Canada

A research report from the North American Opiate Maintenance Initiative (NAOMI) published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that heroin is more effective than methadone for some hard-core addicts, but also that Dilaudid may work just as well. The report should only add to rising pressure to expand opiate maintenance programs in the US.

The Canadian House of Commons voted Monday to adopt US-style mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses, including small-time marijuana grows. The only chance to defeat the measure now lies with the Canadian Senate, an unelected body not generally known for second-guessing the House.

In its first review of Canada's asset forfeiture laws, the Canadian Supreme Court has ruled that judges must look at the circumstances of each case in deciding whether full, partial or no forfeiture orders should be issued. In the US, prosecutors make forfeiture decisions.

Canada's Conservative government is hard-line on drug policy issues. It wants mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes and it is in court to try to block Vancouver's safe injection site. But now, it is funding a heroin maintenance pilot project--again.

Canadian courts have repeatedly told Health Canada that not allowing medical marijuana providers to grow for more than one patient was unjustifiable, so the agency now says providers can grow for two people. That's not what advocates wanted to hear.

When Health Canada failed to act, the Canadian Veterans Ministry stepped up. Now, Canadian veterans using medical marijuana have their costs covered just as with any other approved medication.

Two-thirds of British Columbia voters favor marijuana legalization, according to a new poll. Now, if only someone would clue in the political parties that claim to represent them.

A decade ago, Ontario's conservative government passed a law limiting disability benefits to people disabled by alcohol or drug addiction. Now, a provincial court has ruled that violates the province's human rights code.

Two of Canadian "Prince of Pot" Marc Emery's former employees have pleaded guilty to marijuana conspiracy charges in Seattle in return for probation in Canada, but the fate of Emery himself remains up in the air.

By refusing to hear a government appeal of two lower court decisions, Canada's Supreme Court has ended the government monopoly on the medical marijuana supply and opened the way for multi-patient grows.