(Subjects: Religion/Worship, Lightworkers, Food, Health, Prescription Drugs, Homeopathy, Innate (Body intelligence), New Age movement, Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)

“…… Should I use Doctors and Drugs to Heal Me or Spiritual Methods?

"Dear Kryon, I have heard that you should stay natural and not use the science on the planet for healing. It does not honor God to go to a doctor. After all, don't you say that we can heal with our minds? So why should we ever go to a doctor if we can do it ourselves? Not only that, my doctor isn't enlightened, so he has no idea about my innate or my spiritual body needs. What should I do?"

First, Human Being, why do you wish to put so many things in boxes? You continue to want a yes and no answer for complex situations due to your 3D, linear outlook on almost everything. Learn to think out of the 3D box! Look at the heading of this section [above]. It asks which one should you do. It already assumes you can't do both because they seem dichotomous.

Let's use some spiritual logic: Here is a hypothetical answer, "Don't go to a doctor, for you can heal everything with your mind." So now I will ask: How many of you can do that in this room right now? How many readers can do that with efficiency right now? All of you are old souls, but are you really ready to do that? Do you know how? Do you have really good results with it? Can you rid disease and chemical imbalance with your mind right now?

I'm going to give you a truth, whether you choose to see it or not. You're not ready for that! You are not yet prepared to take on the task of full healing using your spiritual tools. Lemurians could do that, because Pleiadians taught them how! It's one of the promises of God, that there'll come a day when your DNA works that efficiently and you will be able to walk away from drug chemistry and the medical industry forever, for you'll have the creator's energy working at 100 percent, something you saw within the great masters who walked the earth.

This will be possible within the ascended earth that you are looking forward to, dear one. Have you seen the news lately? Look out the window. Is that where you are now? We are telling you that the energy is going in that direction, but you are not there yet.

Let those who feel that they can heal themselves begin the process of learning how. Many will be appreciative of the fact that you have some of the gifts for this now. Let the process begin, but don't think for a moment that you have arrived at a place where every health issue can be healed with your own power. You are students of a grand process that eventually will be yours if you wish to begin the quantum process of talking to your cells. Some will be good at this, and some will just be planting the seeds of it.

Now, I would like to tell you how Spirit works and the potentials of what's going to happen in the next few years. We're going to give the doctors of the planet new inventions and new science. These will be major discoveries about the Human body and of the quantum attributes therein.

Look at what has already happened, for some of this science has already been given to you and you are actually using it. Imagine a science that would allow the heart to be transplanted because the one you have is failing. Of course! It's an operation done many times a month on this planet. That information came from the creator, did you realize that? It didn't drop off the shelf of some dark energy library to be used in evil ways.

So, if you need a new heart, Lightworker, should you go to the doctor or create one with your mind? Until you feel comfortable that you can replace your heart with a new one by yourself, then you might consider using the God-given information that is in the hands of the surgeon. For it will save your life, and create a situation where you stay and continue to send your light to the earth! Do you see what we're saying?

You can also alter that which is medicine [drugs] and begin a process that is spectacular in its design, but not very 3D. I challenge you to begin to use what I would call the homeopathic principle with major drugs. If some of you are taking major drugs in order to alter your chemistry so that you can live better and longer, you might feel you have no choice. "Well, this is keeping me alive," you might say. "I don't yet have the ability to do this with my consciousness, so I take the drugs."

In this new energy, there is something else that you can try if you are in this category. Do the following with safety, intelligence, common sense and logic. Here is the challenge: The principle of homeopathy is that an almost invisible tincture of a substance is ingested and is seen by your innate. Innate "sees" what you are trying to do and then adjusts the body's chemistry in response. Therefore, you might say that you are sending the body a "signal for balance." The actual tincture is not large enough to affect anything chemically - yet it works!

The body [innate] sees what you're trying to do and then cooperates. In a sense, you might say the body is healing itself because you were able to give it instructions through the homeopathic substance of what to do. So, why not do it with a major drug? Start reducing the dosage and start talking to your cells, and see what happens. If you're not successful, then stop the reduction. However, to your own amazement, you may often be successful over time.

You might be able to take the dosage that you're used to and cut it to at least a quarter of what it was. It is the homeopathy principle and it allows you to keep the purpose of the drug, but reduce it to a fraction of a common 3D dosage. You're still taking it internally, but now it's also signaling in addition to working chemically. The signal is sent, the body cooperates, and you reduce the chance of side effects.

