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Pottawa: Ottawa Becomes Cooler Than Ever
Russell Barth I sometimes think that if Earth ever joined some sort of Galactic Federation, Ottawa would be known throughout the galaxy – not just the world – as the lamest place to visit. Name anything from public transit to entertainment to City Council, and if you don’t find yourself getting bored or angry, you’ll […]
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Ottawa’s Unique 420 History
Russell Barth The first 420 celebration in Canada was held in Vancouver in 1995, and some time shortly after that, Ottawa held it’s first informal 420 gathering in Major’s Hill Park, immediately across the street from the eyesore of a US Embassy on Sussex Drive. These early gatherings were small: a few hundred people, no […]
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Pottawa: Dispensaries Flourish After Raids and Robberies
Ottawa’s Dispensary Scene Still Flourishing After Raids And Robberies Russell Barth Since the first marijuana dispensary in Ottawa opened in late 2015, the total number of dispensaries has grown to roughly twenty, depending on who you ask. There are even some dispensaries that the media and greater public don’t know about, but I and many […]
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What Really Happened to BuzzOn
Russell Barth For the past year, BuzzOn co-founder Wayne Robillard has been hearing wild rumours about himself. People email him, call him, and talk to him in person, telling him that they had heard he was arrested, that BuzzOn had been raided, and worse. None of which was true, of course, but Ottawa, like many […]
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Compassion In The Nation’s Capital, Finally
Russell Barth The first compassion club or marijuana dispensary in the Ottawa area was Cannapharm, which opened in 1998-99; it was short-lived. It got busted, and there was neither the money nor the wherewithal at the time to keep the dispensary going. In the summer and autumn of 2002, Christine and I ran an informal compassion […]
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“Hey, Let’s Put On A Vapor Lounge Show!”
Russell Barth The Story Of Ottawa’s First Weekly Marijuana-Themed Youtube Series For those unfamiliar with my previous activism work, I make a lot of videos. My Youtube page has over 370 videos, 1,782 subscribers, and it gets over 1,200 hits every day, with a total of over 3 million views. Almost all of those hits […]
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The City Of Ottawa Is Dragged Kicking And Screaming Into The 21st Century
Russell Barth There are two Ottawa’s really: The federal government Ottawa, that Canadians from coast to coast complain about when they watch TV or read the news papers; and the city itself. Having lived in Ottawa since Halloween of 1994, I have almost become accustomed to the cultural retardation that pervades so much of daily […]
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Emergency Vaping on Public Transit
Russell Barth Aside from having PTSD and fibromyalgia myself, I am also the 24/7 caregiver for my wife, Christine Lowe, who suffers with epilepsy, PTSD, and the pain that comes from living with epilepsy for 46 years. In the summer of 2014, we received a gift: a vaping pen for vaporizing concentrated marijuana oil often referred […]
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My Human Rights Complaint
Why I Filed A $10 Million Dollar Ontario Humans Rights Complaint Against The Mayor And City Of Ottawa by Russell Barth On the morning of April 30th, 2015, I went through my usual routine of scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed to see what my friends had posted over the past 24 hours, and as on […]
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Living the Supreme Dream
By Ted Smith Last Friday March 20 was a dream come true for myself and many other cannabis activists. Normally I would say you had to be there, but in this case there is actually a recording that will forever show the government dismally fail in its defense of the medical cannabis regulations. Over the […]