Call off B.C.'s police from busting folks with pot for personal use, then lobby Ottawa to legalize and tax marijuana. That's basically the three-year, two-step plan being pitched by decriminalization advocate Dana Larsen who's visiting the Cowichan Library Monday at 6 p.m., then Mill Bay's Kerry Park Recreation Centre Tuesday at 7 p.m. Pivotal to Larsen's push - called Sensible BC - is the province's Sensible Policing Act. It could order all B.C. cops to stop spending time or resources searching, seizing or arresting anyone for simple cannabis possession, explained the director of Vancouver's Medical Cannabis Dispensary. [continues 286 words]
Opposition forces seem poised to make a push for reform in Canada's marijuana laws. But no one's expecting the federal government to respond any time soon. The federal Liberals recently adopted cannabis legalization as an official party policy, while that, or decriminalization, has the support of most federal NDP leadership candidates. But former Cowichan Tory hopeful John Kory doubted dope would be legalized by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's current Conservative government. "That's what opposition does: they raise these issues and they get debated," he said. [continues 484 words]
Daryl (Corky) Fontana's epiphany began while looking down the barrel of a lawman's gun in the snow-covered wilds of Washington State. The Duncan homeboy's April 2010 bust, with three others hauling marijuana into the states, started a year-long emotional thaw in jail he said turned his life around. "A huge weight was lifted off my shoulders when I was arrested," he told the News Leader Pictorial in his first interview about his ordeal. "I'm so sorry for the hurt I caused those around me," said the father of three, "but I have no regrets." [continues 1085 words]
Compassionate parenting and proactive counseling about youth drug abuse -- including getting high on cold medicine -- is urged by a local youth clinician. Reg Fleming, of Vancouver Island Health Authority's Discovery Youth and Family Substance-Use Services, was concerned but not surprised about a recent spike in stoned teens reporting to Cowichan District Hospital's ER after using non-prescription cold syrups and pills. Over-the-counter remedies -- from Chloracetin 2, Tylenol and Benylin to Vicks NyQuil and Robitussin -- could contain liver-toxifying acetamenophen and/or dextromethorphan (DXM) that can harm breathing, said the CDH's Dr. Valorie Cunningham. [continues 518 words]
Thirty-five more locally rented apartments are on deck for valley folks facing mental-health and addictions issues, health authority brass said Friday. The Vancouver Island Health Authority has issued a fair-bid notice of intent to rent 35 suites for round-the-clock staffed care near Duncan's new Warmland House shelter facility on Lewis Street. That NOI closes Jan. 24. Warmland's 24 suites are now home to people struggling with mental-health and addictions problems, said Christian Martens of Canadian Mental Health Cowichan [continues 299 words]
Regional politicians want public feedback about providing public tool kits for safe disposal of used drug syringes found locally. The Cowichan Valley Regional District's Community Safety Advisory Committee recently introduced the issue. Following debate, it may back a funding application by an agency such as Social Planning Cowichan toward the public safety drive against a glut of used needles being found locally. City Mayor Phil Kent describes a community partnership among various groups that might provide tool kits for residents. [continues 306 words]
Cowichanians are generally happy with local police service despite our relatively high crime rate. That picture was painted with statistics presented to city council Monday by North Cowichan-Duncan RCMP Staff Sgt. Alain Richard. His palette held first-quarter figures about an increasing number of calls being handled by his 54 officers. Richard expects his detachment to gain four more members and reach full strength by fall. Traffic patrols and drug enforcement will continue to be the focus of his busy members who locals surveyed said are doing a pretty good job. [continues 533 words]
Don't do drugs. That phrase may be a cliche but it gained maximum meaning among 10 Valley kids recently scared straight after visiting Vancouver's drug-plagued Downtown Eastside. "What scared me most was the way people (addicts) there looked, their situation and the way they don't like what they're doing there but can't help themselves," George Bonner student Louise Nickerson, 14 said. She and her friends received Scared Straight certificates from Duncan Mayor Phil Kent on Monday. [continues 425 words]
Crystal meth will take you to hell and few live to tell about the trip. One survivor is Grace (Veronica Smith) whose experience with the toxic drug was told with heartfelt honesty and home spun frankness in last week's Light of Grace presentation in the Cowichan Theatre. Jonathan Couchman and his young cast presented their community project after three months rehearsal and probing why teens do meth and other drugs. If Light of Grace -- a product of a $20,000 grant from the Union of B.C. Municipalities -- saves just one young life, it's money well spent. [continues 181 words]