You can't put things in boxes of yes or no when it comes to the grand system of Spirit. You can instead use spiritual logic and see the things that God has given you on the planet within the inventions and processes. Have an operation, save your life, and stand and say, "Thank you, God, for this and for my being born where these things are possible." It's a complicated subject, is it not? Each of you is so different! You'll know what to do, dear one. Never stress over that decision, because your innate will tell you what is appropriate for you if you're willing to listen. ….”

Monsanto / GMO - Global Health


(Subjects: Big pharma [the drug companies of America] are going to have to change very soon or collapse. When you have an industry that keeps people sick for money, it cannot survive in the new consciousness., Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text version)
"Recalibration of Free Choice"– Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Lose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth, 4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Pedal wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical) 8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)
"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS" – Sep 29, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: ... I'm in Canada and I know it, but I will tell those listening and reading in the American audience the following: Get ready! Because there are some institutions that are yet to fall, ones that don't have integrity and that could never be helped with a bail out. Again, we tell you the biggest one is big pharma, and we told you that before. It's inevitable. If not now, then in a decade. It's inevitable and they will fight to stay alive and they will not be crossing the bridge. For on the other side of the bridge is a new way, not just for medicine but for care. ....) - (Text Version)

Pharmaceutical Fraud / Corruption cases

Health Care

Health Care
Happy birthday to Percy Julian, a pioneer in plant-drug synthesis. His research produced steroids like cortisone. (11 April 2014)

Monday, April 24, 2017

Dutch boat 'Women on Waves' in Mexico to offer women legal terminations

A Dutch sailing boat offering legal abortions has taken up a position off the west coast of Mexico. It is offering free, legal medical terminations for the victims of sexual violence.

Deutsche Welle, 23 April 2017


The Women on Waves boat arrived off the coast of Guerrero state last week on the invitation of more than 40 women's organizations who are campaigning for abortion to be legalized throughout the country.

On Thursday the ship sailed out to international waters where two women received safe, medical abortions. The women were given abortion pills and remained under observation for several hours before returning to shore. The female crew does not perform surgical abortions.


Speaking in Ixtapa on Friday, President of the Women on Waves group, Rebecca Gomperts said access to safe abortions was a matter of "social justice" in Latin America.

Abortion has been legal in the capital of Mexico for the last ten years. "It's absurd that according to geography, where women live in Mexico determines ... if they can access a legal and safe abortion," said Regina Tames, head of Information Group on Reproductive Choice (GIRE), a Mexican women's rights group.

"Access to abortion in cases of rape is really quite limited," Tames said.

The Women on Waves boat was cleared by Mexican authorities to stay offshore, registered as a private vessel. During the boat's last voyage to Guatemala it was detained by the army and expelled. It was unable to carry out any terminations at that time.

Saturday, April 22, 2017

Tributes and discord one year after Prince death

Yahoo – AFP, Joy Powell, April 21, 2017

The first anniversary of the death of Prince is marked amid discord over
 the commercialization of his legacy (AFP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Minneapolis (AFP) - Prince's purple-clad fans converged on Minnesota Friday for a celebration of the pop legend one year after his sudden death, but discord over commercialization of his legacy clouded the anniversary.

The musician's Paisley Park estate -- once mythically hermetic but opened to paid tours since his death -- was the center of festivities with concerts and panel talks, while a dance party for the "Purple Rain" star is planned for Saturday in downtown Minneapolis.

Bridges, stadiums and other landmarks in Minneapolis and adjacent St. Paul were being lit up purple for two nights in tribute to Prince, who had happily stayed in his hometown despite his international fame.

"Prince and his phenomenal talents led an era of music and showcased Minnesota to the world," Governor Mark Dayton said in a declaration making April 21 "Prince Day."

George Clinton, the 75-year-old whose popularization of funk music in the 1970s helped pave the way for Prince, opened the ticketed "Celebration" at Paisley Park on Thursday.

But Prince's commercial legacy remains mired in controversy. He died at age 57 from an accidental overdose of powerful painkillers and left no will or children.

Dozens quickly came forward to claim they were heirs.

Marring the anniversary of his death, a judge ordered a temporary halt on a six-song EP of Prince entitled "Deliverance" that was due for release Friday, with only the title track out.

George Boxill, a sound engineer who worked with Prince on the songs from 2006 to 2008, had arranged the release on an independent label.

