their December 18th hearing. They discuss their guilty plea, fines and criminal record resulting from the Project Gator cross Canada dispensary busts last March. 

Their focus is on moving forward to hopefully reposition Cannabis Culture ["our brand is integrity"] within Canada's new legal market as now promised by the Trudeau government for next summer. 

Note Marc's critique of how the legalization model is being enforced, most notably in Ontario and Quebec, through eliminating and replacing our popular "free market" craft dispensaries, with inevitably much inferior, government monopoly run stores. 

It just goes to show! Surely, the mounting cannabis busts across Canada are a blatant government attack on both small, grass root, free enterprise and our most basic Canadian civil liberties, as recreational users and medical cannabis patients! 

Enough!

See my video @ Youtube My full review of their court date is @ HERE! 


Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau backtracks, now claiming that he doesn't know where folks got the darn idea that July 1st was the implementation date for legalized weed. Seems it will be sometime this summer instead! Ummm. Yeah. Sure. We will wait. Er ... let's smoke one to that! @ MG

Amnesty Now! Toronto's major daily newspapers are arguing that the Trudeau government needs to offer a pot amnesty now, for legalization to be just, fair and to make amends. Check out the what the Editorial Boards are saying @ Star and @ Post Also, this opinion piece @ Globe

Six Nation Bust: The Green Health dispensary on the indigenous reserve near Hamilton Ontario, is the second to be raided in six months. The Ontario Attorney General's [AG] office is asserting that the province's new cannabis law will also apply on reserve lands. Meanwhile, Chief Donald Meracle at the Tyendinaga Mohawk reserve outside Belleville, is insisting that there won't be any raids there. Band police consider it a "grey area" issue. Judges won't be prosecuting any cases. More news links and video @ CBC


High Noon In Saskatchewan: The First Nations are about to challenge provincial jurisdiction over pot sales on treaty lands there too. Many reservations have not even been granted a government dispensary permit from on high, as legalization looms @ CBC

Canadian AFN: Assembly of First Nation Chiefs are demanding the right to regulate the sale and distribution of recreational and medicinal weed on Treaty Lands. Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day and his Quebec counterpart; Chief Ghislain Picard, have now struck a committee to rally AFN community support and assert their economic rights. Ostensibly, the goal is to "create jobs and earn revenue" on the reserves. That includes adopting "more business friendly rules" and documenting their "community health, social and economic concerns". The AFN expects plenty of legal challenges ahead. However, they do not believe that Ontario's new Cannabis law applies on First Nation lands @ MBD @ Globe 

Sins Of Omission: Interestingly, the indigenous community was not consulted on taxation, nor are they directly mentioned anywhere within the Ontario's new Cannabis Act. Likewise Ottawa is being confronted with the same unaddressed and unmet concerns from numerous other First Nation communities across Canada as Bill C-45 passes into law @ Star @ CBC @ BaySt @ CBC and @ CBC



Bill 174: Ontario's Cannabis Act is passed into law by the provincial Liberal and NDP in a 63-27 vote. Opposition Leader Pat Brown's Conservative party opposed the bill citing policing concerns. The Act calls for $1 million fine and up to 2 years minus a day jail time for dispensaries breaking the new law. Party Leader Andrea Horwath expressed the NDP's concern that only 14 stores will be opened at first, come July 1st, when the new law takes effect. More info, including the locations of the first 14 Ontario Cannabis Retail Control [OCRC] outlets @ Star 

Bill 174 -Royal Assent Chapter S.O. 2017 C.26: Read the Act and save the link for future reference. It's all here @ ONTLA

Premier Wynne's Corporate Neo Lib Agenda: Ontario's monopoly over legalized weed will make the provincial government the largest legal pot dealer in Canada and perhaps the world @ Star



Wynne -The Queen of Pot!?!

