I have begun to believe my mind is full of tiny little topics that act like pimples.

No one can predict the order they start to fester in, or when they’ll get ripe and burst.

Tuesday 6 May 2014

The Dangers of Marijuana Challenged



Rebutting Rona’s Rotten Ramblings

Another Voice Speaks Out



I am please to present the first of what I hope will be many guest contributions to this Blog. On April 30, 2014 Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health announced a new government program to create more opposition to Cannabis use. As justification she presented a fabrication of its dangers to our youth. Fortunately for us Wayne Phillips took the time to write the following revelation of the distortions in her announcement which can be seen at the link referenced below.






Re: Health Canada Highlights Dangers of Marijuana Use for Youth,

OTTAWA, April 30, 2014/CNW



The Wicked Bitch of the East


The Dangers of Marijuana Challenged

Wayne P. Phillips, May 4, 2014

Health Minister Rona Ambrose hosted a roundtable with representatives of the healthcare community and research experts today to discuss the scientific evidence of the risks associated with the use of marijuana by youth, especially over the long term. This meeting, of course, builds on a presentation where Minister Ambrose announced funding for A Health Promotion and Drug Prevention Strategy for Canada's Youth - a national project led by the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA). How else would Health Minister Ambrose find support for her Ministry's convoluted fabrications posing as “scientific” evidence unless there were funding involved. Minister Ambrose's roundtable speaks to the (lack of) credulity of the current government; moreover, it flies in the face of history.

The 1923 House of Commons Debates, 14th of March, 1923, pages 1136 – 2124 under the title, "Narcotic Drugs Act Amendment Bill the "Hon. H.S. Béland1 (Minister of Health) moved for leave to introduce Bill No. 72 to amend the Narcotic Drugs Act. He said, "The purpose of this bill is principally to consolidate previous legislation for the suppression of the traffic in narcotic drugs. . . ." Not only did the inclusion entail an act of tergiversation - that is, falsification by means of vague or ambiguous language – on the part of the Minister of
Health, Dr. H.S. Béland, the inclusion allowed for the transition of an
unspecified commodity. “There is a new drug in the schedule.” was all that was said. Moreover, the purpose of the bill, the consolidation, in effect was tantamount (in effect) to the manufacturing of a social problem. There was no traffic of cannabis in 1923. Panic and Indifference by Giffen, Lambert and Endicott also describe how “cannabis indica or hasheesh” was added by some unknown hand later.

Recently CBC News published an article by Daniel Schwartz entitled “Marijuana was criminalized in 1923, but why?” What the article failed to mention however that what was being consolidated, cannabis indica (Indian hemp), was a Proprietary or Patented Medicines Act commodity at the time of the transition in 1923. So consequently by not specifying what was being transitioned in 1923, the whole medicinal aspects of cannabis was, in effect, denied by the very
department that is still denying it today. The agenda is a Health Canada legacy.

Minister of Health, Rona Ambrose, states, “As Health Minister, I am standing side by side with medical professionals and researchers with a clear message -- There are serious health risks for youth associated with marijuana. It is not safe. It should not be promoted or endorsed. Together, with our partners we will work to make sure youth and parents have the right information about the risks associated with smoking and using marijuana.”

Fair enough. It should not be promoted or endorsed. How then is the inclusion of cannabis in the CDSA not, in and of itself, an endorsement? And, if Minister of Health, Ambrose, is so concerned with “health risks for youth associated with marijuana”, why then would the Minister want to see cannabis/marijuana legislated in a manner that insures the perpetuation of its availability to the very youth she claims to be concerned about? How can the Minister deem to have the right information about any supposed risks associated
with marijuana when the Minister's agenda of perpetuating a social problem is the only primary concern for either the Minister or Health Canada.

The actions, words and motives of Health Minister Ambrose are as questionable today in 2014 as Health Minister H.S. Béland's were in 1923. He sought to consolidate what she (in this instance) seeks to perpetuate. In order to do that Minister Ambrose must continue to rail in the face of both history and court rulings that in both instances recognize cannabis as medicine. As such, funding health promotion and drug prevention become red herrings to distract both media and the general public from the fact that the inclusion of cannabis
in the CDSA is precisely that which perpetuates the problem thereby increasing the probability of youth becoming vulnerable. It doesn't matter how much funding is provided because the underlying agenda is perpetuating usage not safeguarding youth.

Health Canada's new Medical Marijuana Program Regulations (MMPR) and Health Minister Ambrose's position has prompted further concerns for Canadians as the Conservative government sought to unceremoniously transition those holding Authorizations To Possess (cannabis) from the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR) to the new program. Given the fact that the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR) is a court ordered program that continues to be challenged as unconstitutional, for the Government to think that a new program can be just enacted as if it were business as usual more than demonstrates the degree of dysfunction this type of irrationality, for which Health Minister H.S. Béland should ultimately be held to accounts for (posthumously), is capable of.

Increasingly though those holding Authorizations To Possess (cannabis) under the Medical Marijuana Access Regulations (MMAR) are taking up the call to stand side by side with the 200+ Canadians that have already filed Statements of Claim for a two dollar Registry fee using the John Turmel Kits at


 after B.C. Lawyer John Conroy's Allard Ruling left many, who either did not fall under the time-frames specified or beyond the 150 gram limit, out. Many that did fall under the time-frames specified could also, for numerous other reasons not mentioned, count themselves among the Left-Outs as well. The Turmel Kits are provided in numerous formats and YouTube videos outline the process. The time is long overdue for Health Canada and the Minister to acknowledge the wrongheadedness of Health Canada's gambit and seriously consider the idea of reparations. Canadians know about both cannabis and its world renowned medical properties. Moreover, the idea of maintaining the pretext of health promotion and drug prevention in the face of the inclusion of cannabis in the CDSA stands as both the crime of the century and the joke of the century.

No comments:

Post a Comment