He said he was respecting the wishes of the star who long battled the music industry and that most proceeds would go to the estate.

But the estate objected, accusing Boxill of seeking to profit and saying that he did not have the right to sell the music on his own.

Prince's music saw a massive increase in sales after his death
with 2.23 million albums sold in 2016 (AFP Photo)

Still a chart-topper

Prince's music saw a massive increase in sales after his death. Nielsen Music, the tracking service behind the benchmark Billboard chart, said he sold more than any other artist in 2016 when all albums are counted.

Prince sold 2.23 million albums last year in the United States, just above English balladeer Adele -- whose blockbuster album "25" came out in late 2015 -- at 2.21 million, Nielsen Music said.

Prince had sought ways to release music on his own and famously changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol and wrote "slave" on his cheek in the 1990s to protest the conditions set by his label Warner.

Since his death, his estate -- led by his siblings -- has teamed up with Warner, which will reissue 1984's "Purple Rain," along with an accompanying album of unreleased music, for Prince's birthday in June.

Prince's music also returned to major streaming services in February. The pop star had put his music out only on rap mogul Jay Z's Tidal, through which he released his last two albums.

Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan perform at a tribute concert
for Prince that the music legend's sister and half-brother say 
was poorly handled (AFP Photo/Adam Bettcher)

Sudden death

An outward model of health who did not drink, Prince advocated a vegetarian diet and admonished band members who used drugs. But he also secretly battled an addiction to painkillers following a hip surgery.

He had sought help from a California specialist days before his death. Court documents unsealed this week showed that investigators found bottles of pills prescribed to his friends at Paisley Park.

A tribute concert to Prince took place in October in the 20,000-seat XCel Energy Center in St. Paul with his friend Stevie Wonder and dancer ex-wife Mayte Garcia among the performers.

Prince's sister Tyka Nelson and half-brother Omarr Baker later complained in court that an original administrator assigned to run the estate handled the tribute poorly and that it was meant to be a much larger affair.

Prince's estate and the professional administrators say they need to monetize his legacy just to stay afloat and handle tax bills.

Prince was one of a number of prominent musicians to die in 2016, including George Michael, Leonard Cohen and David Bowie -- whose "Heroes" Prince covered in a final concert.


Friday, April 21, 2017

Epilepsy drug behind up to 4,100 'severe birth defects' in France

Yahoo – AFP, Brigitte CASTELNAU, April 20, 2017

From 1967 to 2016, between 64,100 and 100,000 pregnancies in France were
exposed to valproate, resulting in 41,200 to 75,300 live births, according to the
report (AFP Photo/PHILIPPE HUGUEN)

Paris (AFP) - The epilepsy medication valproate is responsible for "severe malformations" in 2,150 to 4,100 children in France since the drug was first marketed in the country in 1967, according to a preliminary study by French health authorities.

Women who took the drug during pregnancy to treat epilepsy were four times more likely to give birth to babies with congenital malformations, said the report, jointly issued by the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) and the national health insurance administration.

"The study confirms the highly teratogenic" -- that is, capable of causing birth defects --- "nature of valproate," said Mahmoud Zureik, scientific director of ANSM and a co-author of the report.

"The figure of about 3,000 severe malformations is very high," he told AFP.

The types of birth defects attributed to the drug included spina bifida -- a condition in which the spinal cord does not form properly, and can protrude through the skin -- as well as defects of the heart and genital organs.

The risk of autism and developmental problems was also found to be higher, and will be quantified in a follow-up report later this year.

An earlier estimate suggested that 30 to 40 percent of children exposed in the womb could suffer such disorders.

Risks known since 1980s

From 1967 to 2016, between 64,100 and 100,000 pregnancies in France were exposed to valproate, resulting in 41,200 to 75,300 live births, according to the report.

The vast majority of the birth defects occurred for women under treatment for epilepsy.

But starting in the late 1970s, valproate -- marketed around the world as Depakine, Depakote, Stavzor and other trade names -- was also prescribed in France to treat bi-polar disorder.

Bi-polar women taking the drug were twice as likely to give birth to children with major birth defects, the study found.

The lower risk compared with women treated for epilepsy probably stems from the fact that -- for pregnant bi-polar women -- doctors stopped prescribing valproate early in the pregnancy, Zureik said.

"The risk of severe malformation is limited to the first two trimesters of pregnancy," said Alain Weill, a researcher at the French health insurance administration and a co-author of the report.

