drug use
Needle exchange sites chosen
By Roszan Holmen - Oak Bay NewsThe Vancouver Island Health Authority has selected four facilities in the South Island to distribute harm reduction supplies.
Locations will be announced after staff have been informed, said VIHA spokesperson Shannon Marshall.
Drug users will be able to exchange used supplies for new ones at the sites by late summer or fall. In the meantime, a handful of mobile service are providing clean needles.
VIHA announced this distributed model in November 2009. The news came shortly before it confirmed it would no longer consider setting up a fixed-site needle exchange on Princess Avenue.
Over 1,000 executed every year for drugs: Report
VIENNA: More than 1,000 people face execution worldwide every year for drug-related offences, the human rights group IHRA on Monday said in a report that called for the practice to be abolished."Hundreds of people are executed for drug offences each year around the world, a figure that very likely exceeds 1,000 when taking into account those countries that keep their death penalty statistics secret," the International Harm Reduction Association said in its Global Overview 2010 report.
Death penalties for drug offences -- mostly manufacturing and trafficking -- are still in place in 32 mostly Asian and Middle Eastern states, the IHRA found.
Drug users must be helped to halt AIDS spread: U.N.
Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent, Reuters Published: National PostLONDON (Reuters) - Countries in eastern Europe and central Asia face spiralling AIDS epidemics if they fail to help people who inject drugs and stop the spread of infection, the head of the United Nations agency for HIV/AIDS said on Friday.
Michel Sidibe told Reuters countries such as Russia, Ukraine and others could halt or buck the global downward trend in new HIV infections if they ignored the threat posed by drug users and failed to introduce effective "harm reduction" steps.
Marijuana drug of choice in Canadian military ranks
CP (Published CTV News)OTTAWA-Marijuana is the illegal drug of choice in the Canadian Forces, according to the first random tests of the entire military.
Almost one in 20 Forces members -- 4.7 per cent -- "recently" used illicit drugs, says the newly released study based on random urine samples.
And the vast majority were using some form of cannabis, with cocaine, morphine and codeine far behind.
The survey results are based on 1,327 mandatory urine samples taken randomly, without prior notice, among all three services and across the country. Refusal to provide a urine sample could result in disciplinary action.
Crime bills to be scrutinized, Liberals warn
Shannon Kari, National PostOne of the stated reasons for the prorogation of Parliament was that the resetting of Senate committees would better allow the Tories to pass their crime legislation, parts of which had been held up in the Upper Chamber in the past.
But the Liberal justice critic says his party is not going to approve speedy passage of all the crime legislation through the House of Commons -- even if that leads to accusations of being labeled "soft on crime" -- when Parliament resumes this week.
Bugera gets eye-opener about drug use in Edmonton
*Readers in Swift Current, Alberta may wish to make note of councillor Tim Bugera's comments in the following article, as well as the story we posted from the Edmonton Sun which brought up the falling crime rate in Edmonton and Canada.
Swift Current--A recent trip to Edmonton was an eye-opening experience for one City councillor.
Throughout the past year, Tim Bugera has been vocalizing his concerns about illegal drug usage in Swift Current.
Read more »Training Afghan police top priority
By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News ServiceIf the mission commanded by the most senior Canadian soldier in Afghanistan fails, most observers agree there is a strong possibility that the war against the Taliban will be lost.
Maj.-Gen. Mike Ward of Ottawa has the daunting task of rapidly reforming and expanding Afghanistan's much-maligned national police, which now numbers approximately 97,000. Yet the target set last week by the Afghan government, the UN and NATO is to have 134,000 police on the beat by the end of 2011.
Even if everything works out perfectly, getting the police from here to there on such a tight timetable is a herculean undertaking.
Read more »