Will create a new line of pot-infused food and drinks for U.S. market A Maple Ridge marijuana company is going public with an injection of cash from a venture capitalist. Remo Cannabrands' half-million dollar partnership with Gold Finder Explorations will see it expand from a home-based business to 10,000-sq.-ft. warehouse. Remo Colasanti is the brain behind Remo Cannabrands, which sells nutrients to legal marijuana producers but has plans to create a new line of marijuana-infused edibles, beverages and tinctures. [continues 668 words]
Marijuana was 'wet' and not yet dried A man caught with 500 kilograms of marijuana last year admits he made a mistake by transporting such a large amount, but insists the crop was solely for medical use and was not all his. Amrit Pal Singh Niger was stopped on May 24, 2013 after a Ridge Meadows RCMP officer noticed "an overwhelming odour of marijuana permeating the air" when he drove past a white cube van. Police allege Niger was the driver, which he does not dispute. [continues 402 words]
Lower Mainland cities wary of property tax pitfall Pitt Meadows is set to ban medical marijuana operations in all zones of the city. On the recommendation of staff, council voted Tuesday to prohibit commercial medical marijuana facilities in industrial and agricultural areas, joining Abbotsford, White Rock and Langley, which have already moved to stop the enterprises from setting up. Pitt Meadows banned medical growops from residential areas in 2010. At a committee meeting, acting chief administrative officer Kim Grout said Pitt Meadows initially supported a plan to restrict the operations to industrial areas, but decided not too after a recent advisory from the B.C. Assessment Authority. [continues 341 words]
Critics Call for Review of 'Flawed' Legislation The lush rural property near Webster's Corner was a retirement plan for the elementary school teacher. Purchased in 2003, Penelope Carlson boards horses on a paddock amongst tall Douglas firs and cedars. As a favour to a friend, Carlson, 63, agreed to use a building on her four-hectare property to grow medical marijuana under Health Canada regulations. It was an operation that was legal, sanctioned by federal laws. Carlson's retirement plans were on track until November 2010, when an electrician tattled on her growop. [continues 1078 words]
New Federal; Rules Take Effect April 1 The District of Maple Ridge is trying to figure out what to do once home-based medical marijuana operations become illegal in two months. Starting April 1, the roughly 38,000 Canadians currently licensed to carry medicinal marijuana will no longer be allowed to grow their own cannabis or source it from small-scale designated growers. Instead, only large, commercial operations authorized by Health Canada will produce and sell pot. Patients will only get dried cannabis shipped to them via mail or courier, a dispensary or commercial grower. [continues 800 words]
Tosses Out Evidence On Digital Camera Memory Card A Maple Ridge woman accused of operating a marijuana grow operation will go to trial after a judge refused to toss out evidence she claimed RCMP obtained unlawfully. Katherine Merle Brown was arrested in April 2010 after Ridge Meadows RCMP raided a property at 28496 Bell Avenue on the suspicion that power was being stolen via a Hydro bypass. Investigation revealed that Brown was the registered owner of the property, as well as the B.C. Hydro subscriber. [continues 330 words]
Former Councillor Wants to Retain Dispensaries, Legal Grows A former councillor for the District of Maple Ridge is throwing his support behind a local medical cannabis dispensary by voicing concern about changes proposed by Health Canada. "The fear is that given the federal government's prejudice against anything that might hint of legalization, they will make it more difficult and a lot more expensive for sick people to access the medicine that works for them," said Craig Speirs. "It isn't in anyone's best interest to make criminals of sick people or those who are growing and dispensing their medicine." [continues 634 words]
The federal government is poised to eliminate licensed medical marijuana grow ops in homes that have long been criticized for safety concerns and connections to the illegal drug trade. Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced in Maple Ridge on Sunday a planned shift to a new system of federally regulated commercial producers of medical pot who will supply authorized users with prescriptions from doctors. "Under our new rule, only facilities that meet strict security requirements will be able to produce marijuana for medical purposes," Aglukkaq said. [continues 513 words]
