Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay was hoping to introduce a motion to city council Monday that limits proximity of marijuana dispensaries to minors. McKay planned to direct staff to draft a bylaw prohibiting marijuana dispensaries from being situated within 500 metres of any facility where people under 19 years old gather, such as parks, childcare centres, schools and recreation centres. Melissa Burke, owner of Kidz Kompany Childcare Group, is concerned a dispensary could be opening next to her Terminal Avenue location. While there are legitimate reasons for medicinal marijuana, some are accessing dispensaries illegitimately, Burke said. [continues 303 words]
With a December deadline looming, the Sensible B.C. campaign is only about half way to reaching the target for its marijuana decriminalization petition. Signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in B.C.'s 85 electoral districts are sought - approximately 400,000 signatures - and according to organizers, the number is currently sitting somewhere between the 100,000 and 200,000 mark. "We put out a number a week ago (and) we just said we were at less than half ... but I don't have a number since then," said Dana Larsen, director of the Sensible B.C. campaign. "Our numbers have been going up substantially in the last little while." [continues 252 words]
With canvassing set to start for a marijuana decriminalization referendum, the man spearheading the effort was in Nanaimo soliciting volunteers Thursday. Beginning Sept. 9, the campaign will have 90 days to gather about 400,000 signatures and Dana Larsen, director of the Sensible BC campaign for a marijuana referendum, said it is more than just getting people to sign a petition. "We're going to need a couple thousand canvassers all around the province to make this succeed," Larsen said. "It's a very complicated enterprise. We need to collect signatures from 10 per cent of the registered voters in every one of B.C.'s 85 electoral districts. There's a different form for each district - they have to sign the right form. [continues 308 words]
The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary (RDKB) has agreed to support in principle a project involving marijuana. At an RDKB board meeting last Thursday, Grand Forks Compassionate Society (GFCS) Executive Director Jim Leslie made a presentation on medicinal marijuana and the directors voted in favour of sending a letter supporting the pilot project in principle. Currently, access to medicinal marijuana is granted by Health Canada but recently Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq made recommendations to improve the Marijuana Medical Access Program in order to curb abuse and exploitation by criminals. [continues 495 words]
The Boundary RCMP is continuing its attack on methamphetamine dealers in 2011 according to a recent policing report. Grand Forks RCMP's Staff Sgt. Jim Harrison said the abuse and trafficking of methamphetamine has been going on for quite some time and the regional detachment's offensive, which began late last year, will continue. "We see an awful lot of methamphetamine in town," he said. "We've certainly made that one of our highest priorities to target the methamphetamine dealers and we certainly had some really good success in putting some of them in jail here in the last six to eight months." [continues 425 words]
A Grand Forks city councillor is not happy about a recent letter from the mayors of the township and city of Langley to Health Canada concerning legal grow-ops. In early March, Peter Fassbender (City of Langley) and Rick Green (Township of Langley) wrote the federal government asking it to cancel licences for legal marijuana growing and Coun. Joy Davies is concerned that it could have negative consequences. The letter, if supported by government, will affect peoples lives to the point where people will die, she says. [continues 624 words]
The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and RCMP confiscated 83 kilograms of cocaine from an American couple at the Carson Port of Entry on Dec. 16. The estimated value of the seized narcotics was $3.5 million. Back in October, U.S. border patrol agents in Curlew, Wash., close to the Carson crossing, seized approximately 140.6 kg (310 pounds) of the designer drug ecstasy on a trail near the border. The ecstasy pills were found inside backpacks and duffle bags and hidden in brush and at the time, U.S. border services said that there wasn't a clear indication where the pills were headed but based on the size of the stash, it was likely headed across the country. [continues 291 words]
