A few days ago I wondered how long we might have to wait before marijuana is legalized in this country. And whether the premiers, the police, and Andrew Scheer's Cons would be able to stop the Trudeau government from making next years's Canada Day also Cannabis Day. But now I'm feeling a lot more confident that the target date will be respected. Now that I know that two former senior police officers, including one who was a Con minister, are jumping on the marijuana bandwagon.
We've been talking about legalizing marijuana in this country for about fifty years, since the Le Dain Commission delivered its report. Which was completely ignored, as was another report produced by the Senate. So I'm glad that our next Canada Day is also supposed to be Cannabis Day, the day the insane War on Weed finally ends. But as that day approaches, those who would like that war to continue are becoming more and more vocal.
There is a touch of reefer madness in the air. Again.
As I'm sure you know, Andrew Scheer likes to call himself a Christian. A servant of the Lord come to save Canada from women who have abortions, and destroy the Great Satan Justin Trudeau. But sadly for Scheer he has no halo, he's no holy man. For although as I pointed out yesterday, he'd like to plaster every campus with gory "pro-life" posters. He has no respect for human life.
It was just another dull government statement of the kind they churn out all the time. But it really made my day. Because what it means is that in another Canadian city, fewer people like those in the picture are going to die from drug overdoses. Today, Health Canada granted the necessary exemptions from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for the operation of three new supervised consumption sites in Toronto. And not only is that great news because of the thousands of lives that will be saved. It's also another massive blow to the inhuman legacy of the monstrous Harper regime...
Rona Ambrose did a lot of bad and stupid things during her years of faithful service to Stephen Harper's monstrous Con regime. And most of them were things that just made me shake my head, or laugh, or wonder how an idiot could be a minister. But there is one ghastly act of deliberate cruelty, for which I could never ever forgive her. One which made it even harder to save the lives of thousands of Canadians.
I took this picture yesterday of a humble monument next to a community clinic in Toronto. It's believed to be the first monument anywhere, to those who died of drug overdoses or drug related causes. But if we were to build a monument to all those who have died the same way all over Canada in just the last ten years, it would be massive. Because our country has a huge opioid drug problem, and these days the most dangerous killer is the drug fentanyl.
Sometimes when I'm writing about the atrocities of Stephen Harper's bestial Con regime ,I like to end a post by saying please unite to defeat that monster before he kills more Canadians. And I'm sure some who read that probably think I'm exaggerating. But actually I'm not. Because when you put ideology before humanity, and wage war on the poorest and most vulnerable Canadians, you will blight their lives further and kill many of them. And this is just the latest example.
While Stephen Harper declares war on the Great Terrorist Menace, claiming only he can save our lives from those who would behead us in our beds. His foul Con regime continues to wage war on some of Canada's most vulnerable Canadians. Even if it could cost thousands of them their lives. For while this is good news.
As you know, I can't criticize and denounce enough what Stephen Harper and his foul Con regime are doing to this country. Just like I can't praise our Supreme Court enough for standing up to those beastly bullies, and defending our Canadian values. And today I get to do both at the same time. By pointing out that if the court hadn't stopped the Cons three years ago from closing down Vancouver's Insite Clinic. Sixteen people could have died yesterday.
Well compared to all the other scandals he is facing this may not be the biggest. Paramedics were called to the Prime Minister’s official residence in Ottawa over the weekend after an 18-year-old woman suffered from severe intoxication. The Ottawa Paramedic Service confirmed that it responded to a call involving an 18-year-old who suffered from “possible alcohol intoxication” at an event at 24 Sussex Drive. But it is scandalous to see how lightly the incident is being treated, and the way the RCMP seem to be trying to protect Stephen Harper.
Golly. Can you believe it? It seems Stephen Harper and the Con regime have changed their minds about marijuana. Forget everything they said before, or the disgusting way they tried to smear Justin Trudeau. Justin is still a junkie, but the killer weed is NOT the source of all EVIL.
It's a small country of just over three million people wedged between Argentina and Brazil. But little Uruguay has just done what other bigger countries have never dared to do: legalize the production and sale of marijuana. And for that I see is already attracting the unwanted attention of the Drug Czars at the United Nations.
The other night I told you how the Harper Cons have launched an all out assault on Justin Trudeau, the biggest since their smear campaign against Michael Ignatieff. By among other things running ridiculous ads in ethnic communities, like the one above, to target Trudeau's views on marijuana. Stephen Harper’s Conservatives want to talk pot. Specifically, they want to talk about Justin Trudeau’s admission that he smoked marijuana with friends a few years ago, while an MP, and the Liberal Leader’s support for legalization. And as if that wasn't bad enough, they're also trying to compare marijuana to crack.
Well I see Stephen Harper has returned from his disastrous attempt to try to force Obama to approve the Keystone pipeline. And that after shooting himself in both legs by insulting the American President, the long ride back from New York City was more like Napoleon's retreat from Moscow than Lincoln's march to victory.
Well I see it didn't take long for the new/nouveau Con Health Minister Rona Ambrose to show her true colours. Health Minister Rona Ambrose is slamming her own department's decision to provide heroin to certain addicts under a special access program and insisting it won't be allowed to happen again.
"Our government takes seriously the harm caused by dangerous and addictive drugs," Ambrose said. "These drugs tear families apart, promote criminal behaviour, and destroy lives. By suggesting that doctors are acting like drug dealers.
