HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION CHANGES DIRECTION, PUTTING HOSPITAL FIRST Mandate now focused on fundraising for Chilliwack General
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THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014
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Funding to literacy programs slashed BY CORNELIA NAYLOR cnaylor@chilliwacktimes.com
Weed ’Wacking
T
Doing a little
Local medicinal marijuana growers may have earned a temporary reprieve on dismantling their operations . . . but the end is nigh
H
undreds of people licensed to grow medical marijuana in Chilliwack have been working hard to dismantle their gardens and destroy their plants in advance of April 1, the day it was all supposed to become illegal. Or maybe they haven’t. “We are prepared but we have to wait and see what to be ready for,” Sgt. Duncan Pound of RCMP E Division told the Times regarding police planning in advance of the April 1 deadline. “The numbers could be high, middle, they could be low.” Mounties have no idea how
many of the approximately 600 medical marijuana growers in Chilliwack will dismantle their grow-ops and destroy their plants and seeds, as per requirements in Health Canada’s marijuana for medical purposes regulations (MMPR) scheduled to come into effect April 1. The new rules also require licence holders to provide written notice to Health Canada by April 30 that they have destroyed their marijuana, plants and seeds. Anyone who does not do this will be reported to police. But after a Federal Court judge granted an injunction on March 21, implementation of the new rules is on hold. Abbotsford lawyer John Conroy
argued successfully on behalf of medical marijuana users, who said forcing patients to access their medicine through the mail from largescale growers will be too expensive and will affect the quality of the product. In response to the court ruling, Health Canada said in a statement it would review the decision and consider its options. The ministry added that the rapid expansion under the medical marijuana program to the point where more than 40,000 people hold licences “has had significant unintended consequences on public health, safety and security.” Specifically, growing marijuana in homes adds to risks from home invasion and theft, fire
and toxic mould, and these are risks shared by neighbours and the community at large. Health Minister Rona Ambrose responded to the decision on Twitter: “We are disappointed with this decision,” she wrote. “Allowing marijuana to be grown in Canadian homes and neighbourhoods has led to serious abuse. This includes public health and safety risks such as criminal diversion, fire hazards, and mould infestations. We will review the decision in detail.” The RCMP and Chilliwack city hall agree. “Marijuana grow operations attract a criminal element { See WEED, page A20 }
{ See LITERACY, page A3 }
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BY PAUL J. HENDERSON phenderson@chilliwacktimes.com
he non-profit organization that co-ordinates literacy programs in Chilliwack is worried deep cuts to its funding will be followed up by no funding at all next year. The Chilliwack Learning Community Society (CLCS) got news this month that its funding from Decoda Literacy Solutions, a provincial non-profit that supports it, had been cut from $30,000 to $13,000, and that there might not be any funding next year. Decoda met with Education Minister Peter Fassbender March 5 to talk about literacy co-ordination funding for the province, which dropped from $2.5 million in 2012-13 to $1 million in 2013-14. “From our discussion with the minister, we are under the impression that there is currently no funding for community literacy co-ordination in the 2014-15 budget,” states a March 11 letter from Decoda to its literacy groups around the province. Decoda officials said the news was especially disappointing since the Legislative Select Standing Committee on Finance had recommended funding distributed through Decoda stay at $2.5 million annually. Locally, the loss of $30,000 may not seem like much, but CLCS literacy outreach co-ordinator Debbie Denault said her organization leverages that funding to generate more
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