Canada

For the past three years, a select group of heroin addicts in Vancouver and Montreal have received pharmaceutical grade heroin as part of a pilot heroin maintenance program. Now, the NAOMI program is winding down, the researchers are assembling their reports, and the addicts are back on the streets.

In a surprise ruling, the British Columbia Supreme Court has held that Canada's federal drug law is unconstitutional as applied to Vancouver's safe injection site. The site will therefore stay open despite the wishes of the Harper government.

Time is running out for Vancouver's InSite, the only officially-sanctioned safe injection site in North America. The Conservative government of Canadian Prime Minister Harper has until June 30 to re-authorize the program, which it dislikes, and InSite supporters are now engaged in a major campaign to ensure its continued existence.

Canada's Conservative government wants to crack down on marijuana, but it's out of step with the population. According to a new poll, 53% want to legalize it.

In contrast with the US Supreme Court, which held that a drug dog sniff did not constitute a search, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled last week that it does, and that random drug dog searches are unconstitutional.

The case of Canada's famed marijuana advocate Marc Emery raises issues of basic fairness and illuminates the darkness in today's criminal justice system.

Marc Emery, Canada's "Prince of Pot," announced this week that he has accepted a plea deal with US federal prosecutors that will spare his associates jail time but will see him do at least five years in prison -- mostly in Canada -- for selling marijuana seeds to customers in the US. The trio had faced mandatory minimums of 10 years and the possibility of life.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has released its latest annual report on drugs and drug trafficking in Canada. It's sobering reading for anyone who thinks countries can enforce their way out of a drug problem.

Last week, Canada's Conservative government introduced legislation to create mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses, including marijuana cultivation. Now, opposition is emerging, but will it be able to block Canada's lurch toward a US-style drug war?

Canada's Conservative government this week unveiled its repressive new approach to drugs. It wants mandatory minimum sentences for some drug offenses, including marijuana growing, and it wants to double the maximum sentence for pot growing. Look for a battle royal in the West's most pot-friendly country.