JungleStrikeGuy
Well-Known Member
Yeah this is awesome Chris, when you finish it might be an idea to send this to a few news outlets to see if they'll do a piece on how much former govt / police involvement is in the LP system.
Need some help...
- Thread starter VIANARCHRIS
- Start date
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
Senator Larry Campbell, advisor to Vodis Innovative Pharmaceuticals Inc.
- former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and Vancouver mayor. And sitting Senator...
- Former Abbotsford police chief.
- Former Legislative Assistant to the Canadian Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, where he was responsible for developing legislation and steering it through the House of Commons, as well as negotiating with Opposition parties and stakeholder groups.
torontoke
Well-Known Member
I think it would be a great idea to start talking to media outlets about it now.
You need to find a reporter/journalist willing to get involved in getting these shady assclowns exposed before the think tank puts together another useless program.
The guy from cp24 here in Toronto seemed irritated and pro mj when the raids happened maybe he would help.
You need to find a reporter/journalist willing to get involved in getting these shady assclowns exposed before the think tank puts together another useless program.
The guy from cp24 here in Toronto seemed irritated and pro mj when the raids happened maybe he would help.
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
My thoughts exactly., we need to have them playing damage control. can you send me an email or link to the journalist?
torontoke
Well-Known Member
Gquebed
Well-Known Member
Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting.
It is very clear now that the legislation that we will get next year wi be the usual protectionist shit that is written specifically to insulate an industry from competition. I knew there would be an element of this corruption but wow...just wow...
I would throw a few email queries out there to TV news directors and newspaper outlets now. They are not hard to find and will jump on this in a fuckin hurry...
It is very clear now that the legislation that we will get next year wi be the usual protectionist shit that is written specifically to insulate an industry from competition. I knew there would be an element of this corruption but wow...just wow...
I would throw a few email queries out there to TV news directors and newspaper outlets now. They are not hard to find and will jump on this in a fuckin hurry...
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
Working on it...!
Pendragon
Well-Known Member
Go get them.Working on it...!
There will be no place to hide from VC.
CalyxCrusher
Well-Known Member
Huffington post covered a lot of the injunction. Big outlet
jafro daweedhound
Well-Known Member
CalyxCrusher
Well-Known Member
Here's a list of all the MMPR related articles posted on Huffington Post. More importantly, it shows the authors for each. I'd say try contacting Quito Maggi as he's written a lot about putting patients rights before profits and other articles which focus on the importance of patients rights.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/mmpr/
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/news/mmpr/
Gquebed
Well-Known Member
Something like this may forces their hand. I mean...
Notice that most of the articles are written by the same person? Jenna Valleriani. I suspect she would be interested in the list...
Gquebed
Well-Known Member
@VIANARCHRIS
I hope you don't mind if I use your list to pass around some media outlets in the west...
I hope you don't mind if I use your list to pass around some media outlets in the west...
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
So I turned my list into a little story and I was going to post it on here for all to read. Apparently I exceeded the 10000 word limit! Lol I guess I was on a bit of a rant. I'll try posting it in two posts and if you so choose, please put it together and forward it or post it as many times and places as you wish. Let's make things real uncomfortable for Health Canada, Bill Blair and the rest of them. MMJ patients have never backed down and we aren't about to change now.
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
Part One:
Legal Cannabis or Just a New Dealer?
We were witness to a rather strange news conference last Thursday (June 30) to announce the formation of a 'marijuana legalization task force'. What was advertised with great fanfare was actually big on hype and rhetoric but delivered very little in the way of substance. The four cabinet ministers sitting at the table looked a little confused and were very evasive about a number of issues they were questioned about, particularly whether personal cultivation would be part of the new system. They, at times, seemed to forget the answers they were supposed to give. Deer in the headlights comes to mind. Certainly not what one would expect from a group of politicians announcing an “important first step” in fulfilling a key election promise. It's almost as if they were hiding something. Hmmm.
So if our government is being less than truthful or forthcoming to it's citizens, naturally we should make every attempt to find out why. Let's take this opportunity to dig a little deeper into the facts so far, get to know who's who in the marijuana producer industry and who is positioned to benefit financially from a system that may be contemplating unjustifiably restricting the freedom of it's citizens to grow a legal plant.
For those unfamiliar with the current landscape in regards to cannabis in Canada, here are the basics: Health Canada doesn't think 'marihuana' is medicine and proudly declares this on their website like a badge of honour. Science, on the other hand, disagrees and so do the courts, so Health Canada was forced to let adults choose their own medicine. An estimated 20,000 patients, known as MMAR, retain the the right to grow their own medicine after another court win, while an unknown number of patients are legally required to buy from government licensed producers under the MMPR. 'Illegal' dispensaries are busy with patients who chose not to purchased over-price medicine of questionable quality, sight unseen from the LP's. The LP's want exclusive production rights and cannabis users just want our charter rights. There, clear as mud, right? Don't worry, it'll all become very clear.
If we go back to the implementation of the mmpr, the right to grow your own medicine or have someone do it for you was taken away in favour of so-called 'licensed producers' hand selected by government. Stephen Harper, PM at the time, introduced it with much enthusiasm as a multi-billion dollar, job creating industry. He seemed to be doing a great job at building investor interest in the budding cannabis growers and hopefuls. This, despite repeatedly reminding Canadians that ,in fact, marijuana is not a medicine. I found that a little odd, but then, he was an odd person...
Patients already enrolled in the MMAR filed suit against Health Canada to win back our right to grow and were successful, the government appealed and we won again. Of the four reasons Health Canada cited as reason to ban home gardens,.. fire, mould, home invasions and diversion to the black market, none were deemed as a justifiable reason to restrict our rights.
Along comes Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party 'Sunny Ways', swept into power on a promise to legalize marijuana. Happy days are here...except, they didn't drop the appeal of our court win and now we are worried they won't honour the court decision and let us continue to grow. They must realize the terrible optics of continuing the seemingly never ending war against Canada's sick and poor, not to mention the millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars spent in the process. Justice Phelan gave August 24 as a date for government to have a new medical system in place and if it does not include the right to grow, the legal fight continues. Here's a fun fact for all you taxpayers, when the patients win a court case, and we almost always do, the taxpayer is on the hook for the whole thing. The real winners are the lawyers.
So, while they did not have an intelligent response to the question of cultivation, Bill Blair offered this little tidbit to clarify things “Unlike (growing) tomatoes, it is a substance that poses certain significant both social and health harms and risks to Canadians,” said Blair, noting “the science is overwhelmingly clear that marijuana is not a benign substance.”
Lets examine that statement. I'm not sure how much experience Mr. Blair may have with growing cannabis or tomatoes, but it is actually a very similar process...seed, dirt, water, harvest. Where he lost me is when he failed to elaborate on the “significant both social and health harms and risks to Canadians,”. Exactly what social or health harms will come from allowing an adult to grow a few plants? The courts have just ruled that home cultivation does not an pose unnecessary risk to the public or the grower. Unless Mr. Blair has uncovered new evidence in the last few months to support that claim, he is being less than honest and flogging a dead horse. Restricting legal growing will keep the prices artificially high, and cause the black market to continue to thrive. It will also boost revenue for the industry so closely connected to members of government. Limitingthe rights and freedoms of Canadians must be justified in a democracy, and this government appears ready to continue to bleed tax dollars to lawyers in an effort to restrict our freedoms in their quest to control the plant. “the science is overwhelmingly clear that marijuana is not a benign substance.” is a rather curious choice of words given that Health Canada has maintained for years that the lack of scientific study was the reasoning behind their 'marijuana is not an approved medicine' philosophy. As for it not being benign, I didn't realize that was something that would justify banning adults from participating. Alcohol and tobacco are both legal substances that are permitted to be produced by adults for their own consumption. Both of these substances are far from benign and in fact are the leading cause of death and disease. I haven't heard the stories of children being harmed because of it and there certainly has been no intervention from Health Canada or government. If home production of an adult substance is inherently dangerous, you would expect a blanket ban. You would be hard-pressed to find a marijuana related death, so why then the extra focus solely on growing cannabis? To find the answer to that, we need to look at who will profit from such restrictions. Why would the Liberal government risk public backlash to benefit a tiny group of growers? This is where the separation between government and the industry poised to get exclusive cultivation rights gets real blurry. It appears many of our politicians and civil servants have used their time in government to secure senior level employment with the LP's. It's almost like they anticipated the government would restrict grow rights...or they orchestrated it to position themselves to benefit from the exclusivity?
