Pubdate: Fri, 15 Apr 2016
Source: Markham Economist & Sun (CN ON)
Copyright: 2016 Metroland Printing
Contact:  http://www.yorkregion.com/markham-on/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2360
Author: Amanda Persico

BONGS, HASH PIPES? NOT NEAR OUR KIDS, PARENTS SAY

Every week, one Unionville resident stopped in at the local 
convenience store to buy milk and lottery tickets.

That is until she noticed some of what she considered unsightly items 
for sale - hash pipes, bongs and rolling papers.

"The items were in a glass case. I never noticed them before," said 
Ayse Tanacan. "This is a nice neighbourhood. There is no need for 
that to be sold here. Whoever is buying this stuff is coming into our 
neighbourhood."

To make matters worse, Daisy Mart - located at the corner of Carlton 
Road and Village Parkway - is near a local elementary school and is a 
popular spot for older students to buy gum and candy.

'Intolerable'

"Things like this don't belong in our neighbourhood," she said.

Tanacan started telling friends and neighbours about the situation in 
hopes of putting pressure on the store owner to stop selling the items.

That's how Carla Quinn got involved.

She started writing letters to local residents asking them to stop 
shopping at Daisy Mart.

She wrote to elementary school administrators, parent council 
members, ratepayer groups in the area as well as a daycare located in 
the same plaza as Daisy Mart.

She even went up the Mac's Convenience Store chain.

While there may be a growing acceptance of marijuana use in society 
and a Liberal government pledge to legalize marijuana use, opinions 
clearly vary, especially when it comes to children's exposure to the 
items in stores.

"It's not casual users buying this stuff," Quinn said. "It's addicts 
and users. This is intolerable in our neighbourhood."

While independently owned, Daisy Mart is an affiliate of Mac's, which 
has an anti-drug paraphernalia policy, said affiliate senior manager 
for Mac's, Jeff Poulin.

"Once the issue was brought to our attention, we acted quickly to 
have the product removed from the store," he said in an email. "We 
have taken corrective action to ensure this does not occur again."

While this may seem like a victory, the incident left a sour taste 
for many residents.

With talk of convenience stores getting the right to sell alcohol, 
how can local residents trust their local corner store operators, 
Quinn wonders.

"You can't have it both ways - wanting our trust to sell alcohol then 
selling drug paraphernalia," she said.

Meanwhile, the sale of pipes, bongs and rolling papers is not a 
Markham-only problem.

Glass pipes and bongs can be found in about 10 per cent of 
independent stores, said Ontario Convenience Stores Association 
(OCSA) president Dave Bryans.

According to the OCSA, there are more than 95,000 convenience stores 
in Ontario and independents make up close to 60 per cent.

Many of the major chains, such as Mac's, 7 Eleven or Petro-Canada gas 
stations, have collectively said they will not stock or sell drug-use items.

Importing, exporting, manufacturing, promoting or selling items for 
illicit drug use is illegal, but the challenge is when the same item 
can be used for something else, said York Regional Police Const. Andy 
Pattenden.

While the most obvious use for a glass pipe or rolling papers may be 
to smoke crack or marijuana, both items can also be used for legally 
smoking tobacco.

The challenge is proving an item is for the sole use of illicit 
drugs, Pattenden said.

To the untrained eye, a glass tube may simply be a glass tube.

"Most people might not know what it is," Quinn said. "But kids know 
what it is. Take the fake rose out of the glass tube and you have a 
crack pipe."

In many cases, items such as pipes and bongs are brought in by a 
distributor and sold on consignment, Bryans said.

With declining tobacco sales and gum and chocolate bars sold at the 
checkout of large grocers, which now sell lottery tickets, too, the 
big convenience store chains are leaving the province, he added.

That leaves independent store-owners who are trying to survive to fill the gap.

There is a high profit margin for pipes and bongs, Bryans added.

Unfortunately, the fight falls on local residents.

"If you are unhappy about these products, don't shop there," he said. 
"Make lots of noise at your council."

It's not fair to the shop owner, he added, suggesting many are not 
aware these items are cause for concern.

Nor is there much education for shop owners on how to deal with or 
refuse these items from a distributor.

Quinn acknowledges the storeowner is a business owner, trying to make a living.

"It's hard to run a small business," she said. "But this is not the 
right way. We all have to take care of our own little corner."

Adding economic pressure is one sure way to fight the issue, said 
local Councillor Don Hamilton.

"There's lots of places to buy milk," he said. "Residents can follow 
up by not shopping there."

Quinn is working with the local ratepayers group to keep an eye on 
the situation.

If bongs and pipes re-appear on store shelves, the local resident 
plans to ask city council to enact a bylaw prohibiting the sale of 
such items in Markham.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom