Criminal Defence Law Blog
Here’s an idea. Education
Medicinal Plant Chemistry is the first program to offer a four-year undergraduate degree focusing on marijuana, according to Brandon Canfield, the associate professor of chemistry who started the p…
Source: 4-year degree studying pot isn’t half-baked idea for stoners
Why are white men poised to get rich doing the same thing African-Americans have been going to prison for?
NOT READY FOR MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION? – Years ago the criminal code provided for “drug recognition experts” and a methodology for determining impairment by a drug. (Not that it works well because different drugs affect different people differently.) It’s their own fault if they haven’t trained their officers to be DREs yet. It seems the height of policymaking to adopt a zero tolerance for something you can’t prove.
A federation of police unions said five Quebec police forces have no one trained to test for drug use
Source: Quebec cannabis: Police say they’re not prepared to test drivers for marijuana
EX-COPS INVESTING IN MARIJUANA INDUSTRY – It doesn’t seem right to me that the high ranking police officers who have spent their career giving us criminal records and putting us in jail are now going to personally profit from it. “the hypocrisy stinks to high heaven.”
A former Canadian police chief and several colleagues who fought against making marijuana use legal have switched sides and embraced the looming legalization of cannabis with a leap into business.
Source: As Canada prepares for legal pot, ex-cops get into the business
DRUG SQUAD ASSIGNMENTS ARE DANGEROUS – Our past experience has shown that this is not an isolated incident of drug abuse by drug squad officers. We’re aware that such assignments must be strictly limited and closely supervised. Don’t conflate this with the issue of front-line officers carrying naloxone.
Crown and police reviewing cases that Const. Michael Thompson worked on before his death in April.
Source: Death of drug squad officer by fentanyl overdose confounds police | Toronto Star
HIGHWAY TRAFFIC ACT OR CRIMINAL CODE? – With an innocent death, the question becomes one of moral culpability and it’s often a very difficult question to answer. Was the conduct a “momentary lapse” or a “marked departure” from what a reasonable person would do? In our process, the police officer forms an opinion, the Crown Attorney forms an opinion and ultimately a Judge and/or Jury decides.
Kristy Hodgson, 31, and her dog Betty died in 2015 after Gideon Fekre, then 18, drove his Honda into them. Fekre is on trial, charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.
Detroit’s chief of police called a botched drug bust involving two different precincts “embarrassing,” after one group of officers raided a home filled with undercover cops posing as drug dealers.
Source: Detroit police brawl after ‘embarrassing’ raid of drug house filled with undercover officers
SHOULD I TELL THE TRUTH? – Look, as a lawyer, just as anyone in an official capacity, the only advice I can give you is, tell the truth. There’s a lot of jibber-jabber here but I think you get the idea. Be informed.
“If you’re asked if you smoked marijuana, that is not a question that you are obliged to answer at a U.S. port of entry.”
Source: Do not tell U.S. border guards that you’ve smoked pot, despite what some say: lawyer
ENSURING MARIJUANA IS A HOMEGROWN INDUSTRY – Don’t make the mistake of crossing the border with weed. That remains a criminal offence.
Travellers to Canada will be routinely asked whether they are bringing marijuana into the country as Ottawa moves to legalize recreational pot use.
Source: Travellers to Canada will be routinely asked if carrying pot at the border
Sean Sykes Jr. is charged with being a felon in possession of three firearms and possession with intent to sell cocaine.
Source: Suspect’s overwhelming flatulence shuts down police interrogation | Toronto Star