Legal Cannabis or Just a New Dealer?
We were witness to a rather strange news conference last Thursday (June 30) to announce the formation of a 'marijuana legalization task force'. What was advertised with great fanfare was actually big on hype and rhetoric but delivered very little in the way of substance. The four cabinet ministers sitting at the table looked a little confused and were very evasive about a number of issues they were questioned about, particularly whether personal cultivation would be part of the new system. They, at times, seemed to forget the answers they were supposed to give. Deer in the headlights comes to mind. Certainly not what one would expect from a group of politicians announcing an “important first step” in fulfilling a key election promise. It's almost as if they were hiding something. Hmmm.
So if our government is being less than truthful or forthcoming to it's citizens, naturally we should make every attempt to find out why. Let's take this opportunity to dig a little deeper into the facts so far, get to know who's who in the marijuana producer industry and who is positioned to benefit financially from a system that may be contemplating unjustifiably restricting the freedom of it's citizens to grow a legal plant.
For those unfamiliar with the current landscape in regards to cannabis in Canada, here are the basics: Health Canada doesn't think 'marihuana' is medicine and proudly declares this on their website like a badge of honour. Science, on the other hand, disagrees and so do the courts, so Health Canada was forced to let adults choose their own medicine. An estimated 20,000 patients, known as MMAR, retain the the right to grow their own medicine after another court win, while an unknown number of patients are legally required to buy from government licensed producers under the MMPR. 'Illegal' dispensaries are busy with patients who chose not to purchased over-price medicine of questionable quality, sight unseen from the LP's. The LP's want exclusive production rights and cannabis users just want our charter rights. There, clear as mud, right? Don't worry, it'll all become very clear.
If we go back to the implementation of the mmpr, the right to grow your own medicine or have someone do it for you was taken away in favour of so-called 'licensed producers' hand selected by government. Stephen Harper, PM at the time, introduced it with much enthusiasm as a multi-billion dollar, job creating industry. He seemed to be doing a great job at building investor interest in the budding cannabis growers and hopefuls. This, despite repeatedly reminding Canadians that ,in fact, marijuana is not a medicine. I found that a little odd, but then, he was an odd person...
Patients already enrolled in the MMAR filed suit against Health Canada to win back our right to grow and were successful, the government appealed and we won again. Of the four reasons Health Canada cited as reason to ban home gardens,.. fire, mould, home invasions and diversion to the black market, none were deemed as a justifiable reason to restrict our rights.
Along comes Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party 'Sunny Ways', swept into power on a promise to legalize marijuana. Happy days are here...except, they didn't drop the appeal of our court win and now we are worried they won't honour the court decision and let us continue to grow. They must realize the terrible optics of continuing the seemingly never ending war against Canada's sick and poor, not to mention the millions upon millions of taxpayer dollars spent in the process. Justice Phelan gave August 24 as a date for government to have a new medical system in place and if it does not include the right to grow, the legal fight continues. Here's a fun fact for all you taxpayers, when the patients win a court case, and we almost always do, the taxpayer is on the hook for the whole thing. The real winners are the lawyers.
So, while they did not have an intelligent response to the question of cultivation, Bill Blair offered this little tidbit to clarify things “Unlike (growing) tomatoes, it is a substance that poses certain significant both social and health harms and risks to Canadians,” said Blair, noting “the science is overwhelmingly clear that marijuana is not a benign substance.”
