Sunday, May 7, 2023

Monday, May 8. 2023

Today's schedule is ABCD 

A Block Legal Studies - Today we'll look at the Controlled Drug and Substances Act in Canada. We'll examine the legal definition of a "drug" (with the LeDain Commission explanation) and discuss what depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens are. Drugs can be categorized by the way in which they affect our bodies


Depressants slow down the messages between the brain and the body — they don’t necessarily make you feel depressed. The slower messages affect your concentration and coordination and your ability to respond to what’s happening around you. Small doses of depressants can make you feel relaxed, calm and less inhibited. Larger doses can cause sleepiness, vomiting and nausea, unconsciousness and even death.

Stimulants speed up the messages between the brain and the body. This can cause your heart to beat faster, your blood pressure to go up, your body temperature to go up – leading to heat exhaustion or even heat stroke, a reduced appetite, agitation and sleeplessness. You can feel more awake, alert, confident or energetic. Larger doses can cause anxiety, panic, seizures, stomach cramps and paranoia.

Hallucinogens change your sense of reality – you can have hallucinations. Your senses are distorted and the way you see, hear, taste, smell or feel things is different. For example, you may see or hear things that are not really there, or you may have unusual thoughts or feelings. Small doses can cause a feeling of floating, numbness, confusion, disorientation, or dizziness. Larger doses may cause hallucinations, memory loss, distress, anxiety, increased heart rate, paranoia, panic and aggression.

A drug may be legal to consume, illegal to consume, or legal to consume only for specific people in specific circumstances. Examples of drugs that are usually or always legal to consume include alcohol (depressant), caffeine, and nicotine (both stimulants). Examples of drugs that are usually or always illegal to consume include cocaine, crack cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine. These latter drugs are listed in the Controlled Drug and Substances Act.

We'll examine schedules I - VIII in the act that prohibit and restrict substances (Opium Poppy, Coca, Amphetamines, Barbiturates, Anabolic Steroids, and a host of others that I can not spell or pronounce). You'll have four questions to complete:

1. What is the legal definition of a drug?
2. What are the elements of a charge for possession?
3. Describe two situations in which someone may be charged with possession while not physically possessing the drug.
4. What is "Intent to Possess"? Is intent necessary for a charge of possession?

The current government of Canada passed legislation to make cannabis legalization a reality in Canada on October 17, 2018. The revocation of Schedule II in the Controlled Drug and Substances Act [Repealed, 2018, c. 16, s. 204] includes:
  1. A minimum age of 18 to buy marijuana, though provinces and territories will have the option of setting a higher age limit.
  2. Allowing Canadians to grow four marijuana plants per household.
  3. Licensing of producers, as well as ensuring the safety and security of the marijuana supply, will be a federal concern.
  4. Provinces and territories will set the price for marijuana and decide how it is distributed and sold.
British Columbia’s minimum age to possess, purchase and consume cannabis is 19 years old, consistent with B.C.’s minimum age for alcohol and tobacco and with the age of majority in B.C. British Columbians of legal age can purchase non-medical cannabis through privately run retail stores or government-operated retail stores and online sales. In urban areas, licensed retailers will not be able to sell cannabis in the same stores as liquor or tobacco. Adults aged 19 and above, will be allowed to possess up to 30 grams of non-medical cannabis in a public place, which aligns with the federal government's proposed possession limit for adults. B.C. will generally allow adults to use non-medical cannabis in public spaces where tobacco smoking and vaping are permitted (except for areas frequented by children, including community beaches, parks and playgrounds).

From the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition Critical Terminology Guide

B Block Criminology - We're in the Library/Learning Commons continuing with our Canadian gang Information poster (or your missing blog posts) …Remember, you'll need to identify the gangs we have in Canada (aboriginal crime groups, cartels, ethnic crime groups, and outlaw motorcycle gangs) and explain the activities of each group: What do they do? How do they do it? What do they control? Where are they based in Canada?
Organized crime by nature (according to Howard Abadinsky) is monopolistic - in other words organized crime groups want to have a monopoly over a specific geographic area for the illicit activity they wish to pursue. From Foreign Policy:
Drugs are just the tip of the iceberg. In the popular U.S. television series Breaking Bad, about a high school teacher turned methamphetamine kingpin, there was an instructive exchange. When the show's antihero, Walter White, was asked whether he "was in the meth business or the money business," he replied, "I'm in the empire business." The same can be said of the DTOs (Drug Trafficking Organizations), which are independent and competing entities. The sale of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and meth remains extremely profitable. The U.S. Justice Department has put the cartels' U.S. drug trade at $39 billion annually. But the DTOs have diversified their business considerably, both to increase their profits and to exclude rivals from new sources of revenue. For example, they are dealing increasingly in pirated intellectual property, like counterfeit software, CDs, and DVDs. The most destructive new "product," however, is people. The cartels have built a multi billion-dollar business in human trafficking, including the shipment of both illegal immigrants and sex workers.


Gangs are often considered "immoral" and their profit comes from many "immoral" things.  Immoral acts are distinguished from crimes on the basis of the social harm they cause. Acts that are believed to be extremely harmful to the general public are usually outlawed, whereas acts that only the harm the actor themselves are more likely to be tolerated. Acts that are illegal because they are viewed as a threat to morality are called public order crimes.


C Block Human Geography - Today is your last day in the Learning Commons / Library to work on your endangered Language project. You may email me a link to your project on line (Canva/Infogram/etc...) or you may save your project as a pdf or jpg file and email that to me as well. Remember

 

D Block Physical Geography - Today and tomorrow we are working on the Medicine Hat Topographic map. Medicine Hat, Alberta, incorporated as a city in 1906, has a population 63,260 (based on the 2016 census). From the Canadian Encyclopedia

Medicine Hat is located in the South Saskatchewan River Valley on the traditional territory of the Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy). The Saamis Archaelogical Site, located in the valley of Seven Persons Creek, is a designated provincial historic site. The location was a winter campsite used by Plains Indigenous peoples prior to European colonization. Medicine Hat’s economy has historically been tied to two natural resources, natural gas and clay. The city’s numerous natural gas wells led to its nickname, “Gas City,” while the clay in the region supported the production of various items, including bricks. Eight years ago (in June 2013) the South Saskatchewan River flooded Medicine Hat temporarily displacing 8,000 people and affected 2,845 properties. The South Saskatchewan River peaked at 5,460m3/s. The Government of Alberta announced $9.1 million in provincial funding for Medicine Hat to use for flood mitigation measures along the South Saskatchewan River. This included support for flood mitigation projects such as berm and dike building along with riverbank stabilization to help to limit future flooding caused by the South Saskatchewan River.  

This is downtown Medicine Hat looking downstream - east northeast towards Police Point:
This is what the meanders on the South Saskatchewan River look like

You need your Canadian Landscape topographic map book and the Medicine Hat map can be found on pages 40-42. You will need to work on questions 1 a, b and d, 2 a & b (which we'll do together in class) and then, 3 a-e, 4, 7 a-d and 8. This work is due on Tuesday and if you wish to work on this activity out of the class (and really who wouldn't?) I would highly suggest you ask me questions ahead of time. You can find topographic maps of Medicine Hat on Google Maps (Type in Medicine Hat Alberta on a Google search and click on maps at the top and then choose "Terrain" as an option). Thanks DKay Creative Productions for the vid of the Hat below

Posted by Geo Teacher at 8:52 PM

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