The risk of birth defects associated with valproate has been known since the 1980s, especially for spina bifida, which occurs 20 times more frequently in foetuses exposed to the medication.

But the drug can still be prescribed to pregnant women when all other forms of treatment for epilepsy fail. That ruling, however, was put in place only in 2015.

Valproate is sold in France under the brand name Depakine by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, but is also available in generic forms.

Inadequate warnings?

Some French families of children with birth defects born to women who took the drug while pregnant -- grouped under an umbrella association called APESAC -- have sued the company, claiming that it did not adequately warn about the risks.

"The number of victims is potentially huge," said APESAC president Marine Martin, who says two of her children -- a girl and a boy -- suffered physical defects brought on by valproate.

"We need to take into account children with malformations and autism, as well as families that lost a baby due to treatment during pregnancy," she told AFP.

Her association estimates a total of 30,000 to 50,000 victims -- children and families included.

Gerard Bapt, a deputy in France's national assembly and a board member of ANSM, welcomed the report.

"It now appears fundamental that valproate in all its forms should not be prescribed for women of child-bearing age," he said in a statement. Medically necessary exceptions, he added, should be rare and accompanied by "mandatory contraceptive use".

In a statement, Sanofi said it had been "totally transparent with health authorities."

"We are aware of the painful situation confronting the families of children showing difficulties that may have a link with the anti-epileptic treatment of their mother during pregnancy," the drugmaker said.

France was last hit by a major drug scandal in 2010, when it was revealed that the off-label use of a diabetes drug called Mediator for weight-loss could cause fatal heart problems.

The legal fallout from that episode is still unfolding.

Monday, April 17, 2017

Italian Emma Morano, last known survivor of 19th century, dies at 117

Yahoo – AFP, Fanny CARRIER, April 15, 2017

Emma Morano, then 16, is seen in Verbania, North Italy, on May 14, 2016
(AFP Photo/OLIVIER MORIN)

Rome (AFP) - Emma Morano, an Italian woman believed to have been the oldest person alive and the last survivor of the 19th century, died Saturday at the age of 117, Italian media reported.

Morano, born on November 29 1899, died at her home in Verbania, in northern Italy, the reports said.

"She had an extraordinary life, and we will always remember her strength to move forward in life," said Silvia Marchionini, the mayor of Verbania, a small village of some 2,000 residents.

According to the US-based Gerontology Research Group (GRG), Morano ceded the crown of the world's oldest human being to Jamaican Violet Brown, who was born on March 10, 1900.

Morano's death, at the age of 117 years and 137 days, means there is no one living known to have been born before 1900.

Her first love died in World War I, but she married later and left her violent husband just before the Second World War and shortly after the death in infancy of her only son. That was 30 years before divorce became legal in Italy.

She had clung to her independence, only taking on a full-time carer a couple of years ago, though she had not left her small two-room apartment for 20 years.

She had been bed-bound during her latter years.

In an interview with AFP last year, she put her longevity down to her diet.

"I eat two eggs a day, and that's it. And cookies. But I do not eat much because I have no teeth," she said in her home at the time, where the Guinness World Records certificate declaring her to be the oldest person alive held pride of place on a marble-topped chest of drawers.

Emma Morano, then 116, poses for an AFP photographer in Verbania, 
North Italy, on May 14, 2016 (AFP Photo/OLIVIER MORIN)

'Age at a slower rate'

She also refused to be taken to hospital, with the exception of a cataract operation.

Her Eyesight did become very poor and she latterly spent much of her days sleeping.

But she kept her sense of humour till the end.

"How does my hair look," she asked before blowing out the candles on her 117th birthday cake last year.

"What impresses me most is her memory. She forgets nothing," Yamile Vergara, her nurse for over 40 years, said at the time.

"Her sense of humour is her therapy".

The eldest of eight children, Morano outlived all of her younger siblings.

Robert Young, director of the Los Angeles-based GRG's Supercentenarian Research and Database Division, said he had been following Morano 's progress for the past seven years, calling her an example of "super-ageing individuals who seem to age at a slower rate than normal -- maybe even a few percentage points slower, but enough to make a difference".

The world longevity record, he noted, remained with French woman Jeanne Calment, who died at 122 in 1997, having outlived both her daughter and grandson. "That's superconfirmed," Young said.

Emma Morano goes into the record books as the fifth longest life ever verified.