Lets examine that statement. I'm not sure how much experience Mr. Blair may have with growing cannabis or tomatoes, but it is actually a very similar process...seed, dirt, water, harvest. Where he lost me is when he failed to elaborate on the “significant both social and health harms and risks to Canadians,”. Exactly what social or health harms will come from allowing an adult to grow a few plants? The courts have just ruled that home cultivation does not an pose unnecessary risk to the public or the grower. Unless Mr. Blair has uncovered new evidence in the last few months to support that claim, he is being less than honest and flogging a dead horse. Restricting legal growing will keep the prices artificially high, and cause the black market to continue to thrive. It will also boost revenue for the industry so closely connected to members of government. Limitingthe rights and freedoms of Canadians must be justified in a democracy, and this government appears ready to continue to bleed tax dollars to lawyers in an effort to restrict our freedoms in their quest to control the plant. “the science is overwhelmingly clear that marijuana is not a benign substance.” is a rather curious choice of words given that Health Canada has maintained for years that the lack of scientific study was the reasoning behind their 'marijuana is not an approved medicine' philosophy. As for it not being benign, I didn't realize that was something that would justify banning adults from participating. Alcohol and tobacco are both legal substances that are permitted to be produced by adults for their own consumption. Both of these substances are far from benign and in fact are the leading cause of death and disease. I haven't heard the stories of children being harmed because of it and there certainly has been no intervention from Health Canada or government. If home production of an adult substance is inherently dangerous, you would expect a blanket ban. You would be hard-pressed to find a marijuana related death, so why then the extra focus solely on growing cannabis? To find the answer to that, we need to look at who will profit from such restrictions. Why would the Liberal government risk public backlash to benefit a tiny group of growers? This is where the separation between government and the industry poised to get exclusive cultivation rights gets real blurry. It appears many of our politicians and civil servants have used their time in government to secure senior level employment with the LP's. It's almost like they anticipated the government would restrict grow rights...or they orchestrated it to position themselves to benefit from the exclusivity?
VIANARCHRIS
Well-Known Member
Part Two:
Lets start with one of the big players in the business, Tweed. Tweed was founded by a fellow by the name of Chuck Rifici. If that name sounds familiar, it is because Mr. Rifici is now Chief Financial Officer of the Liberal Party of Canada. While I don't know what Chucks current connection with the company is, his roll as CEO has been taken by Mark Zekulin. Mark was a former advisor to Ontario Finance Minister, Dwight Duncan. Tweeds director of quality assurance is Tom Shipley. Mr Shipley was formerly employed by Health Canada. Interesting that he moved from the position that cannabis is not medicine to now promoting it's medical benefits. Money does strange things.
The list of former politicians, civil servants and high ranking government officials connected financially in some way to the marijuana growing business is staggering. Have a gander at the partial people once employed to make and enforce the laws, including those around cannabis, who are now willing to now suppress our rights and limit our freedoms for profit.
This is just a small list compiled from a few hours of google searches and I cannot confirm it's complete accuracy, but it is evident that there are a disproportionately large number of former politicians and senior civil servants who have set themselves up for a huge windfall with the legalization of recreational cannabis. A forensic investigation will,no doubt, also find a large number of current political figures and/or their family members also positioned to profit from restricting growing rights to a tiny group of politically connected licensed marijuana producers hand chosen by government.
So let's review what we've learned here today: The CFO of the Liberal Party was the founder and CEO of an LP. Health Canada says cannabis is not medicine, but many former government type folk, including senior Health Canada employees, currently have senior positions with medical marijuana producers. The government is set to grant exclusive rights to the cultivation of a legal plant to a group of their friends. You and your children are on the brink of having your freedoms denied in order to maximize profits under the ridiculous guise of protecting the children. See, I told you it would become clear.
Speak up now and tell our newly minted government that you are not willing to give up your freedoms for the profits of their friends. Remind them that you are, however, willing to ensure their time in office will be limited to one term if they make the wrong decision on August 24th.
Lets start with one of the big players in the business, Tweed. Tweed was founded by a fellow by the name of Chuck Rifici. If that name sounds familiar, it is because Mr. Rifici is now Chief Financial Officer of the Liberal Party of Canada. While I don't know what Chucks current connection with the company is, his roll as CEO has been taken by Mark Zekulin. Mark was a former advisor to Ontario Finance Minister, Dwight Duncan. Tweeds director of quality assurance is Tom Shipley. Mr Shipley was formerly employed by Health Canada. Interesting that he moved from the position that cannabis is not medicine to now promoting it's medical benefits. Money does strange things.
The list of former politicians, civil servants and high ranking government officials connected financially in some way to the marijuana growing business is staggering. Have a gander at the partial people once employed to make and enforce the laws, including those around cannabis, who are now willing to now suppress our rights and limit our freedoms for profit.