Tax Revenue Sharing: The feds finally agree to give the provinces 75% of the windfall taxes from legalization, rather than the proposed 50/50 split @ CTV

Bill C-45:  Canada's legalization bill passed the House of Commons with a 200-82 vote. Andrew Scheer's CPC conservative opposition wants the bill delayed a year, ostensibly due to safety concerns. The leftie NDP seems just glad that some homegrown restrictions have been lifted, and medibles will eventually be allowed @ CBC

Senate Road Block: The conservatives are now threatening to delay the bill in the Canadian senate for more "sober second thought" before finally passing it into law @ Star

Bill C-46: The Canadian senate also faces concerns about Canada's new impaired driving law. Could it discriminate against medical cannabis patients? Contrary to popular opinion, measuring how much THC we've taken, and whether it's safe to drive, are far from being clear cut issues @ Lift Backgrounder @ Reason



Cannabis Activist Ming Saad shows us how it's done in Ottawa!

Ming's Thing: The frontline Ottawa CC spin-off dispensary, in the shadow of Parliament Hill has been shut down and closed Toronto style, for the third and perhaps final time, now that the bailiff's been called in to change the locks. I spoke with Ming recently. Rest assured -Bank Street shop or not, she and the Ottawa crew certainly aren't down for the count! Go Ming Go! More @ OC

Justice Denied: Hello Bill Blair! Julian Fantino! Canada's former police and politico reefer madmen, after fighting legalization for years, are now cashing in on it big time! Meanwhile, cannabis activists like the CC5's Marc and Jodie Emery are prohibited from participating, because they broke the law! @ MacLeans

Busted: Trudeau courts controversy by claiming that he can't decriminalize weed now. Apparently, when we buy illegal pot we are funding big, bad gangs and organized crime @ CBC

Prohibition 2.0: What to make of the Trudeau government's scary stories about organized crime running the cannabis industry in Canada? Bull shit! Most of Canada's illegal growers and dispensary owners are otherwise law-abiding citizens. Their pot biz mostly indie @ Globe



Dana Larsen Sez OverGrow Canada Now!

OverGrow Canada 2018: BC Cannabis Activist Dana Larsen is once again giving away free CBD seeds to plant across Canada as per his annual "Plant the Seeds of Freedom! Overgrow the Government" campaign. Order by February 10th and Dana promises you will get 100 of them by the end of the month, in time to germinate and plant this spring. Instructions included! Sign up @ OGC @ OC

Higher Grounds: Read my Blog on the why's and wherefore's of Dana Larsen's "OverGrow Canada" @ HERE!

Weed Gold Card: Canuck's are racing to apply for a medical cannabis license even though recreational weed is scheduled to be legalized here this summer. Maybe they don't trust the government? Hey! I've been saying for ages, this is your gold card against all the bullshit! More @ MIN

Back 2 Work: Canadian Employers need to much more carefully consider workplace cannabis issues now that it is legal. Key issues will include medical usage, workplace safety, productivity and drug testing. Expect a lot of big legal challenges in the daze ahead @ MacLeans


Jack Boot Ontario: Terribly unpopular Ontario Neo Lib Premier Kathleen Wynne is threatening million dollar fines and jail time as a part of a massive police crackdown on the province's craft dispensaries for her Corporate Canada buddies prior to legalization! That would need to happen between now and election day June 7th! A good move for her?!? Let's see @ Globe

"Peripheral Dependency 101" or "Shut Out + On Fire": Local suppliers are very angry that the economically challenged province of Newfoundland has decided to buy it's weed from Canopy Growth Corp; an Ontario supplier @ CBC

IN THE NEWS



Narc'ed: Head AG Reefer Madman Jeff Sessions accidentally reveals the secret hush hush agenda for a big, closed door meeting with leading US anti cannabis advocates! What BS! Read more from the big faker @ Huff A "who's who" is @ MM

US War on Drugs: California joins the roster of legal US states! What does AG Sessions do? Looks like he's about to double down in his war on drugs, by rolling back an Obama Era policy that had federal prosecutors butting out of the reefer madness horror show at the state level @ Vice

"Nasty Business" Or "Jeff Let's The Dogs Out": Session's move is compared to letting the dog off the leash, without anybody knowing what comes next. Lacking further direction, prosecutors have no idea what they should or shouldn't do and why. Meanwhile, the budding US cannabiz industry is thrown into a lot of uncertainty for the foreseeable future. It's a pretty shitty way to run a country, let alone the AG's office @ Cannabist



