Growers Can't Find A Site, Says Lawyer The owner of a Coquitlam industrial site has ordered her tenants to stop growing medical marijuana. On Monday, council unanimously turned down Melanie Balletta's request for a temporary use permit at 970 Adair Ave. as the Maillardville property isn't in the city's special M3 zone to grow pot. Balletta, who has owned the land since 2002, told The Tri-City News Tuesday she leased the space to the designated growers in 2012, five months before council adopted the special M3 zone for growers. [continues 230 words]
Some 140 members of a compassion club that opened two months ago in Maillardville will have to go elsewhere to buy medical marijuana. This week, Coquitlam city council outlawed the Coquitlam Natural Path Society (CNPS) from operating its unlicensed dispensary on Brunette Avenue. As well, city council unanimously voted to ban medical marijuana growers from residential areas - unless they are producing small amounts for themselves. Now, third-party growers will have to harvest in one of five south Coquitlam industrial sites, by Highway 1, as selected by city managers. [continues 424 words]
Licensed Grow Ops Allowed in Industrial Areas A growing number of complaints about medical marijuana operations in Coquitlam homes has prompted the city to look at changing its land use policies. This week, council gave first reading to a zoning bylaw amendment that would stop medical pot from being produced in residential areas except for personal use. As a result, third-party production - as regulated and permitted under the federal Marijuana Medical Access Regulations (MMAR) - would be restricted to industrial sites; the city has designated five areas, all of them close to Highway 1. [continues 383 words]
Wallet-sized resource booklets are being passed out to young people at schools, recreation centres, health facilities and police stations in the Tri-Cities. The booklets list contact names and phone numbers for youth looking for help in the areas of law; alcohol and drugs; pregnancy and parenting; eating disorders; sexual identity; sexual, physical and emotional abuse; and crisis and suicide intervention. The double-sided, four-page booklet also gives names and numbers of teen centres, and runaway and emergency shelters. [continues 231 words]
The owners of four Port Coquitlam homes that housed marijuana grow ops will have notices placed against their land titles this week as part of a crackdown by the city. Monday, PoCo city council unanimously voted to place the notices on the titles to force the owners to clean up their contaminated houses. Council said the measure is also being taken to protect potential home buyers, to alert banks or mortgage companies, and to reduce the city's liability. The notices - on houses located at 3819 Sefton St., 2446 Kelly Ave., 3453 Coast Meridian Rd. and 4024 Mars Pl. - will be lifted once remediation on the homes is complete, said Kim Fowler, PoCo's director of development services. [continues 379 words]
A 19-year-old convicted drug dealer from Coquitlam has been ordered to speak to young people about the dangers of narcotics as part of his conditional sentence order. Last month, Port Coquitlam provincial court Judge Bruce Dyer also ordered Mario Kraljevic to perform 125 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to selling crack cocaine. A warrant was issued for Kraljevic's arrest in April during an RCMP crackdown of an organized drug ring called the Red Scorpions, which operated in Coquitlam, Port Moody, Burnaby and New Westminster. Members identified themselves with a tattoo that had the letters RS on their wrist, neck or shoulder. The eight-month investigation -- named Project E-Poisoned -- resulted in 10 people being charged with trafficking cocaine. [continues 230 words]
Marijuana Use, Assaults, Graffiti And Driving Offences. These are the hot-button issues Coquitlam RCMP's school liaison officers (SLOs) face as they head back to school this month to patrol local secondaries and their feeder schools. The six-member team, headed up by Cpl. Doug Francis, has several crime-reduction goals this year, like curfew checks and identifying youth in problem areas. But it's also focusing on having higher visibility and creating strong rapport with students and staff. The officers will be giving presentations to classes on topics such as drugs, and drinking and driving. They will also be taking part in meetings with teachers and Parent Advisory Councils, and joining extracurricular activities, such as graduation events. [continues 425 words]
Pot farms, meth labs and the age of consent were pressing topics Tri-City law enforcement agencies discussed with Canada's attorney general at a private meeting Thursday. Vic Toews said he was pleased with the co-operation local groups are giving to policing and understanding the causes of crime. "Here is a very-well organized, co-ordinated approach to developing responses to crime," Toews said after the meeting at Coquitlam city hall. "That, to me, is very encouraging because, if we're going to beat this problem, it's going to have to be in co-operation with local authorities and citizens." [continues 282 words]
It's One Of The Most Dangerous Drugs On The Street And It's Not Going Away. Last year, according to a survey by the provincial government, 8% of students in the Grades 6 to 12 had used crystal meth during the school year. The effect? Euphoria, but the drug is highly addictive and, in some cases, can be deadly. The social cost to make the drug can be dangerous, too, putting neighbours and emergency responders at risk. "It takes a chemist to dismantle them," said John Kenyon, assistant fire chief with Port Coquitlam Fire/Rescue, a key speaker at a meth awareness meeting to be held Wednesday. [continues 295 words]
Police and firefighters in Coquitlam could soon be shutting down marijuana grow operations without having to obtain a search warrant, Mayor Maxine Wilson said Wednesday. Wilson, speaking at a meeting about grow ops hosted by Westwood Plateau Community Association, said the city is considering taking its lead from the cities of Surrey and Abbotsford to pass bylaws that would allow emergency personnel to post a notice on a home requesting an inspection to investigate high electricity consumption. If an inspection is denied within the allotted time period, police and fire officials would have the power to turn off hydro to the house, Wilson told the crowd. [continues 375 words]
A meeting about the dangers of marijuana grow operations will be held next month in Coquitlam. It is the second public event the Westwood Plateau Community Association has hosted about pot grow ops in the city. Representatives from Coquitlam city hall, RCMP and BC Hydro will attend. Conservative MP James Moore (Port Moody-Westwood-Port Coquitlam) and BC Liberal MLA Iain Black (PoMo-Westwood) have also been invited to speak about the issue. A question-and-answer period will follow the talk. Refreshments will be served. The meeting takes place Wednesday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at Summit middle school, 1450 Parkway Blvd., Coquitlam. [end]
Kindergarten students at Lincoln elementary school in Port Coquitlam got a lesson in policing and safety Friday. Students in Karolin Phillips' class learned about stranger danger and even got to try on some of the equipment police offers use, including handcuffs and bullet-proof vests. The kids also got a chance to role-play with RCMP auxiliary constable Francisco Grajales, 20, about being in potentially dangerous situations, telling them to shout "No" and to run in the opposite direction when someone they don't know approaches them or gives them candy. [continues 214 words]
Port Moody's crackdown on marijuana grow operations two years ago put a dent in the city's pot production, police say. "We still have a few of them around," said PMPD Const. Brian Morwood-Clark, who is in charge of the grow op files in the city. "You can tell which ones they are because they have no snow on their roofs. But, clearly, we sent a signal out in 2003 with enforcement and it seems to have paid off for the city." [continues 561 words]
A man rushed to hospital with severe burns to his upper body was found inside a trailer with a pot farm fuelled by propane, the mobile home park's manager said. Won Kim, the manager of Four Acres and Willow Mobile Home Park in Coquitlam, said the place had only been rented out for four months when the explosion happened at 16-671 Lougheed Hwy. Saturday at around 4 p.m. Inside the trailer, Coquitlam Fire/Rescue and Coquitlam RCMP said they found a small marijuana grow operation and a man with extensive burns to his arms and face. He was taken to Vancouver General Hospital with injuries considered "life threatening." His name has not been released. [continues 203 words]
