Studies show controlled drug use can reduce consumption of street drugs As the opioid crisis rages on across North America, a number of recent studies are pointing to cannabis and prescription heroin as viable options in curbing the consumption of lethal street opiates, reducing long-term medical and policing costs and extending the lives of users. An analysis of opioid prescriptions in the U.S.published on Monday by the American Medical Association showed a significant decrease in opioid prescriptions in states that have adopted some sort of cannabis legislation. Using data from 2010 to 2015, the analysis counted 3.7 million fewer daily doses of opioids prescribed in states that allow weed dispensaries, while states that allow only home cultivation saw a decrease of 1.8 million daily prescribed doses. [continues 715 words]
Less than two months out from this year's rally, it appears the vast majority of the end costs will again be passed on to taxpayers While they still can't find consensus on a location, it does appear all parties with a stake in the 4/20 smoke-out at Sunset Beach seem to agree on this: organizers will have to foot little, if any, of what could be a six-figure, post-event price tag. Less than two months out from one of the city's largest and polarizing public events, the Courier reached out the Vancouver Park Board, the City of Vancouver, the Vancouver Police Department and rally organizers to assess where the annual April 20 gathering is at in terms of planning, lessons learned and the mechanics involved in the cost-recovery process. [continues 631 words]
As Canada is poised to legalize the recreational use of marijuana, readers might wonder how schools will handle the change. Will kids be legally toking up on school grounds? Will skunky smells be wafting down the halls? Definitely not. First off, it's important to note that when the recreational use of marijuana is legalized, probably later this year, it will still be illegal for minors to use or possess pot. In that regard, things won't change in schools. [continues 680 words]
Langara journalism students attended the Jan. 18 Vancouver Police Board meeting When I'm not searching for the truth, or driving my sports-crazy kids around the Lower Mainland -- or deciding whether my tea of the day should be "super green matcha" or turmeric and ginger - I sometimes impart my semi-mad journalism skills on Langara College students. And sometimes, like last Thursday, those students join me on the job. We attended a Vancouver Police Board meeting, where we heard Insp. Bill Spearn of the VPD's major crime section tell us that overdose deaths in the city are still at a crisis level - at least 335 people are suspected of dying in 2017, with more than 80 per cent of the deaths connected to fentanyl. [continues 598 words]
New government rules set 19 as minimum age to buy marijuana The provincial government announced Tuesday that the BC Liquor Distribution Branch will be the wholesale distributor of non-medical cannabis once the federal government legalizes marijuana in July 2018. The policy move by the government is in addition to new rules that state buyers and consumers of recreational marijuana must be at least 19 years old, which is consistent with current laws related to alcohol and tobacco. Mike Farnworth, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General, spoke to reporters in a conference call but would not say specifically where consumers will be able to legally buy marijuana under the new rules. [continues 542 words]
Vancouver comic Mark Hughes interviews fentanyl dealer as part of recently launched podcast Death has been a constant in Kyle's life for 25 years. It's a narrative that goes hand in hand with his lifestyle, and shows no signs of abating. Kyle - not his real name - is a fentanyl dealer. He says he's killed people with his own hands, and by extension, through his line of work. Kyle spoke to Vancouver comedian Mark Hughes as part of Hughes' recently-launched podcast called Pulling the Trigger. The Courier attempted to speak with Kyle, but he declined on more than one occasion. [continues 806 words]
Nothing seems to have the cops and local and provincial politicians scrambling more these days than their attempts to get ahead of the federal government's plans to make marijuana legal by next summer. But that should hardly be too much of distraction to allow the toker in the Prime Minister's office, the cute and clever Justin Trudeau, off the hook when it comes to effectively dealing with a more immediately critical drug issue, the opioid crisis. Yet is seems to have. [continues 650 words]
I've got to say that in my years of covering city hall, I've never seen Mayor Gregor Robertson cry. He almost did Wednesday. He shifted in his chair in council chambers, made one of those faces people make before the tears roll, then paused mid-sentence. "There's a loss of hopeĀ " The mayor was referring to the drug overdose crisis and the mounting death toll. He had just heard from city staff that 216 people in Vancouver this year have died of a suspected overdose. [continues 780 words]
Officer used the nasal spray form of the drug inside Rogers Arena A Vancouver police officer working at a Vancouver Canucks hockey game has become the first member of the department to use the overdose-reversing drug naloxone on an overdose victim. Staff Sgt. Bill Spearn of the VPD's organized crime section said the officer was working with a partner Dec. 28 at a Canucks game at Rogers Arena and noticed a commotion outside one of the gates involving a man who collapsed on the ground. [continues 755 words]
t's always nice to hear from the person in charge when you have questions about what he or she is going to do to address a problem affecting a large number of people. You may not always like the answers - or get a straight answer, for that matter - but still, it's something, right? That person in charge: Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott The problem - more of an epidemic, really: the overdose death crisis that killed 922 people in 2016, not the widely reported 914 as yours truly and others have written for more than a month. (Toxicology test results of suspected drug overdose victims continue to confirm more bad news.) [continues 526 words]
