Kelly Egan authored a column in the Ottawa Citizen that claims that “ordinary people” don’t want pot legalized. I suppose it Egan world “ordinary” is the minority of people because fifty-three per cent of people do want it legalized. I’m pretty sure that 1 or 2 of that fifty-three per cent are parents, and so [...]
Category Archives: Marijuana
Marijuana problem: Parents do want it legal
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 25, 2011 15 comments
Freedom of Religion should not be in our constitution
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on November 24, 2011 8 comments
Federal Court Judge Michel Shore dismissed Christopher Bennett’s claim that, for him, marijuana is a holy sacrament and thus him smoking it is protected under the Charter as a freedom of religion. Judge Shore said that Mr. Bennett’s pot smoking is a “life style choice.” Yes it is a life style choice, but so are [...]
Mandatory minimums and plea bargains
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 27, 2011 1 comment
Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the Conservative’s crime bill is the unwillingness to learn from what has happened in the United States. Plenty of evidence regarding the negative consequence of mandatory minimums. Just two days ago the New York Times took a look at how mandatory minimums have influenced plea bargain negotiations. Some experts [...]
The Conservatives thinks that growing pot is worst than raping a child
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on September 21, 2011 1 comment
Of course my title isn’t true. I am willing to bet that 99.9% of all Conservatives, much like 99.9% of all sane decent human beings, would agree that raping a child is worst than growing pot. So it is incredibly puzzling to me why the Conservative government would want to create a justice system that [...]
Dan Gardner: MP Vic Toews praised my anti-war on drugs articles
Posted by Peter Jaworski on September 20, 2011 6 comments
UPDATED BELOW Dan Gardner, author and journalist and an all-around good egg, is rightly angry. In a series of tweets this morning, he’s attacking the tough-on-crime omnibus crime bill being put forward by the Conservatives. As part of that crime bill, marijuana-related “crime” will be more severely dealt with. Which is just plain dumb. “So [...]
Ontario Freedom Party leader Paul McKeever talks marijuana on The Arena
Posted by Peter Jaworski on September 16, 2011 21 comments
Paul McKeever, leader of the Ontario Freedom Party, went on Michael Coren’s The Arena yesterday to talk about marijuana and freedom. Here’s the video, with a little bit of snark on my part afterwards: The snark: ShareFacebookStumbleUponDiggRedditEmail
One year later: Marc “Prince of Pot” Emery sentenced to five years in U.S. prison
Posted by Peter Jaworski on September 10, 2011 Comments Off
Today is the one-year anniversary of Marc “Prince of Pot” Emery being sentenced to five years in a U.S. prison. Jodie Emery, his wife, posted the following comment on her facebook page: One year ago today, Marc was sentenced to 5 years in US federal prison. It was either a 5-year deal or 30-to-life. Marc [...]
Tim Hudak admits to smoking pot because it’s what normal people do
Posted by Peter Jaworski on August 18, 2011 2 comments
Hugh, below, already commented on this. But it’s so incredible, it’s worth repeating. The following things don’t make sense, when put together. Asked if he ever smoked pot, Tim Hudak, Ontario PC leader, said: “I was a normal kid, I had a normal upbringing, a normal life in university. I experimented from time to time [...]
Tim Hudak is bad because drugs are bad (mmkay)
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on August 18, 2011 3 comments
PC Party leader Tim Hudak hits the nail on the head. When asked today if he had ever used marijuana he responded: “I lived a pretty normal life as a kid growing up so yes, I have. It’s been some time.” He lived a normal life and so of course he smoked up as a [...]
Jerry Agnar on harm reduction and the drug war
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on August 3, 2011 2 comments
Jerry Agnar argues that the Canadian Harm Reduction Network cannot say that the drug war has failed and that harm reduction has worked. He claims that if you make the case that the drug war has failed due to the continued prevalence of drugs then the same reasoning must mean that harm reduction has also [...]
