Pubdate: Tue, 04 Mar 2008
Source: Peace Arch News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 Peace Arch News
Contact:  http://www.peacearchnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1333
Author: Tracey Duguay
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?228 (Paraphernalia)

WHITE ROCK TO STUDY DRUG PARAPHERNALIA

White Rock city council is starting its own war on drugs, or at least 
on bongs, pipes, papers and other related paraphernalia.

After a failed attempt two years ago, Coun. Catherine Ferguson 
emerged victorious from a city council meeting Monday night after her 
motion asking staff to create a report outlying a plan to prohibit 
the sale of drug paraphernalia was approved by council.

The motion was broken into three parts: the first was the creation of 
the report; the second requested the finalized plan be included in 
the RCMP DARE program, a school-based, anti-drug program for 
children; and the third was to include the report and related actions 
in the agenda for the upcoming planning session between White Rock 
and the City of Surrey.

"It would be a stronger bylaw, a stronger preventative measure if we 
could do this with the City of Surrey," said Coun. Doug McLean, who 
pointed out drugs and crime don't recognize city boundaries. While 
all councillors voted unanimously in favour of the last two parts of 
the motion, Coun. Matt Todd was the only dissenting voice on the 
first, which dealt with the actual report creation.

Calling Ferguson's intention "noble," Todd argued staff had too much 
on its plate already to take on this extra work.

Todd said he thought it wasn't a high priority since White Rock 
wasn't overrun with shops selling hydroponics equipment, used in 
illegal grow ops, as was the case in other cities that had similar 
paraphernalia bans.

"I feel this motion is too broad and asking for too much," Todd said. 
"I feel it would be just creating a make work project for our staff."

Coun. James Coleridge disagreed with Todd, stating staff was 
perfectly capable of managing its own time effectively. He thought it 
was time for the city to get "aggressive on these issues" and for 
council to develop a strategy to "drive drugs out of the city."

"We fought smoking in a lot of different ways," Coleridge said, 
pointing to council's success as a leader in this endeavour, and one 
of Todd's pet projects.

City manager Peggy Clark said the report wouldn't require a lot of 
staff involvement, mainly a resource from the city's bylaw 
department, which is how the ban would be implemented, and a contact 
from the RCMP.

Following the creation of the report, and proposed implementation 
plan, staff and law enforcement will make a presentation to council, 
which will debate and finalize the issue before including it in the 
planning session with Surrey.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom