Peer-based education, disposal, overdoses and treatment options part of new plan Drug use was a topic Melanie Sinclair hoped to avoid discussing with her kids for a few more years. But an evening visit to a Maple Ridge mall changed that. Her husband took their seven-year-old son to the bathroom and found it strangely busy. "There were people sitting on the floor in the stalls," said Sinclair. "I can guess they were using drugs." Her husband decided to use the family bathroom - usually reserved for parents with young children - and found a sharps container almost overflowing with used needles. When he informed staff about the full box, he was told it had been replaced 30 minutes earlier. [continues 516 words]
Health Canada: New Regulations Do Not Allow Storefront or Retail Distribution of Medical Marijuana It's no Subway or Supercuts, but potential franchisees may want to consider Weeds Glass & Gifts. A sign in the pot shop's front window advertising "franchise opportunities" speaks of owner Don Briere's optimism in the face of looming new regulations on the way medical pot is distributed in Canada. "We operate in a grey area right now, and we'll continue operating that way come spring," Briere told The Province on Thursday. [continues 415 words]
Seized Vehicles Offered To Police For Community Outreach It's sure to be an insult to gangster pride. Police officers could soon be behind the wheel of vehicles seized by B.C.'s civil forfeiture office. The office is inviting law enforcement agencies interested in using one of two vehicles seized as a result of their owners' involvement in the drug trade or illegal gang activity to apply to receive a two-year loan of the vehicle for use in community outreach. [continues 400 words]
The campaign to decriminalize marijuana in B.C. is getting a little help from the "marijuana millionaire." Recent lotto winner and marijuana activist Bob Erb has promised to match all donations made to the Sensible B.C. campaign to decriminalize pot in the province. Erb, a former B.C. Marijuana Party candidate, won $25 million in the Nov. 2 Lotto Max draw. He has already donated $120,000 to the Sensible B.C. campaign and now plans to match donations as the campaign prepares for a fall petition drive to force a referendum on decriminalization. [continues 233 words]
Kent Corrections Officer Allegedly Dealing Drugs A prison guard at Kent Institution could find himself on the other side of the bars after being arrested for allegedly smuggling marijuana and meth into the maximum-security jail. Forty-two-year-old Paul Fleming, of Agassiz, was arrested at Kent at 6 a.m. on Boxing Day and charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled drug, according to an RCMP news release. "The RCMP and Correctional Service Canada (CSC) have been working together throughout this investigation," said Upper Fraser Valley RCMP spokesperson Const. Tracy Wolbeck. "This partnership led to an arrest without incident, and the two agencies will continue to work together as this case moves through the court system." [continues 270 words]
A prison guard at Kent Institution could find himself on the other side of the bars after he was arrested for allegedly smuggling marijuana and meth into the maximum-security jail. Paul Fleming, 42, was arrested at Kent at 6 a.m. on Boxing Day and charged with two counts of trafficking a controlled drug, according to an RCMP news release. "The RCMP and Correctional Service Canada (CSC) have been working together throughout this investigation," said Upper Fraser Valley RCMP Const. Tracy Wolbeck. "This partnership led to an arrest without incident and the two agencies will continue to work together as this case moves through the court system." [continues 270 words]
Health experts call for repeal of bylaw against harm reduction but community is divided Pastor Ward Draper quotes Scripture and swears in the same breath. He wears his clerical collar beneath a military-style black uniform as he leads a congregation of addicts at a Saturday-night church service in Abbotsford. He dispenses communion - and crack pipes. It's tempting to call him a contradiction. But Draper is adamant: "We're bringing the church back to where it should be," he says, meaning the streets and alleys where the community's most vulnerable reside. [continues 2248 words]
35-Per-Cent Decline Shows 'People Will Die' If Dtes Facility Is Closed: Author A study published Monday in The Lancet showing a sharp drop in illicit drug overdose deaths near Vancouver's supervised injection site should put an end to the debate over its future, says the study's senior author. Dr. Thomas Kerr told The Province the peer-reviewed study clearly shows that if Insite is closed, "people will die." Coming in the middle of a federal election campaign and less than a month before a Supreme Court appeal initiated by the federal government, the study is compelling. [continues 330 words]
When it comes to addiction treatment, it seems wilderness is out, urban is in. After 50 years of treating men with drug and alcohol addictions in the forest east of Mission, the Salvation Army is closing its renowned Miracle Valley treatment centre at the end of July. "The large, non-urban treatment centre just isn't in vogue any longer," Salvation Army spokesman Maj. Brian Venables said Tuesday. Faced with steadily declining enrolment, the Salvation Army board recently made the difficult decision to shut down the Paetzold Centre - - 13 buildings on a 31-hectare site about 25 kilometres north of Mission. [continues 210 words]
A Downtown Eastside pharmacy has been ordered to close its doors amid allegations that the Vancouver shop provided cash kickbacks to addicts seeking to have methadone prescriptions filled. The AYC Pharmacy on East Hastings Street has had its licence suspended and was ordered to close indefinitely after an investigation by the College of Pharmacists, according to CBC News. The pharmacy must close by Dec. 1, but will operate on shortened hours until then so customers can find another place to fill prescriptions. [continues 227 words]