Gary Johnson talks about drug legalization at CNN.com
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on July 8, 2011 1 comment
In an op-Ed piece published by CNN.com, Republican Presidential candidate Gary Johnson writes about his support for legalizing marijuana: When I ran for governor of New Mexico in 1994, I promised to bring a common-sense business approach to government. Everything was going to be a cost-benefit analysis — how much of taxpayers’ money are we [...]
Cannabis Culture interview with Lindy
Posted by Peter Jaworski on June 29, 2011 Comments Off
Yesterday, Cannabis Culture magazine published an interview I conducted with Lindy Vopnfjord. They wanted an interview because of Lindy’s most recent song, “No-Knock Raid” which went viral, and is still picking up massive views (over 30,000 now). Here’s the video, with an excerpt from the interview and Lindy’s “Shakedown” song (a pro-free speech song) below [...]
“No Knock Raid” Redux
Posted by Mike Brock on June 16, 2011 1 comment
Read the reason article about the video here. Meanwhile, here’s the earlier version: ShareFacebookStumbleUponDiggRedditEmail
Federal government appealling marijuana ruling
Posted by Hugh MacIntyre on April 21, 2011 17 comments
The Federal government will appeal the Ontario Superior Court ruling that struck down marijuana possession and production laws. I can hardly say that this is a surprise but I do hope that we can engage in an honest adult debate about Canada’s drug laws. Regardless of the outcome of this case Canada should take another [...]
R. v. Mernagh: Restrictions on possession and production of marijuana unconstitutional
Posted by Peter Jaworski on April 12, 2011 9 comments
While everyone was busy thinking about the leaders debate, the Ontario Superior Court reached a decision in R. v. Mernagh invalidating as unconstitutional restrictions on the possession and production of marijuana for medical purposes. There is a 90-day stay on the decision which struck down sections 4 and 7 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances [...]
Hypotcrisy: Do as I say, not as I do
Posted by Peter Jaworski on April 10, 2011 Comments Off
In a few years time, we’ll look on this weird period in our history and laugh. We’ll think to ourselves, “isn’t it funny that every leading politician smoked pot, but none of them legalized it?” “Isn’t it strange,” we’ll think to ourselves, “that no leading academic or public intellectual thought the war on drugs was [...]
States rights? Sure.
Posted by Peter Jaworski on March 21, 2011 Comments Off
Sometimes, supporters of states’ rights aren’t who you’d expect: The Volunteer is a libertarian news and views blog. To read more about The Volunteer, check out our About page. You can follow us on twitter, or on facebook. ShareFacebookStumbleUponDiggRedditEmail
Jodie Emery goes to Washington
Posted by Peter Jaworski on March 21, 2011 4 comments
Jodie Emery, entrepreneur, activist, and wife of Marc “Prince of Pot” Emery, appeared before the Washington state legislature to discuss Representative Mary Lou Dickerson’s House Bill 1550. The Bill would legalize marijuana, and make it available for purchase at government-run liquor stores (like the LCBO in Ontario). Jodie’s presentation is well worth watching. She begins [...]
Gary Johnson at CPAC: Legalize pot
Posted by Peter Jaworski on February 13, 2011 3 comments
Here’s former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson, at CPAC: Johnson is a good egg. No, scratch that, Johnson is a great egg. He is my favourite U.S. politician (followed by Jeff Flake and Ron Paul). Who has the courage to say “legalize marijuana” at a CPAC conference? Johnson does. What more do you want? ShareFacebookStumbleUponDiggRedditEmail
Drug lord officially thanks drug warriors for making him rich
Posted by Peter Jaworski on January 24, 2011 3 comments
True story: Mexican drug lord officially thanks American presidents past and present for pushing the war on drugs and making him filthy stinking rich. Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera reported head of the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, ranked 701st on Forbes’ yearly report of the wealthiest men alive, and worth an estimated $1 billion, today [...]