Hali Stus admits she was rather shocked when she spotted the billboard. Stopped at a traffic light on Lougheed Highway at Allen Way, she stared at it intently, realizing quickly, and much to her horror, it was advertising a bong. "I made a mental note of it," says Stus. The billboard for Hoss Glass was the second one she'd caught sight of that day. Stus saw the first one while driving through Port Coquitlam. When she got home, she researched the company and fired off an e-mail complaint to the billboard owners, CBS Outdoors Canada. [continues 383 words]
Marijuana busts in Maple Ridge dropped by half in the span of a year, according to statistics from Ridge Meadows RCMP, who suspect a proliferation of Health Canada licenses is to blame for the decrease. Year-end figures show police took down 34 grow operations in Maple Ridge in 2011 compared to 63 in 2010, while Pitt Meadows, where an electrical safety inspection program and bylaw to prohibit designated-growing are in place, saw three grow ops searched in 2011 and one in 2010. [continues 492 words]
A call by B.C.'s Chief Medical Health Officer for marijuana to be decriminalized in Canada is welcomed by patients at the Taggs Medical Cannabis Dispensary in Maple Ridge, who see his support as crucial on the path to eventually legalization. In a paper published in Open Medicine, an international, peer-reviewed medical journal, Dr. Perry Kendall and his Nova Scotia counterpart Dr. Robert Strang endorsed taxing and regulating cannabis as an effective way to improve health and safety in Canada. [continues 482 words]
You can hear the frustration in his voice as he describes the coming and goings of his neighbours. He keeps tabs on the steady stream of cars that frequent the farm and seethes when he thinks about the waft of marijuana that floats across the fields into his home on Richardson Road in Pitt Meadows. "I've got a stack of police cards," he says, lamenting the complaints about the marijuana grow operation that he's made to police and city officials for the past five years. [continues 898 words]
The federal government is looking to tighten rules on medical marijuana so only licensed, private operators are allowed to grow it. The proposed changes would create a new network of commercial-scale growers and phase out home-based grow operations. "Our government is very concerned that the current Marijuana Medical Access Program is open to abuse and exploitation by criminal elements," said Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq on Friday. "That is why we are proposing improvements to the program that will reduce the risk of abuse and keep our children and communities safe, while significantly improving the way program participants access marihuana for medical purposes." [continues 273 words]
A doctor has been ordered to pay the president of a Maple Ridge marijuana dispensary more than $300,000 following a botched back surgery. Michael Joinson, who heads the non-profit Always Growing Green Society, which operates Taggs Medical Cannabis Dispensary, won a total settlement of $310,289.14 to cover his loss of earnings and medical care as well as medications to treat pain, including cannabis capsules, dried marijuana and cannabis blended into baked goods such as cookies. Dr. Navraj Heran, a neurosurgeon, admitted he was negligent while performing a surgery on Joinson's lower back, but denied the surgery was solely responsible for the gradual onset of his chronic pain. [continues 178 words]
Tenants of a business park in east Maple Ridge allege the property is home to several illegal marijuana grow operations that have failed to be dismantled despite repeated complaints. Located at the end of 256th Street, past the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre, the Webster's Corner Business Park backs onto thick forest and is far from homes. On some days, said a man who owns a unit in the park, the smell of marijuana permeates the entire property. On Wednesday, the skunky scent of fresh marijuana hung in the air, as corrections officers took a lunch hour walk past the property. [continues 323 words]
Marc Dalton Thinks Health Canada Program Is 'Out Of Control' The provincial representative for Maple Ridge-Mission hopes the federal government takes a fresh look at regulations around medical marijuana now that the Conservatives have a majority. B.C. Liberal MLA Marc Dalton believes the program, administered by Health Canada, is "out of control." Dalton believes medical grow operations are linked to organized crime and that the federal program is being abused and causing problems in the community. However, "It is impossible to verify." [continues 473 words]
