The ReeveLaw Blog – Page 100 – Criminal Defence Law Blog

PASSPORTONLINE.CA – If you need to renew your passport and think you can do it online, make sure you know that Passport Online is NOT a government agency.

A former employee of Passport Online and Pardons and Waivers of Canada tells CBC News the companies train workers to get as much money as possible from Canadians who could get the same services from the government for free.

Source: Canadians continue to be fooled by website that mimics government agency | CBC News

DECRIMINALIZATION OF MARIJUANA? NOT REALLY! – Many criminal offences will remain. Learn what you can and cannot do and be careful out there! “An adult who possesses more than 30 grams of marijuana in public is a criminal. A youth who possesses more than five grams of marijuana is a criminal. An 18-year-old who passes a joint to his 17-year-old friend is a criminal. An adult who grows five marijuana plants is a criminal. And anyone who possesses non-government-approved marijuana is a criminal.”

Last week, the Liberal government’s half-hearted cannabis legislation passed second reading in the Senate.

Source: Pot bill’s sober second thought | Canadian Lawyer Mag

“GOOD PEOPLE DON’T SMOKE MARIJUANA” Jeff Sessions – The failed war on marijuana is back with a vengeance in the U.S. “Legal Marijuana is Supported by Every Group in America Except Jeff Sessions, Republicans, and Old People.”

Source: Here’s why Jeff Sessions’s war on marijuana doesn’t make sense

LSD & PSILOCYBIN – Everything old is new again. It may be time that we look at a totally new, comprehensive and informed drug policy.

Researchers hope to open more minds about the potential of psychedelic drugs to combat anxiety, depression and other maladies

Source: LSD: A wonder drug once again?

BUDTENDERS – While police continue to arrest and charge these employees the Province of Ontario is hiring its own budtenders. Hypocrisy or an attempt to dominate the market?

Both police and the courts are beginning to question the wisdom of arresting illegal marijuana dispensary workers while the shops’ owners continue to thrive.

Source: Why arresting ‘budtenders’ won’t stop illegal pot shops | CBC News

HIV CRIMINALIZATION – The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has determined that “people with a low viral load are at negligible risk of transmitting the virus even if not using a condom, and therefore do not have a legal duty to disclose their status.”

The case affirms that people with a low viral load are at negligible risk for transmitting HIV

Source: Why this Nova Scotia boxer’s acquittal is big news for Canadian HIV criminalization

Youth Justice and the New Toronto Courthouse – This is an interesting view of the workings of our youth court system.

Ontario’s Ministry of the Attorney General is building a new courthouse in Toronto that will combine most of the city’s criminal courts, including all three youth courts, in one location downtown. Designed by a world-renowned architect and filled wit

Source: Access to Justice is More Than Just Access to Courts: Youth Justice and the New Toronto Courthouse – Slaw

A Tesla full of lawyers. Very predictable.

https://www.facebook.com/drivetribe/videos/753665934831950/

CRIMINAL RECORDS CHECK – It’s no wonder you don’t know what the present and long-term results of being in contact with the police will be. The rules have been decided but Ontario has not made them into law yet.

Two years after Ontario unanimously passed legislation banning police departments from sharing information on innocent residents, the law is still not in force.

Source: Editorial | Ontario should finally implement law on police background checks

MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES – Parliament needs to remove them all from the criminal code. “There were 29 offences carrying a mandatory minimum sentence of imprisonment as of 2015, according to the Department of Justice, and several more that carry mandatory minimum punishments that do not include prison time.”

Cheyenne Sharma was a 23-year-old single mother living in poverty at the time of her crime

Source: Judge strikes mandatory minimum sentence in drug case involving Indigenous woman | National Post