Geoff Plant has felt for years that the prohibition of marijuana is wrong. Now that the former B.C. attorney-general is out of government, he has joined the chorus of officials and former politicians pushing for the legalization of the drug. "I have always had a problem with the idea that the state should criminalize an act which is essentially no more complex than putting a couple of seeds in your back yard, waiting a while and then, when something grows, you put it in your pocket, you chew it or you smoke it," Mr. Plant said. [continues 715 words]
"I am going to leave the marijuana debate to the federal government. It's in their sole sphere of responsibility," B.C. Premier Christy Clark told reporters after former attorneys-general call for legalization of marijuana. The chorus of voices calling for a change in the marijuana laws is growing louder in B.C. as the federal government moves in the opposite direction, advocating mandatory minimum sentences. Four former attorneys-general added their names this week to a growing list of people asking the provincial government to urge Ottawa to regulate and tax marijuana use and to abandon the mandatory minimum sentences for minor and non-violent marijuana-related offences. Others on the list include four former Vancouver mayors, the current Vancouver mayor, medical health officers across the province, several police officers and health-related academics. [continues 473 words]
Emily Grant was homeless for around six years, often sleeping in back lanes and abandoned cars and spending up to $300 a day to support a heroin and crack cocaine habit. Like her homeless addicted friends, she raised the money to buy drugs any way she could. Most of her money came from prostitution. Her friends also turned to drug dealing and theft. Ms. Grant, 28, now lives in an apartment, no longer works as a prostitute and is staying away from narcotics. Some of her friends have also moved off the street and away from crime, a trend reflected in statistics released earlier this week on crime in Vancouver. [continues 1087 words]
Velma Mullaney, a grandmother in her sixties, could not believe her eyes. It was shortly after 9 a.m. and as many as 10 police officers and several police cars were outside her home near Castlegar, B.C. The police told her that they believed she was operating an illegal indoor marijuana-growing operation on her 3-1/2 acre property, Ms. Mullaney said Thursday in an interview. She said she had a licence to grow 98 marijuana plants for medical purposes for herself and her partner. The plants were in pots in two rooms at the back of a workshop on the property that her grandson used for his welding business. [continues 485 words]
VANCOUVER- In the war on marijuana grow-ops, municipalities across the Lower Mainland are slapping homeowners - including those with no link to illegal drugs - with a hefty bill for an inspection of their property, saying the fees cover the costs involved. But those cost-recovery fees vary by thousands of dollars. In Mission, the bill for an inspection is $5,200, but Surrey assesses a fee of $3,200. Mission resident Stacy Gowanlock, who was given a bill for $5,200 after his property was inspected, said Tuesday he believes Mission charges more because the municipality is strapped for funds. He has been unable to find out how Mission arrives at its fee. [continues 856 words]
The B.C. NDP leadership race got off to a shaky start Wednesday, with a dust-up over whether the first person to declare his candidacy was a paid-up party member. Marijuana activist Dana Larsen held a news conference to announce his intention to campaign for the leadership. Three hours later, NDP party president Moe Sihota said Mr. Larsen was ineligible because he did not have a membership card. Mr. Larsen subsequently blamed a clerical error at NDP offices for the mix-up. [continues 748 words]
On Tuesday, California will vote on Proposition 19, an initiative to legalize, tax and regulate marijuana. If passed, it would allow people 21 years old or older to possess, cultivate or transport marijuana for personal recreational use. Legalized marijuana in California would have a profound impact across North America, with prices plummeting and jobs lost. In British Columbia alone, experts say the move would wipe out about $2-billion in exports and 20,000 jobs. But will Proposition 19 pass? Early polling found significant support for the initiative but, as election day draws nearer, the "no" side has been gaining traction. A USC/Los Angeles Times poll in the third week of October found 51 per cent of likely voters opposed to legalization and 39 per cent in support of the measure. Others polls have reported similar results. [continues 689 words]
Arrests of five men last month shows that ease of access into the U.S. can be an illusion Robert Matas - From Saturday's Globe and Mail The international boundary line here is open and unmarked, an easy walk for any smuggler. A narrow strip of grass about 225 metres wide weaves between patches of farmland and evergreen forests, 15 kilometres east of the Canada-U.S. border crossing at Huntingdon, B.C., and Sumas, Wash. A few tired fences keep the cows from wandering too far from home, but nothing really blocks people who want to try their luck at crossing the line. [continues 1003 words]
A B.C. resident has received a Health Canada licence to possess 60 grams of marijuana for daily medical use, allowing him to legally grow as many as 292 marijuana plants. The licence provides for possibly the largest quantity ever to be legalized in Canada, say lawyers in Vancouver and Toronto who have been involved in high profile marijuana-related court cases. "It's a large amount. Nobody, not even Sir Walter Raleigh, could smoke 60 marijuana cigarettes a day," Alan Young, an associate professor at Osgoode Hall law school, said Monday in an interview. [continues 769 words]
Innovative Program Run By The Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society Is Ending After 21 Years Amid Allegations Of Mismanagement And Financial Improprieties North America's first needle exchange program, run by the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society, is closing down after 21 years amid allegations of mismanagement and financial improprieties. John Turvey, a former drug addict who formed the group in Canada's most desolate neighbourhood, defied authorities in 1988 with the radical idea of dispensing clean needles to intravenous drug users with HIV/AIDS who were dying in rapidly increasing numbers. He confronted strident opposition from police and politicians who believed the unconventional service provided mostly by former addicts would encourage drug use and lead to an increasing number of contaminated needles abandoned in school grounds and neighbourhood parks. [continues 673 words]