A horse trailer may have been used to smuggle a large quantity of drugs into a Maple Ridge prison. Police are investigating, but won't provide details on the trailer, which was dropped off for repairs at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre by a woman on March 7. "We're working closely with B.C. Corrections on this file," said Ridge Meadows RCMP Cpl. Alanna Dunlop. "With this being an active investigation, we're not prepared to provide any specific details regarding this file as it may jeopardize the outcome." [continues 543 words]
A Maple Ridge woman who grew marijuana as medicine for her sick husband will not be going to prison. Provincial court judge Shehni Dossa instead imposed a 15-month conditional sentence on Shelley Raets, which will allow her to serve time in the community. "This was an elaborate growop in a number of rooms," Dossa said before handing Raets the sentence. "You didn't go about it the right way to get the appropriate exemptions from the government." Raets, 54, and her husband, Timothy Fury, were charged with production of a controlled substance, drug trafficking and theft of hydro in September, three months after Ridge Meadows RCMP raided a grow operation at their home. [continues 346 words]
Bylaws that target marijuana grow operations in the City of Pitt Meadows have nearly stamped out the illegal enterprise, according to figures released by the municipality and police. Not one grow op was busted by RCMP in Pitt Meadows last year, while only one inspection was conducted under the city's marijuana grow operation bylaw, which targets houses with abnormally high energy usage =AD more than 93 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day. At the beginning of January, officers dismantled one grow operation that housed more than 800 marijuana plants. [continues 451 words]
Mounties are targeting the homes, cars and businesses of criminals in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows in an attempt to curb crime and deter others from trying to set up shop in the municipalities. This year, two houses in Maple Ridge that were used to grow marijuana have been restrained or frozen under criminal proceeds legislation, while three others including a business are awaiting decisions from Crown. A house that held a marijuana grow operation and a "crack shack" are also being pursued under the Civil Forfeiture Act. [continues 606 words]
B.C. Corrections is investigating the death of an inmate at a Maple Ridge men's prison. Ridge Meadows RCMP were called to the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre Oct. 19 around 7 p.m. after a 32-year-old man passed away from a suspected drug overdose. B.C. Coroner Vincent Stancato said a full autopsy has been conducted on the man, but final results of toxicology tests are still pending. A cause of death will not be determined until those results are received. [continues 179 words]
Medical marijuana advocate Michelle Rainey died Wednesday night from cancer, which she had been battling for more than a year. The 39-year-old passed away at her home in Maple Ridge with her husband, Jeff Tek, and her mother Emilie at her side. "The drug and peace movement has lost a warrior," said her friend and fellow activist David Malmo-Levine. Rainey was receiving high doses of an experimental tumour-fighting cannabis treatment to fight melanoma and lymphatic cancer when she died. [continues 375 words]
People who grow medical marijuana for others better move out of Pitt Meadows. Council gave fourth reading Tuesday to a bylaw amendment that prohibits growing the plant for medicinal use in residential and agricultural zones. The city is among the first in Canada to use a municipal bylaw to thwart an activity that's sanctioned under federal law. Growing medical marijuana for personal use will still be permitted in the city, but growing for others as a home-based business will not be allowed. [continues 272 words]
The City of Pitt Meadows is on its way to banning medical marijuana grow operations. Council gave third reading to a bylaw amendment Tuesday to prohibit growing the plant for medicinal use in residential and agricultural zones. The city is among the first in Canada to use a municipal bylaw to thwart an activity that's sanctioned under federal law. Growing medical marijuana for personal use will still be permitted in the city, but growing for others as a home-based business will not be allowed. [continues 200 words]
Two people who grow medical marijuana in a house in Pitt Meadows are vowing to fight the city as it amends a bylaw to shut their operation down. In a cul-de-sac at the end of a quiet residential street, the pair have just harvested a third crop of 98 plants for a woman who suffers from leukemia. She uses marijuana to control pain by turning it into a tea and blending it with spaghetti sauce. "We are willing to fight," said Shannon Rowe, who has a Designated-Person Production Licence from Health Canada - a permit that allows her to grow legal pot. [continues 695 words]