In 1900, when Violet Brown was born, Jamaica was part of the British West Indies, so her records are from the British government, in Queen Victoria's time.

"Unless a surprise candidate comes out of the trees, she is the oldest living Victorian," said Young.

Related Articles:


"The Quantum Factor" – Apr 10, 2011 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Galaxies, Universe, Intelligent design, Benevolent design, Aliens, Nikola Tesla (Quantum energy), Inter-Planetary Travel, DNA, Genes, Stem Cells, Cells, Rejuvenation, Shift of Human Consciousness, Spontaneous RemissionReligion, Dictators, Africa, China, Nuclear Power, Sustainable Development, Animals, Global Unity.. etc.) - (Text Version)

“… Cell Division - a static process?

Let me take you to the cellular division process. We've said this before, but you need to hear this to understand how it works. A cell is ready to divide. The Human body is designed to rejuvenate... all tissue. You've been told that there's some tissue that does not rejuvenate, but that is incorrect. It all rejuvenates at different speeds at different times and in different ways. It rejuvenates. So now you know that the Human body is designed to live a long time. Unfortunately, the energy that you have created on this planet and what you've gone through, has beat it up. You don't live much more than 80 years. That was not the design.

The Biblical personalities were sometimes prophets and sometimes masters and sometimes just there... and lived for hundreds of years. Did they really? Or perhaps this is that just a metaphor? Did they get that right in the Bible without a error in transcription? I'm going to tell you the truth. It's very accurate. Thousands of years ago you lived a very long time, Lemurian. If you knew your lifespan, you'd gasp. But not anymore. Instructions have been given over time to DNA, literally, by the energy of the planet... en energy that you have created through consciousness.

A cell divides. Right before it divides, it needs the blueprint to clone itself. The blueprint is available from the stem cell. The stem cell gets its information from the quantum part of the DNA, which has never changed since you were born. It's remained static, since nothing has ever changed it... and the fact that you don't believe it's changeable and have just accepted aging. There's not a conscious effort to do anything with it, and it just lays there like it always did.

The diving cell "talks" to the stem cell and says, "Do the same thing you always did? Change anything?" And the stem cell talks to the cell that is dividing, saying, "Make another one just the same." Then you rejuvenate just like the last one, accepting everything you received when you were born.  …”

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Arkansas blocked from using drug ahead of planned executions

A US judge has blocked the state from using a lethal injection drug in a planned execution of seven inmates over 11 days. The scheduled "execution assembly line" sparked outrage among civil rights organizations.
  
Deutsche Welle, 15 April 2017


Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen on Friday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the state of Arkansas from using one of three lethal injection drugs on seven death row inmates.

The ruling on came as Arkansas prepared to put seven prisoners to death between Monday, April 17, and Thursday, April 27. Last week, a judge stopped a planned eighth execution.


'Execution assembly line'

In what the convicted inmates' defense attorneys decried as an "execution assembly line," Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson scheduled seven executions to take place over 11 days - three nights of double executions and one single one.

Arkansas was reportedly rushing to perform the executions because the expiration date on its supply of one of the drugs used in the lethal cocktail, Midazolam, is April 30.

If the plan had gone ahead, it would have marked the most inmates executed by a state in such a short period since the US Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

The eight death row inmates who were scheduled to be executed over 11 days

According to the local newspaper Arkansas Times, the drug's distibutor, McKesson, claimed that the state had obtained the drug through deceit. The suppliers of the muscle relaxant, vecuronium bromide, argued that it had been sold to the prison system on the premise that it would be used for legitimate medical purposes rather than executions.

Hollywood and faith leaders

The plan to execute the Arkansas inmates sparked outrage among civil rights and anti-death penalty organizations. A rally against the executions held in the state capital, Little Rock, on Friday was attended by hundreds of demonstrators, including US actor Johnny Depp.

US actor Johnny Depp was among the protesters at the civil rights and
anti-death penalty demonstration in Little Rock

Prior to Friday's court ruling, religious leaders and execution opponents also pointed out that the first executions would have coincided with Easter Monday and appealed in a letter to take mercy on the death row inmates and commute their sentences to life in prison without parole.

Sister Helen Prejean, a vocal anti-death penalty activist and inspiration for the film "Dead Man Walking," tweeted that the fate of the eight Arkansas prisoners ultimately rested in Governor Hutchinson's hands - and the responsibility on his head.


