All Purpose Politics and News Thread

[lecale]

This is a bit long and dry after a while but you'll only have to read half of it to be convinced. It's about Oxycontin, the pain medication that is being abused all over the Western world. The manufacturer originally introduced it to compete with generic drugs. They claimed the pills worked for 12 hours, which allowed them to charge a premium price. They don't - they are no better than generic morphine - but keeping people on a 12-hour dosing scheme meant people went through opioid withdrawal and pain users of the drug became addicts as their brains struggled to deal with this withdrawal on a daily basis.

They have a real mess going on with this drug. I have a friend who was put on it after a back injury and he became addicted as described in the article and now they have him on methadone (the high-free opioid that they give you in rehab) AND Oxycontin. He's pretty well a mess. Mentally, he's too confused to do anything responsible.

The drug has been around for 20 years and has caused massive damage. I am interested to see how policies change and what the heck they are going to do about people like my buddy, who is immobile without medication, but not able to do anything on it.

http://static.latimes.com/oxycontin-...t=oft12aH-1la1

[GoJays]

But they are going to name their marine explorer Boaty McBoatface! Everybody wins!

Sorry, I don't think this is a win. It's a stupid, childish name that a four-year-old would come up with.

[Natalka]

lecale, oxycontin is indeed evil - when my husband broke his back several years back, I made sure he was not prescribed it, it just was not going to happen.

[Natalka]

Rex nails it

[AddyB]

Just collected C$50 along our street and sent via PayPal just now. Will keep collecting.

[lecale]

People don't want weed sold at the LCBO - they prefer people to get it from the drug store http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05...anada+Politics

I guess there would be an advantage if this stuff is distributed via pharmacy - even for recreational users - and that is that consumption would be tracked in their pharmacy databases, which is something you would not have happening at the LCBO or a dispensary. Let there be statistics!

[lecale]

The East-coaster that plays J-Roc on Trailer Park boys, Jonathan Torrens, is using his pile of frequent flyer miles to get stuck down Easter's back home from Fort Mac:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/dee-torr...-mac-1.3571941

It's really touching to see public figures reaching out so personally.

[lecale]

Some men don't get it. Look at this thoroughly unappealing creep and imagine him making sexual advances at you. He resigned because of findings of guilt, now he says it was all to protect the Premier. Well, if the Premier is allowed to stand in for all women, then so be it Women don't want yuck like this hassling them at work. Just looking at him makes me want to wash myself!

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/ca...ent-complaints

[lecale]

This is going to be the hot story on Monday:

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...ame-names.html
https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/

The secret identities of the people behind more than 200,000 anonymous offshore entities found inside the Panama Papers are being made public.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and its only Canadian partners, the Toronto Star and the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., are releasing a searchable database of the companies, trusts and foundations online on May 9 at 2 p.m.
The data comes from the controversial Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the biggest players in the grey zone of offshore financing. The information will include the names of directors, shareholders and beneficial owners — the real owners of a company, even though their names might not appear on the shareholder register — kept secret by confidentiality laws in tax havens. This is basic information that would be public if the corporations had been registered in more transparent jurisdictions.

[gryphon]

If this is true, then that is the most disgusting thing I have seen in a long time

[lecale]

Air Canada has been hit with a wave criticism on social media, with people accusing the airline of hiking prices as a fire continues to rage around Fort McMurray, Alta.

There's just one problem: Air Canada didn't hike prices amid the wildfire. But it admitted Thursday that people did see higher prices due to the airline's online booking system.

"In some cases, customers booking last minute on May 3 and 4 on flights from Fort McMurray and Edmonton have paid premium fares. This was a result of Air Canada's computerized revenue management system, which automatically manages fares."

Air Canada said it wasn't able to adjust flight prices in time, and that it will partially refund customers who had to pay premium rates.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/05/06/air-canada-fares-fort-mcmurray_n_9859898.html

[Mia001]

to those who can understand french...an article from ''journal de québec''

http://www.journaldequebec.com/2016/...0--en-limonade


5 yo boy raised more than 2,500$ with a limonade stand to help Fort McMurray people

[lecale]

Grocery price war on the way in Ontario!

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/repor...ticle29851036/

[Natalka]

[gryphon]