The City of Pitt Meadows is making sure people who grow medical marijuana for others can't set up within its borders. Council gave two readings to an amendment to its land use bylaw Tuesday. The change prohibits growing the plant for medicinal use in residential and agricultural zones. The city is one of the first in Canada to use a municipal bylaw to thwart an activity that's allowed under federal regulations. "We don't have to just accept these," said Pitt Meadows director of operations Kim Grout. [continues 287 words]
If the mayor of Maple Ridge had his way, marijuana would regulated and taxed. "In Ernie's perfect world, it would be dispensed from a pharmacy just like all other medicine," said Ernie Daykin, after a meeting Tuesday with the director of the Always Growing Green Society, Michael Joinson, and marijuana activists Dana Larsen and Jacob Hunter. The sit-down with Daykin and district staff was organized after The Always Growing Green Society opened Taggs Medical Cannabis Dispensary on 224th Street, without warning, last week. [continues 349 words]
A dispensary to distribute medicinal marijuana in Maple Ridge opened its doors to its first customers Tuesday. In the first half-hour of an open house the previous day, eight people signed up to become members of the Taggs Medical Cannabis Dispensary, operated by the newly-formed non-profit Always Growing Green Society. All members of the dispensary must have documentation from Health Canada or a registered physician to use its services. Dale Sharp was one of the first to walk through the dispensary's door and quickly filled out the forms that will allow him to purchase medical marijuana at the 224th Street location. [continues 705 words]
The non-profit society that opened a medicinal marijuana dispensary in Maple Ridge this week will meet with the mayor. Michael Joinson, director of The Always Growing Green Society, said a sit-down with Ernie Daykin has been scheduled for Tuesday. Joinson will be joined by Dana Larsen, a founding member of the Marijuana Party of Canada and B.C. Marijuana Party, and Jacob Hunter, policy director with the End Prohibition Foundation. "We are going to explain to him how the dispensary works, who we serve, our rules and regulations," Joinson said. [continues 331 words]
The amount of drugs seized in a Maple Ridge men's prison has decreased following changes made after an inmate died of an overdose in 2008. There were only two seizures of cocaine in 2009 at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre on 256th Street, compared to four in 2008, Heroin seizures increased slightly to three in 2009 over two in 2008. The most dramatic drop involves marijuana, with 39 incidents recorded in 2009, compared to 58 in 2008. There is no upward trend in the presence of narcotics in Fraser regional, said B.C. Corrections spokesperson Marnie Mayhew, but in fact a downward trend. [continues 325 words]
Somewhere in a quiet corner of Maple Ridge or Pitt Meadows, a cannabis crop is being harvested right now, legally. The half-dozen or so known local growers are a select bunch of 4,869 people in Canada authorized to possess the narcotic plant under Marihuana Medical Access Regulations. "Cannabis isn't for everybody, but patients are entitled to pick and choose their own medicine," said Michelle Rainey, a Maple Ridge resident and vice-president of the B.C. Marijuana Party. [continues 1221 words]
Residents of a downtown Maple Ridge neighbourhood want a "crime-free" sign immediately removed from a building they allege is the antithesis of the label. The Crime Free Multi-Housing board remains on the side of Pinegrove Apartments, on 224th Street near St. Anne's, despite the complex not meeting the program's requirements for 2009. "That's signs got to come down," said Bill Turner, who manages the Maple Inn across the street, which also participates in the crime-free housing program. [continues 531 words]
Thirty eight people were arrested by police in a four-week operation that targeted the sex trade in downtown Maple Ridge. Ridge Meadows RCMP's Street Enforcement Unit and undercover officers from E Division headquarters conducted the sting, resulting in charges of communication for the purpose of prostitution against 23 women. The 15 men arrested will be diverted to the prostitution offenders program, or "John school," run by the John Howard Society. "This is the third or fourth time Ridge Meadows RCMP have tackled this problem in the last two years," said RCMP Superintendent Dave Walsh. [continues 110 words]