The conservative-leaning residents of Arkansas tend to defend the use of the death penalty. A 2015 University of Arkansas poll revealed that 71 percent of the state's respondents favored capital punishment for a person convicted of murder. Nationwide approval was just over 60 percent, according to a Gallup poll published last year.

Stay of execution granted

In a separate case, a stay of execution was granted to Bruce Ward. The 60-year-old was due to be executed on Monday night for the 1989 death of Rebecca Doss, a teenage shop clerk who worked in Little Rock.

The Arkansas Supreme Court did not provide a reason for the decision, although Ward's attorneys had previously argued that he is a diagnosed schizophrenic with no rational understanding of his execution.

Lawsuit over reputation fears

On Thursday, two other pharmaceutical manufacturers also asked a federal judge to block Arkansas from using their drugs. Midazolam, the drug in question, has been criticized as contributing to several botched executions in other US states.

Similar to McKesson, drug companies West-Ward Pharmaceuticals and Fresenius Kabi USA claimed that their drugs had been secured in an improper manner, and that their use in executions could affect the ability to sell in Europe.

ksb/jm (AP, Reuters, epd)

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Canada set to unveil legislation legalizing cannabis

Yahoo – AFP, Michel COMTE, April 13, 2017

Canada is poised to become second country to fully legalize recreational
marijuana use (AFP Photo/Chris Roussakis)

Ottawa (AFP) - The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will unveil legislation on Thursday to fully legalize recreational marijuana use, making Canada only the second country to do so, after Uruguay.

Its legalization and regulation would follow in 2018, in time for Canada's national day on July 1.

The country's ministers of health, justice, public safety and national revenue, as well as a former-cop-turned-MP who spearheaded the initiative, will make the announcement.

The stated aim is to reduce policing and prosecutions, and keep it out of the hands of children.

Canadian political leaders have also decried the current anti-drug regime as a failure.

Trudeau himself admitted in 2013 to having smoked pot five or six times in his life, including at a dinner party with friends since being elected to parliament.

He has also said that his late brother Michel was facing marijuana possession charges for a "tiny amount" of pot before his death in an avalanche in 1998, and that this influenced his decision to propose legalizing cannabis.

Police chiefs who support legalization point to the nearly 70,000 police-reported incidents related to cannabis, mostly possession, in 2014, saying police resources are being wasted and criminal convictions are causing undue harm.

In anticipation of the legislative move, there has reportedly been a rush on licenses to produce medical marijuana, pot stocks have shot up, and dispensaries have opened in cities across the country vying for market share in what promises to be a lucrative business.

Cannabis worldwide (AFP Photo)

The latter, however, has led to police raids and controversy, and pleas from the government to would-be sellers to be patient and wait for the legal regime to be announced.

Medical marijuana use has been regulated in Canada since 2001. But cannabis remains a controlled drug, for the time being.

What will legal market look like

According to government statistics, as many as 4.6 million Canadians will consume an estimated total 655 metric tons of cannabis annually by 2018, spending an estimated Can$4.2 billion to Can$6.2 billion each year.

A task force led by former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan released a report last December outlining possible regulations for creating a legal market for cannabis including plain packaging and labelling, restrictions on advertising, and retail distribution.

The more than 80 recommendations included maintaining a separate medical marijuana regime, as well as criminal penalties for trafficking and selling cannabis to youth.

Under the proposed rules, individuals would be allowed to grow up to four plants at home for personal use.

Personal possession, however, would be limited to 30 grams (one ounce).

The report also noted that the biggest concerns in more than 30,000 submissions to the task force concerned the proposed minimum age and impaired driving.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted in 2013 to having smoked pot
 five or six times in his life, including at a dinner party with friends since being 
elected to parliament (AFP Photo/Charly Triballeau)

Health groups expressed concern about the potential impact of marijuana on developing brains under the age of 25.

But the report concluded that the "current science is not definitive on a safe age for cannabis use."

Since the intention of legalization is to stop criminalizing users the panel chose an age that would not force adults under 25 to turn to the illicit market.

It noted that US states where recreational marijuana use is legal had aligned the minimum age with alcohol consumption at 21. In Canada legal adulthood starts at 18 or 19, depending on the province.

Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale, meanwhile, said officials are testing devices similar to roadside breathalyzers to detect cannabis.

The drug has created new enforcement challenges because there is no legal or verified scientific test to determine a level of THC -- the psychoactive chemical in pot -- that causes impairment.

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