Since end of March, civil forfeiture laws have amassed $1m Glenda Luymes The Province Two high-end SUVs that are believed to have been used to deliver drugs on Vancouver Island have been seized by the province. The modified rides, worth about $60,000, are the first vehicles forfeited to the province under civil forfeiture laws. "Today's event is another reminder of the growing consequences of unlawful activity -- particularly activity that threatens public safety," provincial Pub-lic Safety Minister John van Dongen said yester-day. [continues 265 words]
First Nation Takes To Streets In Protest The residents of Leq'a:mel First Nation near Deroche are fed up with drug dealers using their land to do business. So Friday night they decided to send a strong message with a loud rally that swept past some of the problem areas and took advantage of weekend traffic along nearby Highway 7. "We're not going to stand for it," said Leq'a:mel Chief Alice Thompson. "We're going to do what we have to do to protect our children." [continues 255 words]
Is your neighbour growing the wrong kind of grass? Abbotsford plans to fight grow-ops with a campaign encouraging residents to report their suspicions to the city. "We want to increase awareness among residents so they know who to call if they think there's a grow-op in their neighbourhood," city spokeswoman Tracy Klassen said yesterday. Suspected grow-ops are inspected by a team from the city's Public Safety Inspection Division, which checks for bylaw and building code infractions and requires homeowners to bring their properties back into compliance. [continues 101 words]
Guard Faces Disciplinary Action For Alerting Social Services Hard drugs are entering prisons through an unlikely source -- babies. Children are increasingly being used as tiny drug mules as they accompany parents on jail visits, according to the Union of Canad-ian Correctional Officers. And some prisons, such as the maximum-security Kent Institution in Agassiz, are inadvertently encouraging the practice by not searching kids. "Federal penitentiaries are awash in drugs," the union's Gord Robertson said at a press conference yesterday. "We have an opportunity here to protect the most vulnerable of society's members, its children, while stopping sources of drugs in our prisons." [continues 412 words]
Just as crystal-meth addiction affects an entire community, the solution also lies in a community-based approach, according to a study commissioned by the City of Chilliwack. The recently-completed study by a group of researchers at the University College of the Fraser Valley found the best approach to the meth problem is focused on community, not just criminal issues. "That means that the education, health, social services, fire, emergency response, retail and safety sectors all have a role to play in combatting the problem," said criminology professor Darryl Plecas. [continues 132 words]
It was midnight when the two SUVs pulled up to the Pacific Highway truck crossing. One of the vehicles contained three handguns and 208 kilograms of cocaine, invisible to the casual observer and worth about $6 million wholesale. One after the other, the vehicles were waved through the same border station into Canada. It was the final moment in a 13-month joint investigation by RCMP E Division Border Integrity and the Canada Border Services Agency. [continues 429 words]
Federal Report Says We Are Hub For Drug Production, Distribution B.C. holds a prominent place in the organized crime world, according to a recent report that says the number of gangs in Canada is on the rise. The 2007 annual report by the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada indicates there are about 950 organized crime groups in the country, up from 800 in 2006. "This is significant and it reinforces our commitment to work together to detect, reduce and prevent organized crime in Canada," newly-named RCMP commissioner William Elliott said at a Calgary news conference Friday. "The good news is that we're better at identifying these groups than ever before." [continues 247 words]
Dire Warnings: Central American Crimefighters Learn From, Share Intel With B.C. Officers A prominent Guatemala City prosecutor who has seen hundreds of people killed in gang violence has a dire warning for Canadian police. "Don't wait for them to come before you fight them," Alvaro Matus said through a translator. "Once these gangs are here, it's too late. They will reproduce and grow and become out of control." Matus was among 25 prosecutors and investigators from Central America and Mexico who graduated Friday from a five-week course at the RCMP's Pacific Region Training Centre in Chilliwack. [continues 409 words]
Surrey is doubling the size of a team that fights marijuana grow-ops by inspecting homes with high electrical consumption. After 56 weeks of operation, the city's Electrical Fire Safety Initiative team has inspected more than 353 homes, disconnecting power to 263 of them. "We've been very pleased with the effectiveness of the initiative," Surrey Fire Chief Len Garis said yesterday. "In most cases, the grow-op has been removed before the inspection, but there is strong evidence that it has been there." [continues 205 words]
Foster-Care Needs Equally Critical In Vancouver An extreme shortage of foster homes in the Victoria area means drug-addicted babies are being born homeless. "Babies are being born right now with no place to go," said Erin Brule, recruitment coordinator with the Foster Parent Support Services Society. "We know that deciding to become a foster parent takes time. We don't have time. "We're in a crisis. It's a strain on the babies and our foster families." A few weeks ago, the society identified about 12 unborn Victoria-area babies who had likely been exposed to drugs in their mothers' wombs. [continues 377 words]
