While Toronto doctor Anthony Galea couldn’t help Tiger Woods keep that whole adultery thing under wraps, he did help the pro golfer recover from knee surgery—although his methods are the subject of serious legal controversy. Galea is known for a rather unorthodox approach to sports medicine, using techniques that include something known as blood spinning, where a person’s own blood is placed in a centrifuge and reinserted in their body, apparently with greater healing properties. Of course, Galea is also known for (allegedly) using human growth hormone in his treatments—which is both way less cool and way more illegal than blood spinning—and pleaded guilty last summer to smuggling the stuff into the U.S. The plea kept him out of prison, but now he’s facing a court date in Toronto on a variety of related charges. Read the entire story [ESPN] »
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Five former Toronto drug cops go on trial today in what the CBC is calling “the largest case of alleged police corruption in Canadian history.” The case dates back to the late ’90s, when the officers were busting high numbers of drug dealers and allegedly beating up suspects, stealing drugs and cash and working together to cover it all up. The officers were charged way back in 2004, but some nifty legal acrobatics slowed the case’s progress to a standstill. A judge even stayed the charges in 2008 before the province’s court of appeal decided the five would stand trial. Former mayor and head of the city’s Police Accountability Coalition John Sewell says legal stalling can often go on so long that witnesses die or leave the country, which has already happened with two witnesses in this case. Okay, maybe it won’t be quite the high drama of Law and Order, but we’re still looking forward to watching the story unfold. Read the entire story [CBC] »
Drunk, unruly RIM executives were tied up on an Air Canada flight—and then chewed through their restraints
The basic story reported two weeks ago was amusing enough—two Research in Motion executives get in a drunken row on a plane to Beijing, force it to land and then get sacked—but court documents and eyewitness accounts have revealed just how desperate the situation really was (we’re talking plastic handcuffs, packing tape and temper tantrum desperate here).
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Memoir: How a 59-year-old neuroscientist and university professor fell prey to opiates—again
My family and I moved to the Netherlands from Toronto in the summer of 2010. I’d been a psychology professor at the University of Toronto for over 20 years, my wife, Isabel, had a research job at SickKids, and we were both offered faculty positions in Nijmegen, a nice little city near the country’s eastern border. We were feeling a bit stagnant, our twins were still young, and it seemed like a good time for an adventure. But hauling suitcases and children from Canada to Europe took its toll on my 59-year-old body.
According to the MRI, I was developing what’s loosely called sciatica. The nerves in my lower spine were getting squished, causing pain in the back of my legs. In September, the pain was bothersome; by early October, it spurted intermittently like a sulphurous geyser; and by late October it was excruciating—an ugly, dirty pain that lived like a demon in my body. I sometimes let out a screech when rolling over in bed at night, which freaked the hell out of Isabel and embarrassed me to no end. “Go back to sleep, it’s not that bad,” I’d say. But really it was. Read the rest of this entry »
The Q & A: former Bay Streeter Andrew Galloway sympathizes with the crack addicts he counsels on Intervention Canada—because he used to be one
Now you’re a successful rehab therapist, but 10 years ago, you were working on Bay Street, hooked on booze and crack. How bad did things get?
I had a few seizures. I would collapse to my knees and crawl to my couch. Finally, I drove over to my parents’ place. My mom opened the door and I burst into tears. She asked, “Who died?” and I looked at her and said, “Me.”
Do you think they suspected all along?
They never knew the extent of it, but they knew something was wrong. I remember one year having a bunch of great ideas for what to get them for Christmas. Then all of a sudden it was Christmas Eve, and I hadn’t gotten them anything. So I cut out pictures from magazines and gave them as IOUs. I wanted to get my dad a putter, but I couldn’t even find a picture of a putter. God. I can still see the pencil drawing I made. You want to talk about shame? But you know what? Now I get my Christmas shopping done in October!
How a chronic insomniac found a radically simple cure for her sleepless nights
I was living in a co-op on the edge of Regent Park, next to a playground that was invaded by screeching junkies every night. Everything that year was miserable. My mother had been diagnosed with cancer and was receiving radiation and chemotherapy every day for a month. My dad and two brothers and I juggled our schedules to get her to Sunnybrook Hospital from north Scarborough. When I wasn’t scared I was despondent. Even as I tried to keep up my performance at work (I was an editor at Toronto Life at the time), I wasn’t sure if I wanted the job anymore. Then I got insomnia.
