criminal

Immediately decriminalizing marijuana possession before the government can implement its comprehensive legal regime would increase the profits of organized crime and possibly make it easier for young Canadians to access the drug, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould argued Monday. In a...

The federal New Democrats are putting forward a motion in Parliament today to pressure the Liberal government to decriminalize pot before it is legalized. NDP Justice Critic Murray Rankin says it is not fair to arrest people and give them criminal records for possessing marijuana if the...

In the heady days following his election victory, Justin Trudeau actively encouraged his caucus members to rock the boat. "Regardless of party demands, and the partisanship that will continue to exist in this House ... your one job, that you cannot ever forget, is to be a strong voice in...

Today, in Nelson District Court, journalist and environmental researcher Rebecca Reider was released from all criminal charges relating to medicinal cannabis use. Reider, who suffers from a complex chronic pain syndrome, was facing a raft of criminal charges relating to the importation of a...

Marcus Richardson is, in the eyes of the law, a criminal. Never mind that a judge ruled the six kilograms of cannabis police found in his car was for severely ill patients at a medical marijuana dispensary. Or that the same judge imposed only a minimum sentence because anything more would...

One day last week, the main Gatineau courthouse was buzzing with a judge's ruling, a loonie sentence that says much about marijuana's road to respectability. A man was before Justice Pierre Chevalier charged with cultivating 30 pot plants. The Crown was looking for a sentence of 90 days in...