Maple Ridge's Matrix program for youth battling drug and alcohol addiction will be shut down next month as the Fraser Health Authority tightens spending in an attempt to balance its budget. The program offers drug counselling, detox, practical support, post-acute withdrawal support and aftercare to youth under 24 years old in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Originally launched as a one-year pilot project, the Matrix never received funding from Fraser Health, but used resources allotted to the Maple Ridge Treatment Centre to operate for over three years. Between 100 and 120 youth used the services annually. [continues 215 words]
District, Police Aren't Being Tough Enough Residents of a downtown Maple Ridge neighbourhood plagued by crime, drugs and prostitutes plan to take a petition to council because complaints to the district have fallen on deaf ears. Jim Osler, who manages a block of apartments near 224th Street and North Avenue, is leading the charge and appealing to the district to make the neighbourhood safer. He said a pipe bomb went off at 2 a.m. on Monday. The previous week, the streets were rocked by gun shots. [continues 556 words]
The City of Pitt Meadows will continue to clamp down on homes suspected of housing marijuana grow operations despite a court ruling that no longer allows police to accompany inspectors to the sites. Bylaws officer Leslie Elchuk said police will not go into the homes anymore. "They have been just standing on the sidewalk while we go in and do our inspections." Pitt Meadows' Public Safety Inspection Program started in Feb. 2007 and was modelled after similar programs in Surrey and Abbotsford. [continues 261 words]
Police in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows took down a record number of marijuana grow operations, dismantling a total of 20 and seizing more than 12,700 plants in the past six months. The organized sweep by the Ridge Meadows RCMP's marijuana enforcement team, comprised of three officers, has seen 23 people arrested since April and charges approved against 20 of them. "Based on numbers ... this initiative is successful," said Cpl. Ryan Schlecker. "There are numerous active investigations which should result in further grow operations being dismantled this year." [continues 219 words]
A man caught with marijuana during a traffic stop in Pitt Meadows was acquitted of a drug possession charge Friday after a provincial court judge questioned the legality of the police search. Robert Chauncey was charged with one count of drug possession in 2006 after RCMP discovered the marijuana sticking out of a garbage bag in the back of his Chevy van. The court heard that Csnt. Kim Collopy pulled Chauncey over at 4:20 p.m. on Dec. 6, 2006 on Hammond Road near Maple Meadows Way for driving without valid insurance. [continues 489 words]
An inmate at a maximum security prison in Maple Ridge claims drugs and overcrowding fueled a riot Saturday when 31 men destroyed a cell block. They were transferred out of Fraser Regional Correctional Centre that afternoon after police quelled the disturbance inside. It was the second riot at the provincial prison on 256th Street in the past six months. Union staff also blame overcrowding for the incidents, the first of which happened last August. B.C. Corrections Branch denied that the weekend disturbance started over drugs and overcrowding, but rather that three inmates were agitated over being transferred. [continues 861 words]
Maple Ridge prisons will have to find more room for drug traffickers if new mandatory minimum sentences announced by the federal Conservative government on Tuesday are enacted. The new bill, unveiled by Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, is designed to impose tougher sentences on people profiting from organized crime and violence under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The changes will see a one-year mandatory prison sentence for selling marijuana as part of an organized criminal gang or if weapons or violence are involved. [continues 557 words]
Staff would like the City of Pitt Meadows to continue a project which eliminates residential marijuana grow operations in the community through safety inspections. In a report to council Tuesday, city bylaw inspector Leslie Elchuk said the pilot project targeted 38 homes with abnormally high electrical consumption since it began in February. Out of the 38 files, 32 homes were inspected, 17 of which showed signs of an illegal and lucrative marijuana crop. "It's been very successful," said Elchuk. Under the province's Safety Standards Amendment Act, B.C. Hydro can share domestic electrical consumption information with municipal safety authorities. [continues 204 words]
Pacing around his living room Wednesday, Richard Pitt can't believe the city's safety inspection team is late. He points to an inspection notice delivered to his home on 119 B Avenue in Pitt Meadows. The team was to arrive at 10:30 a.m. It is 45 minutes late. When two police cars, a fire department pick-up and bylaws truck pulled up in front of the house to check for an illegal marijuana grow operation, Pitt was ready. [continues 1103 words]
