A Savoury Sampling of Stories and Scuttlebutt, Seasoned with Style and Sprinkled with Sass, Served in a Sause of Sweetness and Sense, for the Psychic Satisfaction of Sage Smokers of Sinsemilla Spliffs.

   The expected life enjoyment of Canadian tobacco smokers has dropped quite a bit over the past few months. Last November, our government announced a  comprehensive anti-tobacco strategy, including tax hikes, anti-smuggling initiatives to counteract the tax hikes, and Bill C-71, The Tobacco Act.    

   On January 22 the Vatican leapt into Italy's burning drug debate, calling for tobacco to be banned because smoking is an addictive habit equivalent to using heroin.                                      

  In January, 42-year-old Grant Krieger received his driver's license from the Saskatchewan Government, even though he admitted on his application that he consumes marijuana on a regular basis to relieve the muscle spasms and pain associated with multiple sclerosis.   

  Although khat (Catha edulis) has been chewed and brewed in tea by Muslim cultures for centuries, only recently has it come to the attention of the Canadian government.  

    Crimestoppers, that "gotta love 'em" civilian volunteer phoneline action agency with 52 "dial-a-betrayal" offices across Ontario and many more across the nation, has been hauled into court to explain how they verify anonymous phone tips before turning them over to the police.  

    Customs agents in Laredo, Texas, are urging citizens to donate their most vicious, rebellious dogs to Uncle Sam's War on Drugs. The agency maintains an elite corps of 450 drug sniffing canines that are the French Foreign Legion of the drug world, and they are hoping to recruit street-wise, mean spirited, psycho-hyper dogs into their ranks.    

  A serious shortage of Justices of the Peace in Ontario means that it can take hours for police to obtain a second warrant at night, and apparently pot smokers are using that opportunity to ditch their stashes.  

    Vancouver's Harm Reduction Club opened Canada's first above-ground marijuana store on December 20, and stayed in business for 70 days before being busted by Burnaby RCMP on February 28.  

    Cannabis users in Québec are now living under the hand of fascist pot-hater (and former Mulroney administration conservative MP)  Lucien Bouchard

    The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario has joined the hemp revolution, offering financial backing and words of support for hemp development in the province.   

    Canadian farmers, retailers, clothing manufacturers, business people, union officials, and environmentalists have a new reason to look forward to the passing of the millennium: it looks like the federal government won't get around to lifting the ban on commercial hemp until sometime around the year 2000.