Category Archives: Uncategorized

420 Event in Vancouver Disastrous

Pot Rally Organizers Should Pay

The annual marijuana protest at Sunset Beach this year left an adjacent field in ruins. It will be fenced off and closed to the public for up to a month while park board staff restore it. Park board officials said much of the damage could have been prevented if organizers had installed a turf protector as they had promised.

Patients Go to Hospital, 66 Emergencies

The event also led to 66 visits to St. Paul’s emergency department. Of these patients, 10 were under the age of 20. The youngest was 14.  Patients mostly had consumed edibles that brought on complaints of nausea, vomiting and dizziness.  An additional 25 people were seen at satellite first aid stations set up to ease the burden on St. Paul’s, while 62 people were seen at a first aid station that 4/20 organizers set up.
There were eight driving suspensions issued for the consumption of drugs, and two drivers were criminally charged with impaired driving.   The event, which drew an estimated 40,000, disrupted traffic, while the smoke, noise and crowds made life unpleasant for residents.
The cost of police, paramedics and park board staff assigned to the event, along with the cost of cleanup and field restoration will amount to thousands of dollars, with the financial burden falling largely on Vancouver taxpayers.
Yet Vancouver’s mayor and council ignore these negative effects, police refuse to enforce the law — selling and consuming cannabis without a medical prescription is still illegal — and pot proponents vow their protest will continue in defiance of city bylaws or any other restrictions, even after the recreational use of marijuana is likely to be legalized in July 2018. That’s because cannabis advocates say they didn’t get everything they wanted — they object, for example, to restrictions on selling drugs to minors.

End of Festival, Coming Soon, Hopefully

Fortunately, the end is nigh for this kind of anarchic drug fest. Cannabis has become big business. Among the larger players in the Canadian industry, Canopy Growth of Smiths Falls, Ont., trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange and has a market capitalization in excess of $1.5 billion. Vancouver’s Aurora Cannabis is not far behind with a market cap of $841 million. It’s only a matter of time before big tobacco companies and major retailers squeeze out the illegal pop-up dispensaries and turn cannabis into a properly regulated industry.
In the meantime, the city should impose a financial penalty on 4/20 organizers and recoup as much of the cost of the event as possible.

Pamela McColl, SAM Canada

Neighbors generally object to this event held in Sunset Park.

http://globalnews.ca/news/3394831/sunset-field-trashed-will-be-closed-for-weeks-following-420-event/

Girl Scouts Sue Marijuana Industry and Get Results

Girl Scouts USA wrote a cease and desist letter to an Oakland, California, marijuana dispensary.  They asked the company to stop using the name Girl Scout Cookies for this product.  The Girl Scouts  organization has exclusive rights to the name under trademark law.

photo via VSCO

As a result the Magnolia Oakland dispensary pulled this product of their shelves right away.  Kudos to the Girl Scouts for fighting back.

In Nevada, a Las Vegas company, Shango, has been selling under the name Gurl Scouts.  So far, the Girls Scouts haven’t taken any action  against that company, as of this time.   The parents. however, are very upset, reports a Nevada TV station.

Although the organization didn’t take legal action in Las Vegas, they released the following statement:

We were recently made aware of local dispensaries using the Girl Scouts trademarked name, or a variation of our trademarked name, to sell their products. In January, dispensaries in California were issued a cease and desist letter from Girl Scouts of the USA for trademark infringement and have removed the product in violation from their shelves. “Girl Scout Cookies” is a registered trademark dating back to 1936. Our famous cookies are known the world over for their delicious flavor and we do not want the public to be confused by unauthorized products in the marketplace.

Here is another article about the cease and desist in California:

https://www.thekindland.com/culture/girl-scouts-will-sue-your-ass-over-girl-scout-cookie-2561

 

Excerpts from Pope Francis’ Talk: Call for Healing

“Everyone who is dependent on drugs has a personal story that needs healing and love.”

“We cannot fall into the injustice of classifying an addict as someone who is a broken object. Every person has to feel dignity to be healed. Dignity we have to reach. Important these people maintain dignity as children of God.

“Important to understand the problem of drugs is essentially a destructive factor. Networks that make it possible to die – not a physical death but psychological and social. There are powerful networks which catch people and there are people responsible for this inside governments. The only way to proceed is to go up from small scale peddling to sophisticated money laundering operations among banks which specialize in laundering dirty money.

“A judge in my country began to tackle this seriously. Very quickly he received a package in the mail with a photo of his family- it was a warning from mafia organizations. When you try to go up from roots of the problem you end up finding the Mafia. People enslaved to drugs are killed and also those who try and free people from this slavery are killed.

“Wide ranging social programs need to be integrated – especially education which is essential. Give people tools to discern reality and direct to the most vulnerable and families and those who suffer from marginalization. However the problem of prevention as a program has always been hindered by thousands of factors like incapabilities of government.

“Although prevention is the most important work, we must fully work to see rehabilitation and see people’s dignity restored. The most needy of our brothers and sisters carry with them a treasure of God which speaks to us and encourages us to move ahead.

“Combatting this is difficult and if you face up to these problems you run risk of things happening to you like what happened to the judge. But we are defending the human family, the young the children, and our future. Not something just looking at the present.”

Pope Francis spoke these words in small group sessions at the World Narcotics Summit held on November 24, in the Vatican.  Thank you, Kevin Sabet, for sharing his words.

Our contention is that education and prevention are most important.  It seems to be the view of Pope Francis.  We also agree that people who abuse drugs need healing and love for the wounds they carry.

Another Missing Person in Marijuana Country

It’s always sad when a young person is missing but when it involves a mother with two little children, it’s more than tragic.    From all appearances it would seem Sherri Papini had a wonderful life, good husband and two young children.  She went missing in broad daylight while jogging on the Oregon trail on November 2, right before she would have picked her children up from preschool.

Her husband Keith Papini took a lie detector test and has been cleared of any wrongdoing.  Using an iPhone app, he had found her mobile phone, headphones and a few strands of hair before reporting her missing.   The story has been featured on ABC News.

An online report tells of teens and young women who have been abducted in the Redding/Shasta County area.   Papini looked younger than her 34 years.  The long blond hair, pretty face, slight figure, etc. would make her perfect for type of people marijuana growers happen to victimize.

Following news reports from the area, the most logical conclusion is that she was abducted in connection to the marijuana industry and the sex trade that is rampant in Northern California.  Papini lived in was in Mountain Gate, at tiny town outside of Redding, Shasta County, an old logging area that has seen much violence in recent years as a result of the marijuana industry.

Since search crews have combed the Shasta County area, her family believes she is out of the region at this time.   It would not take much to bring her into the Emerald Triangle, of which Trinity County adjoins Shasta County.   Both Humboldt and Mendocino County would be logical places to look for her.

The abuse and sexual trade in the region has been reported by Reveal and Cosmopolitan.  Marijuana grows and sexual abuse hide easily in this heavily forested region.

There are only 177,000 people in Shasta County, but there were 220 missing persons reported last year.   Humboldt County had 352 people reported missing in 2015.  With only 134,000 people in the county, it has the highest rate of missing people in the state.

Although Shasta County is not part of the Emerald Triangle, it has a similar geographic and economic situation.  Shasta was formerly part of the logging industry which has been largely shutdown.  When an industry feeds the economy is no longer viable, residents must look for other ways to earn a living.  Too much of Northern California has been taken over by the marijuana growers who now supply 60% of the US marijuana market.

Let’s hope the Sherri Papini is found, and found alive and well and comes home to her family.   The family has set up a Facebook page and a reward.   (Above photo from Facebook)