Dear Editor, Prime Minister Harper may be a hypocrite [Prime Minister Harper gets high on hypocrisy, Oct. 16 Letters, Langley Advance], but we must remember that 5.5 million people went to the trouble of actually voting Conservative in the last election. I, for one, was surprised to find that there were that many NASCAR fans in Canada, but the point is, it is those people we should be blaming for this mess. Canadians stay home in droves on election day, and the ones who do vote repeatedly elect prohibitionist hacks who tell them that only more prohibition can solve the problems caused by prohibition. [continues 91 words]
Dear Editor, I should like to know why the sale of drugs is not legalized. I am not now and have never been a drug user - thank goodness. But I admit to having used alcohol to excess in my younger days. During prohibition in the United States, the sale of booze flourished, and the underworld grew wealthy. People who wished to drink were determined to do so. Kingpins like Al Capone waxed wealthy by supplying the product that the public wanted. How does this situation differ from the present day drug trade? [continues 123 words]
Dear Editor, In case you haven't heard, Stephen Harper gets high with a little help from his friends. Prime Minister Harper surprised a crowd of deep-pocketed potential campaign donors on Oct. 3, singing the Beatles classic and, I must admit, it was both a decent singing job, as well as a brilliantly staged political stunt. Give the devil his due, Harper is a brilliant politician. The typical Stephen Harper supporter, unable to form an independent thought or analyze anything themselves, likely loved the performance and think that Harper is a really cool, personable guy. [continues 113 words]
Dear Editor, Oh, how I laughed this morning. I always do when I receive Conservative propaganda in the mail. The latest waste of paper from Langley MP Mark Warawa is the most egregious one yet. It includes several attempts at wedge issues and smoke-screens, and plenty of other cookie-cutter, cut-and-paste talking points. I don't blame Mr. Warawa for not coming up with anything original, as I don't believe he has ever come up with an original thought. I don't think it is an honourable thing to act as nothing more than Stephen Harper's echo, however I won't fault someone who has limited capacity for not achieving greatness. [continues 191 words]
After months of petty crime, a problem house has been shut down in the City. Months of phone calls to the police and complaints to Langley City hall bore fruit for the residents of one local cul-de-sac this week. City bylaw officials, accompanied by firefighters and Langley RCMP officers, put "Do Not Occupy" notices on a house that neighbours say has been the home of petty thieves and drug dealers for months. "It's all going quite well," said a neighbour who asked not to be named. "I'm pretty happy with the way police have handled it." [continues 275 words]
Dear Editor, Marc Emery is prepared next Monday to surrender to US authorities to face at least 5 years in prison south of the border. His crime? The U.S. government claims it is because he sold marijuana seeds to U.S. citizens. However, hundreds of companies do the same thing. The real reason is that legalizing marijuana has more support than ever, and in order to stop this movement, they decided to arrest the most visible leader and financier of the legalization movement. [continues 287 words]
Dear Editor, Stephen Harper has taken another step towards being declared the worst prime minister in our country's history. Mr. Harper appointed eight new puppets in the Senate, one the illiterate hockey coach Jacque Demers, another the husband of Human Resources Minister Diane Finley, and he stands to appoint more later this year. For someone who holds the position that senators should be elected, and once called the senate a "dumping ground" for political cronies, he sure seems to enjoy appointing his own cronies. This is a significant story because the huge omnibus crime bill that has passed in Parliament, and is waiting on the Senate's to-do list, has been under serious scrutiny from those of us who have actually looked at it. [continues 305 words]
Dear Editor, After already appointing a climate change denier and a creationist who believes the earth is 5,000 years old to important scientific positions within his administration, Stephen Harper has officially crossed the line. He appointed evangelical pastor Chris Summerville to head a committee to study the "link" between marijuana and schizophrenia. Mr. Summerville, the interim CEO of the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, is not a medical doctor and has no background in science. He has mental health issues and is a creationist and a biblical literalist who once said, "Satan will use any opportunity to attack, including mental illness." [continues 154 words]
Dear Editor, The War On Certain Drugs has expanded to the point that the cops have started looting [Police lay claim to grass house, June 30, Langley Advance]. Just look at the United States, where these property seizure laws are being routinely abused. Soon, they will have the power to steal your stuff, based on suspicion, not a conviction. Then what? How much more power are we going to give these rogues? Russell Barth, Nepean, Ont. [end]
A Guard Who Worked At The Aldergrove Border Crossing Is Wanted By American Authorities. An Aldergrove border guard faces charges of conspiracy to smuggle drugs in the United States, and may face extradition. An arrest warrant for Jasbir Singh Grewal was issued in a Seattle courtroom two weeks ago. Grewal is accused of allowing at least 12 large shipments of cocaine concealed in motor homes to cross into B.C. from Washington state through the Aldergrove crossing. A grand jury indictment indicates Grewal is charged with conspiracy to export cocaine, allegedly in partnership with several others. [continues 582 words]
Dear Editor, Langley MP Mark Warawa and the Conservatives are again engaging in retail politics, rather than using our taxes wisely. Despite more than half of Canadians feeling that pot should be privatized, the Conservatives insist that taxpayers should fork out hundreds of millions of dollars to pay for more prisons, judges, and police to prosecute pot smokers and small growers. Yet, nearly every expert recognizes that organized gangs will continue to make billions in tax free profits. Bill C-15, recently supported by Mark Warawa, sets minimum prison sentences of six months in jail for someone who grows as few as five pot plants. This will further clog up our courts and result in longer waits to try dangerous offenders such as the Bacon brothers, while forcing the provinces to build more remand centres in our communities. [continues 132 words]
Dear Editor, Prior to the last election, Stephen Harper introduced legislation which would give a six-month mandatory minimum sentence to anyone caught growing even as little as one marijuana plant. The opposition to mandatory minimum sentences from prosecutors, defence attorneys, judges, criminologists, and virtually everybody who has a working set of eyes from which to view the evidence is staggering. The legislation died when the last election was called, but the Harper government felt marijuana is such a problem that they must reintroduce the bill, which has just recently passed successfully. [continues 184 words]
Dear Editor, "Those people who say that we're not winning the war on drugs... that is just rubbish," said Plecas [Gangs waning, says Plecas, May 29, Langley Advance]. This nincompoop Plecas really gets on my nerves. By "those people," he must mean the thousands of scientists and historians who have proven time and time again that prohibition is more harmful to society than the drugs they prohibit, and that the best way to fix the problem is to regulate drugs. But typical prohibitionist balderdash dictates that, even if all the evidence shows differently, admit that you are wrong. Russell Barth, Federally Licensed Medical Marijuana User [end]
Dear Editor, Concerning the Abbotsford connection to the Fraser Valley "drug war," we see our municipality, along with others from Chilliwack to Vancouver, trying to pay for the countermeasures to protect their citizens. Taxes are up, but insufficient. All are asking for help from the province, the province from the federal. Bottom line: we, the taxpayers, pay. This taxpayer, like many others, is asking "just how did we get in this mess?" This time we cannot blame the "new Canadians." Most of the casualties and the targets are home-grown products of our own education system. [continues 138 words]
Dear Editor, In the fight against gun violence, James Charles [Canada's soldiers needed at home, April 3 Letters, Langley Advance] is basically advocating marital law - something I am sure the Tory government and RCMP would love to implement. This policy would mean a further suppression of the civil rights and liberties of regular Canadians, all to save us from the dangers caused by the prohibition of drugs. Meanwhile, our soldier's counter-narcotics efforts in Afghanistan are keeping the value of hashish and opium artificially high, which subsidizes the "bad guys," who use that money and influence to undermine all of the other positive work our soldiers are doing. The problem is drug prohibition, and it needs to end immediately, not be increased with more cops and soldiers. Russell Barth, Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis [end]
The chemicals left by meth makers can wipe out fish if spilled into streams. It happens a handful of times a year. Langley Township staff will get a call about suspicious containers dumped at the side of the road. All too often, the pails or drums turn out to contain noxious chemicals dumped by drug dealers. The production of addictive crystal meth results in a host of toxic by-products. Drug dealers don't get rid of them properly; they dump them in parks, by roads, and on rural properties in the dead of night. [continues 405 words]
