The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Barrie, Ont. - A massive marijuana factory inside a sprawling old brewery steps from a bustling Ontario highway is proof Canada's pot problem has reached "epidemic proportions," police said Monday. The former Molson brewery in Barrie, Ont., plainly visible from Highway 400, one of the province's busiest commuter routes, was raided on the weekend by some 100 city and provincial police officers acting on a tip. Inside was an estimated $30 million worth of marijuana, along with a grow operation of staggering proportions - the largest and most sophisticated in modern Canadian history. Across a 5,400-square metre complex the size of a football field, police found more than 25,000 pot plants growing everywhere - even inside the cavernous indoor vats once used to brew beer. Toronto - Three tobacco companies conspired to keep smokers in the dark about the dangers of cigarettes, a lawyer argued Monday at a hearing to certify what could become the largest lawsuit in Canadian history. Up until 1972, the companies gave no warnings to consumers about the addictive qualities of cigarettes and their health dangers, said Kirk Baert, who represents four plaintiffs in the class-action suit. "The defendants sought to undermine" measures to implement health-warning labels, Baert said.