The B.C. government owns more than 25 low-income hotels in community hit hardest by overdose drug deaths Mayor Gregor Robertson is calling on the provincial government to set up drug injection rooms in all of the single-room-occupancy hotels it owns in the Downtown Eastside as another measure to prevent people from dying of a drug overdose. The provincial government owns more than 25 hotels in the Downtown Eastside, where people are dying at an alarming rate of overdoses largely linked to the deadly synthetic narcotic fentanyl. [continues 985 words]
Reducing demand for harmful drugs, working with St. Paul's Hospital to help people with mental health issues and making better use of technology are just three of the Vancouver Police Department's goals for the next five years. On Monday morning, Chief Const. Adam Palmer revealed the department's new five-year strategic plan. By focusing on the things that make people feel unsafe, the department recognizes that there are a myriad of causes. When a reporter at the press conference mentioned the "war on drugs", Palmer said that is an American term that no police departments in Canada use. [continues 410 words]
As this year draws to a close, I'm willing to bet that 12 months ago most of us had never even heard of the synthetic opioid fentanyl. The drug was developed in 1959 and has been often used in the form of a patch to relieve severe pain experienced by cancer patients. But according to the executive director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition Donald MacPherson, fentanyl and its use has become the latest "product of drug prohibition." Criminals have figured it out. An amount equal to a grain of salt when mixed with cocaine or heroin can give the addict more bang for their buck and too often have deadly effects. A package the size of your fist shipped here from China is worth a small fortune on the streets. [continues 599 words]
City has issued 854 tickets to pot shop operators More than 50 illegal marijuana dispensaries continue to operate in Vancouver despite the city issuing 854 tickets to owners who refuse to close their doors, according to new statistics provided to the Courier this week. The city has also filed 27 injunctions in court in an effort to shut down some of the 54 premises, which are operating without a business licence. The tickets are worth $250 each and, in some cases, were issued multiple times to a dispensary. [continues 1020 words]
Former Mixed-martial Arts Fighter, Ex-College Basketball Player Among Directors Of Marijuana Dispensary A personal trainer, an entrepreneur and a recent kinesiology grad are the three partners behind the city's first illegal marijuana dispensary to receive a business licence. Jesse Charn Rice-Jones, Harkrishan Singh Sidhu and Bradley James Quevillon are directors of Wealthshop Social Society, which plans to open the Wealth Shop retail dispensary next week at suite 104-4545 West 10th Ave in Point Grey. The trio hoped to keep a low profile before opening the shop but understood there would be media interest in learning more about the operators behind the city's first licensed dispensary. [continues 837 words]
The City of Vancouver issued Monday the first-ever business licence for a pot shop in the city's history to operators of a marijuana dispensary that will soon open on West 10th Avenue in Point Grey. Wealth Shop Society at suite 104-4545 West 10th Ave, which shares a parking lot with Safeway and in a complex that includes a law office, dentist and veterinarian, is a new retail dispensary and did not have an existing location in Vancouver. As of Tuesday, it had not opened for business but had set up a website that gave some insight into how it would operate. [continues 472 words]
Thought I'd give you a little more insight into the illegal marijuana dispensary revolution/battle/gong show playing out in this town. I'll focus on one block of Commercial Drive, from East 13th to East 14th. Along that stretch is the B.C. Pain Society (at East 13th and Commercial), the B.C. Compassion Club (southwest corner of East 14th and Commercial) and Stratford Hall private school (southeast corner of East 14th and Commercial). They are so close to each other that if staff from each place stood out on their sidewalks, they could wave to each other. But this trio of neighbours is not exactly chummy. [continues 709 words]
The city's push to issue business licences to illegal marijuana dispensaries got more complicated over the weekend as 23 pot shops were ticketed for defying an order to close their doors while another 22 abided by the city's deadline to shut down. To date, the city has issued 44 tickets, including 21 to three separate shops that did not participate in the city's new regulation scheme. Andreea Toma, the city's chief licensing inspector, said the city will continue enforcement this week and expects to issue more $250 tickets to pot shops that refused to shut their doors last Friday. Toma said additional tickets will be issued to those shops targeted over the weekend. [continues 565 words]
The oldest medicinal marijuana dispensary in Vancouver cleared a big hurdle Wednesday in its battle to keep its doors open for its 6,000 members and continue operating on Commercial Drive. The B.C. Compassion Club, which was founded in 1997 and moved to Commercial Drive in 1998, won its appeal Wednesday from the Board of Variance, overturning an earlier decision by the city that ruled the dispensary was too close to two schools to operate under the city's new regulations for pot shops. [continues 988 words]
Organizer of today's 4-20 protest at Sunset Beach predicts bigger events when pot legalized An organizer of today's 4-20 marijuana protest at Sunset Beach is welcoming the news that Canada's health minister announced that the Trudeau government will introduce legislation next spring to legalize marijuana. But Dana Larsen, who is a director of a non-profit that runs two marijuana dispensaries in Vancouver, said the public shouldn't expect the government's move will spell an end to the annual 4-20 events in Vancouver. [continues 454 words]