Dear Editor, I wish that that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was deeply troubled with the automatic gun fire on the streets of greater Vancouver and elsewhere across Canada. In fact, I wish Harper was so deeply troubled with the violence and death across Canada attributed to drugs and lawlessness that he would bring our troops home from Afghanistan. The money saved could then be spent here on crime control and prevention. James Charles Langley [end]
City Council Modifies Its Policy On Hemp Products. Langley City was the only presence at a public hearing to change the municipality's zoning bylaws and remove the hemp restriction. Just before Monday's regular council meeting, the City held a public hearing to allow people to have input into the proposed change. The policy amendment was unique in that the City was the applicant asking for the change after it found a municipality could not restrict the sales of this legal product. [continues 115 words]
More than 200 litres of liquid had leaked from broken containers, but quick response minimized damage, police say Police, firefighters and the B.C. Ministry of the Environment had to clean up a mess left by drug dealers on the edge of Derby Reach Regional Park on Friday. A park employee found the dump site, in the 10700 block of Allard Crescent, said Staff Sgt. Mike Harding of the RCMP Drug Enforcement Branch. The drums and pails, some of them broken and spilling, had been left there overnight. About 200 litres of toxic waste had been spilled onto the ground. [continues 106 words]
Dear Editor, You forgot one choice in your poll on how to curb gang violence [Advance Poll, www.langleyadvance.com], and that is to legalize drugs and get the profit out of the gang's hands. That would be my choice. Kevin Bracken Langley [end]
Dear Editor, The Langley Advance owes it to readers to investigate assertions made by the BCAA's Traffic Safety Foundation regarding driving and cannabis (marijuana) use [Alcohol and drugs are a volatile cocktail, Dec. 16, Langley Advance]. Many responsible cannabis users may be skeptical about what is considered "detected" cannabis. Prohibitionists, law enforcement agencies, and government know cannabis use may be detected from over a week ago, yet use trace amounts of detected THC to discriminate against responsible users. Of those 14 per cent of drivers involved in fatal crashes who had marijuana in their systems, how many were honestly too high to drive safely? [continues 145 words]
It won't be until 2009 that a decision is made on the special teams. Township lawyers are still trying to decide whether the Public Safety Inspection Teams will start operations again in the new year. "We don't have a full report yet from our legal counsel," said Township fire chief Doug Wade. A decision is expected in the first quarter of 2009, Wade said. The teams, also known as PSIT, include Township bylaw officers and RCMP officers. They were created to use safety inspections to target homes suspected of harbouring marijuana grow operations. [continues 231 words]
BCAA's Traffic Safety Foundation offers some very real statistics. Impaired drivers cost the B.C. economy $1.6 billion annually. That startling statistic says little about personal injuries and death, too often the aftermath of impaired driving. Allan Lamb, executive director of the BC Automobile Association Traffic Safety Foundation, would like to get all drivers under the influence off the roads this holiday season. According to Lamb, carnage due to impaired driving is on the rise. "One in five people in B.C. admit to driving after drinking and a third of all motor vehicle fatalities are alcohol-related," he said. [continues 188 words]
Langley City's anti-hemp bylaw isn't as cut and dried as it used to be. Langley City's bylaw restricting the sale of hemp products could soon go up in smoke. City council has asked it staff to review the bylaw, in light of an autumn spat between the municipality and Hempyz, a small downtown store that sold a few health and beauty products containing hemp, along with gifts and novelty items emblazoned with pot leaves. The City initially refused to give owner Randy Caine a business licence, saying the bylaw only allows products containing hemp - a plant related to marijuana - to be sold in specifically zoned areas, including Willowbrook Shopping Centre. But other downtown stores also sell a few hemp-related items. Hemp and its derivatives can used for fabric, cosmetics, lotions, paper, fuel, food, and even biodegradable plastics. It is in the same plant family as marijuana but doesn't contain pot's active ingredient, THC. [continues 171 words]
Bing, bong. City inspectors will come calling, on the hunt for illegal drug paraphernalia. Langley City staff will be looking for the devices used for drugs. The City will be doing inspections of retailers to ensure they are complying with the 2006 bylaw that prohibits the sale of drug paraphernalia. In June 2006, City council adopted the Drug Paraphernalia bylaw (no. 2624) regulating the sale of drug paraphernalia as a crime prevention strategy. "To date, the response from City businesses to this bylaw has been excellent," said administrator Francis Cheung. "In order to maintain this positive record of compliance and reinforce the significance of the bylaw, City officials will be conducting inspections of businesses to ensure compliance." [continues 136 words]