Miracle Valley, B.C. -- Sam Mellace has possibly the most sophisticated marijuana growing operation in British Columbia. An outspoken advocate for medicinal marijuana, the former Ontario resident with a criminal record is running an industrial-style production line yielding around seven kilograms of marijuana every four to six weeks. His custom-designed building with around 250 plants in various stages of growth has been set up as a prototype to illustrate what could be done. This is the future, Mr. Mellace says. [continues 1930 words]
More than 20 people have been killed in the Vancouver region since the beginning of this year in what police describe as targeted shootings. No one has offered a suggestion for when the violence will end. But the root cause of the violence is no secret VANCOUVER -- David Banh was dead, slumped over in the driver's seat of a white SUV, when police drove into the parking lot of a pizza restaurant in East Vancouver. Less than 48 hours later, 24-year-old Lionel Tan was shot dead at a Husky gas station, about 15 minutes away from the pizza place. It looked as if he had just gotten out of his car to go into the convenience store; the engine on a silver BMW convertible near the body was still running when police arrived. [continues 1319 words]
Marijuana Grown In Countless Grow-Ops Across The Province Goes South In Exchange For Cash And Cocaine From South America VANCOUVER -- Chadrick John Derbyshire's job seemed innocuous enough. He would go to a parking lot in Aldergrove, B.C., a semi-rural community about an hour outside Vancouver, to pick up a white Dodge van with "New Life Worship Ministries" painted across its hood. He would drive the van across the Canada-U.S. border and park it for about two hours in the lot of the Sonlight Christian Reformed Church in the U.S. border town of Lynden, Wash. He would then drive the van back into Canada, drop it off where he picked it up, and leave. [continues 2218 words]
Eight Canadians, One American Arrested in Cross-Border Operation to Seize Helicopters Used to Ferry B.C. Marijuana to Trade for Cocaine VANCOUVER -- Nine people have been arrested in connection with an international drug ring that relied on helicopters to leap across the 49th parallel, taking B.C. marijuana to remote sites in the northwestern United States and bringing cocaine and cash back to Canada. Authorities seized two helicopters, around 300 kilograms of marijuana known as B.C. Bud, 83 kg of cocaine and 40,000 ecstasy pills during a cross-border investigation dubbed Operation Blade Runner. Police estimated the street value of the drugs at more than $14-million. [continues 1374 words]
VANCOUVER -- The explosion of gang violence on Vancouver streets could be stopped with the legalization and regulation of psychoactive drugs such as heroin, cocaine and marijuana, says public health professor Richard Mathias, who speaks for the Health Officers Council of British Columbia. "Anyone who is a capitalist understands, for really big rewards, you've got to be prepared to take really big risks," Prof. Mathias said yesterday in an interview. "From the gang perspective, the rewards are immense. So they are ready to take a lot of risk and do a lot of things that we would not accept, because the rewards are so great." [continues 362 words]
But they say the neighbourhood is now worse off, mostly as a result of the failure of federal, provincial and municipal governments over the past decade to keep the issue as a top priority. "At any moment, we [politicians] worry about what the press is saying," said Mr. Owen, who retired from politics in 2002. "We worry about tomorrow's media coverage and the next election. It just annoys the hell out of me," Mr. Owen said. "Most politicians want to reinvent the wheel, come up with a new idea . new names, new policies, new programs, and let's go back to wicket one," he said in a recent interview. "We should have just kept going and it did not happen." [continues 635 words]
A Globe and Mail investigation shows for the first time how much public and private money has been spent on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside since 2000: $1.4-billion. What has all that money accomplished? Limited progress at best. As Robert Matas reports, many people believe the area is worse than ever. VANCOUVER -- It has been nearly a decade since three levels of government signed a landmark agreement designed to transform Vancouver's notorious Downtown Eastside, but the neighbourhood remains a vortex that sucks in junkies, the mentally ill and other desperate souls from across the country. With a year remaining in the agreement - and the 2010 Olympics about to put Vancouver in the world's spotlight - a Globe and Mail investigation has for the first time tallied how much public and private money has been poured into Canada's worst slum. [continues 3505 words]
Number Of Fatalities Could Drop By 80 Per Cent From 10 Years Ago Provincewide As Vancouver Prepares For 2010 Olympic Games VANCOUVER -- The number of drug deaths in British Columbia has dipped to levels not seen in years 14 months before Vancouver welcomes the world to the 2010 Olympics. In a startling turnaround, the number of deaths in Vancouver as a result of a heroin overdose or the use of other illegal drugs could drop by as much as 80 per cent from the peak 10 years ago, according to preliminary statistics compiled for The Globe and Mail by the B.C. Coroners Service. [continues 691 words]
VANCOUVER -- Leopoldo Quintana Murillo likes to tell stories. He puts his whole body into it. His eyes light up and his hands wave about, the emotions spilling out as he recounts events. He lives in Vancouver, although authorities have issued an order to have him removed from Canada. He came as a refugee claiming to be on the run from the drug wars in Mexico that have taken more than 2,500 lives this year. His refugee claim was rejected, requiring him to return to his hometown of Ciudad Juarez, reportedly a transit point for 70 per cent of the cocaine going into the United States from Mexico. [continues 851 words]
VANCOUVER -- Pharmacies that offer cash incentives to drug addicts for their daily methadone prescriptions are under investigation by the B.C. College of Pharmacists and PharmaCare, the provincial government's drug-insurance plan. "I can confirm that we have an active investigation ... but I am not in a position to reveal any details," Lori DeCou, a college spokeswoman, said yesterday in an interview. Bernadette Murphy, a spokeswoman for PharmaCare, said the provincial agency was working with other authorities. "The investigation has been going on for some months," she said. [continues 492 words]