Fourteen Valley Students Visited Hell Last Week. Their Scared Straight tour of downtown Vancouver's drug-infested eastside between Thursday and Saturday made impressions on 10 hand-picked teens taking part in Duncan-North Cowichan's Breaking The Cycle program lead by Pierre Morais. Pupils' reactions to meeting and watching homeless addicts on their home turf were captured on video shot by four Cowichan secondary film students led by teacher Mike Moroz. Some tour footage will be used in Cowichan Theatre's Dec. 16 multi-media production Light of Grace while Moroz's students will edit two documentaries from their video footage that should be ready for screening in early 2007. [continues 658 words]
Safe injection sites for Cowichan's drug addicts could be a good idea if partnered with additions counseling, MLA Doug Routley says. "I support injection sites as long as they're supported by (addiction) services. Addicts who injection sites people come in contact with are more likely to access services, he said. Routley's comments follow Wednesday's News Leader feature showing crime, drug use and needle waste plaguing Duncan's Government /Cairnsmore street area. Safe syringe supply, use and disposal aside, Routley sees injection-site outreach as a proactive way to help closet addicts too. [continues 275 words]
Chronic crime and hard-drug abuse in the Government/Cairnsmore street area has some locals repeating demands for community action before push comes to shove. "In the past two weeks there's been a wave of crime happening up here again and we're finding needles around day and night," Loren Halloran, manager of Bruce's Grocery, said of a blight originally reported nearly two years ago. He and resident William Bottoms have collected a bucket of used dope syringes and other paraphernalia around Bruce's, the nearby 7-Eleven store and Duncan elementary school. [continues 553 words]
Evils of drug use will be explored at the Duncan Garage Showroom during next month's musical-comedy version of Reefer Madness. J.E. Productions' directors Maddison Popov and Brianna Wiens are using Kevin Murphy's script based on the 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film that's become a cult classic. Action turns on wayward young man Jimmy (Lindsay Robinson) who becomes demented after toking on the demon weed. "It's pretty much Happy Days meets The Rocky Horror Picture Show," says Robinson, 19. [continues 363 words]
'Breaking The Cycle' of crystal meth addiction in Duncan and North Cowichan is the aim of a program that received provincial funding last week. Duncan council leads the program and has three-quarters of $19,275 in funding from the Union of B.C. Municipalities. The rest will arrive after a report satisfies UBCM brass that the money was well spent fighting Cowichan's meth scourge. BTC involves three parts. Education components will see fall public forums -- one in Duncan, the other in Chemainus -- when professionals will explore meth addiction and recovery. Panelists may include an addictions counselor, an RCMP officer, a doctor and a recovering addict. An addictions counselor will also visit Valley schools. [continues 337 words]
Cowichan's war on crystal meth use among youths will be fought by a new addictions worker plus access to recovery beds in Nanaimo by early summer. New provincial funding for the offensive was announced Thursday by Health Minister George Abbott. Vancouver Island Health Authority's share is $1.539 million of $8 million earmarked by Victoria for crystal-meth treatment and youth addiction services. VIHA's purse will see $363,324 aimed at meth addiction plus $1.176 million more for all youth addictions such as alcohol, marijuana, crack and other drugs. [continues 298 words]
Forget hippies tripping out on peyote for kicks. The Mexican desert cactus holds supreme cultural significance to the Huichol people who depict sacred imagery gained from peyote hallucinations in their colourful art. More than 200 pieces of intricate Huichol bead and yarn art are on display at The Big E-Zee cafe in Mill Bay's Pioneer Square. That's also where importer Sunny Farrar offers an educational experience to viewers about the people who still lead traditional farming lives in the Sierra Madre area of Mexico's rugged Occidental Mountains. [continues 414 words]
The drugs may have changed but the message is the same: dope can ruin your life and your mind. That advice will be mainly applied to the rave drug crystal meth during this weekend's Cowichan Theatre improv play Crystal Diagnosis. "Our lesson is you should deal with life instead of throwing things into drugs," says Malaspina College education student Sarah Van Egmond, 19. Diagnosis explores a year in the troubled life of Julie played by Van Egmond. She's among 10 locals being led by director/narrator Steve Noble. [continues 212 words]
Cowichan cops are barely touching the roots of the Valley's growing commercial drug problem. And they won't until more resources are freed up to tackle the organized crime problem, according to North Cowichan/Duncan's top cop. RCMP Inspector Linton Robinson estimates up to 600 local grow-ops producing high-potency marijuana bud that fetches up to $4,000 a pound in the United States are active within his detachment area. "We're lucky if we know of 25 per cent of grow-ops. [continues 618 words]
Lake Cowichan Won't Likely Be Renamed Hempville. But that's the name of B.C.'s first showcase hemp mill and village still planned by Transglobal Hemp Products Corp. just outside Lake Cowichan. Spokesman Brian Johnson says since he began cultivating his vision and venture capital idea to investors two years ago, his firm has secured a deal for a five-acre site near Meade Creek with Lake landlord Dave Johel. "We've given him five figures so far," Johnson said, declining to outline financial details of his $2-million project. [continues 388 words]