Once the smoke cleared in the fight between the City and a hemp store, the owner got his licence. A Langley City employee hand delivered a business licence to Hempyz store late Thursday afternoon. Owner Randy Caine said once he and the City came to an agreement that he would not sell hemp products, City staff assisted him in reapplying, and the licence was quickly approved. "I was dealt with really fairly," the long-time Langley resident said. He came up against City zoning that didn't allow hemp products to be sold anywhere other than Willowbrook Shopping Centre. The City issued a $100 bylaw infraction ticket, but has since voided it. [continues 81 words]
Dear Editor, I have been reading with interest the trouble that Randy Caine is having with his new store "Hempyz" in Langley City. Langley City officials seem to have something personal against the man, since they are only requesting that he stop selling items made from hemp, and not requesting any of the other stores in Langley City that are selling hemp products to remove similar items. Now, I must say, I do not smoke anything of any kind, and do not approve of legalizing marijuana, except for medical use. But I am in favour of using the hemp plant for all its benefits as I detail below. [continues 520 words]
Stop selling hemp products. That's the solution offered gift and novelty store owner Randy Caine if he wants to keep Hempyz open downtown. On Monday, a package arrived from Langley City's law firm, Woodward Walker, ordering him to stop selling hemp products. Caine's new store at 20505 Fraser Hwy. sells a few bath and body items containing hemp, such as lotion. "If I remove those from the store, I would be able to re-apply [for a business licence]," Caine said the lawyers letter said. [continues 301 words]
Dear Editor, Were I to write to Mayor Peter Fassbender, this is what I would say: "High," Pete, I am very curious to learn what the City deems to be a hemp product, and how I, as a concerned citizen, can give you a hand in getting rid of every darn thing that contains that demon drug - or are there bylaws that forbid me from purchasing any demon hemp soaps, ropes, body sprays, etc., and bringing them to you so together we can finally rid our community of all this stuff. [continues 206 words]
Dear Editor, Mayor Peter Fassbender's comments, "from a personnal point of view, I do not want to see this kind of business in our downtown core [Store owner has 'leaf' to appeal, Oct. 28, Langley Advance]," are laughable, and send chills down my spine. During his stroll, could he not see the real problems in the area? I have lived in the Langleys for more than 20 years, and the situation in the downtown core has been in an alarming tailspin. The level of prostitution, drugs, and crime against our seniors and others has never been so serious. [continues 233 words]
A Court Decision Puts The Existence Of Public Safety Inspection Team In Peril Langley's Public Safety Inspection Team (PSIT) is once again on hold, as the Township's lawyers examine a B.C. Supreme Court decision issued this week. The decision could block RCMP officers from participating in the program. "We are reviewing that, because the RCMP in our view are an integral part of the team," said Township Mayor Kurt Alberts. He doesn't want civic officials to enter suspected marijuana grow operations without a police escort. Langley's team was composed of a bylaw officer, two RCMP officers, an electrical inspector, a clerical worker and a firefighter. [continues 537 words]
Raise your hands everyone who loves freedom of speech. Whoa! Not so fast, Langley City Mayor Peter Fassbender! Put that hand down again. Fassbender apparently opposes the right of people to sell (or purchase) items that glorify marijuana. He's come out swinging against a store about to open up downtown. This store will not sell illicit drugs - at least, that's not the owner's stated intention. It is to sell the goofy pot kitsch that teenagers and twentysomethings like to plaster on their cars and bedroom walls. Bumper stickers and mugs, T-shirts and bath products. [continues 580 words]
Langley City turned down a business licence for a store selling items adorned with pot leaves. A 300-square-foot store downtown has sparked a fight between its owner and Langley City. Randy Caine applied to open a retail novelty and gift shop called Hempyz. The shop includes some bath and beauty items containing hemp derivatives, but the common theme of the store is the pot leaf that can be seen on the cards, T-shirts, rugs, jewelry, lighters and more. [continues 841 words]
