Blacklock's Reporter

In 1968 the government passed a Narcotic Drugs Act to pursue a “vision of a drug-free society.” Thousands of people were jailed. Even simple possession of marijuana was punishable by up to six months’ in custody. Drug testing was punitive and commonplace and treatment was “based on obtaining complete abstinence,” noted a federal report. The country was not the U.S. but Sweden. The scheme worked. Marijuana use by young Swedes fell to 9 percent, less than half Canada’s comparable rate. Few analysts ever mentioned Sweden in our national debate over marijuana policy. Discussion was coloured instead by the politics, religion and demography of the U.S. Even the title of Paula Mallea’s pre-legalization book The War On Drugs, is an American invention. READ MORE

Debt levels for the working poor are now “staggering,” says one of the country’s largest credit monitors. Equifax Canada yesterday in a report to the Commons industry committee said financial circumstances for millions are much worse than headlines indicate: "This gap has widened drastically." READ MORE

Newly-declassified records show cabinet's 2005 decision to send Canadian troops into combat in Afghanistan followed cursory discussion. Casualties would number 2,229 including 158 killed in action: "The Canadians would be the best equipped task force in Afghanistan." READ MORE

Opposition members yesterday compelled the Commons public safety committee to address the detention of an accused Chinese-Canadian spy at NATO. “Canadians need answers,” said Conservative MP Frank Caputo (Kamloops-Thompson, B.C.): "What happened?" READ MORE

The Canadian Embassy in Washington yesterday had no comment after it interrupted trade negotiations to celebrate Justin Trudeau’s dating habits. “Kinda chic to date Katy Perry,” staff posted on the Embassy’s official Instagram account: "I get the PR value but it just doesn’t seem very prime ministerial." READ MORE

Operators of a radio service for German-speaking Alberta farm families yesterday won federal approval to expand programming to “satisfy demand for local content,” said the CRTC. It follows Census data showing French outside Québec has been eclipsed as a second, third and fourth language in many provinces: 'One in four Canadians had a mother tongue other than English or French.' READ MORE

Heritage Minister Marc Miller on a July junket to the United Kingdom scheduled confidential briefings on a Labour Party proposal to promote “social cohesion,” according to an Access To Information memo. A Labour report targeted individuals it called “digital grifters” and “politicians of grievance.” READ MORE