By now, we’ve lost track of the number of TTC drivers alleged to have driven while under the influence—and the whole issue just became decidedly unfunny now that it appears that the driver of the bus involved in the fatal traffic incident on Lawrence Avenue East earlier this week had a small quantity of marijuana in his possession (although we hasten to add that there’s no evidence the driver was intoxicated at the time of the crash). Everybody is on this story (see: here, here, here and here) because it combines two things Toronto media love: kvetching about Toronto transit, and illicit drugs (according to the CBC, police are looking into whether the driver should be charged). Read the entire story [National Post] »
50 Reasons to Love Toronto: No. 33, SickKids is closer to curing autism
(Image: Derek Shapton)
Autism has been blamed on satanic possession, vaccines and frosty moms, but scientists have known since the 1980s that genetics have something to do with it. What they didn’t know was exactly which genes are involved. Stephen Scherer, the director of the Centre for Applied Genomics at SickKids and co-leader of a multi-million-dollar international study of autism genes, has brought us amazingly close to decoding the complicated disorder.
Pizza Gigi saga update: police put restraint order on the Harbord pizza shop
(Image: Jessica Darmanin)
The saga of the alleged drug peddling at Pizza Gigi continues, as the police move to block any sale on the shop. Back in February, we reported that the beloved Hardbord Street pizza shop had been raided following allegations of drug possession and trafficking on the part of owner Salvatore “Sammy” Crimi. To the surprise of many, the pizza parlour reopened a few weeks later after cleaning up. (The shop even made it onto SNL’s Weekend Update.) Now, the Toronto Star is reporting that Toronto police have obtained a restraint order on the property:
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First prostitution, now pot: Ontario courts keep targeting taboos
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The Ontario Superior Court has been busy lately, striking blows against contradictory laws. First there was last fall’s ruling against the province’s weird prostitution law (which can be summed up as “prostitution is legal unless money changes hands”). Today, the court has struck down some of Canada’s laws on using marijuana for medicinal purposes (which can be summed up as “it’s legal unless doctor after doctor refuses to help”). According to the National Post, the court has nullified the parts of Canada’s drug laws that have to do with producing and possessing drugs.
Busted: Pizza Gigi makes it to Saturday Night Live
The story of Pizza Gigi’s recent legal troubles—authorities allegedly discovered $1 million worth of marijuana at the late-night pizza parlour on Harbord Street—reads like a throwaway one-liner. Which is why we weren’t exactly shocked that Seth Meyers gave it the “Weekend Update” treatment on Saturday Night Live last weekend.
Pizza Gigi reopens after “cleaning up” shop
(Image: Jessica Darmanin)
Pizza Gigi reopened suddenly yesterday, much to the delight of hungry neighbourhood residents who have been going through withdrawal (from pizza, of course) for the past three weeks, ever since the shop closed down in connection with allegations of drug trafficking. In the early evening, owner Salvatore “Sammy” Crimi began calling back some of his longtime customers, including 102.1 The Edge radio host Dave “Bookie” Bookman, who soon conveyed the good news to the rest of Toronto.
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Skins recap, episode 7: the show that gets high school right—except when it doesn’t
It is to weep: Michelle learns that Tony’s cheating on her (Image: MTV)
We’ve been waiting a while for the Michelle episode. Who is this girl that hosts hot tub parties and lets Tony treat her like the town mattress while he pines away for a lesbian? In episode 7, Michelle finally finds out about Tony’s cheating and kicks him out of her bed permanently. It’s one of the more gripping scenes of the show thus far. She also discovers that Tea has betrayed her and that skin-tight miniskirts need to be worn with heels (was that a weird aside from the principal, or what?). Oh, and also that the only person looser than Tony may be her own mom. Do we smell a Mrs. Robinson plotline? Yes, please. In the meantime, our regular reality roundup follows.
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Recipe theft and cancer scares: rounding up Coca-Cola’s bad week
It aint’t easy being red (Image: Ian Muttoo)
It’s been a rough week for the Coca-Cola Company. Last Friday, U.S. public radio show This American Life announced that they’d discovered the original recipe for Coca-Cola. And just yesterday, a U.S. advocacy organization raised worries about potential carcinogenic effects of the drink. We round up this week in Coke after the jump.
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Harbord Street’s Pizza Gigi closed down for allegedly trafficking drugs
Pizza Gigi owner Sammy Crimi in happier times (Image: Jessica Darmanin)
The Toronto Star is reporting that early Monday morning, Pizza Gigi, the Harbord Street hole in the wall beloved by University of Toronto and Central Tech students, was raided and shut down after authorities discovered over $1 million worth of marijuana and half an ounce of crack cocaine, as well as ecstasy, Oxycocet and Oxycontin at the pizzeria.
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