Bad Smell: Turns out Republican support for AG Jeff Sessions latest, dirty move is very weak at best in Washington. Hmmm. Seems the GOP have more business acumen then their CPC: Canadian Conservative Pary counterparts here! More @ Vice

Bad 4 Biz: US GOP's Ron Paul points out that the war on drugs is an attack on our civil liberties. Also that it's simply bad for business, robbing a lot of states of a huge tax windfall. Like their Canadian conservative counterparts both the GOP and CPC are supposed to be all about business. But how many of them can they see past their narrow self interests? Their own sadly misinformed, and outdated, social conservative views? More @ Fox

Buck Stops Here: Legalized cannabis in the US could result in a projected $125 million tax windfall and a million jobs, by 2025 @ BI

Legal Chaos: Top state prosecutors with strong ties to the community could be hesitant to enforce the legal loophole AG Sessions has opened for them to bust for weed, especially in states where it's already been legalized. Everybody else watch out? More @ Cannabist

Democrats introduce a federal legalization bill with a special focus on "restorative justice" for communities hurt by the War on Drugs, including an amnesty for potheads with a criminal drug record @ BI


Who's the War on Drugs Really For Anway?!?

Grinch Time: Budtenders at the Sweet Leaf dispensary in Colorado lost their Christmas' bonuses after a police raid. Either the police and/or management screwed up, but either way, they are now out of work, broke and struggling to make ends meet ..... What gives?!? Time to unionize?!? More @ DC

Hard Times: Over 10,000 US prisoners are serving federal time under prohibition. Race plays a part: the majority are from America's visible minority groups. Very few are guilty of weapon offences @ HT

Rocking House Party Bluez: 70 Georgia party goers are arrested by police after they smell pot outside a house, enter without a warrant and find an ounce of weed. When nobody will claim it, some are even tethered and layered during the arrest. The NAACP is now getting involved @ WSBTV

Viva Green Europe: This interactive map helps us chart developments in the medical cannabis legalization drive across the UK and EU! Lotsa links @ TD 

Mother Africa: The continent is rich in cheap, top quality weed. Drug laws are a lot more lax. Legalization could spread quickly. It looks like that just might be about to happen as the movement grows @ Herb

GREEN MARKETING



Lisa Campbell tells us how to green market!

GMT: Green Market Toronto moves on! Notes on the Nuit Verde/ Green Night finale @ HERE!

Green Market Toronto provides our city dwellers with farm fresh, readily available, medical cannabis products at great prices. My review of the December pop up mart is @ HERE!  Info on The January "Nuit Verte" market is @ THERE!

Cannabiz Activist Lisa Campbell explains the Toronto Green Market success story @ Leafly

Toronto's "QC: Queens of Cannabisrepresent the "pinking of pot" by and for women, as a part of Canada's "weed revolution". They are but a part of the growing army of progressive female cannabiz entrepreneurs across our country, as legalization looms @ Chat and @ Twitter



Corporate Drug Shopping: Canada's Shoppers Drug Mart has inked a medical cannabis deal with supplier MedReleaf. That's in addition to previously signing up Aphria for flower and oils. An online sales model is being planned @ Huff

High Times With Stats Canada; Turns out Canucks smoked $6.2 billion worth of cannabis in 2015. The largest group of tokers are aged 45 to 64. Plus, Canadians aren't complete strangers to spending far less than $10+ a gram, as planned under the new government legal pricing scheme! Wouldn't it be great to see the streets completely flooded with $150 an ounce weed come legalization day? To completely subvert, dove tail joint style, Trudeau's Corporate Canada Weed Agenda! @ Globe




Abi Roach -helping U find a safe n' happy place to toke!