All five men running for Langley's federal riding were able to attend. Crime was a central theme at the all-candidates forum put on at Kwantlen Polytechnic University Oct. 1. The school's criminology department organized the meeting that attracted about 175 people and was moderated by the CBC's Mark Forsythe, a Fort Langley resident. While some audience members asked the candidates what they would do to get tough on crime, others questioned what the parties would do since longer jail sentences don't serve as a deterrent. They were also asked about reintegrating people into the community. [continues 331 words]
The Audience Has A Role To Play In The Show Shattering. The people acting in a new play coming to Langley this week know their subject matter inside and out. They should. The play is about addiction and they have all struggled with it. Now they are performing in Shattering, a show being staged by Headlines Theatre of Vancouver. After a week of shows in Vancouver, Shattering hits the road for a tour of B.C., Alberta, and Saskatchewan between now and the early December. [continues 300 words]
Dear Editor, Jack Layton missed a golden opportunity to embrace the use of pot by the NDP candidates that landed them in pot water. Legalized pot as a platform plank will energize millions of voters. I have neighbours who fall into a couple of categories... either they have illegal grow-ops, or they make their own wine and beer as a hobby. Fields of hops and vineyards are compatible crops in our area only because society has moved away from prohibition and restrictions on home-made booze. [continues 305 words]
Pot growing operations will likely soon be under PSIT scrutiny once again. The Public Safety Inspection Teams will be back on duty soon, after being shut down following a theft accusation against a Township firefighter in the spring. "We expect they'll be up and running again in the fall," said Township Mayor Kurt Alberts. In early May, there was an accusation made that a Township firefighter on the team had stolen a halogen worklight and two batteries from one of the homes being inspected. [continues 414 words]
The Township Wants Its Costs Paid After A Clean Up. The owner of a house that concealed a methamphetamine lab are being asked to pay for the cost of cleaning out the building. Langley Township has sent a demand letter to the owner of a house in Brookswood, asking for $60,000 to $65,000 in costs. The Township had to clean up the building just to make it safe in the wake of a raid by RCMP in October last year. The money represents that work and the cost of inspection visits, said Township administrator Mark Bakken. [continues 272 words]
The municipal team does not arrest growers, but forces them to move on. Langley's Safety Inspection Team has been moving at a faster pace than anyone expected in the past year. On Tuesday, Township Mayor Kurt Alberts told the Chamber of Commerce that the teams have shut down 217 marijuana grow operations. "That's three to five per week," Alberts said. In fact, by later in the week the number had already increased. The Inspection Team started as a six-month pilot project, but has proved so successful that it has been expanded into a full time operation. [continues 666 words]
Dear Editor, On the west coast, as of April Fool's day (how appropriate!), there is a complete ban of legal smoking in public places, bars, and elsewhere. In the meantime, in Vancouver, taxpayers will continue to supply and support drug addicts with their deadly drugs at safe injection sites. Makes sense to me! James Charles, Langley [end]
Children's health and safety is at stake when they grow up in drug houses, Bateman said. When Langley Township's Public Safety Inspection Teams visit a local home, they often find evidence of drugs. All too frequently, they also find toys and playpens. Township Councillor Jordan Bateman said he was disturbed by a recent memo from the PSIT. The teams are composed of bylaw officers, police officers and firefighters, using unusual power consumption patterns to locate pot grows. The memo, which listed the 158 marijuana grow ops the team had found during the previous six months, also noticed evidence of children in the homes in 36 cases. [continues 394 words]
A Langley couple got a scare when ski-masked bandits mistook them for somebody else. A couple living in rural Langley was shaken up when three armed men ambushed them Monday night in a case of mistaken identity, police say. The man and woman, tenants on the property in the 5300-block of 256th Street, pulled into their driveway at about 11 p.m., said RCMP Cpl. Peter Thiessen. Three men wearing black ski masks and holding pistols jumped from the bushes at the end of the driveway, causing the driver to step on the brakes. [continues 144 words]
Dear Editor, I'm sure Lori McPhee means well in supporting DARE [Painter accepts a DARE to help fundraise, Feb. 29, Langley Advance]. However, nearly every study, including government studies, shows DARE - including the revamped model - is a failure and may be causing more drug use than no program at all would. One reason DARE fails is because it teaches lies, half truths, and discredited reefer madness propaganda. One example: when youth finds out cannabis (marijuana) is less harmful and addictive than taught, they think truly hard drugs are also not so addictive, causing grave results. Contributing to DARE perpetuates failure; art should be donated and money should be spent on honest programs proven effective at protecting children. Stan White, Dillon, Colorado, USA [end]
