cocaine

Canada: B.C. premier vows to investigate cannabis company’s reported approval to produce, sell cocaine

Published

2 years ago

March 4, 2023

admin

A B.C. cannabis company says it has approval from Health Canada to include cocaine as a substance the company can legally possess, produce, sell and distribute.

Adastra Labs in Langley said it has been granted an amendment to its dealer license to “interact” with up to 250 grams of cocaine (nearly nine ounces), to import coca leaves to manufacture and synthesize the substance. It said it received its approval from Health Canada on Feb. 17.

“Harm reduction is a critically important and mainstream topic, and we are staying at the forefront of drug regulations across the board,” Adastra CEO Michael Forbes said in a release.

“We proactively pursued the amendment to our Dealer’s License to include cocaine back in December 2022.

“We will evaluate how the commercialization of this substance fits in with our business model at Adastra in an effort to position ourselves to support the demand for a safe supply of cocaine.”

Forbes said he has extensive experience working on the front lines of addiction medicine as he was previously a pharmacist at multiple methadone pharmacies. He also piloted a needle exchange program at the direction of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention around a decade ago.

The company said it also is allowed to possess, produce, sell and distribute up to 35 ounces of psilocybin and psilocin.

On Thursday, Global News asked B.C. Premier David Eby for his thoughts on Health Canada’s decision to make the amendment for the Langley-based lab.

Eby was shocked to hear the news.

“The short answer is that I was astonished by this announcement,” Eby said.

“I understand that this company has indicated Health Canada has given them some kind of authorization. It is not part of our provincial plan. If Heath Canada did in fact do this, they did it not only without engaging with the province, but they did it without notice to us.

“We will get answers for British Columbians about this, this is not part of our initiative, and we’ll make sure British Columbians get the answers they deserve about this.”

Read more at

B.C. premier vows to investigate cannabis company’s reported approval to produce, sell cocaine

Source link

cocaine

ABC (Australia News) Victorian men jailed over attempted ‘astronomical’ cocaine import into South Australia

Published

4 weeks ago

January 30, 2025

admin

In short:

Two men have been sentenced to three years’ jail with a non-parole period of 18 months for trying to import more than 100 kilograms of cocaine into South Australia.

The judge said the pair had followed the drugs from WA to SA on the instruction of their drug dealers in order to pay off drug debts they had accumulated.

What’s next?

The men’s sentences have been backdated to when they were first imprisoned last February and they will both be eligible for parole in August.

Two young Victorian men who were involved in the attempted importation of an “astronomical” amount of cocaine into South Australia have been labelled “muppets” and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

Rayn Sadik, 20, and Yousif Al-Asadi, 23, were sentenced in South Australia’s District Court on Wednesday after they each entered a guilty plea to one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug last year.

The maximum penalty for that offence is life imprisonment or a fine of $2,347,500.

More at

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-29/victorian-men-sentenced-over-attempt-to-import-100kg-of-cocaine/104870476

Source link

cocaine

Military-trained narcos arrested in three tonne cocaine bust in south of Spain: Kalashnikov assault rifles among weapons seized

Published

1 month ago

January 18, 2025

admin

NEARLY three tonnes of cocaine and four military-grade weapons have been seized in a major drug bust along the Guadalquivir River in Sevilla.

Spanish police reported that the men had ‘paramilitary training’ and were armed with what appeared to be Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The presence of such weapons suggests a level of organisation and capacity for violence far beyond typical drug smuggling operations.

Military-trained narcos arrested in three tonne cocaine bust in south of Spain: Kalashnikov assault rifles among weapons seized

Source link

cocaine

Shipment of grapes entering Canada hid massive stash of suspected cocaine

Published

4 months ago

November 3, 2024

admin

More than 600 kilograms of suspected cocaine — roughly the weight of a concert grand piano — was discovered inside a shipment of grapes intercepted by border officers earlier this month.

The seizure took place on Oct. 15 at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency says an investigation is underway with law enforcement partners.

The agency declined an interview and said it doesn’t comment on the status of ongoing investigations.

CBSA hasn’t provided an estimate of the street value of the 615 kilograms, but earlier this year estimated the value of a cocaine seizure less than half this size at $6.5 million.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/ambassador-bridge-cocaine-grapes-1.7368639

Source link