Langley vet says she treats at least one dog a month that ingests pot In the last couple years, veterinarians have seen an increase in the number of dogs that have ingested harmful drugs, mainly marijuana. "We have seen a notable increase in the last few years of dogs coming to the hospital having ingested pot. We get at least one per month," said Langley veterinarian, Dr. Renee Ferguson of Mountainview Veterinary Hospital. "Unfortunately, it is becoming common that dogs eat pot or drugs while out on a walk or at a park," she said. [continues 409 words]
Dr. Ingrid Tyler, the lead medical health officer at Fraser Health dealing with harm reduction and the fentanyl crisis, says the best way to save the life of a person who has overdosed on the deadly drug is to give them breaths, through mouth-to-mouth CPR. A fentanyl overdose causes the victim to stop breathing, so providing air is essential to saving lives, said Tyler. However, giving CPR to someone who is overdosing comes with its own serious set of risks to the person administrating the life-saving technique, she warned. [continues 560 words]
Alex Wilkinson and Preston Pearce both had infectious smiles, lots of friends and family who deeply loved them. As well, they both graduated from Walnut Grove Secondary. What the two also had in common, tragically, is that they both died at 19 from a drug overdose. Family and friends of the two WGSS alumni have made a powerful video that can be seen on Youtube (WGSS Drug Awareness Video - We Are a Community). In the video, Alex's younger sister, Grace, speaks about her brother, saying he was always looking after her, was goofy and "the best big brother." [continues 372 words]
Drug interventionist Andy Bhatti, a former heroin user himself, said addicts need more access to immediate treatment and to methadone if lives are going to be saved. "There is a two-to three-month wait for a publicly-funded treatment beds and private treatment can cost up to $7,500 a month," said Bhatti. He's sending some of his clients to Thailand to a high-end treatment centre that costs less than half that amount. He claims there is a full-time psychologist there as well as other therapies. [continues 763 words]
As a funeral director in Aldergrove, John Romeyn organizes three to four funerals a month for families who have lost a loved one to fentanyl. "A father I sat with a while ago, between sobs of grief, said to me, 'I promised to take my daughter shopping for an outfit to wear for her graduation. . . . now I have to decide what she will wear in her casket.' "I sit across the table from these families and they are heartbroken, they have lost everything. I made a promise that I have to do something," he said. [continues 835 words]
Unlimited distribution, but no pick-up As part of its harm reduction strategy, Fraser Health offers an unlimited supply of needles to intravenous drug users. But the local health authority does not recover those needles once they've been used - - a fact which has become more evident in Langley parks, streets, at the doorways of businesses and on trails and even school grounds throughout the Township and City. A sharps disposal box and its spilled contents was found near the Cascades Casino parkade recently, and a needle stabbed into the grass at Douglas Park was pictured from August on the Langley City Crime Watch Facebook page. [continues 467 words]
The Township is looking to join Langley City in regulating businesses that sell drug paraphernalia. Currently the Township does not regulate drug paraphernalia, such as bongs, baggies, weights and pipes. They can be sold to anyone and can be displayed. If the bylaw is passed, it will require that all drug paraphernalia be kept out of view. The bylaw will restrict the age of purchase to 19. Several years ago, police visited a corner store in Willoughby, along with two stores in Langley City which were displaying numerous bongs and pipes for smoking pot and other drugs. When the City created its bylaw, the stores were quick to come into compliance. [end]
Langley Township's fire chief wants to see its Public Safety Inspection Team up and running again, despite a recent B.C. Court of Appeal ruling. The court ruling said the inspections violate people's basic Charter rights. "We will follow the court's direction, but we haven't changed our opinion on the value of the inspection team," said fire chief Doug Wade. "Our lawyers had drafted a new bylaw so we are hoping by the year's end that the team will be up and running again." [continues 392 words]
The Ministry of Environment is assessing whether 30 barrels of drug-making waste dumped into a Walnut Grove creek did damage to the fish-bearing waterway on Tuesday morning. Resident in the area of 102B Avenue and MacKinnon Road, near the Fort Langley Golf Course, awoke to plastic and metal pails lying in the nearby creek and red liquid spilling out of some of the lids, said one neighbour. There was also bags of chemical powder. The Langley RCMP called Hazco, a hazardous clean-up company, to come remove the barrels, many of them full with an unknown liquid. [continues 91 words]
Langley RCMP are looking into billing property owners for their costs to dismantle a grow-op, after officers are putting in overtime to deal with the proliferation of B.C. Bud. "Our drug section is overwhelmed and members are coming in on their days off to take down grow-ops," said Supt. Derek Cooke at Monday night's Township council meeting. He was there to give the police quarterly report. "We have the legislation to bill back property owners for our time, so we will be looking into that." [continues 67 words]