Dear Editor, Lori McPhee [Painter accepts a DARE to help fundraiser, Feb. 29, Langley Advance] should be lending her efforts to more effective and truth-driven education programs like Educators For Sensible Drug Policy or Canadian Students For Sensible Drug Policy. Those programs teach the facts about drugs and drug laws, without all the quasi-moralistic preaching, bias, and spin of programs like DARE. Federal Medical Marijuana License Holders like myself find the fact that taxpayers' dollars are used to send in the RCMP - instead of nurses or teachers - to teach kids about drugs sickening and obscene. DARE uses junk science, fear-mongering, hyperbole, blackmail, and bribery in its effort to indoctrinate kids against certain drugs. They teach fealty and obedience, rather than free will and wise choices. [continues 177 words]
Original Art Is Helping The Anti-Drug Program Offered In Langley Schools. A Langley artist has accepted the dare to help raise money for an anti-drug education program. Lori McPhee has donated her painting Playing Safely in the Streets to help James Kennedy Elementary raise money for activities such as the Drug Awareness and Resistance Education (DARE) program and the playground - the extras not funded by the province. About four years ago, she created her musician motif and has been doing a series. The style has been described as contemporary with graphic elements. [continues 486 words]
Dear Editor, I realize there is a great need for the Gateway of Hope facility in Langley. My only concern is the proposed location. Every day, I see young people arriving at Dumais Park to buy drugs. They buy drugs from dealers who come and go in vehicles. The walkway from 207th Street to the creek is a haven for young people smoking drugs of various kinds. I fear the flow of dealers will increase. There is no lighting in that area. Most homes nearby are owned by the elderly. A facility like Gateway has the potential to attract both drug dealers and buyers, putting our citizens increasingly in the path of such unsavory and illegal activities. There are better locations in Langley for this much-needed facility. Locating Gateway in an area nearer to warehouses or commercial properties would be more appropriate. Locating it within arm's reach of people's backyards and homes is unacceptable. Shirley Tataryn, Langley [end]
Dear Editor, It was my understanding the initial premise of the PSIT team was to investigate electrical/fire safety hazards in homes where there was unusually high electrical consumption. Correcting safety hazards and displacing or discouraging grow-ops sounds great. Who wouldn't support the program? If the team found a grow-op, it would be left to the RCMP; if they found electrical hazards, they would issue corrective instructions or disconnect the meter if there was an immediate danger of fire or explosion. [continues 400 words]
Another person may be charged after a heavily armed meth lab was found earlier this month. Langley RCMP will be closely watching a house where drugs, guns and stolen property were found earlier this month, but few charges have been laid. "There weren't as many charges as in a perfect world we would have liked to have pursued," said Insp. Richard Konarski of the Langley RCMP detachment. On Oct. 16, police following a suspected car thief arrived at the south Brookswood home. Searches uncovered methamphetamine being made on a stove, rifles, pistols, a machine pistol, and a sawed off shotgun, and stolen vehicles. One man, who was tailed to the home in a stolen car, has already been charged with possession of stolen property. [continues 159 words]
A six-month public safety initiative that has been a thorn in the side of marijuana growers has received an extension. A specialized community safety team that has been putting marijuana growers out of business will continue working for another two years. The Public Safety Inspection Team (PSIT) was given a two-year extension by Langley Township Council on Oct. 15. PSIT is made up of a fire inspector, two RCMP officers, an electrical advisor, a bylaw inspector, and clerical support staff. It investigates premises where excessive use of electricity has been noticed, and shuts down dangerous power sources. [continues 557 words]
A Hundred Marijuana Grow Operations In The Township Have Been Nipped In The Bud. Specialized grow-op dismantling teams have started popping up in Langley during the past few months, forced into existence as a means of protecting expensive marijuana crops and equipment. In the past three months, a new public safety inspection (PSI) team has visited 100 homes within the Township that record higher than normal hydro consumption. Of the 100 homes inspected so far, the team found evidence in 100 per cent of the cases that a grow-op had recently existed, explained Township fire chief Doug Wade. [continues 579 words]