Vapor Lounges -Yes or No? Our right to toke outside the home, once pot's legal in Canada, is both a public health and a social justice issue. The fate of Ontario's vapour lounges still hangs in the smokey air -will they be allowed or not? Hotbox Cannabis Advocate Abi Roach weighs in! More @ OC

Grass Root Green Bluez: The Canadian government still isn't allowing Canada's underground, cannabiz industry to see the light of day within it's tightly regulated, monopolistic, legalization model. As our cannabis community rightly knows best; price, accessibility, and variety will be the tipping point, in determining what we buy and where we shop. Our small, indie growers, producers and craft dispensary entrepreneurs have long suffered fines. Don't fear jail time. Can deliver the goods. Watch as the legal, big biz boys stumble and fall flat on their face when the doors open this summer. Surely, it's high time to let the real grass root pros in to set up shop right and do what they do best @ Globe



People of Colour are busted far more often than whites. They are also very unlikely to own a dispensary. Cannabis activists must learn how to recognize systemic racism within the cannabiz industry while working to address it within the  legalization process @ Ca

Corporate White Wash: Canada's LP's [licensed producers] of weed are predominantly run by white guys, much like the rest of Canada's corporate sector. Surprised? Check out the straight facts at my "Teacher Free Speech News y Views" blog [LINK] and check out the mirror image @ Vice

No White Wash: Increasing diversity by including more black, brown and women folk in the new cannabis economy, is an increasingly big focus for many local community groups @ NL

HIGHER LEARNING



Beginners Guide to Medibles: Or, I can't believe I ate the whole thing! I did! I did! @ CC

"High Times in The Kitchen o' Love" or "DIY Cannabis Gummi Bears": Let's get cooking eh! @ Jez

The Strong Stuff: A toker's guide to hashish: Afghan, Moroccan, Nepalese, Bubble etc etc. etc  @ HD

Ultimate CBD's: The cannabanoids in weed are very good for safe and easily self medicating everyday aches, pain, anxiety, and stress. They aren't illegal. Without the THC you won't get high either, when you prefer to be straight @ Huff



High Anxiety: Cannabis can reportedly help a lot with anxiety. Sometimes though, it can also inadvertently add to it. Seems it's basically a question of finding the right balance of THC and CBD's that's best for you @ LGF

CSSDP: Canadian Students For Sensible Drug Policy believe the war on drugs is an important social justice and human rights issue. They are seeking to develop an open dialogue with young people about sensible cannabis use, sans the reefer madness overtones of prohibition @ SDTC

Ultimate Reefer Madness: Prohibition was never about public safety, except perhaps for the privileged few. Even Bill Nye the Science Guy knows the truth - Weed was made illegal to "oppress or suppress poor people" @ Civilized

HIGH TIMES



On The Road!

Cannabis Cultured: Hot from the court room docket in Toronto, Marc Emery takes his legalization crusade down South America way, then onto Europe until May! Follow his adventures as he makes his way about the 2 continents on Twitter! Lotsa kool pix too! @ MarcScottEmery

1950's Style Cannabis Ed 101: Yup! A kid smokes pot! Next thing they're hooked on heroin. And it's all the fault of "progressive education"! Like .... like .... like when you teach 'em much more than the 3 "r"s and don't beat them regularly with a stick. Y'bet! Here's a somewhat comic, though perhaps none too funny look back at Prohibition 101. Eh? No! No! Jeff Sessions wasn't AG back then. Was probably just a school kid himself, being spoon fed this BS, which he never forgot @ Youtube

For Those Endless Winter Nights: Here's a stoner guide to the best Netflix shows to watch when yer suitably high @ Vice




Happy New Year: the 10 best developments cannabis activists can look forward during 2018, both in Canada, the US and in general @ Civilized


Pot Shop: Check out Steve Burke's kool rap video y sign a petition to legalize the weed @ Youtube

Hot Butter -"The Popcorn Dance"! Ummm, only watch this if you are stoned @ Youtube ..... Then there's the "Popcorn Trance Remix" @ More Or howzabout Charlie Parra's "Popcorn Goes Metal" @ Even More Oh! And don't miss the 10 hour "Popcorn" video @ Much More!

Blitzed: Der Fuhrer Adolph Hitler?! Turns out he was stoned out of his gourd on meth, coke and opioids for much of WW2. Guess how the Nazi's got pumped up for combat too? Lotsa baaaaaad drugs! A real horror show! More @ Vice

Much more coming ......

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