A Langley man with a Health Canada licence to grow marijuana was busted by the RCMP's green team for stealing hydro and for growing more plants than he was allowed to. This is the fourth such bust Langley police have come across, where the grower is licensed to grow. This has Langley RCMP's Supt. Janice Armstrong asking Health Canada to require higher standards both of the growers and the buildings they use. On May 27, the drug section executed two search warrants for stealing hydro. [continues 278 words]
At the beginning of his address to Langley's Rotary Club, criminology professor and justice analyst Dr. Darryl Plecas said it was only a year ago he spoke to them, 'whining and sniveling' about the 'idiotic court system' and here he is again doing the same thing. "The judicial system is entrenched in stupidity," he said last Thursday at the Rotary's dinner meeting at Cascades Convention Centre. "Public satisfaction is in the toilet. Garbage comes out of the courts, day after day. The Charter is a wonderful thing until it gets in the hands of the judges." [continues 508 words]
As Langley RCMP Supt. Janice Amstrong was about to give City council an update on policing issues, she was called away to be briefed about a man found bound and bleeding inside his vehicle at 200 Street and 53 Avenue on Monday evening. The Surrey man had been beaten badly in the head, likely over drug or debt collection, said Armstrong. He was not co-operating with police so they have very little to go on. Witnesses saw him driving erratically south on 200 Street, before he pulled over. The victim is well known to police. [continues 813 words]
As Langley RCMP Supt. Janice Amstrong was about to give City council an update on policing issues, she was called away to be briefed about a man found bound and bleeding inside his vehicle at 200 Street and 53 Avenue on Monday evening. The Surrey man had been beaten badly in the head, likely over drug or debt collection, said Armstrong. He was not co-operating with police so they have very little to go on. Witnesses saw him driving erratically south on 200 Street, before he pulled over. The victim is well known to police. [continues 820 words]
Hemp is now legal in Langley City. A bylaw that dated nearly as far back as the incorporation of the City, prohibiting the sale of hemp, was brought into the 21st Century on Monday night with no comments or objections from council. In a public hearing on the change to the bylaw, which no one attended, Mayor Peter Fassbender spoke about how hemp's usefulness included its use as an additive to milk, as clothing and other items. "This change to legalize hemp doesn't mean we support the sale of anything illegal pertaining to hemp," said Fassbender. [continues 97 words]
On the same day Prime Minister Stephen Harper came to Vancouver to announce a new 'Organized Crime Bill' to tackle gang violence, it appears another gangland hit left one young man dead in Maple Ridge on Thursday. A total of 19 shootings and half a dozen deaths in one month brought the PM here and B.C.'s top cops to Ottawa in an attempt to get serious about the out-of-control gang problem in B.C. The bill introduces automatic first-degree murder charges for anyone involved in a gang-related killing. Drive-by shooting convictions will receive mandatory four-year prison sentences. [continues 836 words]
Repeal Now Called For After Challenge From Retailer Langley City council is looking to repeal a 1995 bylaw prohibiting stores from selling hemp products. It turns out that several stores in the downtown have been carrying hemp items for years, from beauty products, clothing to hand cream and soap. Hemp beer is even sold in the provincially-run B.C. Liquor stores. "Back then, we thought hemp was marijuana," said City Councillor Gayle Martin. She has been on council 18 years. "Now we know there is a difference between the legal and illegal stuff." [continues 131 words]
Hempyz is legitimate. After refusing the pot plant novelty store a business licence, Langley City has done an about-face. "I went to City Hall on Nov. 6 to dispute the $100 per day fines [for operating a business without a licence] and staff asked me if I would like to fill out a business license," said Hempyz owner Randy Caine. City head planner Gerald Minchuk confirmed that Hempyz was granted a license after removing all the hemp products from the store. [continues 160 words]
A recent B.C. Supreme Court decision allowing Surrey's Public Safety Inspection Team to continue will affect decisions made in Langley, said Township fire chief Doug Wade. The court upheld Surrey fire department's initiative to clamp down on homes suspected of containing marijuana grow operations. However, it ruled that police are no longer allowed to attend the home inspections. "We aren't exactly sure what our plan B will be if RCMP can't accompany the team," said Wade on Wednesday. "It poses some challenges." [continues 194 words]
Protecting home buyers from investing in a former grow-op or meth lab depends on each municipality's records or lack thereof, say realtors across the Fraser Valley who gathered in Langley City on Thursday. The Township doesn't keep records of illegal drug operations found in houses. But in Abbotsford, a grow-op would show up on the title search, say local realtors. In Surrey, a bylaw infraction shows up on the tax notice, but that flag would be taken off the title once the home was brought back up to code. In Chilliwack, a Freedom of Information request is required for privacy concerns. [continues 483 words]