- Mike Harcourt – former Premier of British Columbia, now chairman of True Leaf Medicine Inc
- Kash Heed - former B.C. Solicitor General and former West Vancouver police chief
- Dr. Joshua Tepper - formerly Assistant Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Health , Senior Medical Officer for Health Canada
- Norman Inkster, Independent Director at Mettrum - former head of the RCMP
- Herb Dhaliwal, Chairman, National Green BioMed - former Vancouver MP and federal cabinet minister.
- John Turner, medicinal marijuana applicant in Ontario (With Kash Heed) - Former Prime Minister of Canada
- Mr. Belot, Board of Directors for Aurora - was a public servant in several ministries within the Ontario government
- Brian Wagner – Founder and CEO at NHP consulting – Invited to play a 'strong role' in Health Canada's Program advisory Committee
- Tim Humberstone, ABcann Director / Senior Person in Charge - former twenty year member of the RCMP included roles in Municipal/Federal Drug Enforcement and with the Joint Forces Organized Crime Agency. Tim has also received extensive training by the RCMP in providing expert court opinion in the fields of cannabis trafficking and production techniques .
- Ivan Vrana, founder of Aslan Ross Consulting - Previously Mr. Vrána worked for the Federal Government for over 15 years. He worked at the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board, Finance Canada and in various senior policy positions at Health Canada. At Health Canada he was in charge of the team that developed the policy rationale which led to the implementation of the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations.Mr. Vrána is also a regular Lecturer at both Carleton and Concordia universities and teaches a course that examines the internal communication tools governments use to development and implement public policy.
- Shane Morris, VP, Scientific Affairs and Canadian Cannabis Corp - Since 2000, Shane has been in a range of leadership roles within the Federal Government, from Treasury Board of Canada’s senior advisor (Cabinet Operations) on regulatory affairs to director of policy leadership and Reporting for Resources Canada’s major projects management office.
- George Smitherman, THC BioMed - former Ontario Liberal deputy premier / more than 30 years to public policy fields at the Municipal, Provincial and Federal Level, where roles as Senior Advisor, Minister of Energy and Infrastructure and Ontario’s Minister of Health were held
- Jake Ryan, Director of Security: Tilray - former RCMP Intelligence Officer and federal criminal investigator overseeing all aspects of Tilray's security protocols and operations.
- Ernie Eves, Chairman, Timeless Herbal Care — a Jamaican medical marijuana company with ties to Canadian producers.
- Kim Derry, a promoter of marijuana facility THC Meds Ontario Inc. - deputy chief of the Toronto Police Service under Mr. Blair
- John Reynolds, advisor to Vodis Innovative Pharmaceuticals Inc - former MP with the Progressive Conservative, Reform and Canadian Alliance parties
- Senator Larry Campbell, advisor to Vodis Innovative Pharmaceuticals Inc. - former Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer and Vancouver mayor
- Barry Daniel, Wildflower’s head of security - Former Abbotsford police chief.
- Cam Battley, Aurora Senior Vice President, Communications and Medical Affairs - Former Legislative Assistant to the Canadian Minister of Consumer and Corporate Affairs, where he was responsible for developing legislation and steering it through the House of Commons, as well as negotiating with Opposition parties and stakeholder groups
This is just a small list compiled from a few hours of google searches and I cannot confirm it's complete accuracy, but it is evident that there are a disproportionately large number of former politicians and senior civil servants who have set themselves up for a huge windfall with the legalization of recreational cannabis. A forensic investigation will,no doubt, also find a large number of current political figures and/or their family members also positioned to profit from restricting growing rights to a tiny group of politically connected licensed marijuana producers hand chosen by government.
So let's review what we've learned here today: The CFO of the Liberal Party was the founder and CEO of an LP. Health Canada says cannabis is not medicine, but many former government type folk, including senior Health Canada employees, currently have senior positions with medical marijuana producers. The government is set to grant exclusive rights to the cultivation of a legal plant to a group of their friends. You and your children are on the brink of having your freedoms denied in order to maximize profits under the ridiculous guise of protecting the children. See, I told you it would become clear.
Speak up now and tell our newly minted government that you are not willing to give up your freedoms for the profits of their friends. Remind them that you are, however, willing to ensure their time in office will be limited to one term if they make the wrong decision on August 24th.