Holy Jahbesus. You'd think Peter MacKay would be the LAST person to accuse anyone of smoking their credibility by getting high. Justice Minister Peter MacKay says Justin Trudeau’s credibility is “up in smoke” after the federal Liberal Party leader admitted smoking marijuana around the time he voted in the House to increase penalties for pot possession. Not after using Con Air to go fishing, sticking us with the bill, and then blowing smoke out of every orifice eh? And certainly not when EVERYBODY knows that people with glass bongs, shouldn't throw stones, or accuse others of being hypocrites.
Canada and the United States are finding themselves at odds with Latin American countries on two thorny issues — the war on drugs and the exclusion of Cuba — at a summit of hemispheric leaders in Colombia.
Trying to keep Cuba out of the Summit of the Americas. When everybody knows that the cruel Yankee embargo has caused the wonderful Cuban people all kinds of misery.
I've written about Kevin before. The young heroin addict I found shooting up on the door step of the Yaletown apartment I was renting, while taking a summer course in Vancouver.
How I felt like I was looking at somebody dying before my eyes. How he made me laugh when he promised to give up heroin and start a new life in Hawaii or Australia. If I gave him ten bucks or a few cigarettes.
How I stared in horror at the scars and abcesses running the length of both arms. How glad I was to hear later about this great clinic.
And how I hoped they had managed to save his life, and heal his addiction.
So naturally I thought of Kevin today when I heard the wonderful news.
I was so proud of our Supreme Court and the kind of Canadian values I want to preserve so badly.
The kind of values Stephen Harper and his Cons are trying to destroy. By putting their foul vengeful ideology before the lives of Canadians.
Mr Clement continues to insist that the science isn't clearly in favour of Insite. At the CMA meeting, he said: "Harm reduction, in a sense, takes many forms. To me, prevention is harm reduction. Treatment is harm reduction. Enforcement is harm reduction."
And bowing down before the crazy words of Great Ugly Leader, and his insane War on Drugs.
"This descent into nihilism... leads to silliness such as moral neutrality on the use of marijuana or harder drugs mixed with its random moral crusades on tobacco. It explains the lack of moral censure on personal foibles of all kinds, extenuating even criminal behaviour with moral outrage at bourgeois society, which is then tangentially blamed for deviant behaviour."
Can you believe that fascist gibberish? Who can be surprised that now that he has a majority he's trying to turn us into a prison state? When the madness was always there.
Oh well. One victory at a time.
Today was a good day to be a Canadian eh?
Here's to the poor suffering junkies of the Downtown Eastside, and the human war on drugs like heroin. Here's to more clinics like Insite all over Canada.
On a day when I was depressed after reading how the Harper Cons ignored International Youth Day.
Because they're too busy waging war on Canada's young people with the consent of a lot of older Canadians.
Despite the fact that the youth crime rate is at a 10-year low, their generation has been stereotyped as a threat to public safety. The Prime Minister, with no significant resistance from the federal opposition leaders, the provincial premiers, the big-city mayors or the courts, has enacted law after law to lock up young offenders, punish drug dealers and break up street gangs.
Despite the fact that young Canadians have led global humanitarian campaigns, created thriving businesses, raised environmental awareness, won civic office and worked at the grassroots level to build stronger, more resilient communities, few of these achievements are recognized in Ottawa.
Despite the fact that they’ve adapted to an ever-changing global marketplace, relinquished any prospect of job security and learned to live in a 24/7 world, none of this seems to count in their favour.
And I know this to be true because I hear it all the time. The young people of today are no good. They're lazy, they're whiners, they're DANGEROUS.
So on a day when I'm shaking my head about that, who should arrive on my teeny island to cheer me up ?
The band whose new album, Suburb, just knocked the homophobic, misogynistic prick Eminem's new album out of the number one spot on the Billboard chart.
My buddy and I didn't know they were going to perform...in our backyard. Duh. So we didn't have tickets. But it didn't matter. We were able to get close enough. We danced under a crescent moon with some friends ...and the old dog. And it was FABULOUS.
If you're not familiar with Arcade Fire, this clip from a recent concert at Madison Square Garden will give you an idea of how good they are.
It's a long one, but it's all good, it's directed by the brilliant Terry Gilliam.
In a country where so many people hate or fear them. Great eh?
Hey Harper. Bastard. Porker. Fascist. Here's what I have to say to you. You can wage war on us all you like. But we think you and your gross Cons are the WORST thing that ever happened to this country.
I know what I was doing at 4:20 today: Studying my ass off for a big exam on Friday. So sadly I couldn't attend one of these rallies.
But if I had attended the one on Porker Hill, I would have told this old Con to go fuck drink himself STOOPID.
Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson took advantage of the unofficial holiday by holding a news conference to announce a tough-on-crime bill.
"We're not the party that will be decriminalizing this," he said. "We don't encourage this kind of activity. But we have zeroed in on our drug bill, it targets people who traffic, people who import, export drugs, manufacture, people in the grow-op business."
"That's my advice to anybody here who's smoking up, that they should tell their supplier that when our government introduces a drug bill, they won't like it.
And to go fight REAL criminals instead of jailing even more young Canadians. And to tell his fascist Cons to stop promoting the use of cocaine.
Because like booze that's a REALLY dangerous drug eh?
Because unlike booze or cocaine, marijuana is a gentle drug that doesn't hurt ANYONE. And I'm sure if I was a little high I would have enjoyed this video even MORE...