A poster identifying a house in central Maple Ridge as a crack den was posted on a hedge at the property Wednesday by frustrated neighbours. The home on 117th Avenue near Ridge Meadows Hospital was raided by RCMP in March last year after neighbours provided investigators with crucial tips. Police arrested three women and two men at the house alleged to be the base of a dial-a-dope operation. A pound of pure rock cocaine, a large zip-lock bag of marijuana, packaged crack cocaine, powered cocaine, ecstasy and pharmaceutical drugs -- including Tylenol 3 -- were found during last year's raid. [continues 334 words]
The City of Pitt Meadows has inspected all 10 homes identified as having an abnormally high electricity consumption by B.C. Hydro. The homes were targeted as part of a three month pilot project to eliminate residential marijuana grow operations in the community. City bylaw inspector Leslie Elchuk said staff will be receiving more consumption reports from B.C. Hydro in the next few weeks and inspection will begin again. No active marijuana grow operations were found in any of the homes. [continues 263 words]
The owner of a rental home in Pitt Meadows is protesting a $3,200 bill and a no-occupancy notice issued by the city after a bylaws team inspected it for abnormally high energy consumption. Inspectors posted the no-occupancy notice at a house on 119 Avenue last week. They found "numerous plumbing electrical and building renovations done without a permit" at the home. Todd Listwin, who owns the house, said he found out about the inspection after receiving a $3,200 bill for the inspection. The house was being rented out by Listwin. He had hired a property manager to screen tenants and collect rent. [continues 431 words]
The owner of a property which housed a methamphetamine and ecstasy lab has been billed close to $100,000 by the District of Maple Ridge. But the bill hasn't been paid yet, nor has anyone been charged in connection with the meth lab. The clean-up bill is the largest issued by the district since its grow operation, health, nuisance and safety bylaw was crafted in 2004. "It's a first for us," said bylaws manager Brock McDonald. Under the bylaw, property owners must pay all costs incurred by the municipality while dismantling drug labs or marijuana grow operations. The bill will be tacked onto the owner's property taxes but McDonald said he will be discussing details with the owner next week. [continues 298 words]
The Maple Ridge crystal meth task force is expanding its mandate to include all addictions and mental illness. Doing so doesn't mean a name change for the group, which formed in 2004 to tackle a surge in crystal meth addiction among homeless people and youth in the community. "I think that would create serious problems if we change the name of the task force that has been funded provincially," said task force chair Mary Robson. Since forming three years ago, the task force has found that many clients suffer from a mental illness and that their addictions span several drugs. [continues 331 words]
Ridge Meadows RCMP continue to fax search warrant applications for approval by a judicial justice of the peace to Burnaby despite a provincial court ruling last month that the practice is unlawful. Judge Ellen Gordon said the Criminal Code requires police officers to personally appear in front of a judge or justice of the peace to explain their application unless there is no other practical way to obtain a warrant except by using a fax. Gordon's comments were made during a trial that saw an accused marijuana grower acquitted after an RCMP officer obtained a search warrant by fax. [continues 437 words]
Anita closes her eyes to describe her son. Squeezing them tight, she paints his face: dark, almond-shaped eyes; cocoa skin; a slender nose; loose, curly black hair. "I can see him see," she says, shutting her eyes again, her mouth curling into a smile. "He is right here in front of me. He has a huge smile and the heartiest laugh." It's been three years since her baby was whisked away by his father. He's hardly a baby anymore; he's six years, she says. [continues 820 words]
Thumping bass, double entendres, the occasional bleep and hip-hop made the message stick. Fourteen-year-old Gordie Whitehouse remembers one nasty fact about the corrosive quality of meth. "I was surprised that it could melt a stick," said the Maple Ridge secondary student. Cranked is a hip-hop exploration of the world of crystal meth, addiction and recovery, featuring Kyle Cameron and beats by Vancouver hip-hop artists Kyprios and Stylust. The play performed by Green Thumb Theatre at Maple Ridge secondary on Thursday rapped the message home -meth is bad. [continues 223 words]
